Events

Via Bruce Schneier, Cory Doctorow: "The DRM business model is the urinary tract infection of media experiences: all of the uses that used to come in an easy gush now come in a mingy, painful dribble..."

The Cubs and Brewers remain tied for first place, one game ahead of the Cardinals, in the National League Central pennant race. I should point out that the Cubs and Brewers are one game above .500; the Cardinals, at .500. So, yes, the NL Central pennant will go to a mediocre team this year. Sigh.

A larger-than-usual bunch of news stories piqued my interest this morning: Scientists may have a break in the case of the mysterious bee die-offs; The Cook County, Ill., Clerk is putting public records online all the way back to 1871; A German company has started piecing together Stasi documents the East German security service shredded in the final hours before the Berlin Wall fell; and An Australian comedy troupe successfully infiltrated the APEC conference by—how else?—dressing up as Osama bin Laden...

More from Saturday's Wright Way Rescue reunion: Schona, a 7-year-old Lab that Parker met:

At the Wright Way reunion on Saturday, the shelter had a number of puppies up for adoption, like this one: Parker, like any teenager confronted with babies, seemed to show benign indifference: (He wanted to see the grill instead. Go figure.)

Today is Parker Day: I adopted him a year ago today. Over the past year, Parker has wormed his way into just about every part of my life, for the simple reason that he doesn't have opposable thumbs and so can't open his own cans of dog food. He's grown from an adorable puppy into a mostly-adorable adult dog with a gentle nature and a taste for textiles. He makes me happy every time I see him, even when he has bits of sofa hanging from his teeth, or has another case of worms. And he's always happy to see...

Terrorism only works if people allow themselves to be terrorized. People like, for example, shoppers in New Haven, Conn.: Two people who sprinkled flour in a parking lot to mark a trail for their offbeat running club [the Hash House Harriers] inadvertently caused a bioterrorism scare and now face a felony charge. New Haven ophthalmologist Daniel Salchow, 36, and his sister, Dorothee, 31, who is visiting from Hamburg, Germany, were both charged with first-degree breach of peace, a felony. The siblings...

We're looking forward to another lovely day in Chicago: 25°C, sunny, light breeze, crystal-clear skies. What more perfect day to wake up with the news that, not only are the Cubs still hanging on to first place, but also Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has finally resigned, no doubt to spend some quality time with his defense lawyers: Mr. Gonzales, who had rebuffed calls for his resignation, submitted his to President Bush by telephone on Friday, the official said. His decision was not announced...

Yesterday storms tore through the Chicago area, generating high winds and more rain than we need. On our walk to work this morning Parker and I found our path blocked by one of the results: The tree missed all the houses, cars, and power lines it aimed for. Very fortunate.

I almost had to pull over this afternoon when I heard about the Orioles losing 30-3 to the Rangers last night: ...[T]he Orioles were battered by a team that kept batting around. They surrendered six home runs, two of them grand slams, and a club-record 29 hits. They also gave up the most runs scored in the majors since 1900, historic indiscretions that punctuated a 30-3 loss to the Texas Rangers before a sparse but wildly entertained gathering at Camden Yards. Wow, only one Baltimore error: Final 1 2 3...