Category: Links

After 1880, the area on the North side bounded by La Salle St., Division St., and the Chicago River became known as "Little Hell" for the pernicious criminality that prospered there. It is said that, in the first 51 days of 1906, the police made over 900 arrests. Every sort of depravity, including brothels, saloons, robbery, cocaine and morphine sales could be found in Little Hell. The North side's first great gangster, Dion O'Banion, was a product of this district.

The big guys don't make good beer, generally," Roper said. "Even your Heinekens or your Becks are not going to be good. An Anchor or Sam Adams or a Sierra Nevada might make a good baby step into a large beer menu. … Another suggestion is drink local. In Boston, that is Sam. Here in Chicago, that's Goose Island or Three Floyds or Half Acre."

"Ionized water" is nothing more than sales fiction; the term is meaningless to chemists.
Pure water (that is, water containing no dissolved ions) is too unconductive to undergo signficant electrolysis by "water ionizer" devices.
Pure water can never be alkaline or acidic, nor can it be made so by electrolysis. Alkaline water must contain metallic ions of some kind — most commonly, sodium, calcium or magnesium.
The idea that one must consume alkaline water to neutralize the effects of acidic foods is ridiculous; we get rid of excess acid by exhaling carbon dioxide.
If you do drink alkaline water, its alkalinity is quickly removed by the highly acidic gastric fluid in the stomach.
Uptake of water occurs mainly in the intestine, not in the stomach. But when stomach contents enter the intestine, they are neutralized and made alkaline by the pancreatic secretions — so all the water you drink eventually becomes alkaline anyway.

And the American Fortified Wine Association survey determined that amongst homeless, Ripple was the preferred drink compared to diet Coke

Federal regulators on Monday sued the maker of a popular fruit drink, POM Wonderful LLC of Los Angeles, in a widening effort by the government to clamp down on food ads that tout healthy benefits.

The Federal Trade Commission's suit alleges that Pom's advertisements for POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice and its POMx supplements contain "false and unsubstantiated claims that their products will prevent or treat heart disease, prostate cancer, and erectile dysfunction.”

The government's complaint is directed towards ads that say the juice has "super health powers" and is "proven to fight for cardiovascular, prostate and erectile health."

Another ad cited by the FTC says, "New research offers further proof of the health-healthy benefits of POM Wonderful juice," saying the drink leads to a "30% decrease in arterial plaque" and "17% improved blood flow."

Joe Arpaio, the Arizona sheriff infamous due to his attention-grabbing immigration enforcement related stunts and the accusations his office discriminates against Latinos, allegedly misused millions in funds intended for jail operations, Maricopa County officials said Wednesday.

Christine O’Donnell has been accused twice recently of violating campaign finance laws. The Tea Party-backed GOP Senate candidate in Delaware has dismissed the allegations, characterizing the complaints as unwarranted, politically motivated smears.

A review of her campaign finance records filed with the Federal Elections Commission, interviews with attorneys familiar with campaign finance law, and a review of her own public statements suggests O’Donnell has almost certainly flouted the law

The Chicago Tribune’s community blogging product, ChicagoNow, has hosted a hate-filled, racist rant by blogger Joe the Cop entitled “The ghetto shooting template” for three days and counting now. Joe lacks the guts to blog under his real name and is identified as “a detective sergeant in a suburban police department”–so he’s clearly qualified to comment on inner-city policing matters.
In his race-baiting post and its equally offensive follow-up, “Joe” mocks both George Lash, 19, who was recently shot and killed by Chicago police on the Red Line, and Lash’s grieving family.

A diary entry belonging to a senior member of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) has revealed that during the First World War it was discovered that the bodily fluid could act as an effective invisible ink.
In June 1915, Walter Kirke, deputy head of military intelligence at GHQ France, wrote in his diary that Mansfield Cumming, the first chief (or C) of the SIS was "making enquiries for invisible inks at the London University”.

In October he noted that he "heard from C that the best invisible ink is semen", which did not react to the main methods of detection. Furthermore it had the advantage of being readily available.
A member of staff close to "C", Frank Stagg, said that he would never forget his bosses' delight when the Deputy Chief Censor said one day that one of his staff had found out that "semen would not react to iodine vapour".

Harley Farger, a leading Delaware masturbator and planner of the Million Masturbators March, said it was difficult to organize masturbators “because they’re used to acting alone.”

Mr. Farger, the executive director of the pro-monkey-spanking group MasturNation, said that the “wank and file” of his organization believe that masturbation is an inalienable right guaranteed by the Constitution.

“Our country was founded by rugged individualists,” he said. “And you know what individualists like to do.”

He said that Ms. O’Donnell’s anti-whacking position was “ill-timed,” adding, “In this economy, masturbation is one of the few simple pleasures people still can afford.”

That’s not true, I do feel guilty. I feel like I’m stepping on people’s lives, disrespecting their suffering by spending $2.00 on an energy boost. In the North Kivu region of Lubero where I live, most people make $15.00 to $20.00 a month and have more than five children to feed and educate. Many people don’t make any money at all, and whatever small income is generated is often stolen by soldiers, along with houses, food, animals and hope. I

In the meantime, Katz, who opened the bar that goes with his deli on Nov. 15, 1979, is going to throw a Hall of Fame (and Hall of Shame) reunion for his faithful customers Thursday at his restaurant at 618 W. Sixth. The invites include photos of famous people who have allegedly visited his place: among them Woody Allen, Dennis Hopper and, uh, the Queen of England?

O Beloved, upon this river of wine, launch our boat-shaped cup,
And into this river throw those weeping with envy, too.

This Leica MP2 camera and matching Wetzlar electric motor are going up for auction at WestLicht Auction in December of this year. The starting price for this auction is €80,000 (~$105,000), and the camera is expected to fetch up to €180,000 (~$235,440).

Teabagger and Senate candidate in Alaska, Joe Miller’s misguided intellectual and philosophical purity about how we shouldn’t rely on the federal government for anything did not keep him from making a little extra cash on the side thanks to you the taxpayer. That’s right, Mr. ’Who Needs the Feds?’ collected more than $14,000 in federal farm subsidies between 1995 and 2003, including barley and conservation subsidies.…but he’s perfectly happy to reap the rewards of a system he claims to detest, and then wants to get rid of it for everyone else.

Kind of like the fact that his parents live on Social Security and Medicare, but he wants to cut it off for the generations to come. Or the fact that his kids are home schooled and he wants to abolish the Department of Education.

This is an image of tequila under a microscope with 1000x magnification. Unclear whether this is well tequila or god's piss. Time magazine has more micrographs of libations. "What Booze Looks Like Under A Microscope"