Fables of the reconstruction

The Alps Get Taller the More They Erode

Counterintuitive:

The Alps grow because they swim in the Earths mantle. Mountains like the Matterhorn or the Zugspitze lose one meter of stone every 1000-2000 years, Sauer reports. Like a melting iceberg slowly rises out of the water to adjust to the loss of weight, the alps rise according to their weight loss due to erosion.

What's Up With the Hat

(Via.)

Award for General Fabulousness

Go here, vote for Zoe Strauss, 6th question down.

Drugstores That Don't Sell Drugs

The big drugstore chains in Philadelphia are CVS and RiteAid, but recently Walgreens has been pushing into the market. I stopped into one of the newer ones on South St. tonight and discovered it has no pharmacy. Is this an innovation that I missed? A quick check of the respective websites shows that this is the only pharmacy-less branch of a major drugstore chain in the immediate area. (I also just noticed that CVS and RiteAid both feature the word "pharmacy" as part of their name on their homepages, but Walgreens does not, although their site's favicon is a little mortar and pestle.) They had next to no cold and flu remedies, either, but they had a whole aisle of groceries. It was basically a convenience store with the Walgreens name on the door. Weird.

Philly Marathon Sunday - Road Closures

If you're trying to get around tomorrow, read this first:

The closures start in the area of the Art Museum at 6am, both River Drives and the Parkway will be closed for most of the day.

All numbered streets across the Parkway will be opened, but traffic will only be allowed to cross during breaks in the race.

There will closures in Chinatown and Old City along Arch, Race, 4th Streets, and 6th Streets from about 7am to 9am. 

Closures will affect the southbound lanes of Cloumbus Boulevard from Vine St, down to Washington Ave. from 7am to 8:30am.

Chestnut will be closed from 6th to 34th Street for two hours starting at 7:30.  And Main Street in Manayunk will be closed most of the day.

Ramps from I-76 west to 30th Street and Girard will be affected by closures from about 7:30am to around 10am.  And the The Washington Ave exit from I-95 south will be closed from 7:15am to 8:15am.

Even getting around on foot can be tough as crossing during the race is difficult. 

Mass transit is also affected as several bus and trolley routes are affected by the closures. 

From 6:30 a.m. until approximately 11 a.m., SEPTA bus routes C, R, 7, 9, 21, 25, 27, 32, 33, 35, 38, 40, 42, 43, 44, 48,57, 61, 64, 65, 124 and 125 will be detoured in Center City from the area of the Ben Franklin Parkway.

Vote to Make Fred Hiatt's Rag a Little Better

Courtney Martin of feministing is a finalist in a competition to become an op-ed columnist at the Washington Post. She's a good writer and a far better thinker than what you usually see on the opinion page. Go vote.

Sunday, 7:48 a.m., in High Definition

Camera Makes Truck Driver Stop Blocking the Street

Minor victory; small mystery.

I was trying to get stuff done this afternoon when people started angrily blowing their horns in the street outside my window. This went on for several minutes. Finally, too distracted to work, I walked outside and found some truck driver inexplicably blocking the road, looking at his paperwork. Traffic was backed up for a block and people were incensed, but he could care less.

So I did what I do in this situations, I took pictures:

 

The gentleman driving the truck is shielding his face from the camera. (He then went on to give me the finger and told me to "go suck another man's dick." This wounded me.) Nevertheless, I got the company name and USDOT number in the shot, and the license plate in another, so I just said, "I'm calling your boss" and walked away.

He finally drove off. 

It turns out, the DOT website has a search tool that let you look up truck numbers. Turns out that McDaniel Trucking Enterprises is almost three years late in filing the paperwork for this truck, although it has undergone roadside inspection times in the past two years. How does the truck pass inspection if the company hasn't renewed the DOT license? And what recourse is there for me to complain to the company if the management clearly doesn't even bother to obey the law themselves?

Now I can get back to work.

Six Words in the Whole Song

Imagine The Scene If They Win It All Again

I took this the night the Phillies won the pennant and forgot to post it (because I was drunk), but it serves pretty well to illustrate how the fans feel tonight.

I Hope That Made You Feel Better

A Yankees fan reacts as Chase Utley's second home run of the night lands in the bleachers:

Screengrab from TV.

Déjà vu All Over Again

I don't know what's up with that one kid's mouth. It's green.

That's my champagne! How did she get it? Oh, that's right. I handed it to her.

