LOCAL NEWS Chicago Named Nation's Fattest City
Here's a story about Chicago being named, recently, the nation's fattest city. The story is actually about how Baltimore is America's fittest city... which surprised everyone--especially the people in Baltimore. But, upon hearing that Chicago is America's fattest city, everyone in town had two brats, some deep-dish pizza, and a beer or three. It's a fiesta! Oh... no one in this city is thin! Except actresses.
WORLD NEWS 2006 Brings A Leap Second
Yahoo!News says that the New Year brought with it a leap second. What is a leap second, you ask? According to Wikipedia, a leap second is this. The article also says that "the rotation of the Earth has been slowing down." That's an interesting little tid-bit of fact that could eventually mean the end of the world. It's a little fact like "in about five billion years the sun will evolve into a red giant then a white dwarf." Oops! We've got a set time-table for all life on this planet. It's not a big deal to us... most of us won't make it passed 2100 unless life expectancy rises twenty some-odd years in the next century. But what could the ramifications be to those who believe in intelligent design? I suppose those people just don't believe in scientific things like Earth rotation slowing or sun expanding. We will never know. My dad used to say, when I was younger and I had a question he didn't have an answer to, "I hope, when I die, that all of this will be explained to me." Then when I got a little older and didn't think my dad was Superman he added "slowly" to the end. I, too, hope that everything will eventually be explained to me. Or else there will be thousands of unanswered questions when I die.
LOCAL NEWS Chicago To Ban Smoking As of January 16
In a quasi-ironic somehow in a "see if you can find it kind of way" the City of Chicago passed a new clean air ordinance in December which didn't go into effect until January 16--Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday (observed). Why the city waited until mid-January is no surprise... making sure everyone got wind of the change... but why they chose to make MLK day the day to start the smoking ban is a little weird. Regardless, Chicago has a new policy for smokers: The Clean Air Ordinance. Changes include: all enclosed workplaces, all restaurants without bars, all public restrooms and certain public places, all public transportation facilities (CTA... hello!), and--the kicker--come mid-2008 all restaurants (including bars and taverns). While I lament the loss of areas for the smokers (who are becoming more and more restricted), the good news for me is that the areas in which I work (theatres with bars, etc) will be smoke-free soon. Sucks to be a smoker in Chicago.
LOCAL NEWS CTA To Raise Prices In 06; Unless You Have Their Card
As of the New Year, the CTA will raise it's prices for the CTA trains by a quarter. That is, of course, unless you have their Chicago Card. I got a CTA card a couple months ago... which makes me happy about the new fare-table. Except, of course, that the CTA was a whopping fifty cents less per ride when I moved to Chicago. How much will it be in a couple of years? $2.50? $3 per ride? I hope it stays affordable. Isn't that the point of public transportation? At any rate, my advice to anyone who doesn't have the stupid Chicago Card is to get one. It'll save you lots of money over the next year; quarters add up.