The 312 - October 2011

11/29/11

FutureGen and Edwardsport: More Bumps on the Road to Clean Coal

Ameren pulls out of the increasingly expensive FutureGen "clean coal" plant as its 2016 debut looks increasingly ambitious; a similar if less ambitious plant in Indiana nears completion, but only after tremendous cost and political controversy.

Posted at 6:49 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

11/01/11

Chicago Law Enforcement Roundup

A marijuana-ticketing ordinance is due to City Council tomorrow; a four-part series on pot; a multi-part series on international fugitive suspects; America's two great crime waves; and more.

Posted at 4:55 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/31/11

Teacher Looping in Chicago and Beyond

Illinois's school report cards are out, so everyone's searching for patterns in the data. One bright spot: Chopin Elementary's use of "looping," an uncommon if storied practice that's getting a new look.

Posted at 4:57 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/31/11

10 Good Reads About the Groupon IPO

From its low float to its subscriber base: What people are saying about the deal site's initial public offering, which is due Friday.

Posted at 2:45 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)

10/28/11

Halloween in Old Chicago

Women in uniform, soot bags, wild pranks, ducked theologians, college "sprites," rough work by hoodlums, pea guns, and a path of ruin from Northwestern down the north shore.

Posted at 5:55 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/28/11

Marijuana Moves Closer to Decriminalization in Chicago

Several notable locals come out in favor of easing marijuana possession laws as an ordinance to do so is readied for next week, and it feels like we're at a tipping point.

Posted at 5:01 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/28/11

World Series Game Six: The Best Worst Game Ever

The Cardinals win on an extra-innings walk-off home run by a St. Louis native, capping a game that will go down in World Series history as one of the best... and one of the worst.

Posted at 2:56 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (2)

10/27/11

Booth/Kellogg Financial Trust Index Shows Complete Lack of It

A two-year-old measurement of Americans' inchoate fear of the financial system has some "worrisome" results. Unless they're totally sensible.

Posted at 5:17 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/26/11

Contemporary Artists Reinvent Traditional Altars at Pullman Día de los Muertos Altar Walk

The Pullman State Historic Site partners with Chicago Artists Month to celebrate the Day of the Dead and to benefit the renovation of the 1881 Hotel Florence in Pullman.

Posted at 3:06 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/26/11

Occupy Wall Street and Obama's Student Loan Initiative

The Obama administration's new push to reduce student loan debt and simplify the process of taking it on and paying it off is... inevitably, impossibly complex. Here's a start to understanding it.

Posted at 3:01 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/26/11

Turning 2D Photos into '3D' Worlds

Four UIUC students present a method of "rendering synthetic objects into legacy photographs." The short of it is that it's mindblowing.

Posted at 1:40 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/25/11

Death and Taxes: Why Illinois's Estate Tax Went into a Coma and How Much It Cost

One overlooked hole in the Illinois budget is the one-year disappearance of the estate tax, a complex mess years in the making that cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars over the course of a year.

Posted at 5:54 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/25/11

Fines: Chicago's Hot New Revenue Stream

The city looks to crack down on speeders, disabled-parking-abusers, debtors, and unlicensed dog owners as fines outpace its other revenue streams. Which is why I propose an Ed Hardy tax.

Posted at 2:57 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (2)

10/25/11

The Invention of the McRib and Why It Disappears from McDonald's

How the work of two men, a Nebraska food scientist and a French chef, resulted in the miracle meat product we call the McRib. Plus: why it periodically vanishes from McDonald's, and where that meat goes when the McRib is gone.

Posted at 12:38 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (7)

10/24/11

The Suburbs: Poverty's New Frontier

During the recession, two of Illinois's wealthiest counties have seen near-10 percent drops in median income over the course of a couple years.

Posted at 5:46 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/24/11

The Next Restaurant 'Childhood Menu' Trailer

Regress with Grant Achatz and Dave Beran as a menu teaser takes you inside Next, previewing its upcoming menu for the kid in you.

Posted at 3:09 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/24/11

Q & A: Timothy Long Talks 'Charles James: Genius Deconstructed'

Timothy Long, the curator of the new Chicago History Museum exhibit "Charles James: Genius Deconstructed," discusses the famous Chicago designer and his fashion innovations.

