I haven't been to the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry since I was in grammar school. Oh the Griffin being former Chicago resident Ken Griffin, billionaire financier who gave a gift to this museum hence his name being attached to it.
I don't recall ever seeing this train, nor the WW2 German U-Boat though I may recall the airliner hanging from the ceiling. I do recall the model trainset which I have shared here that portrays the route of Amtrak's Empire Builder. Always thought that was cool.
This is one thing I want to see at that Museum when I go back in the near future, the Pioneer Zephyr was a great design for it's time. It served a non-stop route from Chicago to Denver making the trip in 13 hours.
Russel Sharp Train video's shows us the exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry. [VIDEO]
What the YouTube channel Useful Charts does is interesting. They not only look at his family tree, but they look at his "episcopal" lineage also. They look at his connection to other prominent Catholic cardinals, bishops or even other popes.
In the news it has come out that Pope Leo's lineage may include ancestors of African descent. As they discuss here his lineage includes Louisiana Creole who are often mixed race. He is of Italian descent on both sides of his family, and Popes have typically been of Italian descent.
Bear in mind when I say this, Pope John Paul II & Pope Benedict XVI were not of Italian descent. They were Polish and German respectively. Pope Francis was of Italian descent, however, he was born in the Latin American country of Argentina.
Also, another important this about the former Cardinal Louis Prevost is that he is the first U.S.A (or American if you prefer) born Pope in history. His immediate predecessor of course Pope Francis was born in Argentina so he was the first non-European born pontiff.
Pope Leo is also known as a Chicago-boy and a White Sox fan and there are photos of him at a World Series game in 2005 - which the White Sox swept the Houston Astros to win it all. He was said to have lived in the Roseland neighborhood though his childhood was spent in suburban Dolton, Illinois.
His childhood parish is located on the City Limits between Dolton and Chicago known as St. Mary of the Assumption. Both his childhood home and this church could become historic landmarks and that would be cool.
Anyway, here's the Useful Charts video if you want to look at his family and episcopal connections [VIDEO]
[VIDEO] Wait until you get to at least the last three cities. And some cities such as St. Louis and Detroit had experienced some form of population decline.
Many cities had some form of geographic advantage. Such as Chicago which historically had a geographic advantage, a hub for transportation, being on the Great Lakes, and being on a river which is connected to other important rivers.
People may emphasize here in this state that Chicago is losing population, however, Mr. Beat state's that that the Windy City is always reinventing itself.
Chicago is a great city, but which of these 25 cities would you choose to live?
Haven't really had the time to watch the DNC this week. Got a lot going on at home right now.
I did at least see Doug Emhoff, Michelle Obama and former Pres. Barack Obama speak last night. Will share at a later time.
I also understand that IL Gov. J.B. Pritzker spoke last night at the DNC will also share that.
On Monday Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson spoke to the DNC. And also so did outgoing President Joe Biden who dropped out of the 2024 race just last month.
Of course all of our local politicians - especially the high profile ones - will be speaking at a nat'l political convention. From Governor on down. However, expect me to share remarks by the Vice President's running mate MN Gov. Tim Walz and of course Vice Pres. Kamala Harris.
How these usually go Walz will likely speak tonight and then the Vice President will speak on Thursday night , the last evening of the convention.
Thankfully there weren't a lot of problems outside of the convention. I see police were shown in riot gear and of course arrests were made because well some people don't mind pushing the limits. People were expecting Chicago to be out of control and I'm not seeing that yet.
Then again admittedly I'm not following a lot of coverage on whatever protests are going on. Let's hope things don't go to out of control. However, I'm encouraged that Chicago Police will step in before things go too crazy.
[VIDEO] Chicago is a very navigable city. We know what the center of Chicago's grid which is State and Madison all addresses go from 0 from there north, south, east, and west. I never knew that a city block in Chicago is one-eighth (1/8) of a mile which means I've been walking miles for years especially from downtown Chicago. And of course in general street numbers go in each direction by mile you will know where you are in the city if you look at street signs or how far you are at least from State & Madison, however, the grid isn't entirely consistent.
Of course there are diagonal streets let's say south of State & Madison generally you have Archer Ave. & South Chicago Ave which go diagonal. I was always told that in the days before expressways or interstate highways that these were the original expressways.
Of course from Chicago Geographer those facts and some other quirks in the city's grid system as you see in this six minute video.
