Category: Local / Living

New York Times Talks with Food Bank Recipients

speaker 12
There’s already people that have to decide between food and their medicine.

olivia natt
Have you ever had to make a choice like that?

speaker 12
A couple of times. A couple of times.

speaker 2
And it wasn’t for this food bank, here about two months ago, if it weren’t for this food bank, me and my little grandson would have starved for about 10 days. We ate mashed potatoes and macaroni for four days out of this food bank. And I wouldn’t have had nothing to eat with that little boy if I hadn’t’ve — and most of the time, I didn’t eat it all because I’d make sure he had something.

anna foley
I’m so sorry.

speaker 2
And yes, it’s very upsetting. You can understand that, right? And I think it’s a sad state of affairs when poor people that are not able to work anymore, and I worked, believe me, my whole life, can’t even get a way to eat.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Tens of millions of Americans depend on the food-stamp program known as SNAP. Without federal assistance, many of them do not know how they will provide for themselves or their families. “The Daily” visits one of the communities most reliant on food aid.

See also:
https://www.foodbankrockies.org/

Food insecurity is the lack of consistent access to enough nutritious food for an active, healthy life due to a lack of money and other resources. It can lead to reduced food intake, disrupted eating patterns, and severe consequences like hunger, poor health, and developmental issues, especially in children. It can be caused by factors like high food prices, unemployment, conflict, and climate change, and affects various populations disproportionately.

— Google AI

Miscellaneous Chicago Anecdotes – Chaotic Marriage Lamp and Red Line Exorcism

Times are brutal right now- so in an effort to get our minds off of the situation at hand- I have a question. What’s your most bizarre Chicago story- that at the time you didn’t think twice about (because well, Chicago is Chicago)- but later realized the insanity of the situation?
byu/checkyourfuckingbag inchicago

reddit

h2opolodude4
I was near the gold coast, walking home from a party at probably 3am on a Tuesday in November. I worked in a bar so weeknights were our party time.

A dude is sitting in an alley, on a kitchen chair, reading a book. A 3rd floor window is open and a woman is screaming/shrieking and I can hear things breaking.

She comes to the window and screams something and throws a lamp at the guy. He’s as calm as a cow at a vegetarian convention and barely reacts other than to catch the lamp.

I ask what’s up, and he says occasionally she gets really mad, kicks him out and throws all sorts of stuff out or at him. They’ve been married a while and he’s used to it, he just waits for her to stop throwing things, and stays at his sister’s place until things calm down. Apparently it’s an annual occurrence and has been for a while.

He doesn’t want to stuff the lamp into his SUV and offers it to me. How could I turn down a chaotic marriage lamp at 3am?!? I still have it, it’s at my parents house in the suburbs plugged in in the basement.

TJ_Fox
I was new to Chicago and exploring the downtown area. A torrential downpour forced me to shelter in an alcove, so I opened the door in hopes of getting further away from the rain. It let to a totally nondescript corridor, like a service corridor, so I followed that around a few corners, down a bunch more blank corridors, until I came to another door. Opened that and suddenly I’m standing in the vast, deserted lobby of a magnificent 19th century hotel, with high, painted ceilings, columns, crystal chandeliers and mirrors on the walls.

Laster research confirmed that I’d simply accidentally entered part of the Pedway and ended up in the lobby of the Palmer House hotel, but it was a surreal time-travel moment when it happened.

svckafvck
I was working at a cupcake shop in wicker park during college, the front windows can open completely like super tall doors. We had them open since it was super nice outside when I just start to hear Elvis playing in the distance. It gets louder and louder, and then I start to hear motorcycles too. All of a sudden, like 100 motorcycles start flying down Milwaukee ave and all the riders are dressed in FULL Elvis costumes, wigs, outfits, the works, and they all have the same Elvis song blasting from their stereos. It passed quickly and I was left just standing at the open windows staring. Honestly hilarious and I was dumbstruck. I was also alone so I had no one to be like … wtf just happened?!?

chimamax
Not terribly exciting, but I always chuckle when I remember it. Years ago, when I was on the blue line headed into the Loop, the train stopped in a tunnel and the lights went out. Probably just 30 seconds in the dark.

When the lights went back on, there was a pigeon sitting in the seat right next to me. Just chilling, as if it was also commuting into the office. It finally moved when I excused myself as my stop was next.

bombyx_amore
I got exorcised on the red line.

