Chicago: They paved a fetid swamp/and put up a parking lot

I would love to go to a Cubs game, but the cooler weather makes October sound very appealing.

Make sure it's late October. Early oct can have very hot days. Example 10/10/10. 86 degrees.

86 degrees is not a problem. 96 degrees (today's high here) is a problem, and 106 degrees (last September in Vegas and NM) was a problem.

86 was a problem that day because I tried to run a marathon.

Ugh, yeah, that would be a problem.

Roadfood itinerary if I decide to do it -- http://www.roadfood.com/merchandise/ChicagoMilwaukeeEatingTour/

I may not, though. One way to look at it is that $229 is a little steep when all you're getting is a seat on the bus and a couple of the specially arranged meals. On the other hand, the transportation from spot to spot is nice when your body is working hard to process two days of nonstop eating.

On the third hand, two days of nonstop eating is hard work, and a little unseemly.

yeah tbh I would just use that money to go more places in Chicago, although the world's largest fish fry sounds like it has potential

This is shaping up to be a significant storm. It blew my balconette door open. I'm wary of thunderstorms after the one last weekend.

Yeah, first time rain has actually blown in my window in a long while. Didn't know it was coming. Hope it de-humidifies things.

I'm glad I'm not the only one awake! This is scary.

Run for your lives!!

http://a7.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/254630_2190069718598_1452762505_2453927_6618488_n.jpg

Yeah, OK, there's definitely a leak coming from the top of one of our living-room windows.

Has this summer been especially stormy? Last year I was living in the dungeon so I didn't see anything, but it seems like there have been more and bigger storms than in previous years.

Pretty fucking cool! I love it, but hopefully hey patched the roof well....

xp - hahaha

Seems likes it calmed down significantly in the last few minutes up here. The water was absolutely GUSHING out of our downspouts outside, that was some pretty torrential rainfall.

Ready to be done with these severe thunderstorms now. Hope you guys are all okay.

Daaaayumm, that last thunderbolt made me leap.

also - not haha-ing at you jaymc!

<3 storms like this

Have any of you ever lived or worked on a high floor? A big, close lightning storm must be amazing and terrifying on say the 40th floor!

I mean, God damn. I'm not very high up and it feels like the bolts are coming straight at me. I've never seen the cats get scared of thunder before moving here.

xp - Me too!

yes, I'm loving this — the cat likes it not

I loved these storms a whole lot more before I became a homeowner, now I worry about flooding and trees falling and all that other annoying shit.

it's fine, i guess, but i don't like it when the animals freak out
it's like they know something

Woah, that thunderclap was like glass shattering.

I don't like thunderstorms when they wake my ass up in the middle of the night and allow me ten minutes or so of abject terror while I worry about whether the Human Centipede Room is leaking again and whether our power's going to go out. Other than that, I really dig them.

Amanda (and anyone interested in baby names), you might find this interesting:
http://www.babynamewizard.com/archives/2011/7/the-sound-of-modern-femininity

Dilettante! I know this makes me a total asshole, but -5 for referring to linguistics, but not mentioning the schwa, which is the sound at the end of these names. It's only represented by -a orthographically. Also she did not use the word sibilant, which is the word she is looking for when she refers to names that are "silky smooth."

I'm done. What a dick I am! Still, it must be said.

Lechita, I don't think you're a dick.

whatever happened to getting a quote from an expert? this is the sort of sloppy science that can be used for good and for evil, yknow? what if she were writing about genetics and DNA? it's no big whoop (tm) when it's baby names that aren't getting the qualified expert's microscope, but what if it were nutrition, or global warming, or whatever? if you're going to write about sounds, talk to someone who knows about sounds. do not talk about spelling. /endrant

Now I want to make an ambient record called Sibilant Sounds.

I was La Lech to be the go to expert for these kinds if web articles!

I mean, I am not an expert. Ask someone from Language Log, they're experts. I'm a practitioner.

I want to make an ambient record called Sibilants. Or Sibilance.

