The Daily Parker

Chicago hit 28.3°C yesterday afternoon, breaking the record of 27.7°C set in 1887 and tied in 1941:

The new high mark lasted for at least three hours Thursday and towered above typical temperatures for mid-April, weather service data showed.

Standard April 13 high marks average 15°C, with lows usually [just above freezing].

But despite summer warmth waiting in the wings, the beach-worthy weather is poised to soon go away, if only temporarily, as another system brings cooler weather to Chicago.

Despite the chilly change, warmth-loving Chicagoans have little to complain about this year. Temperatures were 2.1°C above normal throughout the winter months, another National Weather Service meteorologist told the Tribune last week.

I can't remember turning on the air conditioning this early before, at least not in Chicago. (I've spent time in Richmond, Va., and Houston, Texas before.)

It all goes away tomorrow night, though. Pity.

Yesterday's temperature at O'Hare got up to 17°C, with a forecast of 17°C again today. Just perfect for a 4 km walk (in each direction) to Horner Park DFA, where Cassie met tons of new friends and stole dozens of their toys (she gave them back):

Today's plan calls for a Ride in the Car! (I need groceries) and another 10 km or so of walkies.

We get about 30 days a year this perfect, so we use them. Pity I have to go into my downtown office tomorrow...

Life is skittles and life is beer!

Seriously, just check out this forecast:

Today

Sunny, with a high near 7. East northeast wind 15 to 20 km/h.

Tonight

Mostly clear, with a low around 3. Northeast wind 10 to 15 km/h becoming southeast after midnight.

Saturday

Sunny, with a high near 12. South southeast wind 15 to 20 km/h becoming east northeast in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 30 km/h.

Saturday Night

Mostly clear, with a low around 4. East wind 10 to 15 km/h.

Sunday

Sunny, with a high near 13. Southeast wind 10 to 15 km/h, with gusts as high as 25 km/h.

Sunday Night

Partly cloudy, with a low around 7.

Monday

Partly sunny, with a high near 18.

Monday Night

Mostly clear, with a low around 9.

Tuesday

Sunny, with a high near 21.

Tuesday Night

Mostly clear, with a low around 12.

Wednesday

Sunny, with a high near 23.

Wednesday Night

Clear, with a low around 12.

Thursday

Sunny, with a high near 24.

That's about as perfect an April week as we can get.

Oh, and check out this girl, who lost 3.6 kg since her last vet visit. That means she only has 800 grams to go before hitting her ideal weight:

She's fitting into her harness again. Now, if I could just lose 5 kg, that would be great.

I spent all day updating my real job's software to .NET 7, and to predominantly asynchronous operation throughout. Now I have four stubbornly failing unit tests that lead me to suspect I got something wrong in the async timing somewhere. It's four out of 507, so most of today's work went fine.

Meanwhile, the following stories have backed up:

• The Economist wonders what our friends should think of the XPOTUS's dog and pony show.
• Alex Shephard worries that television and cable news just don't have the skill to cover the 2024 election, after seeing their "dumb, desperate" coverage of the XPOTUS's indictment.
• Justice Clarence Thomas (R) has rich Republican friends who took him and his ethically-challenged wife on luxury vacations, but never disclosed them as required by law, adding to his legendary status as poster child for term limits.
• Paul Krugman can't figure out why Republican voters keep electing people who want them dead.
• Illinois had a cool, wet start to spring, but we're about to have a heat wave, with temperatures predicted to hit 11°C (20°F) above normal next week.

Finally, a very rich person is very annoyed after his or her private jet got stuck in the mud at Aspen's airport. It seems the guy sent to pull it out of the mud maybe needed another lesson on how planes work, because he managed to snap the nose gear right off the $3.5 million airplane. Oopsi. (There's video!)

Cassie and I ran the last block of our first walk of the day because I underestimated how fast a squall line was moving. You know what comes after a squall line? A cold front:

Because who doesn't love a 10°C temperature drop in 2 hours?

The forecast for the rest of the week is for gradually warming temperatures and dry skies.

After having the 4th-mildest winter in 70 years, the weather hasn't really changed. Abnormally-warm February temperatures have hung around to become abnormally-cool March temperatures. I'm ready for real spring, thank you.

Meanwhile...

• ProPublica reports on the bafflement inside the New York City Council about how to stop paying multi-million-dollar settlements when the NYPD violates people's civil rights—a problem we have in Chicago, for identical reasons—but haven't figured out that police oversight might help. (One Daily Parker reader suggested taking the money out of the police pension fund.)
• A bill moving through Florida's legislature would address suburban sprawl by redefining it. (Want to bet a real-estate developer lobbied for this one?)
• A ransomware attack a few weeks ago has affected up to 130 organizations, according to researchers and online boasts from the attackers.
• United Airlines wants to start air-taxi service between the Loop and O'Hare by 2025, using electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) airplanes.

Finally, I laughed out loud at the YouGov survey that found 46% of American men who have never flown an airplane think they could land an air transport with only some help from Air Traffic Control. I laughed because I do know how to fly a plane, and I don't think I could land a 787 well enough to use the plane again under any circumstances without a few dozen simulator hours. In fact, I would probably spend several crucial minutes trying to figure out how to change the radio to 121.5 and the transponder to 7700. But hey, the United States put Dunning and Kruger on the map, so this seems about right to me.

Welcome to March in Chicago, where the temperature drops 20°C in 31 hours:

This morning's -10.7°C was the coldest temperature in Chicago since the night of February 3rd-4th. What a strange winter.

Check back on Wednesday when it's back above 10°C.

We had four completely-overcast days in a row, including one with some blowing snow, so I'm happy today has been completely clear. Tomorrow might even get above 10°C—which would at least get into normal March temperatures. This whole winter has been weird, as the next few will likely be until temperature increases start leveling out.

In other news:

• ICANN's blog has a brief post from Kim Davies, who regularly contributes to the Time Zone Database, on how the TZDB actually works.
• US Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) squarely blames the XPOTUS for repealing parts of the Dodd-Frank Act that she says would have prevented the Silicon Valley Bank collapse this past weekend.
• Lia Russell outlines how the nightmare "Silicon Valley economy" makes just getting by harder for more people every day.
• In yet another instance of former Chicago mayor Richard J Daley negotiating a really bad contract for the city (but probably a great one for his pals), we still have to pay tens of millions of dollars per year in interest on the 2003 destruction renovation of Soldier Field.
• Helaine Olen bemoans the disappearance of human beings in customer service.

Finally, Bruce Schneier and Nathan Sanders explain how AI could write our laws in the future.

We had several options for group activities today. I did not choose the golf or spring training options. I chose this:

I should have photos of this and other bits (including two extra Brews & Choos stops!) over the weekend.

Why set an alarm when your hotel room looks east?

And hey: Arizona has topography! Also not something we really get back home.