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What We're Reading: Googling, Garfield Park and Rockin' in Your Car

 A snapshot from Wayne's World.
A snapshot from Wayne's World.
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Paramount Pictures

DOWNTOWN — What we here at DNAinfo Chicago are reading (when we're not thinking about how the weekend is just...one...day...away.)

Garfield Park Conservatory's Fern Room Is Back: For the first time since the hailstorm hit in 2011, the conservatory's fern room is open agan. Reporter Mina Bloom couldn't be more excited to check it out. The Chicago Tribune has a nice writeup, explaining what it looks like post-renovation.


[Google]

What Does a Pound of Weed Cost in New York?: In Albany, New York, people search Google for the cost of a pound of weed more than any other product. In neighboring Montpelier, Vermont, it's the cost of a cord of wood. Sam Cholke is reading the Fixr on what costs people are searching the most in each of the state capitals. The list doesn't include Chicago, but for the curious, it's "How much does a state ID cost?" Better than the reporter's hometown where people are searching the cost of "tummy tuck," driver's ed classes and breast implants. Sam will leave it to you to figure out where that is.

We're Jammin': Nothing eases traffic backup frustration like a kickin' car stereo and some kickin' tunes. That's why senior editor Andrew Herrmann is so entralled with a Technology Tell report on a new sound system available in the made-in-Chicago 2016 Ford Explorer Platinum. The 12-speaker system was developed by Sony engineers who visited concert halls in Amsterdam, Berlin and Vienna and used microphones "to measure their precise acoustic qualities" in an attempt to "recreate the concert hall experience." Engineers spent 100 hours fine-tuning the system.

Yea, nobody does hyperbole like car companies, but its hard not to doubt the press release quote that promises the system "will knock your socks off." The Explorer Platinum, which will be made at the South Chicago plant on Torrence Ave., is $53,495.

[Paramount Pictures]

To Infinity, and Beyond: The most famous modern-telescope, which has captured breathtaking images that have become part of the world's canon of space is about to turn 25. Lincoln Park reporter Paul Biasco was blown away by the images throughout his youth and was shocked to learn Hubble is nearly 25. The New York Times celebrates the monumental advancement in a story that chronicles Hubble's history from its early glitches with near-sightedness to "The Eye of God" photo (pictured below).


[NASA/European Space Agency]

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