Posted at 1:17 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/24/11

Occupy Chicago: Arrests, Student Loans, and John Carlos

The Olympics great, human-rights activist, and track coach stops by Occupy Chicago during an eventful weekend for the protest, as its message seems to get traction at the highest levels.

Posted at 11:56 AM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/21/11

Infographics of Old Chicago from Dean Cornwell

"This Is Chicago": Churches, taverns, foot sizes, gallons of coffee, and more—the Windy City as it was in 1914, at the dawn of the infographic era.

Posted at 5:04 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (2)

10/21/11

Slow News Day News Roundup

CPD coverage in high-crime neighborhoods; a controversial pension quirk; one aspect of the real estate market that's actually thriving; Occupy Naperville; and more

Posted at 11:46 AM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/20/11

The Low-Poverty Diet

A study of female public-housing residents who moved to low-poverty neighborhoods—based on a HUD experiment that arose out of Chicago's famous Gautreaux project—finds that the women were less likely to suffer from obesity and diabetes than the control group.

Posted at 1:42 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/19/11

Quintessential Designs of Norman Norell, Up for Bid

Chicago style goes front and center in the fashion world, as 140 items by Norman Norell, drawn from the collection of local socialite Beverly Dowis Blettner, go up for auction.

Posted at 4:32 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/19/11

This Week in Civic Ideas

The original Sears Tower, ideas for Chicago's park deserts, Metra fairs, parking subsidies, and more.

Posted at 3:07 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/19/11

Repent Now: Become a Cardinals Fan

Tired of the Cubs, or your frustrating National League Central team of choice? You've got six hours to become a fan of baseball's most consistently boring, and boringly consistent, team.

Posted at 1:27 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (3)

10/18/11

The Fraying of the Mental-Health Social Safety Net: Possible Costs and Consequences

This week has brought several excellent pieces in the papers and on the radio about mental illness and community services in a time of fiscal austerity. Here's a browse through it, and some context.

Posted at 5:45 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/18/11

John Wayne Gacy, Runaways, and the Decline of the Serial Killer

Cook County sheriff Tom Dart has put out an open call for people who believe they may be related to Gacy's eight unidentified victims. A look back at what we used to assume, and now know, about serial killers, and how we got there.

Posted at 2:16 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/17/11

The Purple Hotel and the Architectural Legacy of Hausner & Macsai

Lincolnwood's old Hyatt has long since fallen into disrepair and exists mostly as a cult kitsch memory. But the Chicago firm behind it is responsible for more of the local skyline than you might realize.

Posted at 5:47 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)

10/17/11

Reefer Madness: Pot Busts, Broken Windows, and the City Budget

Low-level marijuana arrests cost the city and county $78 million a year, according to research by Mick Dumke and Ben Joravsky, about the same as New York City spends on enforcement. It's a lot of money, but does it actually make us safer? There's research to suggest the opposite.

Posted at 2:10 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/14/11

Chicago's Proposed Water Rate Hike: At What Cost?

Mayor Emanuel proposed doubling water rates over the next five years as part of his first budget. It's a big increase, but are we being squeezed or just catching up to our civic peers?

Posted at 6:05 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (2)

10/14/11

HGTV 'Design Star' Meg Caswell Renovates a Chicago Kitchen

The reality-show winner and Design Shoppe owner does a local kitchen art deco-style for tomorrow night's episode of HGTV's "Great Rooms."

Posted at 4:39 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (2)

10/14/11

Kendra Marr, Plagiarism, and the Journalistic Ecosystem

A young reporter's job goes down in flames after a plagiarism scandal. There's a better way. Plus: the Reuters correction I'd like to see.

Posted at 3:07 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/13/11

Jens Jensen, Daniel Burnham, and Chicago Parks the Way They Should Have Been

A plea for more parks; the historical and political reasons why the West Side is a park desert; why Daniel Burnham is overrated; and a brilliant plan for dock, alley, and railyard parks. Plus: an unsung hero of Chicago landscape design.

Posted at 5:05 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/12/11

Rahm Emanuel on the Chicago Budget and Occupy Wall Street

This week in Mayor Emanuel: from the light load of big ideas with Michael Bloomberg, Kasim Reed, and Thomas Friedman at Ideas Week... to the heavy lifting of little governing ones with City Council.

Posted at 6:29 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (2)

10/12/11

Bus Tracking: The Most Interesting Thing I Read About Public Transportation Today

A study looks at Seattle's bus-tracker system, and finds nothing but love. The biggest benefit? Eliminating the mystery of the next bus's arrival.

