Events

Turns out, 2008 will be one of the longest years ever when astronomers insert an extra second at 17:59:60 CT tonight: The additional second makes up for the difference in two clocks – one based on Earth’s rotation and the other on the more precise atomic time of the UTC. In the U.S., the extra second will be added by the U.S. Naval Observatory at 6:59:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (11:59:59 p.m. Universal time). It will be the 24th "leap second" tacked on to the universal time scale since 1972. The...

As Josh Marshall said today, did Tom Wolfe do the rewrite on the Blagojevich scandal? Now we've got Bobby Rush, Roland Burris, and Jesse Jackson Jr., all reprising the greatest hits of the '70s. Exhibit A, from Rush: "Let me just remind you that there presently is no African-American in the Senate...this is just not a state of Illinois matter," he said. "I would ask you to not hang or lynch the appointee as you try to castigate the appointer." Exhibit B, from a galaxy far, far away: In an appearance...

Alleged felon Rod Blagojevich, the best governor Illinois has right now, leaked that he will appoint former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris to Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said the Senate will refuse to seat anyone Blagojevich appoints, though it's unclear whether the Senate actually has that power. Can't wait for the press conference ten minutes from now: Blagojevich, who has sole authority to name a replacement senator, scheduled a 2 p.m. news...

As happy as I am for my junior U.S. Senator and my Congressman, as of Friday I have neither: Rep. Rahm Emanuel will resign his House seat Friday. Emanuel, set to serve as chief of staff to President-elect Barack Obama, sent a letter to Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich Monday indicating that he planned to step down at the end of the week. Yay! Another election! Approximately everyone in the Congressional district is running, too.

It's time for the semi-annual update of the Chicago sunrise chart. (You can get one for your own location at http://www.wx-now.com/Sunrise/SunriseChart.aspx.) Date Significance Sunrise Sunset Daylight 2009 3 Jan Latest sunrise until Oct. 29th 07:19 16:33 9:14 27 Jan 5pm sunset 07:08 17:00 9:52 4 Feb 7am sunrise 07:00 17:10 10:10 20 Feb 5:30pm sunset 06:39 17:30 10:51 26 Feb 6:30am sunrise 06:30 17:38 11:08 7 Mar Earliest sunrise until April 12thEarliest sunset until Oct. 25th 06:16 17:49 11:32 8 Mar...

Can you believe I gave up this: For this: This sign made me think twice. It doesn't look like they have lots of anything:

Via Bruce Schneier, a woman brought clearly-labeled gunpowder through a TSA checkpoint, in the regulation size baggies: Mind you, I had packed the stuff safely. It was in three separate jars: one of charcoal, one of sulphur, and one of saltpetre (potassium nitrate). Each jar was labeled: Charcoal, Sulphur, Saltpetre. I had also thoroughly wet down each powder with tap water. No ignition was possible. As a good citizen, I had packed the resulting pastes into a quart-sized "3-1-1" plastic bag, along with...

Especially when you're not at home and you get to read about it: The National Weather Service had issued a tornado watch earlier today for much of northeasten Illinois, but cancelled it as of 3:10 p.m. The watch is still in effect for Lake and Will counties in Illinois and Jasper, Lake, Newton and Porter counties in Indiana until 7 p.m. tonight. The agency says hail up to 1 inch in diameter, with wind gusts up to 60 m.p.h., could be part of the storm that affects the area. A tornado watch means...

I'm not a big fan of Seinfeld but I am a fan of this sort of thing: The debate over religious displays in the Illinois Capitol's rotunda took a farcical turn this week when a student at a Lake Forest boarding school put up an aluminum pole to honor Festivus. For those in the dark, Festivus is a mock holiday popularized by a 1997 episode of "Seinfeld." The pole is a Christmas tree-like symbol, and semi-ironic celebrations of Festivus, usually observed on Dec. 23, include such traditions as the "Airing of...

So, never mind the worst housing news in a generation, the coming impeachment of our governor by his own party, and another sports team preparing to break our hearts, we have gotten both kinds of lovely weather in the past two days, with more coming: THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS...NORTHEAST ILLINOIS AND NORTHWEST INDIANA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. SNOW WILL CONTINUE TO FALL OFF AND ON THROUGH WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. THE SNOW WILL MIX WITH SLEET SOUTH...