Events

Parker and I took our first walk in pouring rain, but things seem to have cleared up. The Tribune expects OK weather for the 1:20 start: Despite a wet, gloomy and cool start to the day, conditions should improve dramatically this afternoon in time for the Cubs opener. Temperatures around 7°C this morning will rebound into the teens later today with the passage of a warm front. The Cubs, now 2-4 for the season and having already replaced their benighted reliever Carlos Marmol, would at least not lose a...

From Randall Munroe, an especially brilliant comic this morning:

Chicago has finally gotten up to 21°C for the first time since December 1st. My screens are back in, my dog got some good walks, and my apartment is fresher. I just hope it's like this on Monday.

It's unclear whether Arizona State Representative Bob Thorpe (R) thinks legislators there are in danger, or he just wants to sell body armor. Either way, he seems to have figured out how to realize dystopia: State Rep. Bob Thorpe (R) sent an email on Thursday to all Arizona House and Senate members, inviting them to attend an event this coming Wednesday at the capitol, where someone from a company called Arizona Tactical is scheduled to educate lawmakers about the protective vests it sells. In his...

ICYMI: James Fallows looks at United Airlines diverting a flight because a passenger complained. I found a blog about urban sustainability I probably won't have time to read, even though it's interesting. The Cubs have been in first place all season. (They're 2-1.) This is the coldest April opening in 20 years, with Saturday's predicted 19°C temperature the warmest Chicago will have been in 18 weeks. Singer-songwriter Antje Duvekot has a new video. Back to the mines.

Instead of a bunch of stoplights and crosswalks—and a bunch of accidents involving pedestrians—the village of Poyndon, 20 km north of Manchester, created shared space at its busiest crossroads: Now, a year after construction wrapped up, a video called "Poynton Regenerated" makes the case that the shared space scheme maintains a smooth flow of traffic while simultaneously making the village center a more attractive and safer place for pedestrians, leading to increased economic activity downtown. In the...

Back in November, Chicagoans voted to buy electricity in the aggregate from Integrys rather than the quasi-public utility Exelon. As predicted, the big savings only lasted a few months: And Chicago, where residents saw their first electric-bill savings this month under a 5.42-cent-per-kilowatt-hour deal completed in December with Integrys, will see its energy savings shaved to just 2 percent. ComEd's new price is not yet official. But utility representatives have filed their new energy price of 4.6...

First, TPM on why the FAA closed contract towers and how this is in fact the fault of the very people complaining about them: Sequestration is hitting the Department of Transportation like almost every other cabinet-level department. But unlike other departments, most of its employees work for one agency — the Federal Aviation Administration — and most of that agency’s employees are air traffic controllers. Because of that, sequestration is forcing FAA to furlough employees, institute a hiring freeze...

Wrapping up my day, reading irrelevancies and trivia online, I had occasion to Google one of my favorite lines, "Better a witty fool than a foolish wit." I am horrified and saddened to report that the first site in the search results was "No Fear Shakespeare," to which I refuse to link out of love for the English language. Orwell was right, as always: Now that I have made this catalogue of swindles and perversions, let me give another example of the kind of writing that they lead to. This time it must...

In honor of the new year, here's a round-up of today's unexpected news items: Usability expert Jakob Nielsen advocates usability features for cats. Google has announced a scratch-and-sniff app for your Android device. Virgin America will acquire Alitalia. Game of Thrones star Peter Dinklage will leave the series next season. Updates as the situation warrants.