Posted at 1:50 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/11/11

It's Hard Out There for the One Percent

The targets of Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Together lead difficult lives full of uncertainty, fear, and instability. (No, seriously, let me explain.) Further proof that the rich are like us, they just have more money.

Posted at 5:47 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (2)

10/11/11

'About Hunger and Resilience' at St. James Cathedral

Photographer Michael Nye spent four and a half years collecting the stories and images of 52 Americans who suffer from hunger. The resulting exhibit is showing through October 30 at St. James Cathedral.

Posted at 3:30 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/11/11

The Pump Room and Other Historic Forms of Chicago Nightlife

With the second reinvention of the legendary bar officially happening today, a look back at where the legend came from, courtesy of Rick Kogan. Plus: Rick Telander on Rush Street circa 1988, and a tour of Chicago nightlife at the end of the '80s.

Posted at 3:05 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)

10/10/11

The Five Best Ideas to Come From the Columbian Exposition

To celebrate Ideas Week and the forthcoming Chicago Humanities Festival, a look back at five advances from the 1893 World's Fair: the fax machine, the Hoochie Coochie Man, and more.

Posted at 6:06 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/10/11

Student Loan Forgiveness: Actually, We Already Do That

Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Together are stirring up debate on political policies that could help the 99 Percent. One that keeps coming up is debt forgiveness, particularly student debt forgiveness.

Posted at 2:58 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (11)

10/07/11

Steve Jobs, Jef Raskin, and The Humane Interface

On Steve Jobs, the man behind Apple; and Jef Raskin, the man behind the Macintosh, an unsung computer genius whose odd, innovative ideas have never quite taken hold but continue to trail Apple's products, 30 years after he left the company.

Posted at 6:44 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/06/11

Obama and the Left, After the War (Protests)

A study by academics at Michigan and Indiana suggests that the election of Barack Obama left the anti-war movement either co-opted or high and dry. What will happen to Occupy Wall Street?

Posted at 4:25 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)

10/06/11

5 Good Reads About Bill Cellini

Well, four good reads and a video on the veteran downstate power broker and his web of connections throughout the state. Plus: his patent for a "shower enlarger."

Posted at 1:57 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/06/11

This Week in Bike News

Good developments on the Bloomingdale Trail; should bikes be licensed?; our fairly obvious law on texting while biking; and more.

Posted at 12:30 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)

10/05/11

5 Reasons to See Maria Bamford at Mayne Stage

The comedian whom Marc Maron describes as "the best comic in the country," a veteran of Patton Oswalt's "Comedians of Comedy Tour," does a two-night stand this weekend.

Posted at 6:49 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/05/11

Annals of Chicago's Head Tax

Mayor Emanuel is stepping up his promise to cut the city's "head tax," a per-employee tax on medium and large businesses. It's unpopular, but how'd we end up with it in the first place?

Posted at 1:04 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (2)

10/04/11

The Patent Holder Who Might Take Your WiFi Away (But Might Help Save the Patent System)

A Chicago based firm and its lawyer are suing hotels, department stores, and upscale chains like Caribou and Panera for patent infringement... because they use WiFi. It's crazy, but so is patent law.

Posted at 7:37 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)

10/04/11

TIFs in the Spotlight: After School Matters

Chicago's inspector general finds that the charity founded by Da Ex-Mare's wife got $915,000 in money donated by recipients of tax increment financing, through an opaque process that generated $3.7 million for various public and private organizations.

Posted at 4:45 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/03/11

Foreclosures, Health Insurance, and Occupy Wall Street

From South Morgan St. to (Occupy) Wall Street: The meaning, or lack thereof, in We are the 99 Percent and the nationwide Occupy protests that hit LaSalle Street here in Chicago.

