Chicago's open data program has some detractors, but most can agree that we like books. Or at the very least Rogers Park does, according to city data.
The Chicago Public Library system, one of the largest in the country and in place since 1873, has kept a meticulous set of records.
Libraries could well be considered some of the earliest adopters of open data as they ditched card catalogues and rubber stamps for computerized records.
One of the reasons why Americans are so terrible at learning new languages is that other languages assign genders to nouns, while American English avoided this.
Well, that grand experiment failed.
It's time to start giving English words genders to help our children learn French, Italian, and even more useful languages than that. Here are a few to get you started.
Happy learning!
computer: boy
iPhone: girl
book: boy
magazine: girl
jeans: girl jean
shorts: boy
hand sanitizer: girl
Vaseline: boy
pencil: girl
pen: girl
eraser: boy
paper: boy
paper pulp: girl
toaster: girl
Kitchenaid mixer: boy
Tabasco sauce: girl
Sears Tower: girl
Willis Tower: boy
Blackhawks: boy
Bears: girl
A new Lone Ranger movie is being released next month. That brings to mind the masked man’s Chicago connection.
The best-known Lone Ranger was Clayton Moore, a Chicagoan. Born in the city in 1914, he attended Hayt Elementary, then dropped out of Senn High School to become a circus acrobat. In 1938 Moore began working in movies as a stuntman and bit player. By the late ‘40s he’d become a familiar face in low-budget Hollywood epics.
In 1949 the Lone Ranger radio program was making the transition to TV. Moore was cast in the title role because he sounded like the actor who played the Ranger on the radio. The radio guy was considered too bulky to make a convincing action hero.
Clayton Moore made the Lone Ranger role his own. He appeared in 169 TV episodes and two feature films. After the show was cancelled in 1957 he continued to travel the country, making personal appearances.
Moore returned to his hometown for a series of shows in June 1976. He checked in at the Lincolnwood Hyatt. His van was too big for the regular lot, so he was told to park outside.
Chicago writer (and friend of mine) Nathan Rabin, formerly of the A.V. Club and now of Pitchfork's The Dissolve, is publishing a new book tomorrow titled You Don't Know Me but You Don't Like Me: Phish, Insane Clown Posse, and My Misadventures with Two of Music's Most Maligned Tribes. Since I'm fancy I already acquired a copy and am enjoying it very much, despite a limited knowledge of Phish (one concert, completely sober) and very little of Insane Clown Posse. I think you will enjoy it as well. Even if you don't care for either band, it's a story about love, mental health, pop culture affinities and a lot more.
Which additional fan bases would you fold into this book if you could?
