iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 07/10/2026

A new neighborhood greenway opened up on Sacramento between Montrose and Irving Park Rd and predictably some locals are perplexed. For those that regularly bike in the area, it's obvious why Sacramento was chosen and how much of an improvement it is for northbound Irving Park Rd crossings. #bikechi

Facebook comments questioning why there is a new neighborhood greenway on Sacramento Ave between Montrose and Irving Park Rd:

"It’s bewildering to have so many unexpected changes when behind the wheel"
"As if kedzie wasn't enough. Someone wanted to pad their goals for the year"
"Cyclist here! The new bike system is whack. Did not increase safety one bit, as a motorist as well, I see so many flaws in the new designs"

Google street view from California Ave heading north across Irving Park Rd. It shows heavy traffic and little room for cyclists to operate.

Google street view heading north on Kedzie across Irving Park Rd. It shows a high amount of traffic and little room for cyclists.

Google street view heading north on Sacramento Ave across Irving Park Rd. It shows a single car turning left with plenty of room for cyclists.

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 06/10/2026

Very funny how the Cubs are trying to argue that the lot expansion would free up street parking. They really think adding a ~150 more $70 parking spaces is going to discourage drivers from circling around the neighborhood looking for cheaper street parking?

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 30/09/2026

"The astute software manager knows that just about every programmer except the pathological workaholic trades his hours of overtime for hours of undertime." This part alone has me interested.

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 27/09/2026

One of the most popular engineering humanities electives at UIUC in the mid-2000s was a geography class that had us read King Leopold's Ghost. Of course even after that class I was oblivious to any of this stuff until I started listening to podcasts in the mid-2010s.

Cover of the book King Leopold's Ghost. Subtitle: "A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa"

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 26/09/2026

Working on a new feature for @realtimerides.app where you can flip between similar rides. Here's Lincoln on a rainy September day in 2026 vs a sunny day in June 2025.

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 24/09/2026

Somebody told me where they practice and in theory I live a few blocks away so I'll camp out around there and coerce it out of them. (I will not do this)

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 23/09/2026

If you're curious about the absence of west and south side rides, my range is currently limited to what can reasonably act as my commute to and from downtown. I would love to expand my range but for now most rides will be between the north/northwest side and downtown.

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 23/09/2026

The map integration was my way of tying all these routes together into a view that gives a sense of how they are located in the city and maybe to give folks that live near these routes a reason to give biking a shot.

Map view of Chicago showing common bike routes on Lincoln Ave, Clybourn Ave, Elston Ave and Milwaukee Ave

Ride view showing a YouTube video with a first person view of a bike ride in the first half and bottom section is a map tracking the position of the ride.

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 23/09/2026

I figured it could give people a sense of what it's really like to regularly cycle around the city. I also wanted it to act as a showcase for Chicago given how often it is perceived by others that don't live here which is why some of my earliest recordings are from mid/late-2025.

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 23/09/2026

This is a project I've had in the works for a while now and I figured #WorldCarFreeDay was a good time to share it. This idea came to me while watching longform lightly edited videos of cars driving around in Asia and I thought this would be cool to do for bike rides around Chicago.

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 22/09/2026

Can never take them seriously after this bsky.app/profile/abun...

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 21/09/2026

Same sort of guy that legitimately thought Sharia law was going to be implemented in his suburban hellscape.

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 17/09/2026

Love how you could quite literally get a drink in the basement here because the excellent Galway Bay occupies the lower level.

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 14/09/2026

Don't know if I'd ever use a cheap one for work but I tossed DeepSeek v4.1 Flash an idea that's been floating around in my head about taking a GoPro video and extracting geolocation data from it and linking it up with a map based on a timestamp and it spit something out in ~8 minutes for $0.25.

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 08/09/2026

I will now shamelessly plug Agriculture which very much evokes the same feelings as Deafheaven. (This music video is a bit more whimsical) www.youtube.com/watch?v=8M6d...

youtube.com

Agriculture - Living is Easy (Official Video)

YouTube video by The Flenser

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 01/09/2026

They even hosted a Paul Vallas event during the last mayoral election!

LinkedIn post with this text: "We had a huge crowd of over 200 supporters at our Ward Tour event last night at Wrigleyville North Bar! Thanks to everyone who came out to be part of our campaign. Tonight, we will be at Danny’s on S. Archer for our next Ward Tour event." The attached image to the post shows Vallas at Wrigleyville North speaking to supporters.

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 31/08/2026

TAC Quick when Wrigleyville North (owned by "Irish Dave") is right there a block south.

Meme posted by "Irish Dave" showing Trump extending a middle finger with the text "Just a Reminder to All the No Kings Protestors, Tomorrow this man will still be your president for the next 1190 Days!"