I was getting off at the Jackson stop and hadn’t eaten breakfast that morning. Standing up to get off the train took all the blood out of my head, and I passed out about 5 feet onto the platform. Someone helped me to a bench, but I didn’t want to be late for work. So, stayed until I could see again and headed to the escalator. Passed out again at the top and woke up sitting against the wall behind the empty attendant desk.

This woman comes up to me, maybe 50s, small, and asks if I’m ok. She says she’s a nurse. I tell her I’m just lightheaded and will be fine in a minute. She asks if she can lay hands on me. In the back of my cloudy head I knew that sounded familiar, but my dumb ass overrode the warning signal and figured hey, she’s a nurse, she’s just asking permission to help you up.

Nope. She locks eyes with me and presses her hand into my forehead, hard. I think she’s trying to feel for fever but her hand doesn’t move, and then she starts speaking in tongues. Something about Satan is all I catch. She’s yelling now, and I’m definitely awake now, and if the devil were here like she says he would be crazy to stay. At this point the attendant who belongs to the desk runs over and pulls her off of me. I am cured.

I called off work, went home, and took the longest, hottest shower my blood pressure would allow.

Majestic-Selection22
Remember Tilapia and Ryan? A woman overhears another woman (Tilapia) talking about breaking up with her boyfriend Ryan. Reddit tried to warn all the Ryans in Chicago of the impending doom. We will never know if we succeeded but it was a fun couple days.

Wearable Recording Technology – With Artificial Intelligence

Both Ikeda and Comans are software engineers in suburban Sacramento and are just generally really into AI. When Ikeda first broached the idea of buying an AI wearable, partly to record and summarize their conversations about tech, Comans was reluctant.

“I said ‘absolutely not,’” said Comans. “This is a horrible idea. Like, why would I invite this in my life? And why would I put the most intimate moments of my life onto a server on the internet where I don’t know what’s going to happen with it?”

But Ikeda eventually convinced him. They were already sharing so much information online anyway. And at the very least, the Limitless transcripts were supposed to be only accessible to them.

While the technology isn’t perfect — it often mistakes Comans and Ikeda for one another, and doesn’t really understand sarcasm — the couple says, for the most part, it’s been helpful to have their conversations recorded.

Even the fights.

“The fact that it records the like, deeply unflattering things that you say right in a moment of weakness, or when you know you’re being really defensive, is kind of the stuff you really, actually need to see,” said Ikeda.

The Limitless Pendant is just one of a new generation of always-on AI wearables that have recently hit the market. There’s the similar Amazon-backed Bee, a bracelet that records and transcribes everything you say. And there’s the yet-to-be-seen device OpenAI and iPhone designer Jonny Ive are reportedly collaborating on.

The covert recorder wasn’t one of the newest generations of AI wearables. But Miller sees the possibility of a near future where everyone needs to assume they’re being recorded at all times.

It’s made her less trusting and more careful about what she says.

“It’s a strange thing that part of being a human is a weak memory,” said Miller. “We did not evolve to have every single thing we’re saying or doing to be remembered.”

From her perspective, even if AI never forgets, maybe humans still should.

What it’s like to have an AI wearable record everything you say
A new generation of wearable AI gadgets can record, transcribe and analyze your every interaction. Here’s how early adopters say it’s changing their relationships.

Hundreds of Thousands Demonstrate – March for Palestine

In the Netherlands, an estimated 250,000 people, most dressed in red, gathered in Amsterdam to press the government to take tougher action against Israel.

Sunday’s protest and march through the Dutch capital comes less than four weeks before national elections. Two “Red Line” demonstrations in The Hague earlier this year also drew tens of thousands of people.

After packing the central Museum Square, the protesters walked through the city center, holding Palestinian flags and peace emblems. One placard read, “Ashamed of the government.”

Sunday’s demonstrations came a day after hundreds of thousands marched in Rome, Barcelona and Madrid in a show of growing international outrage at Israel’s two-year military campaign in Gaza. Smaller rallies took place in Paris, Lisbon, Athens and Skopje, North Macedonia, and in London and Manchester.

