Just now on Talking Points Memo: "At the moment, it's Rudy about 300 votes ahead of Ron Paul."

Stop the presses!

Today is already the warmest January 7th ever recorded in Chicago (right now 17°C), and if the temperature hits 19°C, it'll be the warmest January day ever.

Stay tuned.

Just three days ago, Thursday morning, the temperature in Chicago sank to -18°C, with a wind chill of -23°C. Right now, it's 16°C. Did I mention it's the beginning of January?

I'm so happy the U.S. has taken the lead against global warming.

"I'd rather be down here wishing I were up there, than the opposite." So goes the aviation axiom. But this morning, with its 3 km visibilities and 30 m—yes, thirty meters—ceiling, I have postponed a checkout flight for the third time in a row.

Here's how weather can be really frustrating. I kept track of my flights (or lack thereof) during the summer of 1999 when I was trying to get my certificate, and put together a Web page to chronicle the frustration.

Two notes about the page: first, I haven't maintained the page since 9 December 1999, so all the links to the actual flights are dead (I used to have an online log book, and I will again someday...); and second, information about anything in 2008 may not be current, like the flight school's rules.

I've had a number of conversations with friends recently about the 2008 elections. A couple are afraid we're going to repeat the 2004 elections, in which we Democrats believed the day before the election we were going to win, but woke up the day after to a brave old world.

Today we've seen the first hard number that shows, without a doubt, we're going to rout the Republicans this year: tonight, an all-time record 227,000 Democrats caucused in Iowa, almost double the number in 2004.

We're mad as hell, and we're not going to take it any more.

Gotta love Chicago weather. Right now it's -18°C outside, which is the point where Chicagoans are allowed to complain about the cold without looking wimpy. It builds character. And I do have to get to my office, but you know? I don't want to go out there. Even Parker lasted just long enough to do his business before sprinting back to the door like his tail was on fire. (Of course, that could have been about breakfast and not about the cold.)

But this being Chicago, the forecast calls for 10°C weather on Saturday. A 28°C rise in two days? Heck, I've seen that happen in two hours...

I noticed as I was leaving the office Monday that my cactus changed:

Nothing, not rain, not sleet, not 15 cm of snow on the ground, can keep Parker from a tennis ball:

Now London—and officially, the enitre world, as it's now midnight UTC.