Events

Nearly 65% of the lower 48 United States has snow cover, including parts of every state except for the seven between Louisiana and South Carolina. Chicago, for reasons not well understood, has just a trace on the ground and has gone 314 days without 25 mm of snow, 4 days short of the record set in 1940. Since we have no significant snow in the forecast, it looks like we'll break that record too. Other records threatened: number of days without 25 mm total snowfall accumulation, 312 (record is 313)...

The 6-10 day outlook for the U.S. looks warm: Forecasters predict temperatures above 10°C in Chicago by Wednesday before the weather cools to more normal January levels the following weekend. This comes after 2012 officially became Chicago's warmest year ever (or at least since we started keeping records in 1871), and during a continuing drought that has nearly shut down the Mississippi River. Well, you know, warm, dry springs are very nice in Chicago...so are mild winters...

It seems I got ahead of events in my post last night. Chicago Public Radio clarified this morning what's going on in the General Assembly: Before it even went to committee, legislators debated not gay marriage, but the process they’ll use to discuss the issue. Republican State Sen. Dale Righter said it’s hard for the public to follow bills as they move around the Statehouse, and the issue shouldn’t be rushed. Senators voted 28-24, in effect stalling the bill. But the gay marriage issue could still be...

House Bill 5170 will very likely go to the Illinois House for a vote before Tuesday, and if it does, it will pass and receive Governor Quinn's signature a few hours later: The Illinois Marriage and Dissolution of Marriage Act is amended by changing Sections 201, 209, and 212 and by adding Section 220 as follows: (750 ILCS 5/201) (from Ch. 40, par. 201) Sec. 201. Formalities.) A marriage between 2 persons a man and a woman licensed, solemnized and registered as provided in this Act is valid in this...

Sigh. Zipcar, short-term rental car service that has occasionally made my life a lot easier, just got swallowed by Avis: Zipcar Inc. has been growing as more people in urban areas forgo owning a car and instead tap car-sharing and hourly rental services when they need a vehicle. The company’s third-quarter sales grew 15% to $78.2 million while its membership (renters) grew 18% to more than 767,000. Zipcar earned $4.3 million in the three-month period and has said it expected 2012 to be the first full...

The Atlantic's Conor Friedersdorf takes on the troubling contradiction between right-wing support of the 2nd Amendment at the expense of a few others: It's one thing to argue that gun control legislation is a nonstarter, despite tens of thousands of deaths by gunshot per year, because the safeguards articulated in the Bill of Rights are sacrosanct. I can respect that... but not from people who simultaneously insist that 3,000 dead in a terrorist attack justifies departing from the plain text of the...

In 2012: I took 15 trips, visiting 2½ countries (England, France, Wales) and 9 states (Wisconsin, New York, California, Minnesota, Florida, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Georgia); flew 25 flight segments for 67,647 km; and drove 7,600 km. The Daily Parker grew by 535 entries, ticking along at an average of 1.48 entries per day (as it has since December 2010). I spent 189 hours walking Parker, 112 hours blogging, 222 hours commuting to work, 2,219 hours working for someone else, and 174 hours working for...

Well, here we are, just the seven point one billion of us. Here's the situation: Depending on how you reckon things, it's 平成25年, ԹՎ ՌՆԿԲ, or 12013. American children born this month will likely graduate from high school in 2031 and from college in 2035. Children born in 1992 can legally drink in the United States. Those born in 1995 can vote in the U.S. (and drink in Britain). That means it's been 21 years since Boutros Boutros-Ghali became U.N. Secretary-General, 21 years since President George H.W....

...started in the Pacific about 14 hours ago. I guess we made it, unless everything east of London has vanished and I just haven't heard yet. Happy new year. Don't forget that auld lang syne.

Thinking of making a change? "Slip out the back, Jack" just not literary enough for you? The Atlantic has some examples of break-up letters by literary figures from history. For example, Anaïs Nin: But in the middle of this fiery and marvellous give and take, going out with you was like going out with a priest. The contrast in temperature was too great. So I waited for my first chance to break—not wanting to leave you alone. You ought to know my value better than to think I can be jealous of the poor...