Events

Parker never told me his exact birthdate. The shelter said the six Pomona Puppies—Parker, Polly, Pepper, Petey, Penny, and Poppy—were 11 weeks old when I met them on 1 September 2006, so I just counted back to June 16th. The shelter also said Parker’s dad was a 40-kilo German shepherd dog and his mom was a 7-kilo beagle/rat terrier mix. My vet said a DNA test “would likely say he’s a dog,” so I never got him one. When people asked what kind of dog he was, I would say "black." Parker's Petfinder mugshot...

Parker never told me his exact birthdate. The shelter said the six Pomona Puppies—Parker, Polly, Pepper, Petey, Penny, and Poppy—were 11 weeks old when I met them on 1 September 2006, so I just counted back to June 16th. The shelter also said Parker’s dad was a 40-kilo German shepherd dog and his mom was a 7-kilo beagle/rat terrier mix. My vet said a DNA test “would likely say he’s a dog,” so I never got him one. When people asked what kind of dog he was, I would say "black." Parker's Petfinder mugshot...

Parker, about half an hour after into our first meeting, 1 September 2006:

No, not a reference to a now-famous article of amendment to the US Constitution. One of my favorite movies, The American President, was released 25 years ago today. I plan to watch it again tonight.

While I wait for my frozen pizza to cook, I've got these stories to keep me company: Jakob Nielsen has updated his classic article "10 usability heuristics for UI design." Steve Coll tries to figure out what the president gets out of contesting Biden's win. Paul Krugman looks at the way half the country ignores the science in ending the pandemic and despairs at how we can forestall climate change. Patrick Smith reminds us that we've gone more than 19 years since the last major US air carrier...

One more baby Parker photo, this one from Meramec State Park on 13 October 2006:

Another re-edit of an old favorite. I took this just before 7am on 5 October 2006, at Parker's first or second visit to Bardwell Park:

I lied; I'm doing one more thing of value before heading back to my couch and book. A few days ago I re-edited one of my favorite photos of Parker from his first few weeks with me: Other than a slight adjustment to the crop, some exposure and color correction, and a tiny bit of dodging around his eyes, I didn't do a lot. I think it's a better photo now though: I expect you'll see quite a few Parker photos in the days and weeks to come.

Happy Sunday. Tonight the sun sets in Chicago at 4:30pm, and won't set after 4:30 again until New Year's Eve. So in the few hours of daylight I have left, I'll read a few things: A low pressure area northeast of Chicago has brought 100 km/h winds to the area, but at least it won't snow today. Entomologists in Washington State eradicated a "small" nest containing several hundred murder hornets. They worry a couple of queens might have escaped. The BBC fact-checked rumors that 10,000 dead people voted in...

Remember the hurricane season of 2005, where we got the 27th named storm at the end of December and it finally dissipated on January 6th? Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Tropical Storm Iota, the 30th named storm of 2020: At 400 AM EST (0900 UTC), the center of Tropical Storm Iota was located near latitude 13.5 North, longitude 74.8 West. Iota is moving toward the west-southwest near 5 mph (7 km/h). A westward motion with some increase in forward speed is expected to begin later today and continue...