Think I’m gonna go see the beaver people today.

Tidied up my ancient Flickr group for photos of the Chicago Municipal Device, a Y-shaped symbol that's hiding in plain sight all over our fair city. www.flickr.com/groups/chica...

i wrote about how much i love brick. if you love brick too you should read will quam’s book all about brick. but first read my review of his book.

#Chicago City Council is considering an important update to the city’s native pollinator ordinance that could use your support! Right now, residents can be fined if their native plants grow taller than 10 inches in parkways even if registered openlands.salsalabs.org/NativeandPol...

@sfederico.bsky.social We enjoyed your set!

They call it “nerd prom” and shit those people are the least nerdy journalists I know.

So say we all, kid.

Every spring, I plant native perennials in my high-floor balcony garden, in the hope that they might tolerate the wind, and survive the winter in containers. Few make it, but it’s fun when one does. Looks like a banger year for the milkweed!

Current status: Politely emailing my favorite daily read about their choice to migrate a newsletter to Substack this week.

MuckRock has a rare part-time (~15 hrs/week) front-end dev role opening! Flexible scheduling, 100% distributed team, 100% open source work that drives transparency, journalism and civic engagement. Expected pay starts at $80/hr depending on experience. docs.google.com/document/u/1...

@kutx.bsky.social just played this one and it broke me youtu.be/FeV7A6VWjL8

Thin-cut smoked pork chops are my favorite convenience food.

In 2012, not long before the great Roger Ebert died, he published one of the finest, tightest essays ever composed about the ineffable nostalgic perfections of chain restaurants, a celebration of his beloved Steak ‘n Shake and its unchanging, ever-delicious burgers and fries. (Link at end of 🧵)

One time, Eddy Cue visited NPR HQ and I cornered him with my pitch: Streaming radio as alarm tones. Like how we used to use clock radios. Still seems like a good idea, IMO, but I’d guess that today people have moved on from that experience.

Unsoaked salted oven beans go against everything you may have learned, but it gives tender, whole flavorful beans. Pressure cooker is faster, but there's a lot of split beans.

A perfect four hours of television, especially relevant in these times. The music will hook ya, and the history is essential.

Sunday morning is here again. Time to make the beans! This week’s batch is a bag I haven’t tried before from @ranchogordo.bsky.social: www.ranchogordo.com/products/chi...

If you’ve gotta eat gluten-free, I highly recommend living in a city where you can buy great corn tortillas at any grocery store, and also buying a cheap toaster oven.

With the Trump administration switching into anti-Catholic overdrive this week, I wrote about a time a hundred years ago when Catholic students from Notre Dame beat the shit out of the Klan. A feel good story for the ages. dansinker.com/posts/2026-0...

On the last day of her internship with NPR News Apps, Shelly Tan showed up to work with art. She’d spent the past few months coding — we had no idea! Finally got mine framed. :)

Love to see a good person’s good work recognized

Because you all like Noguchi, a reminder that there is a big, beautiful show on all of his design work that just opened at the High Museum in Atlanta high.org/exhibition/n... I wrote about all of his playgrounds for the catalog www.rizzoliusa.com/book/9780847...

The former headquarters of Magic Chef in St. Louis, now operating as a U-Haul, featuring a recently restored ceiling installation by Isamu Noguchi which had been, for years, concealed by a drop ceiling.

I used to joke that I was a bean influencer and TIL they actually exist. Anyway live your best Bean Life™️ on beantips.com

You can always count on Phineas for an excellent Municipal Device

Made a riff on my bean and fish chowder, with lemongrass and ginger, topped with Thai basil. Gotta publish this one! The original recipe is damn tasty too: beantips.com/not-too-fanc... (Sign up for bean tips in your inbox!)

Hot take: I like the Obama Presidential Center...especially as viewed from the Columbia Basin ringed with blooming cherry blossoms. It's like Chicago has it's own, modern, Washington-esque moment

They’re playing We’ll Meet Again on @kutx.bsky.social and I really don’t want to check the news

96% of the CrossTowner regional rail network has already been built. It’s time to build the final 4%: it’s time to #BuildTheTunnel. Learn more: BuildTheTunnelChicago.org

I’d like to personally thank @vocalo-chicago.bsky.social for dropping Good Life just as I sent my final work email of the week. youtu.be/RdpZTe69Wes

Thing about having a young kid is that it forces you into a normal routine even when nothing is normal and I’m all outta normal

In case y’all need more space photography nerd stuff: 11 years ago, we did a good thing with Reid Wiseman. apps.npr.org/lookatthis/p...

Everything is hard, but soup helps. Give yourself a present.

Everything is hard, but soup helps. Give yourself a present.

Been meaning to publish this one for *months* and instead I just cooked it over and over again and ate it and didn't post cuz sometimes posting is hard. beantips.com/red-lentil-t...

Easter Sunday in northern Michigan. Grocery stores are closed. Guess I’m making… pantry risotto.

That the broadcasters, who’ve always valued scale, are going that way says it all about the web ad/click business: It’s cooked.

Map nerds! 🚨

It’s weird how people think space travel is what makes the Star Trek utopia It is who humanity chooses to be, how it chooses to distribute power, that is what produces the utopian elements

Good morning to everyone except the dipshit editors continuing to take pitches from Rahm Emanuel's publicist

Needed new specs last week and bought wire frames for the first time. Unambiguously not this crap

Weese alert!

I’m going to wheatpaste this article to telephone poles until everyone reads it

Oh my

Wooo! (so tired) Spring break! (with a kid)

Many moons ago I used to give a talk to coding bootcamps about how to be a web developer. It was very popular and I gave it over 30 times. At long last I have got around to making it into a website, so more people can read it: stuffeverybodyknows.com

An American kestrel perches on an "IMPORTANT BIRD AREA" sign in the Montrose Beach Dunes.

Cheers to shadows and artists who include them.

Tina is now in the lead, raising rent and grocery money for families in Minnesota who had to hide from ICE. givebutter.com/c/chicken-ou...

When did you first become radicalized?