Events

Indian summer is here. It got up into the mid-20s (mid-70s F), so I toodled down to Millenium Park. I don't expect weather like this again until March at the earliest. At least I got to enjoy it.

Earlier today I got all excited seeing the Census Bureau's population clock at just below 300 million. In a move that will surprise no one, I got the math wrong, so my guess about when this would happen was off by an order of magnitude. This morning it was at 299,923,329; right now, it's 299,926,233. At this rate it will be about nine days before the thing ticks over 300 million. So check the population clock on the 15th. It's likely it will take about that long to add another 74,000 people to the U.S.

It looks like the Census Bureau's Population Clock will roll over 300,000,000 this evening. We'll check back throughout the day.

First, a correction: Parker probably didn't weigh 10.9 kg (24 lbs) on Wednesday, because today he only weighed 10.2 kg (22.5 lbs). This is still half a kilo more than last week, and a total gain of 3.5 kg (5.5 lbs) in five weeks, but it does throw off Sean's calculations a trifle. Second, Parker had some more play time at the dog park this afternoon, even though he met a bully. Parker wasn't hurt, but he could have been. I don't think Cocoa (the gray goofy-looking thing seen here in happier times) has...

Paul Krugman (sub.req.) points out that the record Dow closing comes at a very high price to most Americans: Should we be cheering over the fact that the Dow Jones Industrial Average has finally set a new record? No. The Dow is doing well largely because American employers are waging a successful war against wages. Economic growth since early 2000, when the Dow reached its previous peak, hasn't been exceptional. But after-tax corporate profits have more than doubled, because workers' productivity is up...

Parker gets more comfortable at the dog park every day, but he still has a ways to go. Then again, maybe I'd be apprehensive if a 60 kg (130 lb) rottweiller were chasing me. I don't know if I'd hide under a picnic table, though: He recovered nicely (the rottweiller is actually a very sweet dog), and made some new friends.

I weighed Parker this morning and discovered he's put on some weight. Since September 1st he's gone from 7.7 kg (17 lbs) to 10.9 kg (24 lbs), a 41% increase in 33 days. At this rate he'll exceed the volume of the Universe in just a few months: Here's the "before" shot from the Wright Way Rescue website (taken when he was probably 8 weeks old) and the "after" shot (taken Saturday afternoon): I wonder how big he's going to get. My guess: 25 kg (55 lbs).

When we got Parker just over a month ago he was timid, to say the least. He would whine and whine if one of us left the room, apparently not realizing that we were still part of his life or that he could just follow us into the other room. He was terrified of cars zooming down our block. The first time I tried to take him for a walk, a runner came towards us; Parker got so spooked that he yanked the leash out of my hand and retreated behind a neighbor's bushes. He couldn't negotiate the stairs on our...

A passenger at Mitchell Airport in Milwaukee got detained by the TSA last week because he insulted the TSA's director: A Wisconsin man who wrote "Kip Hawley is an Idiot" on a plastic bag containing toiletries said he was detained at an airport security checkpoint for about 25 minutes before authorities concluded the statement was not a threat. Ryan Bird, 31, said he wrote the comment about Hawley—head of the Transportation Security Administration—as a political statement. He said he feels the TSA is...

The WBEZ-Chicago Website has just published my Dusty Baker photo. Cool!