Events

Writing in the New York Times today, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) attempts to distance himself from natural selection theory without looking like a complete dullard. He fails, predictably, largely through setting up false or misleading dichtomies: The truths of science and faith are complementary: they deal with very different questions, but they do not contradict each other because the spiritual order and the material order were created by the same God. Either you believe God created Man or you don't; how...

Nothing like a happy puppy running across a field at 6:30 in the morning... No ParkerCam until next Thursday, and possibly no Daily Parkers until then, either. Sorry. Rest assured that Parker will be having as much fun as his fuzzy butt can handle at Day Camp during his absence from the Internet. And come to think of it, with The Daily Parker around, on the Internet everyone does know you're a dog...

The Chicago Tribune published a short list of dog-friendly beer gardens this morning, but left Evanston's Tommy Nevin's Pub off the list. I guess Nevin's doesn't qualify as a beer garden per se. The omission notwithstanding, Parker and I will work our way through the list as the summer goes on.

I found myself thinking about this lilting ditty around 5 this morning: I woke early one morning,The earth lay cool and stillWhen suddenly a tiny birdPerched on my window sill, He sang a song so lovelySo carefree and so gay,That slowly all my troublesBegan to slip away. He sang of far off placesOf laughter and of fun,It seemed his very trilling,brought up the morning sun. I stirred beneath the coversCrept slowly out of bed,Then gently shut the windowAnd crushed his f@&$!!g head.

Long-time readers of The Daily Parker know that I don't usually discuss my personal life. Sometimes, however, I have an experience that doesn't involve Parker (except for putting him in his crate on a rainy weekend day), that moves me to break that rule. On Saturday, I and about 100 other alumni of Glenbrook North High School wished our choir director, Judy Moe, a happy retirement. She and David Walter (the music department chair while I was there) taught me more about music than anyone since. Their...

Still no cicadas to report, but I did just see a firefly. I think this is the earliest I've ever seen one—usually they seem to come out around the solstice.

No one (and no dogs) got hurt the other day when, according to my dog-walking service, someone mistook the accelerator for the brake pedal and plowed through their storefront in Evanston. Said the owner: "fortunately [our greyhound] Jupiter was staying home that day. He likely would have been doggy mush if he had been stationed in his usual place...!" And the driver? "Oh, she's fine. And her car had hardly a scratch." No word on when they expect their storefront to be repaired. All of the windows were...

Watching for his buddies at the morning play group:

Yes, it's a holiday, but when you own a small business sometimes you work seven days a week. Yesterday, for example, Parker came in to help with my filing: I don't think I'll staff the job out to him just yet, however, given his propensity to eat the files. I'm still looking for cicadas, though none seems to have emerged near me. Yesterday riding my bike I heard one in Highland Park and one in Winnetka, but so far I haven't heard any, nor seen any nymphs or shells in Evanston. If Parker only knew they...

The Chicago Tribune has an interactive cicada map to plot out reports of 17-year cicadas emerging. Cool.