If you haven't already heard, Tim Russert, NBC's Washington Bureau Chief and host of "Meet the Press" collapsed at the network's office in Washington and died of a heart attack today. He was 58. In this day of Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, John Gibson, and Michael Savage, Tim Russert stood above them as a tough but fair interviewer who did not ( Read more... )

Senator Edward Kennedy has a Malignant TumorAfter suffering a seizure Saturday and being airlifted to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, doctors today announced that the Senator has a malignant brain tumor, ABC News reports that this type of tumor can be treated if caught early enough , but is fatal in many cases ( Read more... )

So say the words spray-painted on what was once the base of the famous pop-art piece. Where I was working yesterday was only mere yards from it. Made famous by its appearance in "Wayne's World", even though the movie placed it out in Aurora, the "Spindle" in Berwyn is no more. In typical Chicago fashion, it was torn down after normal business ( Read more... )

I have to admit to it. Last night, as storms blew through the Chicago area, I decided to walk through one of the huge cemeteries on Des Plaines Ave. So here, clad in a black velvet coat, leather pants, and studded boots, and I am walking in a cemetery just after a rainfall. Is this not a fucking tableaux worthy of a Chris Kattan parody? But, I ( Read more... )

Not from here. but from my physical world. One of the reasons I came back was to get a lot of my shit out of my Dad's house, where it's been ever since I vacated my condo. I can't believe some of the junk I have. Computer cables of dubious quality, a copy of Red Hat 7 (I guess that's still usable on my old, old, old, PC or Laptop from the last ( Read more... )

This is what happens when infrastructure is ignored and you have to make do with what you have. Fortunately, nobody died in this incident, but it does reveal the difficulties the Chicago Transit Authority has in improving rolling stock while still offering affordable public transportation ( Read more... )

The Chicago Sun-Times decided to run a contest to see who could come up with the best video attacking Chicago Tribune and Chicago Cubs owner Sam Zell about his floating the idea of selling the naming rights to Wrigley Field. This has been a big controversy here, and I am firmly on the anti-Zell side - renaming Wrigley to baseball purists like ( Read more... )

So says Belmont District Captain Mike Ryan, giving a statement to the media about the Chicago Police Department's fatal shooting of a cougar in the Roscoe Village neighborhood this evening. Um, did the word "tranquilzer" ever enter your mind before your officers opened a large volume of fire that threatened surrounding people? Bullets hit an air- ( Read more... )

He was a bad actor and espouser of right-wing causes. To see him sit unflinchingly while Michael Moore discussed the handgun murder of a child was revolting, and he made matters worse by trying to defend gun ownership in light of that. You know, I grew up with guns, I own two of them - both of which are locked in a safe at my dad's house in ( Read more... )

A "5-11" is the final, maximum standard alarm called by the Chicago Fire Department - it refers to the dispatch of 16 extra engines above a "still" (initial) alarm that sends two engines, two trucks, and a Battalion Chief. Essentially, a 5-11 calls out everyone and their dog, and then "Specials" are called if further equipment is needed. I don't ( Read more... )