Post from "Irish Dave" shares a meme that mocks no kings day with text "No Brains Rally, Thinking Optional, Chanting Required".

Post shared by Irish Dave "Attention Liberals. ICE is now using Trains. Please Stand on the Railroad Tracks to Block Them! 😂"

Meme shared by "Irish Dave" depicting a union soldier near a apparently freed slave with the text "Juneteenth celebrates the day that republicans freed the slaves who were owned by the democrats". He adds the comment: "The Irish were the cheaper of the slaves.

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 31/08/2026

Funny thing is, making the comparison between 9/11 and COVID-19 would be just the sort of thing a conspiracy-minded China hawk would do to the cheers of the MAGA faithful.

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Reposted by The Agile Sloth

Jon Bois @jonbois.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

one piece of advice i can share as a parent: certain phases can be really tough, but they do pass. around 18 months my son kept demanding that i condemn hasan piker. all day and night too, i was at the end of my rope. now he’s really into fire trucks. it’s always something new

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 24/08/2026

Very interesting to see how boundaries deal with the river where it generally acts as a boundary but in the case of Waters ~25% is on the west side which on one hand reduces any option of neighborhood cut-throughs but on the other forces way more traffic onto Wilson/Montrose.

Map showing boundaries of the Waters attendance area. It straddles the river where about ~25% of its area is on the west side of the river and closer Bateman.

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 22/08/2026

They should pay parking more than $50 a day, they're great

Photo of the band Parking performing at The Empty Bottle.

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 17/08/2026

When I see one more kid get an intricate spiderman face paint design at the family-friendly seasonal beer fest while I've been in line with my own kids for the same face painter for the past 45 minutes and tell them they'll get nothing more complex than a batman logo.

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Reposted by The Agile Sloth

unraveled @unraveledpress.com · 14/08/2026

New: We pieced together dozens of violent incidents from the ICE agents seen in viral videos from Virginia this week. They've roamed across multiple states, but are most often working in Chicago. We also verified the identity of Martin Lagunas, the fed who pointed his gun at a woman on Monday:

unraveledpress.com

Chicago ICE team seen threatening drivers has roamed from Illinois to Minnesota to Virginia

A federal agent from Chicago identified by community members as 40-year-old Martin Lagunas was recorded pointing his gun in the face of a Virginia woman on Monday. His team of ICE agents has been docu...

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 13/08/2026

Bush may have signed it but Obama had control of how to spend the second half of the funds and his Treasury secretary Tim Geithner explicitly prioritized banks over homeowners and has repeatedly defended that position www.npr.org/2014/05/25/3...

npr.org

It's Geithner Vs. Warren In Battle Of The Bailout

Former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner says the 2008 bank bailout worked well. Sen. Elizabeth Warren says it taught bankers to be reckless because the risks are on taxpayers. Vote for who is right.

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 12/08/2026

I wish they'd do something like this on the southeast edge of Horner Park after the bridge.

View of the curb between Horner Park and Irving Park Road looking west. Right side of the image you can see the bridge and guardrail and the center of the image shows where the mixed use path enters the park. The right side of the image is car traffic.

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 12/08/2026

Was super bummed to hear of Haider's passing in 2025. I really appreciated how he could break down some of these topics. Like I remember this one which he wrote right before CRT emerged as the right-wing boogeyman du jour. asadhaider.substack.com/p/critical-c...

asadhaider.substack.com

Critical Confusion

After a grandiose announcement that he was leaving New York Magazine due to a stifling political atmosphere, Andrew Sullivan has now launched a comedy career. In a post of his new “non-conformist” new...

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 04/08/2026

Yes, but this way cars can double park in the bike lane and not obstruct other car traffic! /s

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 01/08/2026

Using terms like "crystalize" and "congeal" as proof that I've Read Theory™

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 31/07/2026

Yeah the challenger already had people out collecting signatures yesterday evening. Didn't sign but was surprised to see them knock on our door.

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 27/07/2026

Earlier this month, I did my first Tuesday night @chicagobikesox.com ride and later on Saturday my first car-oriented tailgate and my read is tailgating is fun but the setup/breakdown limits how often I'd want to. Sacrificing parking for more gameday options for bike/transit fans would be worth it.

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 22/07/2026

Underrated terrible thing about that spot is how they knocked down the building on the corner to build a smaller building to house that Chase with even more parking!

View of South corner of Damen and Clybourn showing large single story building most of the space with a Chase branch visible in the strip mall in the background from September 2024.

View of South corner of Damen and Clybourn showing a new, smaller single story building replacing the previous now occupied by Chase where the previous Chase location in the background remains vacant from December 2025.

