Chicago -
By Joe Brockert/United States Postal Service
Hi,
I’m with the Postal Service and wanted to give you a heads up that Illinois’ state bird has been commemorated on a Forever stamp. The Northern Cardinal appears as one of our Songbirds in Snow stamps that were just issued last week. Here’s the link to the news release.
Posted on August 10, 2016
By J.J. Tindall
Whirl
What is a whirlwind?
They happen every day, somewhere.
The world, we know, whirls.
Rain whirls: a waterspout
Of converging rain and lake water whirled
Off Navy Pier as a front
Rolled in.
Posted on August 9, 2016
By Robert Walsh/The Line Up
“I am Jack the . . . ”
These were supposedly Dr. Thomas Neill Cream’s last words, somewhat interrupted by the trapdoors opening as he was hanged.
Dr. Cream swore to do no harm, then built a career out of doing little else. He favored the poison strychnine, which he used to kill mostly women – and mostly prostitutes, at that – between 1881 and 1892. His killing method of choice, as well as his eventual residence in the Lambeth area in London earned him the nickname, “The Lambeth Poisoner.”
Posted on August 8, 2016
By Aloft Circus Arts
For the last eight years, Aloft Circus Arts has been training amateur and professional circus artists in aerial and earth-bound acrobatics from a rented loft in a West Side industrial warehouse.
And in those eight years, Aloft has grown into one of the largest and most renowned circus schools in the United States, drawing 250 students per week.
Now, with the purchase of a 109-year-old church in Logan Square, Aloft is poised to put down roots that will allow it to launch a new phase of growth.
Classes for adults and – for the first time in Aloft’s history – children begin Tuesday, September 6th.
Posted on August 4, 2016
By The Forest Preserves Of Cook County
Throughout 2016, the Forest Preserves of Cook County invites visitors to see some of the most interesting native and migrating birds in the Preserves.
Each month during the Forest Preserves’ 2016 Bird the Preserves initiative, a new bird will be highlighted. Visitors will have the opportunity to spot the bird of the month at an event or program, and learn what makes that bird so special. The August Bird of the Month is the ruby-throated hummingbird.
Ruby-throated hummingbirds are masters of flight. They can beat their wings dozens of times per second, creating a humming noise. Other fascinating features:
Posted on August 2, 2016
By Lena Groeger/ProPublica
We’ve seen how design can keep us away from harm and save our lives. But there is a more subtle way that design influences our daily decisions and behavior – whether we know it or not. It’s not sexy or trendy or flashy in any way. I’m talking about defaults.
Defaults are the settings that come out of the box, the selections you make on your computer by hitting enter, the assumptions that people make unless you object, the options easily available to you because you haven’t changed them.
They might not seem like much, but defaults (and their designers) hold immense power – they make decisions for us that we’re not even aware of making. Consider the fact that most people never change the factory settings on their computer, the default ringtone on their phones, or the default temperature in their fridge. Someone, somewhere, decided what those defaults should be – and it probably wasn’t you.
Posted on July 28, 2016
By Ben Garrod/The Conversation
We’re taught that evolution is all about “survival of the fittest.” But that’s not always the case. In fact, sometimes evolution can be the result of a lucky animal finding “any port in a storm.” And the finding that Luzon, an island in the Philippines, has the greatest concentration of unique mammals in the world – even more than Madagascar – is the perfect example.
Islands are often examples of an evolutionary free-for-all, where a newly introduced species may find themselves in the perfect situation, whether that’s a new and different type of habitat and resources or even a complete lack of competitors and predators. Being introduced to an island ecosystem can turn a rather mediocre mainland species into a weird and wonderful new creation.
Posted on July 26, 2016
By Helene Smith
The St. Joseph-Benton Harbor Amtrak station around the corner in Michigan has shared its building with Silver Beach Pizza since 2005.
(ENLARGE FOR PROPER VIEWING)
Posted on July 22, 2016
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