Chicago MMXII

Great to hear--I just heard about them (and had free snacks from them as I heard about them) last week. xpost

Want to say there is some imbroglio surrounding that taxi app? Like, the "tip" you fill out actually goes to the company and not to the driver?

Are you thinking of Uber?

always best to tip in cash anyway, right?

http://betabeat.com/2012/09/uber-yellow-cab-taxi-app-20-percent-tip-hailo-verifone/

I think it's Uber - they charge the rider a 20% tip and take their service fee out of that. Hailo charges riders a $1.50 service processing fee and doesn't ding the drivers.

I forgot to mention - there's a $1.50 processing fee for each ride. Obviously I think that's worth the convenience because I forgot to mention it.

Thanks for the heads up carl, I just downloaded the hailo app. Though I really never take cabs, but maybe now I'll start.

So when we woke up Saturday morning, someone had taken the shitty wooden bench from our porch. We didn't care about the bench, but it was kind of scary to think that sometime in the middle the night some people were out there rifling. And then when I went out to get some bagels, I saw that the bench was sitting in front of Oakwood 82 (which is the world's shittiest 4am bar and is right next to our building). So I guess we can assume drunken hooligans are the culprits, but then maybe we can also assume the drunken hooligans are our neighbors because how else would they know about the bench? Anyway, the bench was gone by Sunday morning.

I hate that feeling! I live on Drunks Street and on marathon day, someone had speared a pumpkin on our fence (which to be fair, has spear-like points, so I understand the urge) and even though I knew it was just drunks being drunks, I got this wave of anxiety because somebody had interacted with my home without invitation.

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/149593

I know hardly anything about ASL, but the way facial expressions modify hand signs is really fascinating.

I took a quarter of ASL at the U of C to fulfill a language requirement, and it was one of the most life-changing experiences I've ever had. It's a fascinating language, and almost impossible to "translate" because so much of the punctuation os conveyed by facial expressions. I'd highly recommend anyone required to speak to public take the class, because eye-contact and (obv.) body language is such a vital component.

Also, you learn some fascinating visual puns. Like, ASL for "pasteurized" is literally bringing your fingers past your eyes. Also, you learn that ASL speakers devise their own signs for their names, because obviously you're not going to waste time spelling letter by letter all the time.

Does anyone want to get wet tonight?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1b/Andrewwet.jpeg?

Per my question about sending things to NY: http://flyoverfeminism.com/how-to-help-in-wake-of-sandy/

The Occupy Sandy Wedding Registry is basically a list of what they need that you can buy and have shipped right to them. Per our own in orbit, Occupy is providing a lot of the immediate, on the ground assistance to the really bad areas that the Red Cross and FEMA aren't able to service for whatever reason.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2Y4B9jwgK0

More judges' ballot stuff http://www.wbez.org/news/what-do-all-those-cook-county-judges-tuesday-103655

I find the controversy over Uber confusing b/c that article carl linked to didn't seem to answer questions about its effect on the drivers. But as long as Hailo is doing right, I won't worry too much about the contention.

xp - I'm going to talk to the partner here who ran for judge his opinion of the candidates and I'll let you know if he has any big news of relevance.

I tried to early vote last Monday before class but I missed the closing time by like ten minutes. >:p

Is anybody else's polling place in a private business? That always weirds me out. It's Powell's so it's not like voting in Starbucks, but still. Seems like all voting should be in public/government buildings.

Oh, and I tweetered about it, but if any of you all want to give a plug for the 866-OUR-VOTE Election Protection hotline on your social media platform of choice, I'd be much obliged - http://www.866ourvote.org/.

Mine was at a private business in 2010 -- and that business has since closed down. I'm sure there are joeks there somewhere.

RIP Powell's

RIP Bread & Butter corner store

btw I'm pretty sure they have house shows there now, I walked past recently and there were loud rock & roll noises coming out of the building and a group of kids standing around outside smoking

I still feel a little guilty about our early voting experience on Saturday. My wife and I both needed to go, so we brought Q with us (also just to introduce him to his future civic duty) and we were taken right to the front of the line because of him. We had no idea what was going on at the time, we just joined the end of the line and a guy directed us to a place to fill out our form, then we were led right into the booth area. It happened really quickly and it really didn't dawn on us right away that we were skipping the hour-plus line. They were doing the same thing for other people with small children and the elderly, so it wasn't like just us, but I still felt kind of weird about it. On the other hand, we might not have ended up being able to vote at all because an hour plus line and a 14-month old don't usually mesh well.

