Ben Skora
Ben Skora was an American inventor residing in Palos Hills, Illinois, who specialized in robotics and home automation. He often worked with spare parts obtained from junk yards or discarded by others. He was best known for building Arok, a humanoid robot which was highly advanced for its time in the late 1970s. Arok was able to move in any direction at up to 3 mph, lift 125 pounds and bend 45 degrees at the waist. It was able to perform routine household tasks such as serving drinks, taking out the trash and walking the dog. His home included many of his creations including a drivable motorized easy chair, an automatic retractable soap dispenser, dressers that slide away to reveal a hallway to another room, and a ski slope from the roof. He appeared in the magazines ''People'' and ''Cosmopolitan'', on the TV shows ''Real People'' and '' Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' and the Chris Smith film ''Home Movie'' (2001). His home in Palos Hills was torn down on November 28, 20 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Inventor
An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an idea is unique enough either as a stand alone invention or as a significant improvement over the work of others, it can be patented. A patent, if granted, gives the inventor a proprietary interest in the patent over a specific period of time, which can be licensed for financial gain. An inventor creates or discovers an invention. The word ''inventor'' comes from the Latin verb ''invenire'', ''invent-'', to find. Although inventing is closely associated with science and engineering, inventors are not necessarily engineers or scientists. Due to advances in artificial intelligence, the term "inventor" no longer exclusively applies to an occupation (see human computers). Some inventions can be patented. The system of patents was established ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Home Movie (2001 Film)
A home movie is a short amateur film or video typically made just to preserve a visual record of family activities, a vacation, or a special event, and intended for viewing at home by family and friends. Originally, home movies were made on photographic film in formats that usually limited the movie-maker to about three minutes per roll of costly camera film. The vast majority of amateur film formats lacked audio, shooting silent film. The 1970s saw the advent of consumer camcorders that could record an hour or two of video on one relatively inexpensive videocassette which also had audio and did not need to be developed the way film did. This was followed by digital video cameras that recorded to flash memory, and most recently smartphones with video recording capability, made the creation of home movies easier and much more affordable to the average person. The technological boundaries between home-movie-making and professional movie-making are becoming increasingly blur ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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2018 Deaths
This is a list of deaths of notable people, organised by year. New deaths articles are added to their respective month (e.g., Deaths in ) and then linked here. 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001 2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990 1989 1988 1987 See also * Lists of deaths by day The following pages, corresponding to the Gregorian calendar, list the historical events, births, deaths, and holidays and observances of the specified day of the year: Footnotes See also * Leap year * List of calendars * List of non-standard ... * Deaths by year {{DEFAULTSORT:deaths by year ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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American Inventors
American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, people who self-identify their ancestry as "American" ** American English, the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States ** Native Americans in the United States, indigenous peoples of the United States * American, something of, from, or related to the Americas, also known as "America" ** Indigenous peoples of the Americas * American (word), for analysis and history of the meanings in various contexts Organizations * American Airlines, U.S.-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas * American Athletic Conference, an American college athletic conference * American Recordings (record label), a record label previously known as Def American * American University, in Washington, D.C. Sports teams Soccer * B ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chicago Sun-Times
The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago Tribune''. The modern paper grew out of the 1948 merger of the ''Chicago Sun'' and the ''Chicago Daily Times''. Journalists at the paper have received eight Pulitzer prizes, mostly in the 1970s; one recipient was film critic Roger Ebert (1975), who worked at the paper from 1967 until his death in 2013. Long owned by the Marshall Field family, since the 1980s ownership of the paper has changed hands numerous times, including twice in the late 2010s. History The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' claims to be the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city. That claim is based on the 1844 founding of the ''Chicago Daily Journal'', which was also the first newspaper to publish the rumor, now believed false, that a cow owned by Catherine O'L ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hickory Hills, Illinois