[VIDEO] We go from hunter/gatherers to farming to the Industrial Revolution. And the Industrial Revolution was definitely a difficult era long hours to manufacture goods and products in a factory. Mr. Beat talks about the creation of unions and how we eventually get weekends and more manageable work schedules.
Of course he seems to editorialize and discusses in what ways do school teachers not have it easy workwise. And how employers get leverage to treat their employees like "crap". And we do get a picture how during the heat of the Industrial Revolution how harsh conditions were.
Children and wives were forced to work when the men or husbands of the house weren't able to work due to a workplace related injuries. There weren't a lot of safety nets nor any workman's compensation once upon a time. And yet in our society you still got to keep a roof over your head and most important you still have to eat.
There is a Chicago connection to Mr. Beat's lesson. He discusses the Haymarket affair. You can visit the site near Randolph and Jefferson where there is a memorial to this incident in 1886. In this incident seven people were killed when a bomb was set off, it's also considered a very deadly day for Chicago Police even to this day. We still don't know who set off the bomb however a number of people were executed for their role in this incident.
As an aside, Marathon Pundit recently discussed a memorial that was originally in the Haymarket area until 1972. It's really a memorial to the police officers who were killed in that incident and according to John Ruberry it's considered endangered. The memorial itself is said to be located at the new police headquarters at 35th & State.
On June 16, 1956 streetcar service ended on Western Avenue. Over 64 years ago according to this post from back in June at Chicago History Today. I wanted to show this south side scene provided in that same post. I could show another near Western and Pershing Rd. during that period of time.
Either way streetcar service was on the wane here in Chicago and by 1958 something I shared last year all streetcar service in Chicago was eliminated. If there was to be a revival of streetcars or light rail in the city I'd say Western Avenue is one main thoroughfare that could use it.
As far as transit planning in Chicago, however, there has been emphasis on this idea of bus rapid transit. However, these plans haven't been implemented as of yet.
[VIDEO] Over at The Sixth Ward blog, I've been pretty heavy with the updates regarding the coronavirus here in Illinois and certainly in the city. Sometimes it pays to take the load off, and especially if many of us are at home adhering to this stay-at-home order to keep people safe from a contagion.
Yes we have streaming services whether Netflix, CBS All Access (which airs my latest favorite Star Trek series ST: Picard) and another favorite of mine the WWE Network. Meanwhile we can always take our Daily Dose of Internet which are often live on Monday's and Thursday's every week. Many of these vids are of an entertainment, informative, topical, or scientific interest.
It's one reason I enjoy sharing those videos here. Hopefully you've learned something new when you see them here.
[VIDEO] Mayor Lori Lightfoot addresses Chicagoans on Thursday with regards to the coronavirus outbreak. She announced here that CPS schools will remain closed until April 20, 2020 in order to help slow the spread of the virus.
If you want to read a statement by CPS click here. Since Gov. Pritzker ordered all the state's schools closed last week CPS schools have become food distribution facilities for families with school age children. With that statement that policy will continue during the extension of the schools' closure during this very unprecedented period.
[VIDEO] Mr. Beat produced this video comparing Chicago with St. Louis, Missouri. The man who narrates this video is actually a middle school social studies teacher. It would've been cool to have these vids on hand back in the 7th grade (or perhaps earlier).
Geography was one of those subjects I familiarized myself with years ago. It helped that I began to familiarize myself with a Rand McNally Road Atlas. To see different places and their geological features has been fascinating. To see different cities and how people live their lives there has been fascinating.
It's fascinating to see the differences between two large cities (one considerably larger than the other) in the midwest and merely hours a part. BTW, I've never been to St. Louis though I can't want to show you one site that one must visit when going...
[VIDEO] If you've been following the news for the past week an alligator was lurking in the lagoons of Humboldt Park on the north side. The pictures I've seen of him show him to be small alligator, the video glimpses of him make him out to be a larger gator at least to me.
All the same Frank Robb came to Florida to trap him and he's not only been treated to the first pitch at a Cubs game he also came to turn on Buckingham Fountain. He's truly the hero of the moment.
I found this meme at CapFax just last week as the search for this gator continues. It's pretty funny especially since it seems to be true. Politicians looking for anything to tax.
[VIDEO] While I didn't want to post another artistmac video so soon after I already posted one on Monday, however, with the snow coming down at this moment this is appropriate. Not a blizzard at least, but this is heavy snow regardless.
Meanwhile, the last video by artistmac was really about complaining about a ridge or snow in his backyard. The video above tells us about the politics of snow about dibs, also the city shouldn't plow alleys or private property, and of course private property owners especially businesses should shovel the snow on their sidewalks.