If you're looking for something to feel guilty about, that's as good a thing as any, but I don't see any need to feel bad about it otherwise.

we normally vote at the church immediately behind our building, but this year we're apparently voting at the fire station down the block. but the church is still a polling place, and it's closer, so i don't know why it changed

I'd double check that to be sure. Also bring E because apparently they'll let you go right to the front of the line.

an hour plus line and a 14-month old don't usually mesh well.

I mean, yeah! And cute as Q is, probably nobody wants to stand in line for an hour plus near a fussy, bored 14-month-old, so it's a good policy for all involved.

I voted early. 69 w Washington. Took 15 min.

R and I are totally going at the crack of dawn tomorrow. Gonna meet all the old people in our neighborhood.

http://manboobz.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/kittens-voting.jpg

manboobz?

haha it's a blog that pokes fun of MRA blogs. I subscribe to it but usually don't read it because it's depressing.

I like voting at the crack of dawn, that's what I've done in the past but I have a meeting really early tomorrow, which is why the early voting.

Hey n/a guess what my 4th most listened to track of the last 12 months is

if this ridiculous lastfm scrobbler is to be believed, that is

i don't make you guess -- it's "place and time". it was on my walking-around music machine for the better part of a year and i never ffwded it because it always sounded good no matter what mood i was in. it's a classic!

ha ha cool

weird day

sorry if i embarrassed you

My polling place is at community room of the old folks' apartment building. An adjacent ward has their on the 3rd floor of Century Mall.

My boss was just telling me that hers is at Reza's restaurant. That seems especially odd.

My other boss (Not-Liggy) is poll-watching tomorrow at 6:00 in Milwaukee. So early, man. If I were him I would definitely get a room tonight.

http://touch.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-72961754/

In March, Brim was removed from the bench indefinitely by the circuit court's executive committee, after she allegedly shoved a sheriff's deputy and threw a set of keys at a security checkpoint at the Daley Center. The day before she'd been ejected from her Markham courtroom after a 45-minute tirade during a traffic court call. The executive committee said the misdemeanor battery charge "reflects adversely on her fitness to serve."

Well, yes, it does. But Brim's courtroom performance has long demonstrated she's not fit to don a judge's robe. Elected in 1994, she has received negative ratings each time she stood for retention: in 2000, 2006 and 2012.

This year's evaluation by the Chicago Council of Lawyers noted "many complaints that Judge Brim is late to take the bench." Attorneys complain that she is "rude and unaccommodating of counsel who are on call in multiple courtrooms," that she is slow to rule and that her findings are unpredictable. Because of all that, attorneys "regularly file motions for substitution of judge, despite the cost and inconvenience to their clients." Think about that. People in the court system do whatever they can to avoid her courtroom.

Would very much like to team up with El Lechero and make the doc Judge.

!?!

http://abovethelaw.com/2012/11/judges-of-the-day-cook-county-kookiness/

There's a pretty good sized line at Powell's, but it meanders through the shelves so I now see the wisdom of having a polling place in the book store.

I'm going to pretend that the young woman in business clothes who just walked in, saw the line, huffed angrily and walked out was planning to vote for Romney.

So annoying that our public elementary schools are closed today for another "institute day," which is them making the most of schools closed because I presume they don't want strange voters mingling with the kids. But come on, aren't there some churches they could conscript for voting purposes? It's a major imposition to saddle parents with kids on election day.

I voted at a charter school.

jvc, there were two well-behaved babies in line to vote and I was seriously peeved that the judges weren't taking their parents to the front of the line. It's no fun keeping a freshly toddling kid occupied in a long line!

Well she may be crazy but she's right about one thing: She described the Daley Center, where she used to hear cases, as “a toxic, hostile work environment that I needed to get away from.”

When I retire I think I'd like to spend some time sitting in on court proceedings.

Xps

One woman at my polling place had an infant wearing a Barack Obama 2012. I wondered if that would be considered electioneering?

I have a county employee and city employee (and fed employee but she likes her job) in my class this term. Yesterday after class, the county and city women and me hung out for a bit and talked about how batshit it is to work for state and local government and how nobody really gets or believes how batshit it truly is.

about a 45-minute wait to vote this morning. got to look around the fire station while waiting, that was kind of cool.

LL i was not embarrassed by your praise yesterday. my "weird day" comment was unrelated. it was just a weird day, an equal mix of shitty stuff and cool stuff.

I totally forgot about Millennium Park 2008 Election Night. Is O in town again?