By J.J. Tindall
Old Main
I will always love you.
In my soul, Old Main, you are
As a pyramid: holy.
Monumentally strange
And eternally beautiful,
In any guise. Like a Frankenstein
Of good, old-fashioned government
Posted on May 10, 2017
Losing Logan Square
By Timothy McManus
A rapid loss of culture, identity and affordability that is neither natural nor inevitable, but the result of purposeful policy choices.
Posted on May 9, 2017
Beachwood Photo Booth: Manzana
(Roseland At Night
Chicago-Based Duracell Sues Alleged Gray Market Dealer
By Jonathan Stempel/Reuters
Duracell, a unit of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, on Thursday filed a lawsuit accusing a Missouri wholesaler of illegally selling gray market versions of its copper-top alkaline batteries.
According to a complaint filed in federal court in Chicago, JRS Ventures is importing and selling batteries made in China that were intended for sale only to Duracell’s original equipment manufacturers, to be packaged with products such as appliances and remote controls.
Duracell, which long used the tagline “no regular battery looks like it or lasts like it,” said JRS’s batteries do look like its own but come in packaging that does not mention Duracell’s 10-year guarantee or how to obtain customer service.
Chicago-based Duracell said it learned of the alleged infringement in March, and said that JRS refused its demand to stop selling the infringing batteries.
Posted on May 1, 2017
Beachwood Photo Booth: Bus Stop
(Illinois Man: Bose Headphones Are Spying On Me! (He May Be Right)
By David Glance/The Conversation
Kyle Zak of Illinois is claiming in a lawsuit that headphone and speaker company Bose is secretly collecting information about what users listen to when they use its bluetooth wireless headphones.
Zak, through his lawyers at Edelson, claims that information about what he has been listening to through his Bose headphones was being collected without his knowledge or explicit consent every time he used a Bose companion mobile app called Bose Connect. The app allows customers to interact with the headphones, updating software and also managing which device is connected at any time with the headphones. If the headphones are being used to listen to something, details about what is being played will show up in the Connect App.
This information is then collected by Bose and sent to third parties, including companies like Segment, who facilitate the collection of data from web and mobile applications and make it available for further analysis.
Posted on April 27, 2017
Beachwood Photo Booth: Wyoming, Michigan
By Helene Smith
Posted on April 21, 2017
Chicagoetry: People Made Of Rain Could Wreck God
By J.J. Tindall
People Made of Rain Could Wreck God
1
Question: What is the shape of the sky?
Answer: The sun never lies.
You can’t always
See it but the sun is always
There, always aware,
Even when spring squalls
Like black jellyfish
Dangling rain
Approach slowly
From beyond the shapeless sky.
Posted on April 18, 2017
Chase For Tastier Tortillas Starts With Age-Old ‘Mexican Gold’
By David Alire Garcia/Reuters
OTZOLOTEPEC, Mexico – Under a scorching sun, Clemente Enriquez tips his wide-brimmed hat up as he proudly displays in an open palm the conico corn seeds he plants on his small plot in the rolling hills outside this village west of Mexico City.
“These are very special,” said Enriquez, a 78-year-old farmer with shaggy gray hair and bushy black eyebrows, speaking on the edge of a neighbor’s field. “I’ve been growing these for years. I like the size of the seed and the color, and the taste of the tortillas you can make with them.”
Lately, his enthusiasm seems to be catching on. A growing army of “heirloom corn” fans, from celebrity chef Rick Bayless to food giants like ConAgra to a group of dogged Mexican scientists, are aiming to unlock the ancient ingredient to bring tortillas with better flavor to the high-end foodie market while boosting sustainable local economies.
Posted on April 17, 2017