As a theologian, I know a lot about urban planning

Today I came across this interesting blog post that went beyond the CTA’s Circle Line concept to create a kind of fantasy CTA map [PDF]. Some aspects of it are out of date at this point — for instance, the Pink Line takes the place of the rather complicated stuff involving the Orange and Brown Lines. As far as the Circle Line itself goes, the idea to extend the circle to 35th instead of Cermak seems great (see the heading “Let’s complete the Circle”). Restoring the old Humbolt Park line also seems like a good idea. But I would do things differently after that point.

Sadly, as a theologian, I don’t know a lot about graphic design, so this post might be hard to follow. [UPDATE: Though I still don't know about graphic design, I have managed to find a good basic map to draw on to allow you all to follow along. Feast your eyes!

All extensions of existing lines are in the same color, but with thinner lines. The proposed Circle Line is the bright green thing, and the Midcity Transitway is black.]

Firefox: No longer the gold standard of awesomeness?

I have been having some definite problems since upgrading to Firefox 3. The new address bar feature is frustrating — at least on my computer, it means that I effectively can’t type an address in “real time.” I also experience random hang-ups, seemingly requiring me to click the window repeatedly in order to get Firefox’s attention. Pages with Flash embedded are especially problematic and sometimes crash the browser. (I also hate that when I’m using the scroll wheel on my mouse, it stops scrolling if the cursor enters into an embedded Flash element.)

In my experience, Firefox used to be basically bulletproof, and the latest “upgrade” has reduced it to Microsoft-esque levels of reliability. I should probably just downgrade.

UPDATE: I have decided to downgrade, and so far it seems like it was a good idea. Readers wishing to follow my example can begin here.

A Meeting of the Minds

Obama and McCain are meeting today. I hope that McCain decides to divulge his foolproof plan for catching bin Laden.