Posted at 6:48 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)

	11/29/11 FutureGen and Edwardsport: More Bumps on the Road to Clean Coal Ameren pulls out of the increasingly expensive FutureGen "clean coal" plant as its 2016 debut looks increasingly ambitious; a similar if less ambitious plant in Indiana nears completion, but only after tremendous cost and political controversy. Posted at 6:49 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	11/01/11 Chicago Law Enforcement Roundup A marijuana-ticketing ordinance is due to City Council tomorrow; a four-part series on pot; a multi-part series on international fugitive suspects; America's two great crime waves; and more. Posted at 4:55 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	10/31/11 Teacher Looping in Chicago and Beyond Illinois's school report cards are out, so everyone's searching for patterns in the data. One bright spot: Chopin Elementary's use of "looping," an uncommon if storied practice that's getting a new look. Posted at 4:57 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	10/31/11 10 Good Reads About the Groupon IPO From its low float to its subscriber base: What people are saying about the deal site's initial public offering, which is due Friday. Posted at 2:45 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (1)
	10/28/11 Halloween in Old Chicago Women in uniform, soot bags, wild pranks, ducked theologians, college "sprites," rough work by hoodlums, pea guns, and a path of ruin from Northwestern down the north shore. Posted at 5:55 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	10/28/11 Marijuana Moves Closer to Decriminalization in Chicago Several notable locals come out in favor of easing marijuana possession laws as an ordinance to do so is readied for next week, and it feels like we're at a tipping point. Posted at 5:01 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	10/28/11 World Series Game Six: The Best Worst Game Ever The Cardinals win on an extra-innings walk-off home run by a St. Louis native, capping a game that will go down in World Series history as one of the best... and one of the worst. Posted at 2:56 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (2)
	10/27/11 Booth/Kellogg Financial Trust Index Shows Complete Lack of It A two-year-old measurement of Americans' inchoate fear of the financial system has some "worrisome" results. Unless they're totally sensible. Posted at 5:17 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	10/26/11 Contemporary Artists Reinvent Traditional Altars at Pullman Día de los Muertos Altar Walk The Pullman State Historic Site partners with Chicago Artists Month to celebrate the Day of the Dead and to benefit the renovation of the 1881 Hotel Florence in Pullman. Posted at 3:06 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	10/26/11 Occupy Wall Street and Obama's Student Loan Initiative The Obama administration's new push to reduce student loan debt and simplify the process of taking it on and paying it off is... inevitably, impossibly complex. Here's a start to understanding it. Posted at 3:01 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	10/26/11 Turning 2D Photos into '3D' Worlds Four UIUC students present a method of "rendering synthetic objects into legacy photographs." The short of it is that it's mindblowing. Posted at 1:40 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	10/25/11 Death and Taxes: Why Illinois's Estate Tax Went into a Coma and How Much It Cost One overlooked hole in the Illinois budget is the one-year disappearance of the estate tax, a complex mess years in the making that cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars over the course of a year. Posted at 5:54 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	10/25/11 Fines: Chicago's Hot New Revenue Stream The city looks to crack down on speeders, disabled-parking-abusers, debtors, and unlicensed dog owners as fines outpace its other revenue streams. Which is why I propose an Ed Hardy tax. Posted at 2:57 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (2)
	10/25/11 The Invention of the McRib and Why It Disappears from McDonald's How the work of two men, a Nebraska food scientist and a French chef, resulted in the miracle meat product we call the McRib. Plus: why it periodically vanishes from McDonald's, and where that meat goes when the McRib is gone. Posted at 12:38 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (7)
	10/24/11 The Suburbs: Poverty's New Frontier During the recession, two of Illinois's wealthiest counties have seen near-10 percent drops in median income over the course of a couple years. Posted at 5:46 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	10/24/11 The Next Restaurant 'Childhood Menu' Trailer Regress with Grant Achatz and Dave Beran as a menu teaser takes you inside Next, previewing its upcoming menu for the kid in you. Posted at 3:09 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	10/24/11 Q & A: Timothy Long Talks 'Charles James: Genius Deconstructed' Timothy Long, the curator of the new Chicago History Museum exhibit "Charles James: Genius Deconstructed," discusses the famous Chicago designer and his fashion innovations. Posted at 1:17 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	10/24/11 Occupy Chicago: Arrests, Student Loans, and John Carlos The Olympics great, human-rights activist, and track coach stops by Occupy Chicago during an eventful weekend for the protest, as its message seems to get traction at the highest levels. Posted at 11:56 AM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	10/21/11 Infographics of Old Chicago from Dean Cornwell "This Is Chicago": Churches, taverns, foot sizes, gallons of coffee, and more—the Windy City as it was in 1914, at the dawn of the infographic era. Posted at 5:04 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (2)
