By Steve Rhodes
1. The most important part of last night’s Bears-Lions broadcast.
2. From Deadspin:
“What we watched: The bumbling Bears. Oh, sure, the Lions’ win last night was historic, it kept them unbeaten, and it no doubt soothed the sting that resulted from the Tigers having fallen behind, two games to none, in the ALCS just hours earlier. But . . . those Bears. Nine false-start penalties? Yes, the game was indoors, but it’s not like Lovie Smith found that out once the team bus pulled up outside Ford Field. Yeesh.”
3. “We’ve Got The Guillotine!”
4. “In March 2004, then-Mayor Richard M. Daley announced a deal that promised to save taxpayer money, reduce natural gas consumption and bring ‘green’ jobs to Chicago.
“But taxpayers might see red when they learn how the deal turned out. More than seven years later, the initiative has been quietly suspended amid problems with some of the equipment – and acknowledgements by city officials that taxpayers will probably lose money on the deal and never realize the energy savings that Daley touted, the Better Government Association has learned.
“The arrangement centered on solar-powered hot water heating systems made by North Carolina-based Solargenix Energy LLC with technology designed at the University of Chicago.
“The city agreed to spend up to $5 million on the eco-friendly systems, and install them on more than 100 public buildings, such as firehouses and police stations, yielding an estimated $7 million in energy savings over 30 years.
“In exchange for that commitment – and an additional $1.7 million no-interest loan through the Daley administration – Solargenix agreed to open a factory in Chicago, employing at least 15 workers, and build the solar equipment there.”
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“More than 200 new energy-efficient streetlights installed on Lake Shore Drive have suffered outages, and Chicago is on the hook to pay for a large part of the repairs, officials said,” the Tribune reports.
“About 2,140 ceramic metal-halide light fixtures were installed from late last year through this past summer on the drive from Hollywood Avenue to just beyond it at 71st Street. The streetlights are brighter and use less electricity than the sodium-vapor fixtures they replaced and will last for seven to eight years, compared with five to six years for the old system, according to the Chicago Department of Transportation.
“Chicago is the first large U.S. city to use the new lighting technology, which is supposed to reduce maintenance costs, city officials said.
“But almost 10 percent of the new lights have failed, officials said. In some cases, bulbs burned out and fuses blew. Other issues stemmed from the poor condition of the existing underground electrical infrastructure, officials said.”
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Solyndra.
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Green shoots.
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Just word associating.
5. “The president’s a terrific guy to work with and work for.”
Right. Bill Daley works for Barack Obama.
6. “Tahrir Square in Cairo, Green Square in Tripoli, Syntagma Square in Athens and now Zuccotti Park in New York – popular anger against entrenching power elites is spreading around the world,” Reuters reports.
“Many have been intrigued by the Occupy Wall Street movement against financial inequality that started in a New York park and expanded across America from Tampa, Florida, to Portland, Oregon, and from Los Angeles to Chicago.”
7. “The Occupy Wall Street movement will take its protests to the New York homes of super-wealthy executives on Tuesday as Goldman Sachs boss Lloyd Blankfein canceled a talk at a college in the city,” Reuters reports.
“Protesters will march through Manhattan’s Upper East Side on a ‘Billionaire’s Tour’ to take their grievances about economic inequality to the homes of News Corp’s Rupert Murdoch, JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon and others.”
8. Song of the Moment: Ballad of a Thin Man.
(Could it really be that the 1986 live version is better than the original?)
9. Coin Collecting 101.
(And no, this isn’t about scams run by employees of the tollway authority.)
10. Clandestine Team Of Government Agents Protecting San Diego From Numerous Terrorist Threats Gets Renewed For A Second Season.
11. Oh wait – somebody just made another joke about how the Bears offensive line just false started again. Meta!
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The Beachwood Tip Line: Balladry.
Posted on October 11, 2011