Middling.Industries

If there’s anything Donald Trump’s presidency has provided America, it is an intense, national examination of the nature of class and voters’ political motivations. Trump’s election, and the transformation of...

Noticed Items

Random things found for you on the Internets.

NASA recently restored the original control room used for the Gemini, Apollo and Skylab missions. It sat disused for decades, but they restored it so it looks like a bunch of slide-rule jockeys just got up for their break. And oh yeah, they got Gene Krantz (who is still alive!) to do the ribbon cutting.

I’m a big fan of Rich Rebuilds, a YouTube channel originally devoted to rebuilding scrapped Tesla cars and now expanded to showcasing DIY electric vehicles of all sorts. The amazing mix of mechanics, electrical work and computer know-how seems like the future to me. Grease monkeys are fading away while code monkeys are taking over. This episode where Rich visits a dude who his rebuilt Volkswagen Samba, the old VW Bus, so that it’s electric, is amazing. Remember the noise that rear mounted engine used to make? No more.

Long before superhighways, this 1928 map shows Illinois covered with rail lines. Now there’s much fewer lines. But while intercity rail traffic has declined, commuter rail is alive and well in Chicago, with over 120,000 people going through Union Station (one of four Chicago rail stations) a day.

Finding a great, non-chain, non-pricey lunch in Chicago’s Loop is next to impossible. Until this guide from the Tribune.

Lego police used to be nice guys, now not so much.

OMG. OMG. OMG! This tiny, VR-like flying drone is the coolest thing I’ve seen in forever.

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A Time For Moderates, But Not Moderation