	10/21/11 Slow News Day News Roundup CPD coverage in high-crime neighborhoods; a controversial pension quirk; one aspect of the real estate market that's actually thriving; Occupy Naperville; and more Posted at 11:46 AM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	10/20/11 The Low-Poverty Diet A study of female public-housing residents who moved to low-poverty neighborhoods—based on a HUD experiment that arose out of Chicago's famous Gautreaux project—finds that the women were less likely to suffer from obesity and diabetes than the control group. Posted at 1:42 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	10/19/11 Quintessential Designs of Norman Norell, Up for Bid Chicago style goes front and center in the fashion world, as 140 items by Norman Norell, drawn from the collection of local socialite Beverly Dowis Blettner, go up for auction. Posted at 4:32 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	10/19/11 This Week in Civic Ideas The original Sears Tower, ideas for Chicago's park deserts, Metra fairs, parking subsidies, and more. Posted at 3:07 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	10/19/11 Repent Now: Become a Cardinals Fan Tired of the Cubs, or your frustrating National League Central team of choice? You've got six hours to become a fan of baseball's most consistently boring, and boringly consistent, team. Posted at 1:27 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (3)
	10/18/11 The Fraying of the Mental-Health Social Safety Net: Possible Costs and Consequences This week has brought several excellent pieces in the papers and on the radio about mental illness and community services in a time of fiscal austerity. Here's a browse through it, and some context. Posted at 5:45 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	10/18/11 John Wayne Gacy, Runaways, and the Decline of the Serial Killer Cook County sheriff Tom Dart has put out an open call for people who believe they may be related to Gacy's eight unidentified victims. A look back at what we used to assume, and now know, about serial killers, and how we got there. Posted at 2:16 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	10/17/11 The Purple Hotel and the Architectural Legacy of Hausner & Macsai Lincolnwood's old Hyatt has long since fallen into disrepair and exists mostly as a cult kitsch memory. But the Chicago firm behind it is responsible for more of the local skyline than you might realize. Posted at 5:47 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (1)
	10/17/11 Reefer Madness: Pot Busts, Broken Windows, and the City Budget Low-level marijuana arrests cost the city and county $78 million a year, according to research by Mick Dumke and Ben Joravsky, about the same as New York City spends on enforcement. It's a lot of money, but does it actually make us safer? There's research to suggest the opposite. Posted at 2:10 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	10/14/11 Chicago's Proposed Water Rate Hike: At What Cost? Mayor Emanuel proposed doubling water rates over the next five years as part of his first budget. It's a big increase, but are we being squeezed or just catching up to our civic peers? Posted at 6:05 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (2)
	10/14/11 HGTV 'Design Star' Meg Caswell Renovates a Chicago Kitchen The reality-show winner and Design Shoppe owner does a local kitchen art deco-style for tomorrow night's episode of HGTV's "Great Rooms." Posted at 4:39 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (2)
	10/14/11 Kendra Marr, Plagiarism, and the Journalistic Ecosystem A young reporter's job goes down in flames after a plagiarism scandal. There's a better way. Plus: the Reuters correction I'd like to see. Posted at 3:07 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	10/13/11 Jens Jensen, Daniel Burnham, and Chicago Parks the Way They Should Have Been A plea for more parks; the historical and political reasons why the West Side is a park desert; why Daniel Burnham is overrated; and a brilliant plan for dock, alley, and railyard parks. Plus: an unsung hero of Chicago landscape design. Posted at 5:05 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	10/12/11 Rahm Emanuel on the Chicago Budget and Occupy Wall Street This week in Mayor Emanuel: from the light load of big ideas with Michael Bloomberg, Kasim Reed, and Thomas Friedman at Ideas Week... to the heavy lifting of little governing ones with City Council. Posted at 6:29 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (2)
