By Steve Rhodes

Posting will be sporadic through the holiday break, which at Beachwood HQ extends through January 1st.
A few items for your pleasure:
* Meet Part-Time Chicago Suburbanite Tom Stuker, United Airlines’ Million-Mile Man.
“Like many frequent fliers, Tom Stuker is reflecting on his past year of accumulating miles in the air. Unlike many of us, he reflects on the fact that as of last week he had flown more than a million miles so far in 2012, all on United Airlines,” the
“And yes, for those who are slapping their heads in skeptical astonishment, that is a million miles of actual flying, not a million piled up in frequent-flier mileage programs.”

Read More

Posted on December 26, 2012

By Steve Rhodes

Posting throughout the site will be sporadic during the holiday break, though you can always find us commenting on the news on the Beachwood Twitter feed.
A few items of interest today:
* The Great Chicago Christmas Credit Card Fiasco of 1966.
“As Christmas approached in 1966, Chicago’s banks gave criminals the best gift of all: free credit cards.
“They didn’t do this intentionally, of course, but that holiday season the city’s banks put thousands of credit cards into criminal hands, with disastrous consequences. Although embarrassing and costly, the Chicago credit card fiasco did have an upside: It eventually led to consumer protections that are still with us today.”

Read More

Posted on December 25, 2012

By Steve Rhodes

Posting will be sporadic during the holiday break. Here’s what we have today:
* SportsMonday: Bears Scratch Out Ugly Win Over Third- And Fourth-String Quarterbacks Of Minor League Team At Online University Stadium In Desert Suburb; Still Alive For Playoffs.
* Chicago: Tension City.
* QT: On The Third And Fourth Day Of Christmas . . .
* The Weekend In Chicago Rock: The Western, Flosstradamus, Stonethrone, The Killers, The Bright White, Andrew Bird, Eruptors, Every Avenue, Kill Hannah, Bear Claw, Tyler Ward, The Ridgelands, Criminal Kids.

Read More

Posted on December 24, 2012

By Natasha Julius

May all of the coal in your stocking be clean.
Market Update
Despite a spirited run by Apocalyptic Nihilists, Recorded Time didn’t end on Friday. It just felt like it to some people.

Read More

Posted on December 22, 2012

By Steve Rhodes

“Former White House Chief of Staff William Daley talked a lot about a lack of ‘leadership’ in Illinois government Thursday as he continued to mull a run for governor in 2014,” the Sun-Times reports.
Well, given his resumé and relatives, he’d know it when he sees it.

Read More

Posted on December 21, 2012

By Steve Rhodes

This column was delayed this morning because I have a master’s degree from Northwestern and still can’t make a paper snowflake. (It was for a Sandy Hook relief project.)
Reminds me of this:

Brian: Did you know without trigonometry, there’d be no engineering?
Bender: Without lamps, there’d be no light.

Not that having a master’s degree from Northwestern is a credential I like to brag about. To the contrary; it’s the kind of credential that makes me immediately suspicious of others. I’m far, far more proud of my experience at the University of Minnesota. And I kind of hate Northwestern, though I did get a great deal of value (not monetarily, of course) from the program they let me design there and my associated work with the Newspaper Management Center, which I loved. But that’s another story. I totally couldn’t make a snowflake come out right.

Read More

Posted on December 20, 2012

By Steve Rhodes

“An internal Chicago Public Schools document obtained by the Tribune shows for the first time that the Emanuel administration has weighed how many elementary and high schools to close in which neighborhoods and how to manage the public fallout,” the paper reports.
“Labeled a ‘working draft,’ the Sept. 10 document lays out the costs and benefits of specific scenarios – revealing that the administration has gone further down the path of determining what schools to target than it has disclosed.”
That’s putting it politely, given the administration’s firm denials up to now that it has done nothing of the sort. Now it’s parents who may go on strike. Good job, Rahm! What’s next, a secret list of students you plan to fail?

Read More

Posted on December 19, 2012

By Steve Rhodes

News you can abuse.
1. Squeezy Is A State Secret.
“The birth of Squeezy was apparently so secretive that Quinn’s attorneys blocked out information that might reveal exactly who came up with the concept,” Kurt Erickson reports in the Pantagraph.
Our response.

Read More

Posted on December 18, 2012

By Steve Rhodes

“Rahm Wants New Gun Laws in Wake of Newtown School Shooting,” NBC5 Chicago – and others – reported over the weekend.
Of course. And wouldn’t it be nice to suspend our cynicism in the wake of such a tragedy.
Well, I will if they will.

Read More

Posted on December 17, 2012

By Natasha Julius

What’s worse than a blowhard? A blowhard who might have a point.
Market Update
To be fair, doesn’t “Moody” sort of imply a negative outlook to begin with? It’s not like the firm is called “Cheerful’s” or anything.

Read More

Posted on December 15, 2012