By Cory Doctorow/The Electronic Frontier Foundation

Since its founding in the 1930s, Hewlett-Packard has been synonymous with innovation, and many’s the engineer who had cause to praise its workhorse oscillators, minicomputers, servers, and PCs. But since the turn of this century, the company’s changed its name to HP and its focus to sleazy ways to part unhappy printer owners from their money.
Printer companies have long excelled at this dishonorable practice, but HP is truly an innovator, the industry-leading Darth Vader of sleaze, always ready to strong-arm you into a “deal” and then alter it later to tilt things even further to its advantage.

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Posted on November 8, 2020

By The Hyde Park Art Center

Hyde Park Art Center, the renowned non-profit hub for contemporary art located on Chicago’s vibrant South Side, is proud to announce a solo exhibition by Chicago-based artist and educator Cecil McDonald Jr. on view in the Art Center’s Kanter McCormick Gallery from November 15, 2020 – March 7, 2021.
The exhibition of predominantly lens-based work presents a collection of the artist’s most recent body of work birthed from his 2018 residency at the Art Center, which embodies photomontages to metaphorize the complicated histories between America and African Americans, and subvert the racist representation of Black artists from history.

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Posted on November 4, 2020

By The Art Institute of Chicago

“On the occasion of the exhibition Monet and Chicago, author and educator Rachel Cohen, professor of practice in the arts at the University of Chicago, leads a participatory program focused on slow looking. Participants engage in close observation of works by Monet and develop note-taking practices through a simple series of creative writing prompts. The program is co-facilitated by Art Institute educator Nancy Chen.

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Posted on October 30, 2020

By The U.S. Postal Inspection Service

If you click on that link in the text message, you’ll be inviting the scam artists into your life.

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Posted on October 29, 2020

Reimagined By Laser Bob Mullins!

Winter Wonders is a 1.4-mile touchless, drive-thru holiday light show featuring more than one million LED lights set in the area surrounding the Boerner Botanical Arboretum and Whitnall Park.
This year’s COVID-safe show kicks off with a Special Preview, November 13-15, and continues with a daily schedule, November 20 – January 3.

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Posted on October 25, 2020

By Roto-Rooter

Mike Polyak has been named Senior Vice President of Operations at Roto-Rooter Services Company. Polyak takes responsibility for all Roto-Rooter field operations involving company-owned branches throughout the United States. He will report directly to Roto-Rooter President Robert Goldschmidt.

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Posted on October 25, 2020

By The Center for Inquiry

We at the Center for Inquiry are heartbroken over the death of James Randi, who died Tuesday at the age of 92.
Randi helped found the Committee for Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP), the organization that would one day become the Center for Inquiry, in 1976, alongside legends such as Carl Sagan, Isaac Asimov, B.F. Skinner, and Paul Kurtz.
Together, this group of luminaries from the fields of science, literature, philosophy and entertainment dedicated themselves to a project that has only grown in its necessity and urgency: the promotion of scientific inquiry, critical investigation and the use of reason in examining controversial and extraordinary claims.
In other words, these were the founding fathers of the reality-based community.

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Posted on October 22, 2020

By Tupperware

Tupperware announced Thursday the issuance of a U.S. patent for PONDS (Passive Orbital Nutrient Delivery System), a unique device designed to grow vegetables in low earth orbit with minimal maintenance.
“We are proud to have received a patent for the unique and novel design of PONDS,” said Miguel Fernandez, Chief Executive Officer of Tupperware Brands. “With this patent in hand and with the work of our teams on this project, we are now exploring ways to capitalize on the science behind this innovation and use that knowledge to enable consumers around the world to reduce their impact of single-use plastic and food waste through the use of our environmentally responsible products.”

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Posted on October 16, 2020

By E.K. Mam

One of my favorite ways to spend an afternoon is hashing out philosophical dilemmas. What makes a philosopher a good philosopher? Are there any quirks unique to the Windy City philosopher? Why bother with all the abstract questions philosophy offers? And lastly (though certain not least), what’s the meaning of life? If anyone had any authority claims to make on answering these questions, I figured it would be David Hilbert, philosophy professor and department chair at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

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Posted on October 12, 2020

By The Toy Association

Open up any toy box around the world and you’ll be sure to find the creations of the esteemed 2021 inductees into Toy Industry Hall of Fame: William C. Killgallon, who transformed the Etch A Sketch into a household name; Pleasant T. Rowland, the trailblazer who founded American Girl; and the late Margarete Steiff, inspiring inventor of the world’s first stuffed animal. Additionally, Phillip Bloom, founder of The Bloom Report, was inducted for his work as a respected toy news pioneer.
This year’s Hall of Fame inductees were nominated and voted on by members of The Toy Association in recognition of their significant contributions to the industry and the impact they have had on the lives of children through a lifelong commitment to toys and play.
They join an impressive roster of 77 toy industry luminaries who have been inducted into the Hall since it was established in 1984, including those who brought to life Mickey Mouse (Walt Disney), Barbie (Ruth and Elliot Handler), The Muppets (Jim Henson), and more.

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Posted on October 7, 2020