The Daily Parker

Go hiking!

It’s not “purple mountains majesty” for hiking, Jason King knows, but Illinois, Indiana and southern Wisconsin, are not without charm — they’re free, they’re close, their trails are uncongested and they offer a solace and beauty all their own.

“I love Illinois, I’ve lived here all my life. If you like simplicity, if you like the feel of the wind blowing through the trees … there’s no place better,” King said.

One of King’s favorite solo hikes to “get the world behind me” is about 90 minutes away from Chicago near Gary, Indiana, in the little-used western part of Indiana Dunes National Park. The Paul H. Douglas center is currently closed but the namesake trail (1) winds through Miller Woods and across the Grand Calumet River. It was named after the Illinois senator who helped make the Dunes a national park. It’s a moderately challenging 3.5 miles out and back, partly through sand dunes — which make it a workout.

King identified 19 other trails near Chicago that reporter Zachary Nauth listed in the article. Maybe next weekend? Cassie would probably love all of them.

...that street flooding in Chicago is a feature, not a bug:

Chicago’s sewer network has an “inlet control valve system” that intentionally limits water intake during heavy rainfall events so as to not overwhelm the wastewater system, with the streets acting as a temporary holding area.

For that reason, the street flooding is normal, [Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th)] said. But residents who are experiencing over-the-curb basement flooding should file a ticket with 311 and reach out to local officials to report the issues, according to a city news release.

“If it’s flooding on the street, that’s intentional. If there’s flooding in the basement, submit the request so the Department of Water Management can follow up once the rain stops,” Vasquez said. 

To help avoid flooding, residents should also avoid running their dishwasher or washing machine during the storm and disconnect downspout connections from the sewer system and redirect water flow to areas with permeable surfaces where stormwater can be absorbed, officials said.

We got a few centimeters of water in our storage area, but fortunately most of us have our stuff up on pallets, and we have a shop vac. Cassie isn't getting a lot of walks today, though.

We haven't had a measurable rainfall in 12 days. Then, this morning:

Fortunately I got Cassie out right before it hit, because my front yard looks like this right now:

It should clear up by afternoon. I hope. (And so does Cassie.)

Cassie, on Thursday night, not letting me go to bed:

You're welcome.

So I'm going to have to postpone reading all of these:

• Isaac Chotiner interviews UT Law professor Steve Vladeck about whether former presidents deserve special treatment.
• Does the Republican Party even have a message this election cycle?
• Julia Ioffe argues that Vladimir Putin's "triumph of the will" turned out better than most people realize.
• Your mental model about what causes traffic is almost certainly wrong.
• From 2016, author Cixin Liu (The Three-Body Problem) examines contemporary Chinese science fiction.
• A new distillery-pub has opened in Skokie, and will go on the Brews & Choos list very soon. Alas, local favorite The Grafton will close for good on Sunday.
• London's Elizabeth Line (formerly known as Crossrail) will start Heathrow to Abbey Wood service in November—with 22 trains an hour.

And Cassie, who has not actually had much patience the last few minutes, will now get a walk.

If Cassie could (a) speak English and (b) understand the concept of "future" she would be quivering with anticipation about going to Ribfest tonight after school. Since she can't anticipate it, I'll do double-duty and drool on her behalf. It helps that the weather today looks perfect: sunny, not too hot, with a strong chance of delicious pork ribs.

Meanwhile, I have a few things to read on my commute that I didn't get to yesterday:

• Remember when psychiatrist Bandy Lee got shouted down when she warned that the XPOTUS would someday unleash violence on the country? And how the XPOTUS unleashed violence on the country just like she predicted?
• David Graham reminds us how the XPOTUS has hitherto avoided consequences for his dangerous and probably criminal behavior, and how he might finally have gone over a line not even Republicans can ignore. (David Rohde points to the line.)
• Jim Fallows once again provides an example of a Times headline framing the news in the most unhelpful way possible.
• Author Jon Henschen bemoans the decline of musical literacy brought about by the evisceration of school music programs over the past decades.
• The same decline in music programs—actually, in public education in general—happened in part because of a Christianist Republican hostility towards universal education.
• I hope no one who reads this blog needs reminding that you should never, ever plug an unknown USB device into your computer, but just in case you don't believe me, read up on the improved Rubber Ducky hacking tool.
• Most people have heard of the Chicxulub asteroid that wiped out non-avian dinosaurs 66 million years ago. But it now looks like that rock might have had a smaller cousin that also hit the planet.

Finally, as I ride on the UP-N commuter line in an hour or so, I can imagine what it will be like when the train gets a battery-powered locomotive in a few years.

The plan for today I announced Friday has gone without a hitch, though I decided not to take a nap. And, unfortunately, I had to do one productive thing: laundry.

Cassie has enjoyed every moment of couch time while I binge Sandman, so that's a plus.

Regular posting resumes tomorrow.

However, to get to Sunday, I have to finish a messy update to my work project, rehearse for several hours tomorrow, figure out a marketing plan for a product, and walk Cassie for hours.

I also want to read these things:

• Canada plans to ban handgun imports.
• Andrew Sullivan reflects on "the joy of doing nothing."
• James Fallows reflects on Dick Cheney's heart(s).
• Recent demolition work has uncovered 100-year-old advertising signs on the side of a building in Lakeview, which the developer will allow preservationists to keep.

And tonight I'm going to watch Neil Gaiman's Sandman on Netflix, which has gotten pretty good reviews.

So, what's going on today?

• Emma Green explains "how the Federalist Society won," which actually kept awake in the middle of the night on Tuesday.
• As a reminder that the true goal of the Federalist Society—and right-wing governments in general—is actually to transfer wealth from the poor to the rich, the Times explains how Alabama's criminal justice system essentially creates indentured servants from impoverished inmates.
• David Jolly, Christine Todd Whitman, and Andrew Yang have formed a centrist political party. I will watch this with interest. But the Onion might have the best take on it.
• John Pavlovitz states the obvious: actual Christians reject Christianism.
• Cranky Flier agrees that Spirit Airlines' board made the right choice going for JetBlue instead of Frontier.

Finally, I meant to post this earlier: Cassie, plotzed, after getting home from boarding Sunday night.

Ain't she purdy?

I couldn't decide which shot or aspect ratio to use, so you get a bonus photo:

She looks especially fine today after having two baths over the weekend. (I may drink Lake Michigan water, but that doesn't mean I want it tracked all through my house.)

Last year's birthday photo is here.