Author: swanksalot

Always good to have a second user look at things

Reading Around on November 4th through November 6th

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A few interesting links collected November 4th through November 6th:

  • The Unemployment Rate for People Like You – Interactive Graphic – NYTimes.com – “For white men ages 25 to 44 with a college degree”: 3.9% unemployment. Oh, well that makes a less compelling headline now, doesn’t it.
  • Dorms for the dead | Crain’s Chicago Business – The dead may breathe new life into the Three Arts Club in the Gold Coast. Once a 110-room dormitory for women artists, the landmark building could become a permanent home to the cremated remains of as many as 15,000 people. That plan, put forth by a group of investors led by Chicago architect Bill Bickford, is a novel one for a property revered by preservationists
  • Preserving the History of Haight-Ashbury – Photo Journal – WSJ – “Two groups are planning museums in the legendary neighborhood to capture memories of the 1960s hippie movement before they fade with age. If the museums launch, they would be the latest in a recent push by San Francisco groups to better document the city’s history”

The Three Arts Club Chicago – a Mausoleum

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Gold Coast

www.cityofchicago.org/Landmarks/T/ThreeArts.html

Crains reports: building considered being converted into a mausoleum www.chicagobusiness.com/cgi-bin/article.pl?article_id=325…
Seems sort of a ridiculous waste of an architecturally significant building.

Designed by Holabird & Roche and completed in 1914, the Three Arts Club was home to more than 12,000 female artists during its nearly 90-year existence but closed in 2003 because it didn’t have money for a major renovation. The building was designated a landmark in 1981.

A company controlled by Chicago developer Mark Hunt paid $13 million for the building in 2003 with the idea of converting it into a boutique hotel and social club. But that plan fizzled, and Mr. Hunt put the property back on the market.

THE CREMATION TREND COULD FUEL DEMAND FOR MORE PROJECTS. ABOUT A THIRD OF AMERICANS WHO DIED LAST YEAR WERE CREMATED, UP FROM 7% IN 1975.

Mr. Bickford confirms that he and his partners have a letter of intent to buy the building. Sources say Mr. Bickford’s group has agreed to pay $6 million to $7 million for the property, less than Mr. Hunt’s $9.8-million loan, which came due in February. Mr. Hunt did not respond to requests for comment.

Where Mr. Bickford’s idea goes from here will depend in part on how Gold Coast residents react to it. Alderman Brendan Reilly (42nd), whose ward includes the property, is reserving judgment but likes the proposed project’s limited impact on traffic.

sure, it would be quiet, but is that really what the building should be used for?

Reading Around on November 3rd through November 4th

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A few interesting links collected November 3rd through November 4th:

  • Fluidr / photos and videos sorted randomly – A random assortment of my photos (via Chicago Sage)

  • The Paranoid Style in American Politics – Harper’s Magazine, November 1964, pp. 77-86.It had been around a long time before the Radical Right discovered it—and its targets have ranged from “the international bankers” to Masons, Jesuits, and munitions makers.

  • Authoritarians, pt 2: the Problem Broadly Outlined | Cogitations – How is it that Bush and Cheney could take us to war in Iraq with constantly shifting rationales, unleash the NSA to spy on the country at large, and with the aid of foot soldiers like John Yoo cobble together shoddy legal findings as flimsy justification for torture and other abuses of executive power?

Reading Around on November 3rd

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Some additional reading November 3rd from 00:59 to 12:47:

  • BizarroBlog: Scary Health Care Reform –

    “I’m also self employed, so no one provides any kind of insurance for me, I have to buy it. Health insurance costs vary from state to state, but here in NYC, the cheapest I can find for my wife and I, with a large deductible, is over $1000 a month. That’s another mortgage payment each month, into the pockets of super wealthy insurance execs, in all likelihood for nothing. Statistics show that if I ever want to use that insurance there is an excellent chance they’ll find a way to deny me. That’s how they make their profits”

  • Create a font from your own handwriting – fontcapture.com – “Create a font from your own handwriting

    At fontcapture.com you can create a font from your very own handwriting. There’s no software to download and install, all you need is a printer and a scanner”

    wonder if my handwriting has changed much since the 1990s when I last did something similar

  • Randomizer – a set on Flickr – 23 Random Photos for your viewing pleasure

    Set automatically created by dopiaza’s set generator on 3rd November 2009 at 6:56am GMT

Reading Around on November 1st through November 2nd

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A few interesting links collected November 1st through November 2nd:

  • Redeeming iPhone App Promo Codes in iTunes – You can redeem a code at the iTunes Store by following these instructions: Open iTunes. Click iTunes Store in the pane on the left-hand side of the window. Click the Redeem link in the QUICK LINKS box on the right-hand side of page. Enter your code. Click the Redeem button.
  • Two Bare Hands – Staring at your two bare hands For hours.Just like a young,
    Sexually frustrated male
    On a Friday night
    With nothing better
    To do.

Reading Around on October 29th through October 30th

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A few interesting links collected October 29th through October 30th:

  • Chief drug adviser David Nutt sacked over cannabis stance | Politics | The Guardian – Alan Johnson, the home secretary, has sacked Professor David Nutt as senior drugs adviser after the scientist renewed his criticism of the government's decision to toughen the law on cannabis.

    Johnson wrote to Nutt saying he no longer had confidence in him as chairman of the Advisory Committee on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) and asking him to consider his position.

    Nutt had accused ministers of "devaluing and distorting" the scientific evidence over illicit drugs by their decision last year to reclassify cannabis from class C to class B against the advice of the ACMD

  • Think Again: Obama’s Commie Past Exposed Yet Again – Robert Fox, the millionaire brother-in-law of a GOP congressman, tried to prove the connection. He offered $10,000 to Dr. Peter Millican, an Oxford professor who had developed a computer program to make comparisons between texts. Times of London reported this on November 2, 2008. Millican told Fox that the initial findings made it “highly implausible” that the books shared authors. He also said that if further research was done, then the findings would be made public whether or not Ayers was proven to be the author. Fox withdrew his offer.
  • Excerpts From The Book The NBA Doesn't Want You To Read – Tim Donaghy – Deadspin – I'm still fucking bitter about this game six travesty
    :"If we give the benefit of the calls to the team that's down in the series, nobody's going to complain. The series will be even at three apiece, and then the better team can win Game 7," Bavetta stated.

    As history shows, Sacramento lost Game 6 in a wild come-from-behind thriller that saw the Lakers repeatedly sent to the foul line by the referees. For other NBA referees watching the game on television, it was a shameful performance by Bavetta's crew, one of the most poorly officiated games of all time."

Tech support

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Seems like my MacBook Pro hard drive has given up the ghost. Disk errors and the like. Three years of moderate use, but death can strike at any time to anyone, or any thing. Now I have to ascertain if there is any unbacked-up data on the drive that is worth the hassle of retrieving.

I am pretty good about keeping backups current, but I was out of town, and had family camping out in my office so there is a potential gap there of a couple weeks. Maybe.

Half the battle of repairing computers is simply having the patience to be methodical and logical, and waiting for processes to finish.

I know I shouldn’t take machine failure personally, but I do. This laptop was a birthday present a few years ago, and it has travelled with me all over the place.

Disclaimer

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Disclaimer
Disclaimer, originally uploaded by swanksalot.

a disclaimer to end all disclaimers.

Text reads:
“The Public Building Commission of Chicago and all other government tenants hereby disclaim any endorsement of any displays, exhibits, or structures that may be erected on these premises.”

Well, alrighty then