Double Decks O’ Fun

“Workers connect the new northern section of the Wells Street Bridge over the Chicago River to the older remaining part on April 29, 2013,” ardee1980 reports.
“The new section is on a barge and a tug boat is positioning it to hook up. This is a double-deck bridge with vehicle traffic crossing on the lower portion and the ‘L’ tracks serving the Brown Line on the top portion. The precision was amazing and I was lucky to be there right at that moment.”

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Posted on April 30, 2013

Played Out?

Comic Con 2013.
1. In A Nutshell.

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Posted on April 29, 2013

Paging James Cappleman: They Survive And Thrive

“There’s nothing shy about pigeons – they’re too busy surviving to worry about what people think. And most people don’t really think anything about pigeons. But if you know what to look for, you’ll find a tough bird built for surviving, and thriving, in the urban wilderness.
“In the premiere episode of The Biopolitan, we trace Columba livia’s path from cliffs to cornices, explore the dangers of city life, and make a case for the pigeon as a no-nonsense beacon of adaptability.”

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Posted on April 25, 2013

Plus: Bacon Is So Played Out

And green airport food.
1. Hot Slut of the Day.
Yes, yes, omigod yes!
2. McDonaldland.
* McDonald’s Fined In Brazil For Pushing Happy Meals To Children.
Of course, Happy Meals are expressly designed for children, but everyone is supposed to participate in the theater in which we ignore how some of our captains of industry get rich. Stop flipping the script, Brazil!
* Wall Street Journal Misses On McDonald’s.
* And:

Fast food workers @mcdonalds have walked out today to fight for a livable wage–follow the livestream fightfor15.org #strikefor15

— Fight For 15 (@fightfor15) April 24, 2013

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Posted on April 24, 2013

Plus: Food Tank Think Tank

Mmmm.
1. We Can Change the Food System Chicago!

Food Tank Event Gathers Leaders in the Chicago Food Movement
Wednesday, April 17, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
From obesity to malnutrition, the food system has many challenges. Food Tank: The Food Think Tank’s We Can Change the Food System Chicago! [Piazza Bella Restaurant in Roscoe Village] will highlight some potential solutions to these issues and many others.
Hosted by Food Tank co-founder Danielle Nierenberg, the event will feature more than a dozen Chicago-area food policy analysts, chefs, food activists, entrepreneurs, and others who have unique perspectives on food, nutrition, and agriculture issues.

Wine/beer included as well as food provided free by Piazza Bella. $25 in advance/$35 at the door. Buy tickets here.

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Posted on April 17, 2013

Plus: Tacos In A Bag

1. Downsizing Deception.
“Various brands of popular snacks like potato chips and tortilla chips have just been downsized,” Mouse Print reports.
“In these cases, the price remained the same, but the new packages contain less. In other words, it is a hidden increase.”
Click through for revealing photos of the guilty parties, including Lay’s, Doritos, Ruffles and Pringles.

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Posted on April 10, 2013

By Steve Rhodes

“Martyl Langsdorf, an artist married to a nuclear physicist who worked on the Manhattan Project, created the widely known Doomsday Clock for the first cover of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists,” the Tribune reports.
“That June 1947 magazine put the clock, meant to depict how close the world is to nuclear holocaust, approaching 11:53 p.m., with midnight being the zero hour.

“She understood the deep anxiety of the scientists in 1947, and the urgency of preventing the spread or use of nuclear weapons,” said Kennette Benedict, executive director of the Bulletin since 2005. “With the clock design, she gave the world a symbol that is even more potent today.”

“Mrs. Langsdorf, 96, died Tuesday, March 26, at a rehabilitation facility near her home in Schaumburg, after a lung infection.”
–
Here’s an article I wrote for the Baltimore Sun in 1998 about the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists:

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Posted on April 9, 2013

By J.J. Tindall

THE MAGIC BUS
For Roger Ebert
Cue: Aaron Copland’s
“Fanfare for the Common Man”…
I first heard it
On “Love You Live”
As the intro music
For the Rolling Stones

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Posted on April 5, 2013

By Steve Rhodes

I’m proud to say that Patty Miller cut my hair dozens of times in the 20 years I’ve been in Chicago (don’t blame her for its unfixable unruliness; she worked with it as well as anybody). She was a fixture in Roscoe Village. And now she’s gone.
The news first came, of course, via Facebook.
“I found out today that the woman who inspired me to do hair passed away last week, Patty Miller owner of big hair in Chicago,” Maggie Stumpf of the Hairitics Salon wrote on March 22.
“I don’t know the details, but did want to express that my sister, mother, and I all got our hair done by Patty since the early 90s. She was the person who encouraged me to go into hair and told me where to go to beauty school. Her free spirit and style was contagious and fun… and to a young awkward teenager (me) she was the success I wanted. Though I never worked with her or got the chance to thank her for starting me on my path she will be forever honored in my heart. I am so thankful for this career!”
The official obituary via the Sun-Times:

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Posted on April 4, 2013

By The Art Institute of Chicago

“[These videos were] created for LaunchPad, a program of digital interpretive materials that supplement the viewing of works of art on display in the Art Institute of Chicago’s galleries.”
1. Enameling Glass.
“Enameled glass, which is created by painting and firing colored powders onto the surface of glass, was very common in German-speaking lands in the second half of the 17th century. Popular decorations included family coats of arms and symbols of guild affiliations; other images reveal popular subjects such as biblical tales, folk wisdom, hunting, and politics.”

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Posted on April 2, 2013