boom boom pow

Henry and Simon...amazing dog pals.





Brian's 30th BD celebration in Chicago...Let's goooooooooo!



Navy P.













Memorial Day BBQ Grillmasters.



Kim's backyard/secret garden. Gotta get get.

open-source community

sweet stuff

The 6-day forecast is sunny/partly sunny and 70, 70, 80, 73, 70, and 70. Yesterday when we were tossing the Frisbee in Humboldt Park, Jessica was saying how, because of the sun and springtime, she and Chicago are finally getting back together...like, in a relationship. I can see what she means. Weather-wise, it's usually so complicated here. A little consistency can be attractive.

Come to the H-Dubs Library tonight (that would be Harold Washington). Ariel and I are selling bks for an event w/ Michael Pollan, writer and proprietor of maybe the world's cutest writing home/hideaway. Anyway, I'm guessing he'll be defending food and talking about dilemmas faced by omnivores and stuff—a reiteration of this principle: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."

Speaking of food, stop by this site soon (an awesome food blog/"digest digest" that's part of the Portland-based Urban Honking community) for updates on my and David's trip to the All Candy Expo, taking place this wk. at McCormick Place. That's right: ALL candy, ALL under one roof. How can I not be stoked for a conference organized under the slogan "It's All About Sweets & Snacks"?! Answer: I cannot.

Also, gots to get to the Modern Wing this week. Anyone wanna go? How about Olafur Eliasson? Haven't seen the exhibition yet, but I liked this review in Newcity: "Wind is a fan dangling from a cord. Sunlight is a thousand-watt bulb.... All this follows the just-closed installation by Tiffany Holmes at the MCA, who showed how man’s power-drain stamps out nature’s spectacle. Eliasson, though, shrugs at such protests. His never-ceasing wonders depict a world without end."

Oh man, Beans & Bagels just got taken over by newborn babes and moms: four double-wide strollers w/ mtn. bike tires. Time to sign off and shove off....

the far-rolling fields she used to dream an ocean

Soon to be launched by some cool dudes...Knee-Jerk!

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Wrote a couple things for this wk's Time Out Chicago: The Modern Wing & Love and Obstacles. (Speaking of L&O, here's an interesting little tour of places in the bk.)

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"Pretend these are flowers on the surface of a distant planet..." Li'l dude knows more about space than anyone I've met. An astonomical amt.



Kaleidoscopic telescope in Winnemac Park.



Shep looks so cute. I look kinda creepy. Regardless, I am a very proud auntie.



Chris is moving to Brooklyn. Waah.



Handlebar with the ladies.







Bloodiest.



Then we went to Sports Authority to buy a new Frisbee to toss in Humboldt P. (Photo by J. Palu).



First Miko's o' the year.



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In conclusion:



For life.

mayday mayday

AEM and I were out celebrating her bday and walked into a Cinco de Mayo party in which we apparently could not not participate. When the piñata finally broke, it rained fruit-flavored tootsie rolls and beef jerky.



Cannot not stop to admire the springtime trees...



...definitely bringing their A game this month.



Impromptu Logan Blvd. hang.



Never going inside again....



On this point, I think Simon agrees.

air and fire

CoPro.



Beauty.



Hive Dwellers.



Fred contemplates his healthy decisions.



Cicero bunnies: friendly, fearless.



These two were just hanging out in a really dirty rock club (AKA Ronny's).



Logan Sq. Awesome Garden, Great Job!

to advanced spacefarers in the distant future

Currently wkg on an article about the 1977 Voyager Golden Record, the gold-plated copper disc launched into space aboard two unmanned scientific probes, Voyagers 1 and 2; a time capsule-ish collection of sounds and images (curated by Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan, &c) intended to reach the eyes and ears of extraterrestrials.... That is, if there are extraterrestrials.... That is, if the record can even reach them.... That is, if the extraterrestrials have eyes and ears and record players accommodating gold-plated copper discs....

As this RadioLab podcast explains, all of these "ifs" make it highly unlikely that any potential advanced spacefaring civilizations will ever encounter The Golden Record. But it is, nonetheless, a nice gesture of “wanting to become citizens of the cosmos.” Not to mention the sounds (particularly the “Sounds of Earth” portion, feat. audio of volcanoes, crickets, tractors, trains, humpback whale songs, footsteps, mud pots, Morse Code, tame dogs, wild dogs, wind, surf, &c) make for a fascinating listening experience and the images: a great, very 1970s scroll-through experience.

Despite the ambitiousness of this project—and, in many ways, because of it—"...The launching of this "bottle" into the cosmic "ocean" says something very hopeful about life on this planet." (C. Sagan)