Events

I try not to chuckle at politician's gaffes. I mean, we've got Joe Biden on our side, for crying out loud. But Biden's an amateur when compared with Michele Bachmann: "Before we get started, let's all say 'Happy Birthday' to Elvis Presley today," Bachmann said, kicking off a rally in Spartanburg, South Carolina, CNN reports. "We played you a little bit of 'Promised Land' when we pulled up. You can't do better than Elvis Presley, and we thought we would celebrate his birthday as we get started...

Sometimes The Onion has a satirical piece that's, well, almost completely true: Visa Exposed As Massive Credit Card Scam SAN FRANCISCO—In coordinated raids Monday at locations in Delaware, South Dakota, and California, federal agents apprehended dozens of executives at Visa Inc., a sham corporation accused of perpetrating the largest credit card scam in U.S. history. According to indictments filed in U.S. District Court, Visa posed as a reputable lender, working through banks to peddle a variety of...

Parker, New Year's Day 2008: Canon 20D at ISO-400, 1/250 at f/8, 18mm. Edited from the first published version.

I somehow missed this last week: The first officers at the controls of Air France 447 (the captain was initially on his rest break when the troubles began) were not apprentices. They were fully rated, Airbus A330 pilots with thousands of hours of experience. Of course they were trained in "manual aircraft handling"! And yet again we have the suggestion that a "manually" flown plane is some sort of oddity, and that pilots aren't used to it. This is bollocks. That the pilots lacked this training is worthy...

Three years ago today, I was in Atlanta: Canon 20D at ISO-1600, 1/125 at f/5.6, 18mm, here.

We're still three weeks from meterological autumn and we've already had the wettest summer in 54 years and the second-wettest ever: The new rains are to fall in the midst of the Chicago area's wettest meteorological summer (the period which began June 1) in 54 years. A total of 420 mm has occurred to date which makes this the second wettest summer to date since the official observational record began here in 1871. That amount is nearly twice the 140 year average to date of 219 mm. And what do we have in...

Last night, after getting back from San Antonio, I opened the windows for the first time in nearly six weeks. We had, I believe, one of the hottest and stickiest Julys I've ever experienced. But yesterday when I got home the temperature was 23°C and dropping—finally cooler outside my air-conditioned apartment than inside it. Unfortunately for my colleagues down in Texas, it's no cooler there: DaySan AntonioChicago Sun Aug 738°C30°C Mon Aug 838°C27°C Tue Aug 9 39°C27°C Wed Aug 1039°C25°C Thu Aug...

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...