Just Call Me ... Health Care?

Here's something we learned from the Europeans: You don't go to a ‘Dot-Com’ for Healthcare!!!  

P.S. Just call me, Carl Marks ... 😉

Famous Last Words

• 'Download Our App' -- Offer I generally tend to avoid  (1)
• 'Artificial Intelligence' -- Phrase at which I stop reading and leave the room

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1)  I mean I gotta download a separate 'WebApp' for every website I go to?  No thankyou!  So user-unfriendly!  So unnecessary!

1st & 2nd Thoughts of the Year

Wake up on New Year's Day and 1st thought is:

Polish sausage with mustard, relish, grilled onions & pickle ... 2 please :-)

2nd Thought of the Year (this one was obvious):

From now on only eat fried-chicken ... :-)

Nice New Year's Concert

Really really nice New Year's Eve performance by Corky Siegel, Ernie Watts and The Sons of the Never Wrong; took place at the Music Institute in Evanston! Started at 8p and lasted till -- you can imagine when :-)

Like It This Way ...

1. I cross the street
2. I reach the bus-stop
3. Immediately a bus pulls over to pick me up.

What timing! Thank you CTA ! 😉

On Today's Sunday Walk

Picture of me taking a picture of ...

Our Holy Chant

"Mustard, Relish, Grilled Onions & Pickle..." Repeat after me !!!

Virtual Tour Featured in CRL News

This is nice. The introduction and tour of the Newman Library (Baruch College CUNY) which we did way-back when (2000) using Flash, etc. The project was featured at the time in College & Research Libraries News (link). Who knew?

What High School Did You Go To?

What high school did you go to? -- That's a question that someone asked on one of the Facebook groups I'm in. Now for me, it's a complicated question since originally I was 'sposed to go to Lane Tech. But I didn't -- I went to Lakeview instead. Why? Well, first, because two friends I knew (neighborhood kids) were going to Lakeview and second, because Lane Tech at the time was all boys and that seemed a bit weird. After a few more years Lane Tech let girls in as well but by then I was far gone.

Newspapers in Decline - Continuing Story

The Chicago Suntimes ran a rather disturbing article on the decline of newspapers, 'As Newspapers Close Across The U.S., Study Finds Illinois Is Hard Hit' (link).

Some of the disturbing information:

Since 2005, more than one-third of U.S. newspapers — 3,300 outlets — have closed. In that time, Illinois has lost 36% of its newspapers, or 232 outlets, and Cook County has lost 40% of its newspapers.

Illinois has also lost 54% of its newspaper workers, or about 4,600 positions, in the decade ending in 2023.

There are a few positive developments including a "net increase of 81 stand-alone digital news sites" -- still it's clear: one of our most valuable resources is running into serious difficulties.

Long-Underwear!

Please, please -- will somebody buy me some long-underwear!
[Posted while on my afternoon walk -- temp. in the low/mid 20's]

Google's Throat

Not sure how to feel about this ...

Ashley Belanger: 'Welcome to Google’s Nightmare: US Reveals Plan to Destroy Search Monopoly'; DOJ goes for Google's throat with 'staggering' remedies to end search monopoly', Ars Technica, (11/21/2024)

Outside the Window ...

Don't think I'll be going out:

About an hour later... Got cleaned up pretty quick:

Pretty Pretty Chicago Skyline

Skyline as I walked downtown. Nice day!

Hoo, Packed Around Wrigley...

Baseball game between two colleges -- still the place was packed!

Street-Walking

So nice! Someplace where I can do my business! Wish they had these on every block :-)

Old Friends :-)

Shooting the breeze with an old pal of mine... 🙂

35th Anniversary -- Berlin Wall Comes Down

35th Anniversary Berlin Wall Comes Down (11/9/1989) -- Actually the Wall didn't come down but rather (and just as well) it opened up. East Germans, formerly prevented from going over (or going pretty much anywhere) were finally allowed to go. We on the free side (i.e. West Berlin) cheered their crossing.

A Few More Details:
I was there, had been there since '84 and knew what it was like to have a police state just a block or two away. I was working construction in those days. I had finished up and had taken a nap. When I woke up one of the people living in the house told me the extraordinary news that while I was asleep, the Wall had come down.

Of course, the person exaggerated. The Wall which surrounded the entire western half of the city (where we lived) hadn't come down. Rather an opening had been made at Checkpoint Charlie and also at the Brandenburg Gate where people from East Berlin -- the 'Ossies' -- could cross over. What followed were three days of absolute euphoria as tens of thousands of East Germans came over, swamping the local public transportation, waiting in long lines in front of banks to pick up their "Begrüßungsgeld" (i.e. welcome money) of 100 DM with which they bought items absolutely unavailable in their part of the city such as cassette radios and bags of oranges.

The downfall of that Wall and the regime it represented was the most positive experience of my young adult life.

Today's Found Item : Street Vehicle

Wow, today's found item : street vehicle! It was just lying on the sidewalk -- couldn't pass it up. I've got everything!

SunTimes Article on Lack of Librarians at Chicago Public Schools

Surprising and not-to-mention disturbing article about the lack of librarians in the Chicago Public School system: 'CTU Pushes for Libraries, Librarians in Every CPS School'. We get the count in the subtitle: '... just 107 librarians for more than 500 schools'.

Lemme do some math: So we're talking about almost four fifths of Chicago's public schools without access to research help? Disturbing!