See? Spelling is not the same as sounds!!

pspspspspssspsppsps

sssss.

whatever happened to getting a quote from an expert? this is the sort of sloppy science that can be used for good and for evil, yknow? what if she were writing about genetics and DNA? it's no big whoop (tm) when it's baby names that aren't getting the qualified expert's microscope, but what if it were nutrition, or global warming, or whatever? if you're going to write about sounds, talk to someone who knows about sounds. do not talk about spelling. /endrant

― Fa la la (La Lechera), Thursday, July 28, 2011 10:31 AM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

+1 for all time

Huh, well, I can see both sides.

I'm assuming Wattenberg's not getting a quote from an expert because it's her blog, not a newspaper story.

I do think you're right that she's conflating orthography with pronunciation.

However, I don't think that this invalidates or detracts from her overall findings.

I guess part of me flinches at criticizing Wattenberg for "sloppy science," since what I love most about her is that she frequently debunks the sloppy science of others.

I guess at the bottom of this it's not her omissions that upset me, but that this is what passes for expert opinion in 2011 and I don't see that changing any time soon. I consider you more of a careful expert and I recall you deferring to her expertise once, which made me sad. First it's the schwa, but then what?

It's not a personal blog at this point -- people go to her for expert opinions. There's a certain responsibility in that to get the facts right, I guess? Or to at least consult with someone who can verify them? I mean?

However, I don't think that this invalidates or detracts from her overall findings.

Like, I'm not sure she's particularly interested in the fact that the "-a" sound is a schwa or that the "silky smooth" sound could be termed sibilance. The only reason she uses a linguistic term like "plosive" is as justification for considering certain letters in a distinct class from others. (And she repeats it because it's easier to say "plosive" than "consonants that stop the airflow.")

There's a certain responsibility in that to get the facts right, I guess?

But what facts has she even gotten wrong? I think you'd like it if linguistic terms were used throughout the post, instead of just in certain places. But it's not like she called the "-a" ending by another name, or said that there was no appropriate linguistic term for what she's characterizing as a "silky smooth" sound. She's still writing for a lay audience, so she has no obligation to use these terms, IMO.

I guess I should also note that this is wrapped up in my visceral fear of tea partiers/Rand Paul-style morans.
What I hear you saying is that she "isn't interested" in the facts, even if that's not what you're saying. It's symbolic of something larger that I'm really concerned about, but unsure of what to do beyond trying to teach people the value of critical thinking.

You're right, and I realize that I'm being paranoid, but like I said, I'm afraid of people who mischaracterize or misappropriate information and expertise. I've never wanted to *be* one of those people either.

I consider you more of a careful expert and I recall you deferring to her expertise once, which made me sad.

Most of what passes as my expertise w/r/t baby names is attributable directly to two writers: Stanley Lieberson (author of A Matter of Taste: How Names, Fashions, and Culture Change) and Laura Wattenberg. I don't consider myself any more of a careful expert than she is, especially when so many of my insights about names I've gleaned from her. I mean, Pamela Redmond Satran is another story.

I guess I have confused my irritation about "errors" with my irritation for dilettantism. This is why I am not a great thinker or an expert!

:) also i want you to own your expertise, jmc.

I kind of want a burger for lunch. Where can I make that happen in the Loop?

What I hear you saying is that she "isn't interested" in the facts, even if that's not what you're saying

I'm merely saying that she "isn't interested" in information that's outside the scope of her post.

I definitely share your fear of a world in which critical thinking is devalued, but that's why I like Wattenberg, since I think she's generally pretty sharp about data and trends in ways that so many lazy journalists aren't.

I'm afraid of people who mischaracterize or misappropriate information and expertise.

If that's the case, I do understand your reaction a little better. Personally, I wouldn't want to feel like I couldn't draw from a particular discipline while exploring or writing about something just because I hadn't studied the discipline thoroughly. (Among other things, it'd mean I'd probably be out of a job.) But "dilettante" is far from a pejorative in my mind.

xp R was pretty taken with M Burger (when she had a LYE! gift card with $ to spare)

:) also i want you to own your expertise, jmc.

Ah well, I like playing the role of an expert, at least. :)

*LEY xp

I had an M Burger for the first time last week, at the one around the corner from the Apple Store. Cheap and tasty.

J3nnifff333rrr 8urg3r, when are you taking lunch? I am going to the courthouse sometime and I would like to eat.