Hundreds of thousands march across Europe in support of Palestinians

New York City Bar Association on Unlawful Attacks on Venezuelan Vessels

This September, President Donald J. Trump ordered U. S. military strikes against three private Venezuelan-flagged vessels on the high seas, killing at least 17 individuals and severely damaging or sinking those vessels. A fourth attack, which killed at least four more people, was carried out on October 3. None of these attacks was authorized under U.S. law and, as explained below, each of them appears to be an unlawful summary execution prohibited by both U.S. and international law. Although the President has, without proof, characterized the victims as “terrorists” and drug traffickers, that claim, even if true, provides no justification for these unlawful executions. Even if, as recently reported, the President has communicated to Congress that he has “determined” that the United States is in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels, absent congressional authorization of these military actions, they remain unlawful…

Because the recent attacks on Venezuelan vessels and their crews were unauthorized by U.S. law and in violation of binding international law, they were illegal summary executions – murders. It is imperative that Congress act promptly, as pending legislation proposes, to make clear to the President and the nation that the President’s threat of similar attacks on Venezuelan vessels (and on Venezuela itself) are unlawful and must not be repeated. Only by doing so can Congress bring our nation into compliance with the Constitution and international law, reduce the risk of hostilities with neighboring countries and assure that similar abuses of Presidential power do not expand to American shores.

https://www.nycbar.org/press-releases/unlawful-attacks-on-venezuelan-vessels/

Proposition MM – School Meals

Surely we can all agree on this one?
byu/randytc18 inDenver

Darkstar197
As a beneficiary of reduced or free school lunch for most of my childhood and someone who hasn’t needed government subsidies since i graduated college.. I feel obligated to ensure the future generations never have to be food insecure. Yes from me.

MarionberryFew7660
I have no kids and, at 47 years old, will never have them. I still vote yes for every positive child-related proposition because I’m not a heartless degenerate

Ballotpedia:
Colorado Proposition MM, Tax Deductions and Revenue for School Meals Measure (2025)

The Colorado Tax Deductions and Revenue for School Meals Measure is on the ballot in Colorado as a legislatively referred state statute on November 4, 2025.

A “yes” vote supports lowering the state income tax deduction limits for taxpayers earning $300,000 or more from $12,000 to $1,000 for single filers and from $16,000 to $2,000 for joint filers, generating an additional $95 million annually for the Healthy School Meals for All Program.

A “no” vote opposes lowering state income tax deduction limits to provide an additional $95 million annually Healthy School Meals for All Program, thereby leaving in place the current limits of $12,000 for single filers and $16,000 for joint filers.

Swimming in Chicago River – First Time Since 1926

DOWNTOWN — For the past 98 years, swimming in the Chicago River was unthinkable.

The once-contaminated river was a dumping ground for industrial pollution and sewage, creating toxic smells that kept would-be swimmers far away.

But today, the Chicago River is cleaner than it was decades ago, and Sunday marked the first time an open-water swim has been held in the river since 1926. Organized by nonprofit A Long Swim, the event celebrated the city’s progress toward cleaning the river while raising money for ALS research and youth swim education programs.

For Olivia Smoliga, a two-time Olympian from suburban Glenview, the opportunity was too historic to pass up. After finishing her one-mile race in first place, she felt ecstatic to be part of history.

Swimmers Return To Chicago River For 1st Time In A Century, Marking Dramatic Transformation
Hundreds of swimmers dove into the Chicago River on Sunday to raise money for ALS research and highlight the river’s rebound after years of pollution and unsafe conditions.

When the Secret Police Go Out of Town for a Few Days

What the Peace Corps volunteer found rather comical was bearing witness to the element of farce that police states often engender, of how easily the arrogance of officialdom can tilt into stupidity. As in all Iranian towns and cities, a favorite guessing game of Sonqorians was speculating on the identity of the SAVAK agents in their midst, a parlor game Metrinko was increasingly brought into as he gained residents’ trust. In the late summer of 1971, such speculations were abruptly resolved when the regime announced that travel to the city of Shiraz was temporarily off-limits to all private Iranian citizens, a security precaution for the upcoming international gala being held in nearby Persepolis. Except that soon after that announcement, many of those Sonqorians suspected of being secret police climbed aboard buses and left town, bound for Shiraz. “So that proved to everyone they were SAVAK.” Metrinko laughed. “They were all going down to stand guard over the shah’s party.”

King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation
Scott Anderson