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Fine Art
2:02 am
Tue June 26, 2012

Reflective Art Brings Light, Color To Historic Spaces

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Credit Courtesy of Cao | Perrot Studio
Andy Cao and Xavier Perrot's Red Bowl installation in Beauvais, France, recalls the way lepers once bathed in animal blood in an effort to cure themselves and avoid being ostracized to the one-time leprosarium where the installation is located.
Credit Courtesy of Cao | Perrot Studio
The installation, on display in Georgetown's historic Dumbarton Oaks Gardens, combines the luxurious (crystals) with the mundane (chicken wire).
Credit Courtesy of Cao | Perrot Studio
Cao and Perrot's White Dome hangs inside a free-standing tower that used to be part of Beauvais' Saint-Barthelemy Collegiate Church.
Credit Courtesy of Cao | Perrot Studio
According to the artists' website, the crystals that hang in the tower are meant to serve as symbols of the soul's purification by ascension to heaven.
Credit Courtesy of Cao | Perrot Studio
Andy Cao and Xavier Perrot's Red Bowl installation in Beauvais, France, allows visitors to cross a pond into a hemisphere of metal rods topped with red marbles.
Credit Courtesy of Cao | Perrot Studio
The marbles recall the way lepers once bathed in animal blood in an effort to cure themselves and avoid being ostracized to the one-time leprosarium where the installation is located.
Credit Courtesy of Cao | Perrot Studio
Cao and Perrot's Cloud Terrace was designed to extend the shade of surrounding trees across the terrace it adorns in Washington, D.C.
Credit Courtesy of Cao | Perrot Studio
Cao and Perrot's White Dome hangs from a tower that used to be part of a collegiate church in Beauvais, France. Its 3,000 tiny crystals serve as symbols of the soul's purification by ascension to heaven.
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Originally published on Tue June 26, 2012 12:03 pm

This is a story about amazing beauty, imagination and magical effects — and it begins, ironically enough, at a one-time leprosarium, or hospital for lepers, in Beauvais, France, a small town outside Paris.

Lepers were sequestered in Beauvais in the 12th century. That history is now noted in an outdoor art installation made up of slim metal rods that curve up into the shape of a bowl. Each rod is tipped with a red, marble-sized glass ball.

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Books
2:01 am
Tue June 26, 2012

Four Books To Help You Master Chicago Politics

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Richard J. Daley served as the mayor and Democratic Party boss of Chicago for more than two decades, from 1955 to 1976. His son, Richard M. Daley, served as mayor from 1989 to 2011. Click here for more on the Daley dynasty.
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Originally published on Tue June 26, 2012 8:08 am

The term "Chicago politics" gets bandied about whenever people complain about what they see as corruption and abuse of power.

Republicans often apply the concept to President Obama, who calls Chicago home. Earlier this year, presidential candidate Mitt Romney called one of the president's appointments "Chicago-style politics at its worst," and Illinois Republican Aaron Schock once described Obama's team as "the Chicago machine apparatus."

But what does that mean? And what are Chicago politics really like?

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The Record
7:06 pm
Mon June 25, 2012

Springsteen's American Dream, Beautiful And Bleak

Credit Richard E. Aaron / Redferns
Bruce Springsteen onstage during the Born in the USA tour in 1985.
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Originally published on Tue September 18, 2012 6:39 pm

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All Tech Considered
6:40 pm
Mon June 25, 2012

Facebook Changed Your Primary Email Address, But Says It Warned You

Credit Leon Neal / AFP/Getty Images
Facebook recently changed all its users' primary email addresses.
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Originally published on Tue June 26, 2012 7:28 am

A key change was made to your Facebook profile recently that you may not have noticed yet. Facebook has replaced the primary email address users entered in their profile contact information with brand-new @facebook.com addresses. These addresses allow you to email external accounts from your Facebook inbox. Forbes first noticed the change:

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The Two-Way
6:33 pm
Mon June 25, 2012

Phelps And Lochte Set To Square Off In Olympic Trials Final

Credit Al Bello / Getty Images
Michael Phelps swims in a preliminary heat at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Trials in Omaha, Nebraska. Phelps and rival Ryan Lochte were awoken from their afternoon naps by a fire alarm at their hotel Monday.
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Originally published on Mon June 25, 2012 7:35 pm

The London Olympics are still more than a month away, but fans of swimming were eager to see the 2012 edition of the rivalry between Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte get started Monday, when the two Olympic gold medalists face off in the final of the 400-meter individual medley at the U.S. Olympic Trials.

Update at 8:32 p.m. Lochte Beats Phelps

Lochte defeated Phelps at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials.

Here's more from The Associated Press:

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