I was not prepared for just how bad the smoke was going to be today. We've had wildfire smoke problems before, but I can only remember one occasion when it was this bad and I think I just never left my apartment that day.

371 Kent Rd. Riverside, Illinois. 1948, R. Harold Zook, architect

Hats off to Ruth Eddings for her uncredited role as a dancing Goldwyn Girl in the pre-Code musical comedy Whoopee! (1930). Photo by Kenneth Alexander.

Ok #portfolioday - Here some work, I do gothic stuff, oh you know, some blood, some dead things. Medieval graphic design, book covers. Hire me.

Exhibit designers will see an orthocone and think "put that thing in an aquarium"

They are calling Chicago the Tokyo of America

I looked up Arco's most prominent local landmark, and although there's a completely mundane explanation for it, it looks a mite disquieting

new #a2council banger just dropped

I remember walking by this one last time I was in Beverly – nice to see that the inside (mostly) matches the outside

it’s so bleakly funny to me that we discovered a heap of math that exposes questions about the nature of problem solving and people want to sell us on using it to write work emails.

I wrote to my alder, finance committee vice chair Conway, about this bad plan that invests in more cars and driving, and $0 in transit

The world became completely unrecognizable while I wasn't looking

Wiggly little fossils found in Illinois reveal that our early, amphibious ancestors didn't metamorphose like frogs do today. Last week's newsletter article, now free on my blog! To support writing like this and see it first, subscribe to my newsletter on Buttondown. buttondown.com/restingdinof...

Love Is Every Where BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE BEWARE

oh god this is also why reading LLM generated code is *exhausting*; you can infer a subtext channel in human code which comprseses a LOT, but you have to actually *read every fucking letter* of LLM code because all submetatext is corrupt.

A Green Heron goes into maximum neck mode to grab a tadpole and then resets into minimum neck mode after the snack was acquired.

Current* conditions near Chicago, IL:

The merdeer, enduring symbol of the Great Lakes region

Wait everyone shut up for a second: the discovery of the Brachiosaurus holotype is at the exact midpoint between the founding of the United States and today (July 4, 1901)

american independence day is still months away

Branko Šotra (1906-1960)

The authoritative word on the holiday: masshumanities.org/wp-content/u...

For Sci-Fi Cutaway Saturday, here are a couple incredibly cool Shusei Nagaoka illustrations.

James Rattigan’s March 1957 cover to the Scottish SF magazine "Nebula"

"The moon was a golden coin flicked carelessly into a tomb of stars."

Whatever I was expecting, it wasn't that

The old Elgin National Watch Company Observatory was used to calculate scientifically accurate time. For decades since then it’s been a planetarium for Elgin’s impressive u-46 school district

Someone in SE Michigan is selling a BUNCH of what seem to be internal GM posters from the ‘60s

wormy wyvern (not to be confused with a wyrm) ✎: acrylic paint and colored pencil

Sensitive posters remain offline. Forum veterans should avoid prolonged flame wars and reschedule instigating to a time when the discourse is better.

Is this a gun store?

You've controlled your last Olivia tremor

When thinking about #VisionZero in Seattle there is an important 80-80 rule to remember: 80% of 🚶🏼‍♂️fatalities are on multiple lane arterials. 80% of 🚴🏾‍♀️ fatalities are on streets with no bike lane.

3% of Americans have lived in the disputed territory

I know nothing about either one of them, but through the power of math, I can pick a side anyway

This has got to be the weirdest human evolution story I've ever covered. I'm still baffled -- yes, baffled -- by these results. 🏺🧪

That "too young to vote" band is also very striking

working on darkwebSTREAMER's film generator i would like to watch Seven Million Lesbians

Massimo, by Patrick Faigenbaum French, born 1954 1986 More info: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/73234

Details from Cincinnati's Art Deco AF Dalton Street Post Office Architects: Samuel Hannaford & Sons, 1932-33 Cincinnati, Ohio

Aurora’s Leland Tower, built in 1928, once had on its top floor the swanky Sky Club, where guests could dine and dance. Some historical interior photos in next post.

I understand what this means but I prefer to interpret it literally

Spent my day off walking around in Beverly and Morgan Park, the latter of which I had never been to before, and saw some very cool houses

I have never read anything else like this book, at least not for many years. Go and read it. The illustrations alone are worth the price of admission

Good morning by Pil Hwa

Some of you may remember this as the house whose owners got in trouble for illegally fencing off park district land

networksofny2026.bigcartel.com/product/netw... hi, did you like my book Networks of New York when it came out in 2016? you might like the updated 2026 edition which I'll be releasing in September and you can pre-order now