still there

I'm still amused by that one week at the end of the fiscal year when for the same donation amount one alma mater entered me to win an art history tour in Italy curated by a distinguished professor and the other sent me a soft-sided beach cooler that can hold 24 cans

⭐ + 🥦

he's doing it again

Laurie! Live!@laurie-merrell.bsky.social · 2mo ago

when my dog lies on his back, his upside down face looks like a bat. so I think maybe bats right side up look like dogs

A red-tailed hawk this morning in Calvary Cemetery, Evanston. It was in this tree for a long time while a couple of squirrels were sitting very still.

Film is so rad

Current* conditions near Petoskey, MI:

Manitowoc Skycam!

Lake Michigan! Live!@lake-michigan.live · 9h ago

Current* conditions near Manitowoc, WI:

Current* conditions near Manitowoc, WI:

chicago! come out to pilsen community books on 8/25 from 6:30-8:30 pm to discuss the politics of public space. @katieprout.bsky.social will be talking about encampment sweeps in public parks. and i’ll be unpacking the cook county jail’s new “trauma-informed” visitors center.

Join us at The Politics of Public Space - Chicago Reader

A moderated panel and group discussion. Tuesday, August 25th at Pilsen Books, 6:30-8:30 PM.

chicagoreader.com

🥢 + 🎷

how realtime transit tracking works, which is why I wrote a blog post about it lauriemerrell.com/posts/realti...

Realtime Transit Data Primer

An overview of how realtime data gets from a transit vehicle to you (the rider) and how to think about the data quality issues you experience.

lauriemerrell.com

Riley Bruce@rileybruce.bsky.social · 2d ago

What’s a thing from your area of expertise (or special interest) that you think it would behoove everyone else to know?

poll: with which bus route do you have the most complex relationship?

lucaisharsh@lucaisharsh.bsky.social · 9h ago

151 bus my frenemy

Current* conditions near Chicago, IL:

📣📣 West Town folks 📣📣 Join CDOT & CTA next Monday evening to learn about some exciting safety improvements coming to Chicago Avenue, including bump-outs, pedestrian refuge islands, hardened centerlines, bus boarding islands & more. Come see what’s planned! 🚶🚲🚌 www.chicago.gov/city/en/site...

Current* conditions near Milwaukee, WI:

Station retail isn't just a revenue generator for a transit agency, it's also providing amenities for transit users. Every vacant storefront in a station is a missed opportunity, and it's not like the agency is collecting rent on a vacant stall either.

Blair Lorenzo / The Fox and the City@thefoxandthecity.com · yesterday

Hey, the MTA is finally trying to lease out some of its subway retail spaces again. I always maintain that these are a golden opportunity: even at de minimus rent vendors offer safety, amenity, and activity to any transit system.

when I say that I enjoy living in Rogers Park because it's outside the Nonsense Zone, the Air & Water Show is one of the things I mean

This is a really...thing-focused perspective. I wrote about exactly this in my book HOW INFRASTRUCTURE WORKS -- the quotidian luxury of our homes compared to the past -- and I still think the real change is our *collective* infrastructural systems for electricity, water, communications, and more.

Saloni@scientificdiscovery.dev · 2w ago

This is a really beautiful website by @jdworkin.bsky.social on the everyday household items that were once only dreamt about – a music player, nightlight, family photos, clean water, ice, spices, and more. 10/10 would recommend exploring it! ordinaryabundance.com

🍶 + 😑

deleted my Bears joke because Soren is right and just

Soren Spicknall@sorenspicknall.bsky.social · 2mo ago

As a far south sider I am once again compelled to emphasize that Hammond, Indiana directly borders Chicago, has extremely close ties to the far south and southeast side, and is closer to the city than the proposed Arlington Heights site, regardless of the stupidity of the Bears' plans to move out.

If you are wondering why there's no air show practice today even though the rain isn't hitting Chicago it is because it raining over the staging airport in Gary, IN.

Very heavy morning of ICE activity in Chicago. Area rapid responders report a detainment outside another south side Home Depot, plus one person taken near a McDonald's on the southwest side and another taken in the South Loop area. That puts us at at least five reported detainments so far today.

Dave Byrnes@djbyrnes1.bsky.social · 19h ago

Chicagoland rapid responders are reporting federal agents have been active on Chicago's southwest side this morning. Reports of at least two people taken, possibly more, near a Home Depot on 46th & Western. Immigration agents have targeted that Home Depot, and the area around it, since last year.

Current* conditions near St. Ignace, MI:

🌀 + 🍪

weirdly emotional about the pictures of beluga whales suspended in the air

Starting this school year, getting around Chicago will cost less for K–12 students. CTA and Pace student fares will be standardized at 75¢ per ride, any time of day, year-round, while Metra will continue offering reduced student fares at all times. 🚌🎒 Learn more: www.rtachicago.org/about-rta/pr...

phone just autocorrected Zelle to "Zeke" and y'know why not. I'd trust a payment app named Zeke

Yes!!

Jack Sheehan@jacksheehan.bsky.social · 18h ago

Something different (read: not depressing) this week from me in the Irish Times. I’ve been fascinated by the little stories in YouTube comments for a long time and during the PhD hit on the idea of them as an accidental, international oral history archive. www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2026...

it’s ok Edmund Fitzgerald, I’m a Great Lakes wreck too