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 18/07/2026

Was recently riding home through Horner Park late-ish one night and was pleasantly surprised to see the basketball courts still very active and recalled how even getting those lights installed took years of effort. blockclubchicago.org/2024/12/17/h...

blockclubchicago.org

Horner Park Basketball Lights Now On After Neighbors Fought For Them For Years

Electricians tested the lights last week before turning them on for basketball players, park officials said. The lights will turn on after sunset and stay on until 11 p.m.

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 17/07/2026

This and the lack of good ways to access Horner on the NE/SE corners of the park w/o riding on the sidewalks are my biggest annoyances with that area. Don't know how realistic it would be to get curb cuts north at Montrose or south at Irving Park but would make those river crossing way better.

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 16/07/2026

Gonna alter this and add the wrinkle that the first movie is one you've watched recently: Weapons: Blood Sport Operation Hail Mary: The Passion of the Christ Coherence: Stop Making Sense Sicario: Serpico

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 16/07/2026

This is a recurring bit I've always wanted to do with stuff I find on the side of the road during my bike commute!

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 15/07/2026

Watching this Sandlot homage all star segment where they have a bunch of kids essentially doing a spontaneous bike bus to the all star game and like yeah I'm glad we all agree that it's an awesome idea, just sucks we don't build our cities to allow for that sort of thing in reality.

Screen cap from end of segment where kids ride their bike to the all star game. It shows 4 kids on their bikes outside the stadium, none wearing helmets and riding in the street.

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 13/07/2026

Absolutely enchanted by this clip from his Instagram story 😅

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 11/07/2026

City perks: jaunt out to the suburbs involves taking the bus to the brewery near the metra stop, having a quick beer and picking up a 4 pack while waiting for the train and then a quick walk over the highway observing the rush hour gridlock knowing the train is on time and will get you there on time

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 08/07/2026

Having a flashback to that time I tried to enter the trail just north of Superdawg and finding the whole trail was torn-up and deciding to briefly head east on Devon assuming there'd be another entrance. There was not.

Strava route showing an attempt to enter the trail north of Superdawg and failing due to construction on the parking lot and trail entryway. The attempt to find an alternate route on Devon failed resulting in a complete route from Devon/Milwaukee to Devon/Caldwell. This is very unsafe.

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 07/07/2026

Always enjoyed how the sample on that one was from a cover of "Space Oddity" on an album with the title "Dune" by a guy named David Matthews. youtu.be/H1j7IX5epMk?...

youtu.be

David Matthews - Space Oddity

YouTube video by incrediblecHiller

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 05/07/2026

Saw one that had some sorta custom black paint job with neon green highlights, a neon green mountain bike in the truck bed and neon green baby on board sticker on the bumper just stuck in rush hour traffic on a Thursday afternoon.

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 02/07/2026

Not the first time the Bay Area has seen a head coach with an interesting work history.

List of odd jobs held by former 49ers head coach Jim Tomsula including night janitor, firewood cutter and doormat salesman

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 26/06/2026

Orillia with one of the best songs of all time on the lighting preferences of wealthy Chicagoans youtu.be/6Mrw2rqfK2o?...

youtu.be

Rich Chicago People

YouTube video by Orillia - Topic

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 23/06/2026

And when I say "don't get crushed by car" mode, this is literally what my route looks like immediately before and after the protected sections.

Street view of Orleans turning onto Division towards the northbound Clybourn protected bike lanes.

Street view of northbound Clybourn at Halsted showing a busy three-way intersection with the Apple Store in the background with a Garbage truck obstructing the lane with the bike sharrow.

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 23/06/2026

But these moments of relief are themselves so brief it's hard to shift to a level of vigilance that pedestrians rightly deserve before I'm back in "don't get crushed by a car" mode.

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 23/06/2026

As a regular Clybourn commuter, this has me thinking of how pedestrian conflicts could partially be due to the relative rarity of protected lanes? Like, I'm hypervigilant immediately before and after this protected section but it affords me a brief moment to relax and not worry about getting killed.

Instead, Kurkulis said his biggest issue is pedestrian safety. The protected bike lane separates parked cars from the sidewalk, creating a situation where customers — particularly older shoppers unfamiliar with the area — must cross the bike lane to reach their vehicles.

“We’ve had close calls multiple times,” Kurkulis said. “Whenever we have elderly people in here, especially from the suburbs, generally one of us will walk them outside and make sure they don’t get run over by a bike.”

Despite those concerns, Kurkulis said he supports the existence of bike lanes and understands why they were installed, recalling a fatal crash involving a cyclist he witnessed years before the project was built.

Kurkulis added that the city could do more to improve interactions between cyclists and pedestrians, particularly as e-bikes and scooters become more common on the corridor.

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The Agile Sloth @theagilesloth.com · 17/06/2026

The fate of the Cullom greenway east of Kedzie 😢

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