By Rick Burke/Navy Office of Community Outreach

Airman Dominique Williams from Chicago, serving aboard the USS Green Bay (LPD 20), earned Selective Restricted Availability (SRA) Sailor of the Week.
The Sailor of the Week Program recognizes superior performance of enlisted personnel emphasizing exemplary personal conduct and military bearing, and demonstrated initiative in the performance of duty.
“Receiving this award and knowing that my work ethic was noticed out of all of the other hard workers on this ship, means a lot to me,” said Williams. “It gives me a new level of appreciation for the different things people do here and gives me the motivation to continue, if not, excel in my line of work.”

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Posted on February 29, 2016

By Helene Smith

Night soul.
(ENLARGE FOR PROPER VIEWING)

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Posted on February 26, 2016

By Helene Smith

In Park Ridge.
(ENLARGE FOR PROPER VIEWING)

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Posted on February 19, 2016

Camaros, Corvettes and Doug E. Fresh

“Coming about one month after one of the largest auto shows of the year, the Chicago Auto Show tends to play second fiddle to Detroit,” CNET reports.
“But that doesn’t mean that automakers are content to leave the show filled with older product. There are still several debuts that take place in the Second City each year, and we’ve got the important ones rounded up here for you.”
More highlights:

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Posted on February 17, 2016

Highlights From The 2016 Chicago Motorcycle Show

The Chicago Motorcycle Show was held in Rosemont over the weekend and we’ve got some highlights.
1. The No Limit Stunt Show Featuring Jason Britton & Ian Gaines.

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Posted on February 16, 2016

By J.J. Tindall

Vestiges of Lilacs in Time
Vestiges of lilacs
Festoon her face
Rose of Sharon and
Tulips, too, in time
Gestures betray
A dancer’s grace
Her smile:
The bane of fools

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Posted on February 15, 2016

By Helene Smith

The old economy as seen from the Pere Marquette.
(Enlarge for proper viewing; then click to enlarge again!)

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Posted on February 12, 2016

By The Adler Planetarium and The Beachwood Linking & Embedding Affairs Desk

The Universe is speaking and now we are listening!
Adler astronomer Shane Larson is a member of an international scientific team that was the first to definitively detect a gravitational wave: a ripple in the fabric of spacetime first predicted by Albert Einstein in 1916.
This “signal” from space was detected on September 14, 2015, by the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) in the United States.
The LIGO collaboration calls this event “GW150914.” It is the first direct observation of gravitational waves, a phenomenon predicted by Einstein 100 years ago, but unobserved until this momentous discovery.
This is a way of seeing the Universe with gravity rather than light, which is a completely new way of understanding what is going on in the Universe around us.

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Posted on February 11, 2016

By Scott Buckner

Last in a series.
Part 1: Midnight Bus To Markham.
Part 2: Celebrating Incessant Monotony Since 1961.
Part 3: Meet Me At The Esquire Lounge.
The St. Louis Gateway Transit Center sits directly across the way from the Scottrade Center, home to the NHL’s St. Louis Blues. There’s a game tonight, which explains why every road in the vicinity looks like every road the day before Woodstock. The sheer amount of backlog suggests either the Blues are doing well this season or a wacky local radio station just dumped a shitload of free tickets out of a helicopter as part of morning zoo promotion.

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Posted on February 10, 2016

By Scott Buckner

Part 1: Midnight Bus To Markham.
Part 2: Celebrating Incessant Monotony Since 1961.
A half-block from the station, just before the corner of Chester and Walnut, I encounter The Esquire Lounge. The name conjures up images in my head of a dimly-lit establishment cruised by divorced, badly aging lounge-lizard men from the early 1970s – heavy on the wide lapels and Hai Karate – but a peek through the window reveals a diner/family restaurant kind of joint. And hot damn, one with bar service at the lunch counter – which stands to reason, because the word “Esquire” itself is pretty classy, and you practically expect a classy-sounding place to have booze. They even stock Drambuie. Now that’s class, ladies and gentlemen.
It’s 10:40 a.m., and I’m the only customer in the place. I’m informed it’s indeed open for business, and why yes, I can stow my monstrosity of a bag beneath their front counter. I take a seat there and, not wanting to besmirch the classiness of the place’s name by ordering something an unwashed foreigner straight out of steerage might, I go top(ish)-shelf with a Jack Daniel’s and Coke instead of the cheap, low-class swill I’m accustomed to. Because if you have to spend two hours drinking Jack-and-Cokes and eating cheeseburgers until something interesting starts happening, then by golly, this seems like an ideal place to do it.

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Posted on February 9, 2016