Also artistmac is pretty saavy. Let's say you see a city plow for example plowing an alley if you have your fancy iPhone or android device or a Blackberry snap a photo or record video. You can send this to your alderman's office you can also send it to the local TV news stations. He does state we are in sweeps period.
For your weather needs check the WGN Weather page. And be careful when shoveling your snow!
BTW, just remember that we're almost a month away from spring. We're almost at the point where the cold weather and the snow becomes rain storms and warmer weather.
[VIDEO] I've written about this group from time to time and I got wind of a future documentary of which you see a preview here. This is what's posted to the video page:
Hope Dealers, a non-profit organization that aims to help areas through
community service. The group was created by Corey Hardiman, a Morehouse
graduate and native of Southside Chicago. Although looking to eventually
expand, the group for the past three years has primarily performed
service in Southside Chicago, Ill.
Now to find out when this documentary is coming and if it will be shown exclusively on the internet or shown at a movie house near you.
Crossposted last week at The Sixth Ward wanted to run this here as well
Unfortunately, I was asleep when the whole LaQuan McDonald story came out. Kudos to the person(s) who were able to bring this to light. There are a lot questions worth asking about what happened last year when he was killed by a police office. We now see photographic evidence for what it was worth of what happened that night.
We see a lot of people are passionate about what happened with Mr. McDonald and it's ramifications. Alderman Roderick Sawyer of the 6th Ward has been on top of this story in his capacity as chairman of the city council Black Caucus.
So the question is what now? Well there have been demonstrations around downtown Chicago, some shenanigans took place such as ripping Christmas decorations off of the tree in Millennium Park. Perhaps some issues in the South Loop on the first day of demonstrations. And then the Black Friday demonstration where protesters block entrances to the many stores on Michigan Avenue to impact sales.
Thankfully no serious unrest and hopefully it stays that way. In the meanwhile, now it's time for the hard questions between the city's authorities regarding not only the McDonald case. Also regarding the relationship between police and the city's "minority" communities.
I've attempted to keep up with the various aspects of this story. For example the Capitol Fax has covered this story in it's various facets which also includes the firing of police chief Garry McCarthy
BTW, if you haven't seen the unfortunate dash cam video of the police action against McDonald click on video in brackets [VIDEO]. I have no plans to watch it but I know so many have been all over it. At the same time I have little interest in seeing a man get killed in real time.
ALSO, yesterday we learned that the state Attorney General is going to ask the Federal government to conduct a civil rights probe on the Chicago Police. So if the feds do take a look at this then there will more heat on local police in light of what happened to McDonald and perhaps other cases that can be uncovered.
Below is what was posted to our ig account an example of the Black Friday protests on North Michigan Avenue.
According to the Sun-Times
as of Monday you're able to vote early for the April 7, 2015 runoffs.
This affects the whole city because of the mayoral contest and if there
was a runoff in your ward then this affects you as well.
Regardless the Sun-Times lists all the early voting sites around the city. Early voting ends on April 4, 2015
[VIDEO] On this blog we posted video from Jahmal Cole's trip to Altgeld Garden. This was something he recorded in the fall last year. Today he shows us another facet of his My Block My Hood My City.
He takes teens on explorations around the city. Cole likes to say you can travel the world in Chicago as there are many different cultures who live in this city. So he takes teens to Chinatown, Greektown, Pilsen and other destinations. Basically he seeks to take teens from their neighborhoods and have them see the rest of the world.
As an aside I did show a video where the red line ventures to once it leaves the south side starting from 95th Street. Beyond this part of town there is a much larger world.
[VIDEO] Well we finally have our warm temps here in Chicago and artistmac talks about that. The snow that fell on Super Bowl Sunday this year is finally melting. Hopefully the cold temps that kept our young people out of school for at least 4 days within the past two months are nothing more than a memory.
Even better daylight savings time has passed as of this Saturday and then in the next week or so the first day of spring. It seems we've had a miserable winter this year and the end is only around the corner!
As we head into the final weekend of the 2015 municipal elections I would like to share with you two more mailers from Ald. Beale and opponent Ted Williams.
[VIDEO] I haven't been able to make a candidate's forum at all this year but at least CAN-TV provides footage for those around the city. You can join Aldertrack's e-mail list to see most of them.
All the same you can watch an hour of debate between candidate's Chicago's 9th ward from this past Saturday at Simeon High School. Was anything said by any candidate that could sway your vote?
