Events

Since I last mentioned an annual study that reports which countries allow visa-free visitors from which other countries, the U.S. has fallen out of second place: Scandinavians and Finns, by contrast, can travel to 173 countries or territories (out of a possible 223) without the need to fill in forms with curious questions dreamt up by bureaucrats. The law firm Henley & Partners, which compiles the list, now has the U.S. tied at 5th with Ireland. The other top-5 countries are as follows: RankCountriesCan...

Slate's Farhad Manjoo examines the phenomenon: The rest of the Web long ago did away with auto-playing music, Flash buttons and menus, and elaborate intro pages, but restaurant sites seem stuck in 1999. The problem is getting worse in the age of the mobile Web—Flash doesn't work on Apple's devices, and while some of these sites do load on non-Apple smartphones, they take forever to do so, and their finicky navigation makes them impossible to use. When you visit many terrible restaurant websites in...

Democrats in Wisconsin picked up two state senate seats in an unprecedented recall election: Democrats defeated Republican state Sen. Dan Kapanke, who represented the most Dem-leaning seat of any Republican in the chamber, by a 55%-45% margin. They also won a 51%-49% victory over state Sen. Randy Hopper, whose campaign was also damaged by a messy divorce, and allegations by his estranged wife that he "now lives mostly in Madison" after having an affair. This would get Democrats from their previous 19-14...

From today: It’s not the whole story, but something like this threatens to develop: 1. US debt is downgraded, sparking demands for more ill-advised fiscal austerity 2. Fears that this austerity will depress the economy send stocks down 3. Politicians and pundits declare that worries about US solvency are the culprit, even though interest rates have actually plunged 4. This leads to calls for even more ill-advised austerity, which sends us back to #2 Behold the power of a stupid narrative, which seems...

This is actually a scan of a print, from July 1991: That's available light on Kodacolor 100, in Balboa Beach, Calif., about here.

From the New Yorker: UPDATE: Pretty pleased with what I’ve come up with in just six days. Going to take tomorrow off. Feel free to check out what I’ve done so far. Suggestions and criticism (constructive, please!) more than welcome. God out. COMMENTS (24) Beta version was better. I thought the Adam-Steve dynamic was much more compelling than the Adam-Eve work-around You finally settled on. Adam was obviously created somewhere else and then just put here. So, until I see some paperwork proving otherwise...

Two more photos from yesterday. First, my hat's off to this guy, who has suffered more than most of us will ever know: And Carlos Zambrano rounds the bases after his solo home run in the 3rd: This was Zambrano's 23rd career home run making him one of the top-10 homer-hitting pitchers, and a solid argument against the hated designated hitter rule that afflicts some of the minor leagues.

Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano warms up before yesterday's game at Wrigley Field, Chicago: Canon 7D at ISO-400, 1/800 at f/5.6, 171mm, exactly here. In this shot, I corrected the color to 7500K (based on a gray card reading), pushed the contrast, and desaturated. Later today I'll have another shot of Zambrano in which I did almost the opposite.

I like afternoons like this one. Yes, it was a little warm, and yes, a little sticky. But I had seats in aisle 10, row 6 at Wrigley, which failed to suck: Zambrano pitched, with a few walks here and there but mostly nothing for Cincinnati to hit: And you know? I always like seeing things like this: More photos later. Right now, I need about five showers, three for the sunscreen and two for the hot weather.

Six months ago, at North Avenue Beach in Chicago: 2 February 2011, Canon 20D at ISO-100, 1/250 at f/11, 27mm, near here. I should have posted this photo a couple of days ago, when Chicago baked in near-40°C heat. Today's forecast calls for a mostly-pleasant 27°C under sunny skies. Go back and relive those few days last February when it gets hot again.