NFL Political Contributions

Via Roy, a chart at the bottom of the page here showing how the owners, employees, coaches and players make their political donations. The vast majority of it comes from owners, of course. and since they're wealthy they overwhelmingly prefer Republicans, with notable exceptions: Of the major givers, the Rams, the Eagles, the Pats, the 49ers and the Dolphins are all heavily Dem. The Steelers are basically 50/50. The NFL itself is 70/30 Democratic, which surprised me.

In the furor over Limbaugh trying to buy the Rams, I didn't notice anyone discussing his sexism, only his racist remarks. Did I miss it? I mean, the NFL is trying to lure women to become fans, so it would seem to me to be just as important that he's a flaming pig.

Just to See What Happens

This is funny. From a story on the (apparently not-totally-crazy) theory that trying to create a Higgs boson using the Large Hadron Collider somehow results in the future particle preventing the collider from operating now, explaining all the trouble they've been having with it:

Dr. Nielsen admits that he and Dr. Ninomiya’s new theory smacks of time travel, a longtime interest, which has become a respectable research subject in recent years. While it is a paradox to go back in time and kill your grandfather, physicists agree there is no paradox if you go back in time and save him from being hit by a bus. In the case of the Higgs and the collider, it is as if something is going back in time to keep the universe from being hit by a bus. Although just why the Higgs would be a catastrophe is not clear. If we knew, presumably, we wouldn’t be trying to make one.

Transported

Track 2, Section A:

 

ShopRite parking lot, Wilmington, Delaware:

Fireworks Tonight?

Something's exploding nearby, whatever it is.

Good Hair

This looks funny:

(Via Oliver Willis.)

Local Programming: Cardboard Tube Fighting League Tournament Saturday

I'm not going to this, but it's so wacky I had to post:

Cardboard Tube Fighting League Tournament happens Saturday, July 11th, 2009, rain or shine.

One random travelling weekend only, the Seattle Cardboard Tube Fighting league will be hosting a back-to-back weekend tournament: Saturday in Philadelphia, PA and Sunday in New York City.

Its a free family event. It is recommended that only children above the age of 5 participate.

Location*:
Open grassy area across the street of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, (the Rocky Steps) [ed.: they mean Eakins Oval - M.]
Latitude 39.964485° North - Longitude 75.179197° West
Google Maps: 39.964485, -75.179197

When:
Saturday, July 11th, 2009
13:00

Entry Fee:
FREE to the public!

What to bring:
Water, cameras, video cameras, name tags & positive social attitude

Attire:
cardboard armor, costumes are encouraged.
All tubes are provided by the group.
No outside tubes allowed, liability and cost are the drivers for this ruling.

-----------------------------------
*Alternate Location:
Fairmount Park
Poplar Drive & Kelly Drive

-------------------------------------

http://www.tubeduel.com/sf/events.html

RSVP.

Mistaken For Strangers

Parking Wars

Victory!
 
It's the little things. In this case, $56 worth of little things.

The Mid-Atlantic in June

Mushrooms growing on the sidewalk, 421 Pine St. Yeah, it's been raining kind of every day.

QOTD: "Actually not."

No particular reason except it's nice to remember something that turned out well:

Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning system (15:30:15): Caution terrain.

Skiles (15:30:16): Hundred and fifty knots.

Skiles (15:30:17): Got flaps two, you want more?

Sullenberger (15:30:19): No lets stay at two.

Sullenberger (15:30:21): Got any ideas?

Departure control (15:30:22): Cactus fifteen twenty nine if you can uh .... you got uh runway uh two nine available at Newark it'll be two o'clock and seven miles.

Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning system (15:30:23): Caution terrain.

Skiles (15:30:23): Actually not.

Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning system (15:30:24): Terrain terrain. Pull up. Pull up. ("pull up" repeats until the end of the recording).

Sullenberger (15:30:38): We're gonna brace.

So, No More Cheesesteaks

Overheard at 8th & Chestnut:

"Right now, you're like a sponge. You don't want to turn into a blob."

The Weather in Philly Today

It's like this:

Windmill

Sister Rosetta Tharpe performing "Up Above My Head", ca. 1961. Check out her move at 1:46:

Video of the Day

And Can I Get a Ticket?

So I'm at lunch today and get a wrong-number phone call from the guy who is driving the Black Eyed Peas for their gig tomorrow at the Susquehanna Bank Center. They're in Bordentown and the driver has no clue how to get to Camden, so I get on Google maps and give him directions.

He was a nice, polite Southerner and was appreciative of the help, but he couldn't get me tickets.

