Events

Maryland dentist Edward Gramson got taken for a ride by British Airways: When a North Bethesda, Maryland, dentist planned a trip to Portugal for a conference last September, he decided he'd quickly swing by Granada, Spain, to see the famed Alhambra and other historical sites. But carrier British Airways had other ideas, and instead sent Edward Gamson and his partner to Grenada — with an E — in the Caribbean, by way of London, no less. Gamson, who said he clearly told the British Airways agent over the...

As mentioned earlier, today is the first day of my new job. That means orientation, setting up a computer, navigating paperwork, etc. Then tonight the Cubs play Cincinnati at Wrigley (weather permitting), so I'll probably go straight from work to the field. So I'll probably be a little slow posting things this week.

First run

The Chicago Art Institute has released a video showing how conservator Faye Wrubel restored Caillebotte's masterpiece: The striking results of the restoration reveals greater saturation of color, sharper edges, and more contrast with an overall effect of more visual depth. Overpainting was removed from the once yellow sky, exposing a bluer surface with gradation indicating light and movement. “What we have been seeing all these years may have been beautiful, we may have all loved it, but it wasn’t...

Not quite, but in today's New York Times he tries to get Republican acceptance that climate change is real: We’re making the same mistake today with climate change. We’re staring down a climate bubble that poses enormous risks to both our environment and economy. The warning signs are clear and growing more urgent as the risks go unchecked. This is a crisis we can’t afford to ignore. I feel as if I’m watching as we fly in slow motion on a collision course toward a giant mountain. We can see the crash...

The flight from New York to Chicago takes two hours in the air, and is on-time if it takes three hours from gate to gate. Yesterday my flight was not on time: Late crew arrival: boarding starts at the scheduled departure time. APU inoperative: mechanic inspection and sign off takes 40 minutes. JFK on a Friday evening: 55 minutes from push-back to take-off. ILS inoperative on one of O'Hare's runways: take a 10-minute holding loop over Michigan. Landing runway 9L: spend 17 minutes taxiing to the gate....

It certainly felt like I was playing hooky this morning when I spent an hour here: ...looking at this: New York weather today will be clear and 27°C. I'm about to check out of my hotel, take a subway downtown, and do some intense nothing at a cafe.

Started in New York; on list 2014-05-22

When I get home I'll post a screen-shot from my phone showing how, at exactly the time I arrived in Manhattan tonight, the only rain cloud within the tri-state area was dumping its contents on Midtown. It felt like being at a Cubs game. However, the little cloud either dissipated or moved out over the Atlantic in short order, so I discovered that Hotwire had put me in a hotel only two blocks from the airport express bus stop, and within one block of hot, greasy, New York pizza. If I only have one night...