Chicagoania

Snowpocalypse

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A bit tongue in cheek but over at LITGM we have a bit of a live-blog of Snowpocalypse 2011 (can you copyright that the way Pat Riley supposedly did “three-peat”?) as it hits Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana. Gary in Indiana just yawns I guess they have been hit by a ton of storms already this year and Dan in Madison is used to bone-chilling weather but the fact that the college is closed means that it is a “designated drinking day” (can I patent that?) for students.

Here in Chicago it was pretty much a Snowpocalypse and your intrepid reporter went out for a beer at a local tavern and saw “Thunder Snow” for the first time. Catch it here.

Update: NEXT CHICAGO TEA PARTY MEETING: Wednesday, February 9, 2011

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[Note: The date has been changed from February 2 to February 9, due to the predicted Biblical-scale blizzard.]

The next Chicago Tea Party meeting will be held on Wednesday, February 9 at 7:00 PM at Blackie’s, 755 S. Clark, Chicago.

“If you’re outraged over the 67% income tax increase and the 46% corporate income tax increase in Illinois, then please join us at our next meeting. Our featured speaker will be John Tillman, CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute. We will discuss our efforts to repeal the tax hike and reform out of control government spending. Find out what you can do to help make a difference.”

Register here.

“The Wormhole: A time traveler’s coffee house”

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“A viewer posted a message on my wall – “Have you been to the coffee shop with the DeLorean yet?”

No. And why hadn’t I? I’m a huge fan of the “Back to the Future” franchise, and to hear that a new coffee shop had opened inspired by the movie? I was so there.

I found that the Wormhole isn’t just a “Back to the Future” coffee bar – it’s a 1980’s pop culture explosion. Artifacts are everywhere – a “Top Gun” poster, “Star Wars” action figures, an Atari 100. But most important – the coffee is top notch. The owners recruited baristas from other local spots, and they’re brewing Metropolitan coffee among other local blends.” – Marcus Leshock, ChicagoNow

From this article on the 15 best coffee shops in Chicago.

The Illinois Tax Increase: “Legislators ought to hang their heads over awful income tax deal”

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There will come a time when all sides can dispassionately discuss the great Illinois income tax deal of 2011.
 
Today is not that day.
 
Today is a day for anger. Our Springfield leaders have failed us in producing a one-sided monstrosity that will cause true pain, avoids needed decisions, makes it markedly harder to get a job in a state with too few and, worst of all, won’t really solve the state’s fundamental budget problems.
 
I wish this normally left-leaning blogger could report otherwise. I can’t. This one is indefensible.

Greg Hinz gives the horrible details.

As our colleage Carl from Chicago so aptly puts it: Stone-cold redistributionists run our state.

Greg Hinz concludes:

So, the folks who run Springfield can talk about how they made the tough decision. But, I think, they instead acted like another fellow who just decided to grab everything he could get. That would be Todd Stroger, father of the nation’s highest sales tax and, as of this writing, the former president of the Cook County Board.
 
We’ll have to see how the taxpayers of Illinois react. But if this taxpayer is typical, watch out.

Greg is right. But it is a long time until the next election.

Does anybody in Chicago use Direct TV ?

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I live in the mountains east and north of Los Angeles. Last summer, when I bought my house, I ordered Direct TV for television service as the cable company wouldn’t even schedule an installation until the escrow closed. I had no complaints about the TV service until the first snowfall. I had no service for two days. I called Direct TV and was told that snow interferes with the signal (duh !) and there was nothing I could do. I had a satellite dish in New Hampshire in 1994 and 95 and never had this problem. The next time it happened I called and finally got to a technical advisor who told me there was such a thing as a dish heater but Direct TV had nothing to do with them. He did give the URL of several web sites where I could get more information. I found that I would have to install the heater myself and the dish is nearly 20 feet above my upper deck.

Last weekend, when we had more snow, Cindy was atop a seven foot ladder trying to reach the dish with a broom but with no luck. The angle of the dish, which catches more snow, makes it impossible to brush the dish off. It seems to be a pretty common problem and one would think that Direct TV would anticipate these problems in areas with substantial snowfall. Maybe they could supply the dish heaters as an option, especially when the dish is mounted so high. Then the technician could install both. The new dishes also seem to be of a deeper chord and the location may determine the angle of elevation to the satellite. New Hampshire is a higher latitude, as is Chicago, and that dish seemed to be flatter in my recollection.

Does anybody in Greater Chicago use these dishes and do they have problems like this ? I got nowhere with them, and am not about to try to install a heater on the dish, so I finally canceled and will have to pay a substantial early cancellation charge.