Events

Via Talking Points Memo, oy gevalt: An AP-Yahoo News poll found that pet owners favor McCain over Obama 42 percent to 37 percent, with dog owners particularly in McCain's corner. I mean, wow. Just when you think political reporting can't get stupider. That said, Parker, like his owner, supports Obama.

I have to go through O'Hare four times in the next three weeks, so this will affect me: Summer air travelers who use the Blue Line to get to and from O'Hare International Airport will face an inconvenience for most of July. Beginning Tuesday, Blue Line trains will go no farther than the Rosemont stop, the last one before the airport, because of work on the tracks. A 24-hour shuttle bus will begin running between the Rosemont station and O'Hare at 3 a.m. Tuesday. Normal train service is scheduled to...

I stopped to check email just now and found two odd things. I have the USGS earthquake feed on RSS. The USGS has deleted a number of 4.0+ magnitude earthquake reports tonight; it looks like fireworks are setting off the seismographs. But while I was laughing at that, I noticed a very real 7.6-magnitude earthquake near Kamchatka which, fortunately, does not appear to have caused a tsunami. A 7.6 is a big deal. The earthquake that levelled San Francisco in 1906 was about an 7.8. No one appears to have...

Yes, even Parker thinks this is cheesy:

Milestone: about 13 minutes ago, fewer than 200 days remain in the worst presidency in U.S. history. That is all.

I try not to be part of the blogosphere echo-chamber, but I think it's important people get what Josh Marshall is saying here: There's nothing odd or contradictory about Obama saying that he'll change the policy to one of withdrawal of American combat troops from Iraq with a specific timetable but that he will consult with his military advisors about how best to execute that policy. The simple truth is that this campaign offers a very clear cut choice on Iraq. One candidate believes that the US...

Via Bruce Schneier: Giraffe helps camels, zebras escape from circus Amsterdam police say 15 camels, two zebras and an undetermined number of llamas and potbellied swine briefly escaped from a traveling Dutch circus after a giraffe kicked a hole in their cage. Police spokesman Arnout Aben says the animals wandered in a group through a nearby neighborhood for several hours after their 5:30 a.m. breakout. The animals were back at the circus later Monday after being rounded up by police and circus workers...

It's time for the semi-annual update of the Chicago sunrise chart. (You can get one for your own location at http://www.wx-now.com/Sunrise/SunriseChart.aspx.) Date Significance Sunrise Sunset Daylight 2008 2 Jul 8:30pm sunset 05:20 20:30 15:09 16 Jul 5:30am sunrise 05:30 20:24 14:55 8 Aug 8pm sunset 05:52 20:00 14:08 16 Aug 6am sunrise 06:00 19:49 13:48 28 Aug 7:30pm sunset 06:13 19:30 13:17 15 Sep 6:30am sunrise; 7pm sunset 06:30 19:00 12:29 22 Sep Equinox, 10:44 CDT 06:39 18:48 12:08 25 Sep 12-hour...