Events

He nails it: People claim to be shocked by the Bush administration's general incompetence. But disinterest in good government has long been a principle of modern conservatism. In "The Conscience of a Conservative," published in 1960, Barry Goldwater wrote that "I have little interest in streamlining government or making it more efficient, for I mean to reduce its size." People claim to be shocked at the Bush administration's efforts to disenfranchise minority groups, under the pretense of combating...

With record temperatures in Chicago today (now at 29°C), organizers have halted the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon: Reports of inadequate supplies of water were frequent along the route, and many of the 36,000 runners competing stopped early. The men's race appeared more like a track finish than the usually tactical marathon finish, with Kenyan Patrick Ivuti winning the closest race in the 30 years of the Chicago Marathon. In a photo-finish, Ivuti edged out Moroccan Jaouad Gharib by 5/100th of a second....

Cubs just got swept. Predictable. And sad. Guess I'll just work tomorrow, or wander Lakeview aimlessly with Parker. Plus, Danielle has to return the Game 4 tickets, so I won't even get a souvenir of the post-season. Next year, I suppose. For the 100th time. Sheesh.

Yesterday I said that the Cubs need only win one game of the NLDS to ensure they play Game 4 (to which my friend got tickets). That's not, strictly speaking, correct, and it assumed the only way the series would end in 3 games would be if the Diamondbacks swept the Cubs. My cousin pointed out the flaw in my reasoning. It's possible (however unlikely) that the Cubs could sweep the Diamondbacks, with the same result for Sunday's game. So, to revise and amend my comments, as long as each team wins at least...

My friend Danielle scored tickets to the National League Central Division Series Game #4, at Wrigley Field this Sunday. Of course, since it's a best-of-5 series, if the Cubs get swept, there won't be a Game #4. But if they win just one game in the post-season, we're going on Sunday.

I may be getting NLDS playoff tickets...stay tuned...

With two games to go in the season, the Cubs clinched the National League Central. Now they only have to get past three markedly better teams to get to the World Series...

"Sick cultures show a complex of symptoms.... But a dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners. Lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than a riot."—Robert Heinlein, Friday. Happy primary election season!

Poor guy. I got two bits of bad news for Parker. First, his bad butt has returned again, this time with bad, um, mouth as well. His vet suspects Crypto again, plus whatever else he may have picked up from his foraging in the yard. This time she was pretty direct in her prescription: No unsupervised, off-leash time at all, ever. So Parker will have to have walks with just me instead of going to the park or day camp for a couple of weeks. It also means that I won't just open the back door for him first...

For the first time in eight months, my dog has no odor. None. It turns out Petsmart has hypo-allergenic shampoo. (Last time they used stinky shampoo.) That is all. Photo to follow.