Sparks

sparking cta train

An early morning southbound Red line train tiptoes over a rugged piece of track, sparking all the way: a thousand points of performative light. This stretch of track between the Jarvis and Loyola CTA stations seems to get more than its proportional share of repair yet they never quite seem to catch up. This particular flaw was addressed that day, however.

Yip Abides 2026.1

Photo / graphic by Roman.

Table of Content
January — February, 2026

2026 has been a challenging year for it to be only March, yet here we are. And here, to give you pause in the midst of whatever, are more than a dozen posts, images like a box of office donuts, accompanied by a micro-dose of fiction.

Audio

  • Nothing Recent

Photo Wall

Video Wall

  • Nothing Recent

Poetry

  • Nothing Recent

Prose

Politics

  • To Be Shared — music by Bruce Springsteen and Billy Bragg
  • Vote — a Public Service Announcement.

Reviews

  • Nothing Recent

Catter Day Church of the Scientifictionists, Cynic Synod

owenscat
Photo by Roman

Murphy’s Law — Whatever can go wrong, will.

Finagle’s Law — The universe tends toward maximum perversity.

Law of Least Action — The universe is a lazy skinflint, except when it’s coming down on you.

The Law of the Tanj — There Ain’t No Justice.*

* Or does the double negative imply that there is justice? This is a major point of contention between synods.

–Yip

Vote

A Public Service Announcement

I’ve been paying rather less attention to politics lately, having been preoccupied by health concerns and such. So the last thing I was expecting when someone knocked on my door last night was a political canvasser. This person was volunteering for a candidate for the Democratic nomination to Illinois’ 9th Congressional District, Kat Abughazaleh.

I was deeply impressed. In my experience, liability and crime and privacy concerns have made canvassing (whether for politics, religion, or sales) unusual and often not terribly productive especially in neighborhoods dominated by multifamily housing. It’s often a challenge to just get access to a building, never mind pitching your candidate to the voters therein.

And follow-up? In the old days, sympathetic voters would be tracked to make sure they voted. Much of this last step can be automated, but it’s been a few decades since I’ve received a targeted reminder to vote and my habitual waiting for election day should make me a prime target.

So for those visitors to this page from Illinois, election day is Tuesday, March 17. Early voting has begun in many of the counties. In Illinois, county election board web sites are good sources of information on deadlines, voting, and ballots. You can find you local county election board at the Illinois State Board of Elections. Cook County is divided into two jurisdictions, Suburban Cook County and Chicago.

For those outside the States, this March election is a “primary” election wherein the Democratic and the Republican parties (and other State recognized parties, if any) nominate their candidates to stand in the general election this November. Note that political parties here in the States have only a superficial resemblance to parties in most other parts of the world. It’s probably more useful to think of them as brands.

Photo / Graphic by Roman.