The Market Never Fails

I am continually amused by the ads that show up in Duncan's RSS feed:
Hey, I was just thinking I need some carbide thread!

See More Ira Glass?

Went to see this Thursday night. It was interesting to see live radio on a movie screen. Will it take off? Do I care? What I'd rather see are concerts live in the movie theater. It's a no brainer. Your favorite band is playing too far away to see them in person. Pay $10 and see them on the big screen. Sell beer and you're rich.

Joke of the Day: Planning Ahead

From ksl:

On their wedding night, the young bride approached her new husband and asked for $20.00 for their first lovemaking encounter. In his highly aroused state, her husband readily agreed.

This scenario was repeated each time they made love, for more than 30 years, with him thinking that it was a cute way for her to afford new clothes and other incidentals that she needed.

Arriving home around noon one day, she was surprised to find her husband in a very drunken state. During the next few minutes, he explained that his employer was going through a process of corporate downsizing, and he had been let go. It was unlikely that, at the age of 59, he’d be able to find another position that paid anywhere near what he’d been earning, and therefore, they were financially ruined.

Calmly, his wife handed him a bank book which showed more than thirty years of steady deposits and interest totaling nearly $1 million. Then she showed him certificates of deposits issued by the bank which were worth over $2 million, and informed him that they were one of the largest depositors in the bank.

She explained that for the more than three decades she had “charged” him for sex, these holdings had multiplied and these were the results of her savings and investments.

Faced with evidence of cash and investments worth over $3 million, her husband was so astounded he could barely speak, but finally he found his voice and blurted out, “If I’d had any idea what you were doing, I would have given you all my business!”

That’s when she shot him.

I Moved to the City to Escape Nature

Superficial Thought

You know you don't have any real problems in life when the most vexing thing in your day is that facebook changed its homepage.

Shah Mat

Zoe Strauss 2009 I-95 Show

Largo al Demolition

Kinda fun, whether or not you're an opera fan:

Happy Purim!

I'm not Jewish, but a religious holiday that involves giving to the poor, wearing costumes and celebrating in public is one I can get behind.

A Very Exciting 2:07

Star Trek-Style Corset For $200

Someone on etsy is offering a Star Trek -inspired corset for $200:

Inside the corset is flatlined to coutil and lined with black cotton. The fashion fabric is also cotton.

The boning used is European Steel and they have been attached to the lining so you don't see the stitching on the fashion fabric. The black grommets are hammered through a lacing bone and the ribbon is black double sided satin. ...

This pattern can be made in any of the Star Trek colors.
This garment is not a Star Trek design or associated with Star Trek merchandise.  ...

******star trek pin not included******************

I love the fact that I know several women who would wear this and look really hot in it.

(Via.)

Video of the Day: Do the Kessel Running Man

Misc

Mt. Redoubt volcano cam.

Searchable database of everyone who gave money for or against Prop. 8.

Guy remotely clones the chips in the new, "secure" passports and driver's licenses using less than $250 worth of equipment.

Buy personalized M&Ms. Why? I don't know, just buy them.

Update: I want to believe this:

An ABBA tribute band says the Kremlin whisked it away to perform a private concert for Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Rod Stephen, the founder of British-based group Bjorn Again, says the four-member band traveled 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of Moscow for the Jan. 22 gig on the shores of Lake Valdai.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov denies Putin attended any such concert.

Stephen says Putin danced to ABBA hits such as "Dancing Queen" and "Waterloo," accompanied by an unidentified woman and six men in tuxedos.

Stephen told The Associated Press Friday that Putin was heard yelling out "bravo, bravo," and particularly enjoyed renditions of "Mamma Mia" and "Super Trouper."

Obama should start calling him "Prime Minister Dancing Queen" just to get under his skin.

Unrelatedly, this is security camera footage from a burglary at a cheesteak place near my house in South Philly:

There There

Normal Distributions

Snow Man

500 block of Pine Street:

Just How Goofy Was That Super Bowl?

I never laughed so much watching a football game.

It starts out looking like a Pittsburgh blowout, even after they can't get in from the one and take the shortest field goal in history. But their secondary collapses and the Cardinals throw at will. Next, Roethlisberger's pass caroms off one Cardinal to another in a huge arc two minutes before halftime. The game is going Arizona's way when ... 100 yard interception return! Wait, they caught him on the 1 inch line with no time left! No .... yes ... yes! Goofy.

The halftime show announced to millions of Americans that they were now middle aged. When the rock star of your youth plays the Super Bowl, that's it, man. The next stop is going to see Cheap Trick at Harrah's in A.C.

