Events

Via Scott Adams: Apparently, the Sumerians thought farts were funny: Academics have compiled a list of the most ancient gags and the oldest, harking back to 1900BC, is a Sumerian proverb from what is now southern Iraq. "Something which has never occurred since time immemorial; a young woman did not fart in her husband's lap," goes the joke. Those ancient rubes. We're much more advanced today.

The Chicago Tribune had another write-up of Monday night's storm. Apparently, it produced unprecedented electrical activity: Over four hours, about a half-year's worth of lightning bolts bombarded the Chicago area, electrifying the night sky as trees were split, transformers were zapped and houses were set ablaze. As work crews picked up Tuesday from the previous night's storms, meteorologists were assessing the staggering power of a historic thunderstorm. Nearly 90,000 thunderbolts had hit northern...

I still need to do some high-altitude maneuvers (clouds were about 2800 ft, too low for slow turns and stall practice), but I finished much of my biennial flight review today. Interested people who have Google Earth can download the KML file.

There's a write-up of last night's storms in the Trib: Clean-up efforts were under way Tuesday morning after a line of severe thunderstorms moved through the Chicago area Monday night, downing trees and power lines, starting fires, peeling off roofs, briefly closing down both Chicago airports and ending a Cubs game after two rain delays. As of 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, crews from the Chicago Department of Streets and Sanitation responded to reports of 1,104 damaged trees, 132 malfunctioning traffic signals, 55...

...but only because I got to watch it from inside my apartment. A major squall drove through Chicago this evening with 90 km/h winds (including two small tornadoes) and dime-size hail reported. My neighbors across the street have lost power, too. We didn't, but the Inner Drive Technology International Data Center battery backups complained loudly through the worst of the storm. It's gone now, which makes Parker happy for two reasons: he didn't enjoy the storm itself, and he really, really wanted to go...

Via friend RU, a blog about...well, really hideous cakes.

Yes, we still have to wait almost 169 days and 3 hours until he's sworn in. That aside, today is Barack Obama's birthday.

The four-park sprint (and seeing some really great—and really patient—friends along the way) has ended. I'm off in a few minutes to restock my fridge and, at 4pm on the nose, to pick up Parker.

Sweeping Milwaukee into Lake Michigan? Does anyone, any longer, doubt the Cubs are the real thing this year?

My four-game sprint through part of the 30-Park Geas ended last night, with another home-team loss. Here's what that looked like at 9:40 (yes, the game was that short): Mid-game, instead of the customary sausage race, they had a president's race. Apparently Teddy hasn't won yet—possibly because of things like this, where he's being sacked by Screech the Eagle: Obligatory home-plate shot of the star player: And, finally, obligatory shot of the main gate, but this time from a different angle than usual: