Events

The NHC hasn't wavered much on Ike's projected path: Houston is now officially under a hurricane watch. Even American Airlines thinks I'm not going to a Cubs game this weekend. But as my cousin said, "They can't lose if they can't play."

Canada's Conservative government has called a snap election: Prolonged speculation over whether Canada’s minority Conservative government would call an early election has ended with Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s announcement that voters will go to the polls on October 14th. This is a full year ahead of the date Mr Harper proposed in legislation submitted after he assumed power in January. ... This will be the third national election for Canada in just over four years, and highlights the difficulty...

TPM Media gives you: the McCain-Palin Lipstick Pig: (I mean, someone had to, right?)

Every so often, one must wipe and reinstall his main computer. This is not fun. Even Parker finds it boring, and he sleeps all day. Still, my main box (a Dell D620) now runs so much faster it's making me cry. So, several hours of boring work will save me several dozen hours waiting for the damn computer.

I have tickets to see the Cubs play Houston this Saturday—in Houston. This graphic just released from the National Hurricane Center suggests that even though Minute Maid Park has a roof, the game might still be rained out: (For those of you without a handy map of Texas, Houston is just about where the "2" is in the phrase "2 PM Sat.") At the moment, Ike is expected to make landfall just around the time my plane is supposed to land, just about where my plane is supposed to land, as a Category 1 or 2...

This morning I flew solo for the first time in two and a half years. I really missed it. I last flew solo on 24 May 2006, from Nashua, N.H., to Nantucket, Mass.—208 km each way. Today I had a more modest mission: Wheeling to Waukegan, Ill., 34 km and less than 10 minutes' flying time. Some rain moved into the area so I only got four landings in, as you can see from the Google Earth file. (Remember: all takeoffs are optional; all landings are mandatory.) Still, I have to hand it to Chris Johnson, my CFI...

A day in the life of many corporations, via Dilbert:

The North Siders just dropped their 6th in a row, losing 10-2 against Cincinnati, a team who have already been eliminated this year. With a magic number of 18 and (now) 22 games left, it's the Cubs' season to lose—and they're doing it. Sigh.

I can't help chuckling at a minor bit of low-level incompetence from McCain's speech last night. It's not even his fault, though I'm sure someone on the campaign staff might get an early winter vacation. Apparently, the building projected behind McCain during his speech was not, as he might have wished, Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, but Walter Reed Middle School in—no small irony—North Hollywood, Calif. And now the school has issued a statement (via TPM; emphasis in original): It has...

Via reader JV, a report of a "wine-and-cheese spattering melée" at the Ravinia Festival: After setting up their blankets, chairs and a tarp, a group of concertgoers from Arlington Heights left for a restaurant. Returning an hour later, they found their belongings displaced by a Chicago group, which they confronted. A woman in the Chicago group tried to attack a woman from the returning group, police said. A 40-year-old Chicago man then punched a 49-year-old Arlington Heights man.... (If you're not from...