Chicago's back

Boodlers, bandits and notorious politicians

As one local, the late Studs Terkel, charmingly put it in 1986: “Chicago is not the most corrupt of cities. The state of New Jersey has a couple. Need we mention Nevada? Chicago, though, is the Big Daddy. Not more corrupt, just more theatrical, more colorful in its shadiness.”

Whew. After all that joy.

Not that it was entirely unwelcome, the joy. Said one member of the Illinois delegation, state Rep. Eva-Dina Delgado, while walking through a city transit station: "Man, if only it was this clean every day."

Not everything that goes up comes down

NASA says decision on Boeing Starliner crew's path home coming Saturday

[Boeing's] Starliner launched its first two astronauts into space in June as a crucial test before it can receive NASA approval for routine flights. But what was supposed to be an eight-day mission docked to the ISS has been drawn out by months after the capsule sprang leaks and some of its thrusters failed.

Or at least not right away.

If NASA determines it's not safe for the astronauts to return in the Starline capsule they will likely be brought home by a SpaceX crew scheduled to depart Earth next month and return in late February, 2025, the space agency says.

Or here

It’s Da Bears vs. the DNC on Thursday night TV. What will Chicago watch?

While a battle for the clicker may play out across Chicago, at Timothy O’Toole’s Pub in Streeterville, it’s no contest.

Idaho man breaks record for breaking records

David Rush becomes world's top record breaker with 181 titles

Rush aimed to concurrently hold at least 181 Guinness World Records to surpass Italian serial record-breaker Silvio Sabba's total of 180, and he achieved this feat by earning the title for the most vinyl records smashed in 30 seconds.

Make Wednesdays Great Again

It's time to watch Bad Monkey on Apple TV+

This is why I don't worry about life on other planets

State agency looking into reports in Mass. of winged ants that fly

One person in Jamaica Plain took to Reddit to report what they described as a three-block radius “swarming with small flying ants; people’s cars are covered in them, people being chased back into their homes because you can’t walk around without them going into your mouth and nose.”

Wicked gross.

There's plenty of life right here to worry about.

Some bug expert says these are just regular ants mating, but still…imagine not being able to have a peaceful picnic even in mid-air.

[And by the way, headline writer, you wouldn't expect winged ants to just walk, would you?]

A message from a long time ago

"I am tired of fighting," he said. "Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Toohoolhoolzote is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say, 'Yes' or 'No.' He who led the young men [Olikut] is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are—perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever."

Chief Joseph 

It's a looney time all around

How to watch August’s supermoon, which kicks off four months of lunar spectacles

August’s supermoon kicks off a string of lunar spectacles. September’s supermoon will coincide with a partial lunar eclipse. October’s will be the year’s closest approach, and November’s will round out the year.

We'll be glued to our TeeVee

Chicago is getting set for DNC protests. Here’s a rundown of what to expect.

We don't expect to see much of it. 

But, as unlikely as it may seem, we could be wrong.

(And we would never pass on a good show.)