Events

I'm kicking myself for not riding Bike the Drive this morning. That's the annual, Memorial Day weekend closing of Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, all 30 km of it, for any bicyclist who ponies up the fee. I'm kicking myself because it's 19°C and sunny with a good breeze out of the South. Good biking weather. Along the way we both took a look at the skyline from Fullerton Ave., one of the best vantage points on the North Side: Even Parker wanted a look: And we wrapped up our short walk with some...

(I mean, other than because he loathes water.) No, it's about gasoline. I'm taking a summer vacation this year for the first time since 1992, and I had planned to load Parker and his smelly blanket into my Volkswagen and drive to San Francisco with him. Only, I just filled up my car this morning, and for the first time ever I crested $50. For gasoline. In my bleeding Volkswagen. Which caused me to whip out a spreadsheet and determine conclusively whether driving with Parker out to California makes any...

Via reader TC, Uncle Oinker's Bacon-Scented Bacon Print Tuxedo.

It seems text-message shorthand sorely vexes the French. Well, some of them, anyway: "Look at what text-messaging is doing to the French language," lamented President Nicolas Sarkozy in February. "If we let things go, in a few years we will have trouble understanding each other." Most secondary-school pupils have their own mobile telephones, and they use an abbreviated phonetic language to communicate. A2M1, for instance, means à demain, or "see you tomorrow." JTM is je t'aime (I love you). Or try: Ta...

Princeton economist Paul Krugman on how "old Europe" shows the U.S. how it can deal with high gas prices: If Europe’s example is any guide, here are the two secrets of coping with expensive oil: own fuel-efficient cars, and don’t drive them too much. Notice that I said that cars should be fuel-efficient — not that people should do without cars altogether. In Germany, as in the United States, the vast majority of families own cars (although German households are less likely than their U.S. counterparts...

For the last few years, I've found so few things Chris Matthews says that I agree with. Knowing what "appeasement" means, however, we agree on. Via Talking Points Memo, a right-wing ninny gets smacked down.