TweetEcho: May 17-May 31, 2009

For those of you who don't subscribe to our Twitter feed , here are the things we tweeted in the last week:

1. The Old Colony Building gets its first bath in 200 years. Turns out it's not supposed to be black after all: http://bit.ly/3CIYI6about 21 hours ago from web
       
2. Girghardelli Chocolate is handing out coupons by the Michigan Avenue Apple Store.about 22 hours ago from web
3. USA Networks is handing out free popcicles in front of Tribune Tower.about 22 hours ago from web
4. Hot crane action on Dearborn Street.http://twitpic.com/6cla5about 22 hours ago from web
5. Audi photo shoot in the Loop today. A Kia TV commercial was shot nearby recently. http://twitpic.com/6cdomabout 23 hours ago from web
6. @VisitChicago Did a bit of shopping on State Street, now chilling outside with an iced Starbucks before heading to Saint Peter In The Loop.about 24 hours ago from web in reply to VisitChicago
7. @aThousandFeetUp Welcome to Twitter! Good to know I'm not the only tweeter in the John Hancock Center.10:10 AM May 31st from web
8. Don't forget: puppies and kittens on Michigan Avenue and the Oak Street shopping area today. Go get a new best friend!10:08 AM May 31st from web
9. Some kind of free Buddhist snacks being given away in front of the Michigan Avenue Borders store.10:07 AM May 31st from web
10. High resolution photo of this morning's helicopter lift at the Aon Center on West Randolph Street: http://bit.ly/NrE7q8:59 AM May 31st from web
11. One fewer reasons to go to Macy's State Street store:http://bit.ly/4fzZve1:52 PM May 30th from web
12. Another River North hotel? Change in plans may land a new hotel on State Street near Dana: http://bit.ly/F3HWc1:38 PM May 30th from web
13. Can't wait for the Taste of Chicago? There will be a preview called Taste of the Taste at Daley Plaza 11am-2pm June 10.3:55 AM May 29th from web
14. http://twitpic.com/606qn - Happening right now: Car crash on Oak Street. Here's another CrappyCameraPhone™ pic.12:54 PM May 26th from web
15. http://twitpic.com/606nl - Happening right now: Car crash on Oak Street. Here's the CrappyCameraPhone™ pix.12:53 PM May 26th from web
16. Art Institute of Chicago director Jim Cuno doesn't want the public to be notified when the museum sells art:http://bit.ly/CxAf98:51 AM May 26th from web
17. Ferris Beuller's best friend Cameron's cool glass house (where he killed his dad's Ferrari) is for sale: http://bit.ly/WiKAQ6:39 AM May 26th from web
18. RT @LakePointTower: There are 986 pics of Lake Point Tower on Flickr, most the Chicago bldg? Here are our favorites:http://bit.ly/12xp2i9:04 AM May 24th from web
19. Lifeguard chair on Ohio Street Beach and the first banner-pulling plane of the year. Yep, it must be summer in Chicago.9:04 AM May 24th from web
20. One of President Obama's favorite Hyde Park restaurants is shutting down: http://bit.ly/kQBIp4:16 PM May 21st from web
21. Another 385 photographs of Chicago have been added to the Chicago Architecture photo pool on Flickr:http://bit.ly/oo7Mk12:23 PM May 21st from web
22. The Times of London is not so kind to the new Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago: http://bit.ly/18JhfW4:02 PM May 20th from web
23. Time magazine praises the new Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago: http://bit.ly/i8snA4:01 PM May 20th from web
24. Another taxi plows into Petterino's: http://bit.ly/33i2pv3:56 PM May 20th from web
25. Windows smashed at Michigan Avenue Apple Store. Also at Rosebud on Rush. 61yo arrested. Pix: http://bit.ly/WXR2y3:55 PM May 20th from web
26. America's last 24-hour post office, right here in Chicago, is shortening its hours: http://bit.ly/5ARtc3:50 PM May 20th from web
27. Not unexpected: Lakeshore Athletic Club at McClurg Court to finally close: http://bit.ly/46lEr3:47 PM May 20th from web
28. John Barleycorn to open a new location next to the Rock Bottom Brewery on State Street: http://bit.ly/17RZlv3:46 PM May 20th from web
29. River Hotel squeezes onto Chicago's Michigan Avenue inside the Mather Tower: http://bit.ly/Cpi1S (Mather Tower:http://bit.ly/10q43C)2:44 PM May 20th from web
30. C.O. Bigelow is closing its Michigan Avenue store in Water Tower Place.9:05 AM May 20th from web
31. Nintendo reps are setting up interactive play stations in front of the John Hancock Center. http://twitpic.com/5hpur9:22 AM May 19th from web
32. Best Buy is handing out coupons in front of the John Hancock Center. Spend $50, get a $5 gift card.9:21 AM May 19th from web
33. Tower crane coming down at The Elysian. Rush street detoured.7:26 PM May 18th from web
34. Tombstone giving away free hot flatbread melts at 401 N. Michigan. Line starts at Tribune Tower.9:47 AM May 18th from web
35. Photos and review: The Nichols Bridgeway connecting Millennium Park and the Art Institute of Chicago's Modern Wing: http://bit.ly/1fIknx7:30 AM May 18th from web
36. Who knew? Macy's has an entire web site of videos and iPod tours featuring the architecture of the State Street store:http://bit.ly/fIzkK7:28 AM May 18th from web
37. Overseen: Three different tourists on Michigan Avenue with Best Buy bags. This may work out after all.5:30 PM May 17th from web
38. Brite Smile has moved from 100 W. Walton to 840 N. Michigan, inside the Pure Med Spa.1:32 PM May 17th from web
39. Pictures from the Modern Wing member's preview are now on the Chicago Architecture photo pool on Flickr:http://bit.ly/zf7No10:11 AM May 17th from web