Hickory Hills is a city in Cook County, Illinois. Located principally in Palos Township, it is a suburb of Chicago. The population in 2020 was 14,505. History The Hickory Hills Country Club was founded in 1917 in the area of the present-day city, with an 18-hole golf course designed by Scottish-American golfer James Foulis. The club exists to the present day. The village of Hickory Hills was incorporated in September 1951 from the territory between 91st to 95th streets, and between 80th to 88th avenue. The village at the time of incorporation had around 450 residents. Voters approved a change from village to city form of government in October 1966. In 1961, the Poor Clares nuns, a branch of the Franciscan order, acquired 20 acres of land at 89th street and Keane avenue with which to establish a new monastery. However, the monastery closed in 1992 due to dwindling numbers. The order returned to Chicago in 1999, moving to a new monastery in nearby Palos Park in 2003. Geogr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alzheimer's Disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term memory, remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include primary progressive aphasia, problems with language, Orientation (mental), disorientation (including easily getting lost), mood swings, loss of motivation, self-neglect, and challenging behaviour, behavioral issues. As a person's condition declines, they often withdraw from family and society. Gradually, bodily functions are lost, ultimately leading to death. Although the speed of progression can vary, the typical life expectancy following diagnosis is three to nine years. The cause of Alzheimer's disease is poorly understood. There are many environmental and genetic risk factors associated with its development. The strongest genetic risk factor is from an alle ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chicago Tribune
The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television are named), it remains the most-read daily newspaper in the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region. It had the sixth-highest circulation for American newspapers in 2017. In the 1850s, under Joseph Medill, the ''Chicago Tribune'' became closely associated with the Illinois politician Abraham Lincoln, and the Republican Party's progressive wing. In the 20th century under Medill's grandson, Robert R. McCormick, it achieved a reputation as a crusading paper with a decidedly more American-conservative anti-New Deal outlook, and its writing reached other markets through family and corporate relationships at the ''New York Daily News'' and the ''Washington Times-Herald.'' The 1960s saw its corporate parent owner, Tribune Company, rea ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Moraine Valley Community College
Moraine Valley Community College is a public community college in Palos Hills, Illinois. Founded in 1967, it is surrounded by the Cook County Forest Preserves. The college also operates satellite centers in Blue Island and Tinley Park, Illinois. History In 1967, the college was officially created after two years of effort led by the Oak Lawn Rotary Club that included proposals, approval and planning. It opened its first temporary office in Oak Lawn, Illinois. A year later, a contest was held to give the college its name, Moraine Valley Community College. The name was chosen because of its location: "where the Valparaiso and Tinley moraines meet to form a valley." Since a campus was not yet established, the first classes began Sept. 16, 1968 in leased warehouses in Alsip, IL. A year later in 1969, seven temporary buildings opened on the Palos Hills campus, 9000 W. College Parkway. In 1970, with enrollment at 4,089, construction began on the first permanent building on the cam ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chris Smith (filmmaker)
Chris Smith (born 1970) is an American filmmaker. He directed ''American Movie'', which was awarded the Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. Career Smith completed his first film, ''American Job'', while attending the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee's Graduate Film Program. He was nominated for a "Someone to Watch Award" from the Independent Spirit Awards. Smith met Mark Borchardt, the subject of ''American Movie'', while editing ''American Job'', and began filming a documentary about the making of Borchardt's psychological thriller '' Coven''. Both films played at the Sundance Film Festival, and ''American Movie'' was bought by Sony Pictures for $1 million. Later works His resume also included the Emmy-nominated '' Jim & Andy'' (2017), about the making of the 1999 Andy Kaufman biopic '' Man on the Moon''. Smith wrote and directed the documentary '' Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened'' (2019), about the Fyre Festival fraud. He also ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Palos Hills, Illinois
Palos Hills is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is a southwest suburb of Chicago. The city was established in 1958 and had reached a population of 18,530 in the 2020 census. It is the home of Moraine Valley Community College as well as Amos Alonzo Stagg High School. Geography According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Palos Hills has a total area of , of which (or 98.97%) is land and (or 1.03%) is water. Demographics As of the 2020 census there were 18,530 people, 7,247 households, and 4,209 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 7,697 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 81.70% White, 5.77% African American, 0.18% Native American, 2.17% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 3.39% from other races, and 6.77% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 10.19% of the population. The top reported ancestries as of 2020 where Polish (29.3%), German (12.7%), Irish (12.6%), Arab (9.6 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ripley's Believe It Or Not!
''Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' is an American franchise founded by Robert Ripley, which deals in bizarre events and items so strange and unusual that readers might question the claims. Originally a newspaper panel, the ''Believe It or Not'' feature proved popular and was later adapted into a wide variety of formats, including radio, television, comic books, a chain of museums and a book series. The Ripley collection includes 20,000 photographs, 30,000 artifacts and more than 100,000 cartoon panels. With 80-plus attractions, the Orlando, Florida-based Ripley Entertainment, Inc., a division of the Jim Pattison Group a Canadian global company with an annual attendance of more than 12 million guests. Ripley Entertainment's publishing and broadcast divisions oversee numerous projects, including the syndicated TV series, the newspaper cartoon panel, books, posters and games. Syndicated feature panel Ripley first called his cartoon feature, originally involving sports feats, ''Champ ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |