Events

The Daily Parker uses the mostly-open-source dasBlog engine. The software has always offered two choices for how it creates permanent links (permalinks): titles and GUIDs. As you can see, we use GUIDs, so permalinks look like this: http://www.thedailyparker.com/PermaLink,guid,05976d99-b3cb-4391-9052-509832cbf5cf.aspx instead of like this: http://www.thedailyparker.com/About-This-Blog. I've been thinking that GUIDs, while always unique, are kind of ugly. This morning I tried changing the blog's...

This morning The Daily Parker received a press release from Gary Christen, responding to my analyses of their lawsuit against the guys who maintain the Posix time zone database (here, here, and here). Unfortunately for Christen, Astrolabe's response fails to rebut my central assertions. I said, essentially, they have failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted by a Federal court (or, as one of my colleagues who actually practices law suggested, their complaint is actionable in itself)....

Good idea: Drivers parking in public garages and lots in the central business district would pay an extra $2 on weekdays under Emanuel's plan. It would come on top of the current $3 city parking tax that goes into the general fund, officials said. The money generated by the new tax would be used to rebuild two CTA "L'' stations downtown (the specific stations are still to be determined) and launch a long-planned bus rapid transit system, officials said. For drivers who complain they already are paying...

That's what Fallows says the headline should be: Here is the headline in the online home page of the NYT, about Obama's "pass this jobs bill, pass it now" proposal. Note the word "fails": Obama's Jobs Bill Fails in Senate in First Legislative Test The subhead and the rest of the article make clear that more Senators voted for the bill than against it -- 50 to 49. It would have been 51-48 except for a parliamentary ruse by Majority Leader Harry Reid, who switched to a "No" vote so that he would later be...

I'm in San Antonio on business. I brought The Rogue with me, and this week's Economist. Unfortunately, I finished both on the flight down. Worse, I left my Kindle at home. Fortunately, there's a Barnes & Noble just a short distance away. Because what I really need right now is more books.

From reader DC, I present...Dog: And for those who were never children, "Ralph" is the mouse with the motorcycle.

Forty five years ago today, Simon and Garfunkel released Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme. "Scarborough Fair/Canticle," "The Dangling Conversation," "7 O'Clock News"—you can hear the '60s happening right on your iPod. Which is, in fact, what I am about to do.

I had some time yesterday afternoon, and the weather in Chicago was gorgeous, so I hopped on my bike. But where to go? How about on a route that was largely clear of traffic and had recently been swept clean by the city, like, say, this one. Good choice: I don't think I've ever ridden on cleaner roads in my life. Only, I left home too early, so near 18th and Ashland I caught up with the street sweepers: A dozen blocks farther on I had to wind my way through the garbage trucks, and then near 31st St I...

The women's leaders, Ethiopian Ejegayehu Dibaba, 29, and Russian Liliya Shobukhova, 33, run past the 9 km point during today's Chicago Marathon: 7:58 am CDT today, ISO-400, f/5 at 1/400, 55mm, here. At this writing Shobukhova is in the lead on a 5:17 pace with Dibaba 56 seconds behind her at the 30 km timing pad. And she has followers:

No, not for the Chicago Marathon, currently underway a city block from me. (Parker and I were cheering the runners on for the past hour.) Rather, Chicago yesterday set a record for most consecutive days with 100% sunshine since records began in the 1870s: With 100 percent sunshine today, it marks the 7th straight such day this month - tying the old record set back in October 10-16, 1934. A new October record could be set, if [Sunday], as forecast, turns out to be another day with 100 percent sunshine....