Also, how ironic and strange was Bruce's performance? The artist who always sought authenticity in his work playing for 1,000 extras who had rehearsed waving their non-fire-producing illumination objects in the air. (Were they branded cell phones? That's next. "Sprint, the official concert lighter replacement of the NFL.") Clarence Clemons in a mumu. That guy from the Sopranos. Gospel singers? Really? And the unbeatable-for-goofy Bruce crotch slide right into the camera, followed by the embarrassed, conspiratorial look he gave the lens as he got up.

All the recession commercials got depressing, a slurry of moneysaving downers, tit and cock jokes, and spots for NBC shows, capped by the Cash4Gold ad. I expected an offer to buy your spare kidney after that. Even the truck commercials were downbeat, emphasizing how economical the behemoths are now. When you indulge in the testosterone thing, you should get gas guzzling monsters driving through walls and explosions or at least slamming on the brakes inches from a cliff while towing an airliner. With captain Sully waving from the cockpit. (Things were redeemed a bit by the hilarious Alec Baldwin ad for Hulu.)

The second half is when the officials, inspired by the fake ref throwing the delay flag during the Springsteen set, decided there hadn't been enough penalties so they made some up. Again the Steelers fail to break the plane after two first-and-goals in the same series. James Harrison literally punches a guy when he's down. The Steelers throw out of their own end zone for a first down only to get a safety on a dubious holding call. Arizona takes the lead, stunning bookies everywhere. Another tipped Steeler pass that looks like an infield fly and Roethlisberger breaks up the interception! Scrambling frantically, it looks like doom for our hero, but he throws balls like he's radar-guided. All ends well and improbably with a stunning throw and catch by Holmes on tiptoe while surrounded by three defenders.

Whew. Good thing the Eagles lost to Arizona because Pittsburgh would have eaten our lunch, which would not have been nearly as funny.

Glowing Cities Under a Nighttime Sky

Gorgeous:

What a Security Nightmare a Presidential Train Trip Must Be

I appreciate the symbolism and old-fashioned feel of a whistlestop tour, but I also feel a little sorry for all the security personnel who had to address any potential threats along hundreds of miles of rail lines, especially since it meant working outside in the lowest temperatures in 14 years.

I had been thinking a train is a mighty convenient target, but the Amtrak crews who came through to work them today enlightened me: There were three trains. One was a decoy, another actually had the Obamas and the Bidens on it, and the third had equipment and troops. And of course there was all kinds of air cover. I would imagine they ran the decoy and the real presidential train on separate tracks, in case the decoy was derailed by an attack the President's might still escape.

Site of the Day: Diamond Dave's Noises

The David Lee Roth Runnin' With the Devil Soundboard.

(Via Kinkerbelle.)

Local Programming: Philly Single-Stream Recycling Weekly Now

Don't click through or you'll see Nutter's smarmy face, but:

We've acted on your suggestions and are proud to announce that, as of January 5th, you can now recycle every week on the same day as trash day. ...

Cardboard, paper, metal, glass and plastics go all together in your recycling bin. That's single-stream recycling, and these are the details.

(Via Molly Eichel at The Clog.)

Pic of the Day: Bird of Prey

Resident Hawk (45th & Market, Philadelphia), Ray Skwire, 2008.

Feel-Good Story of the Day: Crackers

The news is depressing, the weather is gloomy, I hate the holidays. Let's have a good story, grandpa:

The box of crackers Debra Rogoff bought from the grocery store had some crackerjack in it — an envelope stuffed with $10,000.

Yet the Irvine woman was more curious than ecstatic about her daughter's find. After all, who would leave money in such a place?

So they returned it to the store. How did it get there?

Police later heard from store managers at Whole Foods in Tustin that an elderly woman had come in a few days earlier, hysterical because she had mistakenly returned a box of crackers with her life savings inside. In a mix-up the store restocked the box rather than composting it.

They sealed it up and resold it. Of course they did. Fortunately in this case. So why did the old lady have her money in a box of crackers?

The Lake Forest woman, whose identity was not released, had lost faith in her bank and decided the box would be a safer place for the money.

Of course the proper gratitude was shown:

The Rogoffs never heard from the woman and didn't receive a reward, but Rogoff did return to Whole Foods a couple weeks later.

"I asked them if I could have another box of crackers," she said with a laugh. The store obliged.

They only charged her half price. From now on, I am only going to buy the already-opened boxes in the store.