	10/12/11 Bus Tracking: The Most Interesting Thing I Read About Public Transportation Today A study looks at Seattle's bus-tracker system, and finds nothing but love. The biggest benefit? Eliminating the mystery of the next bus's arrival. Posted at 1:50 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	10/11/11 It's Hard Out There for the One Percent The targets of Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Together lead difficult lives full of uncertainty, fear, and instability. (No, seriously, let me explain.) Further proof that the rich are like us, they just have more money. Posted at 5:47 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (2)
	10/11/11 'About Hunger and Resilience' at St. James Cathedral Photographer Michael Nye spent four and a half years collecting the stories and images of 52 Americans who suffer from hunger. The resulting exhibit is showing through October 30 at St. James Cathedral. Posted at 3:30 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	10/11/11 The Pump Room and Other Historic Forms of Chicago Nightlife With the second reinvention of the legendary bar officially happening today, a look back at where the legend came from, courtesy of Rick Kogan. Plus: Rick Telander on Rush Street circa 1988, and a tour of Chicago nightlife at the end of the '80s. Posted at 3:05 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (1)
	10/10/11 The Five Best Ideas to Come From the Columbian Exposition To celebrate Ideas Week and the forthcoming Chicago Humanities Festival, a look back at five advances from the 1893 World's Fair: the fax machine, the Hoochie Coochie Man, and more. Posted at 6:06 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	10/10/11 Student Loan Forgiveness: Actually, We Already Do That Occupy Wall Street and Occupy Together are stirring up debate on political policies that could help the 99 Percent. One that keeps coming up is debt forgiveness, particularly student debt forgiveness. Posted at 2:58 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (11)
	10/07/11 Steve Jobs, Jef Raskin, and The Humane Interface On Steve Jobs, the man behind Apple; and Jef Raskin, the man behind the Macintosh, an unsung computer genius whose odd, innovative ideas have never quite taken hold but continue to trail Apple's products, 30 years after he left the company. Posted at 6:44 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	10/06/11 Obama and the Left, After the War (Protests) A study by academics at Michigan and Indiana suggests that the election of Barack Obama left the anti-war movement either co-opted or high and dry. What will happen to Occupy Wall Street? Posted at 4:25 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (1)
	10/06/11 5 Good Reads About Bill Cellini Well, four good reads and a video on the veteran downstate power broker and his web of connections throughout the state. Plus: his patent for a "shower enlarger." Posted at 1:57 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	10/06/11 This Week in Bike News Good developments on the Bloomingdale Trail; should bikes be licensed?; our fairly obvious law on texting while biking; and more. Posted at 12:30 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (1)
	10/05/11 5 Reasons to See Maria Bamford at Mayne Stage The comedian whom Marc Maron describes as "the best comic in the country," a veteran of Patton Oswalt's "Comedians of Comedy Tour," does a two-night stand this weekend. Posted at 6:49 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	10/05/11 Annals of Chicago's Head Tax Mayor Emanuel is stepping up his promise to cut the city's "head tax," a per-employee tax on medium and large businesses. It's unpopular, but how'd we end up with it in the first place? Posted at 1:04 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (2)
	10/04/11 The Patent Holder Who Might Take Your WiFi Away (But Might Help Save the Patent System) A Chicago based firm and its lawyer are suing hotels, department stores, and upscale chains like Caribou and Panera for patent infringement... because they use WiFi. It's crazy, but so is patent law. Posted at 7:37 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (1)
	10/04/11 TIFs in the Spotlight: After School Matters Chicago's inspector general finds that the charity founded by Da Ex-Mare's wife got $915,000 in money donated by recipients of tax increment financing, through an opaque process that generated $3.7 million for various public and private organizations. Posted at 4:45 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (0)
	10/03/11 Foreclosures, Health Insurance, and Occupy Wall Street From South Morgan St. to (Occupy) Wall Street: The meaning, or lack thereof, in We are the 99 Percent and the nationwide Occupy protests that hit LaSalle Street here in Chicago. Posted at 6:48 PM in The 312 \| Permalink \| Comments (1)

October 2011

11/29/11

11/01/11

10/31/11

10/31/11

10/28/11

10/28/11

10/28/11

10/27/11

10/26/11

10/26/11

10/26/11

10/25/11

10/25/11

10/25/11

10/24/11

10/24/11

10/24/11

10/24/11

10/21/11

10/21/11

10/20/11

10/19/11

10/19/11

10/19/11

10/18/11

10/18/11

10/17/11

10/17/11

10/14/11

10/14/11

10/14/11

10/13/11

10/12/11

10/12/11

10/11/11

10/11/11

10/11/11

10/10/11

10/10/11

10/07/11

10/06/11

10/06/11

10/06/11

10/05/11

10/05/11

10/04/11

10/04/11

10/03/11

About The 312

What the editorial staff at Chicago magazine is reading, watching, clicking on, listening to, talking about, and doing—shared here and open for discussion.

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