Chicago: The Land Where Time Began

I've always been fascinated by time zones.  Just the other day in the elevator a man from India was telling his son that India is the only country in the world with a half-hour time zone (India is 10.5 hours ahead of Chicago).

I took the opportunity to correct him and inform him that Canada, Venezuela, Iran, Afghanistan, and Australia also have half-hour time zones.  When I got home I looked it up to be sure, and found that French Polynesia, Burma, and part of New Zealand also have them.

So, where did this mess start?  It turns out right here in Chicago.

In the Loop you will find a plaque marking the location where time zones were invented.  It reads:

THE STANDARD TIME SYSTEM IN THE UNITED STATES

ADOPED ON THIS SITE -- OCTOBER 11, 1883

Chicago's famous Grand Pacific Hotel, then on the site of the present Continental Bank Building, was the location of the General Time Convention of 1883 which, on October 11 of that year, adoped the current Standard Time System in the United States.

The Convention was called by the nation's railroads.  Delegates were asked to develop a better and more uniform time system to govern railroad operations.

Previously, time had been determined by the position of the sun, with high noon as the only existing standard of exact local time.  More than 100 different local times resulted from this method.

The new plan, proposed by William F. Allen, Convention Secretary, established four equal time zones across the country, each one hour ahead of the zone to its west.  All railroad clocks in each zone were to be synchronized to strike the hour simultaneously.

The Standard Time System was inaugurated on November 18, 1883.  On that Sunday, known as the "Day of Two Noons," the Allegheny Observatory at the University of Pittsburgh transmitted a telegraph signal when it was exactly noon on the 90th meridian.  Railroad clocks throughout the United States were then reset on the hour according to time zone.

Although implemented by the railroads, the Federal Government, states, and cities began to use the system almost immediately.  On March 18, 1918, Congress formally asknowledged the plan by passing the Standard Time Act.

THIS PLAQUE PRESENTED TO

CONTINENTAL BANK

BY

THE MIDWEST RAILWAY HISTORICAL SOCIETY, INC.

November 18, 1971

Incidentally, the bank building that replaced the hotel on this site is now being converted into a J.W. Marriott hotel.  What once was old is new again.