Photo of Charlton Athletic FC and the Thames Barrier by Dean Nicholas. Londonist was treated to some fantastic views of the city, courtesy of the 'Star Over London' airship.Bostonist spent the week celebrating New England's quintessential summer meal, the lobster roll.Torontoist explored the dangerous lives of stickmen.Seattlest wondered if a suicide prevention net was really the best idea for stopping people from jumping off the Aurora bridge.Gothamist was grossed out when hearing a man......

In other areas it might not be news that another supermarket just opened, but in West Philly it's a big deal. "In an unexpected move, federal prosecutors said last night that they would ask a judge to revoke bail today and detain Jocelyn S. Kirsch." She was scheduled to plead guilty at a hearing this afternoon, but now a detention hearing will be held instead. It seems the feds are mad about her recent Target......

Recent events over the border in New Jersey have brought to light the sad plight of some of the people who appear on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition—they're given a big amazing house and then can't afford to pay the taxes and utilities on it. In its typically overblown and melodramatic fashion, the Daily News takes a closer look at the phenomenon of cop-killers, in the wake of the murder of Sgt. Stephen Liczbinski. The Daily......

Our very own state could actually be of key importance in the Democratic presidential primary, so the campaigns for both Clinton and Obama will be opening offices in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in the coming days, and expanding their staff by recruiting local pros. The Inquirer takes a look at the battle going on over a proposed state-wide ban on smoking in Pennsylvania. A woman leaped from her third-floor apartment window on South Street near 2nd......

SFist worried over drugstore chain Walgreens' celebration of Black History Month.Gothamist was surprised that apparently New York City is the fourth most miserable city in the country, after Detroit, Stockton, CA, and Flint, MI.Shanghaiist finds out what the Chinese think of Hillary and Obama.It was with a healthy amount of schadenfreude that Phillyist reported that former Eagle, and now Cowboy (ew), Terrell Owens owes the Eagles a significant wad of cash.Torontoist is two weeks......

Photograph of the Trump Soho by Riccardo Sinti Gothamist went to the scene of the Trump Soho construction collapse, which left one construction worker dead and others injured (an indirect culprit - Manhattan's hot real estate market, causing rushed construction jobs).Shanghaiist is confused by media reports as to whether Playboy will be available in China during the year of the Olympics.LAist got fugged in an interview with the Go Fug Yourself girls.Torontoist set hearts......

The best of the internet, squirted out in flavorful neon globules, just for you. Japanese magazine Famitsu has given Super Smash Bros. Brawl a rare perfect 40/40 review score. Seems like a good sign! Yesterday was the latest big tech event, after CES: MacWorld 2008. Nerd World sums up the whole thing in one post, but Shiny Shiny has lots of coverage, including posts about upgrades to Apple TV and the official announcement of movie......

While SFist cringed at the fatal dose of crime littering the Bay Area, it found solace in Hillary Clinton's San Francisco campaign headquarters opening, which featured loads of exposed mammary glands. In other news, SF Taxi Commission ruled that Satan's cab must keep its (in)famous medallion number, 666; and in an un-fashion-forward frenzy, San Francisco Fashion Week (chortle) bars bloggers from covering and getting smashed at their shows and parties, respectively. Also, they found a......

It's all Fumo, all the time! Fumo might lose his defense counsel! Fumo might sell his house to pay for his defense! Fumo is still an important figure in local politics! Fumo, Fumo, Fumo! Speaking of "fumo," no fumo in PA! Well, sort of. The state senate passed a statewide ban on smoking yesterday, which would theoretically replace Philly's own smoking ban if it were to get signed into law, even though it has so......

There's so much going on across the Ist-a-Verse that it's almost impossible to keep track these days. Fortunately, we do it so you don't have to! Londonist took a walk through Oliver Twist's London, thanks to a gorgeous map layer for Google Earth. They also caught up with modern-day fictional London, with the Fantastic Four and 28 Weeks Later. It was a week of insanity over at DCist. They started the week off with......

The Philly Inquirer reports on the trademark/name battle amongst the Olivieris, the city's famous cheesesteak family. Just who is the King of Steaks? Apparently, only the court can decide. Peco and PSE&G both hire crews, as a safety measure, to trim back trees that grow around electrical wires, but often they do a real butcher job, leaving hideously hacked trees in their wake. Many people are angry about this, but the electric companies say......

Dear smokers: It is called a ban. Not a friendly reminder, a polite suggestion, or a mild request. This is purely semantic. A smoking ban. That means that those of you who were smoking in Copa, Too last night, were actually breaking the law. Yeah, yeah. I know. The smoking ban infringes on your rights. Specifically, your right to slowly kill yourselves. And those around you. Sure, there was that one study that indicated that......

It's Fumo all the time over at Philly.com. The Daily News is looking at what will happen if he goes down, and they also have a timeline covering the entire history of his present legal troubles, in case you're a bit lost. The best part may be this litanny of all the juiciest details from Fumo's indictment, although there's a separate article focusing on all the crazy he stuff he paid a private eye......

Between fake terrorist alerts and scandals big and small, this just might be the Best Best of the -ists ever. We're exhausted just thinking about it. First up, SFist, who saw their little 'ole site be the center of what was a nice little scandal (even getting their editor on TV) only to find their scandal dwarfed by the even bigger scandal caused by their Mayor boffing the wife of one of his aides.......

At the Galactic show on Thursday night, the attitude was "What smoking ban?" New friends became old friends who passed the bowl without thinking about TLA security guards trying to blend in with the crowd in their maroon t-shirts. The room, about three-quarters full, moved intently, sometimes languidly for those with grey beards and wedding rings; more jerkily for those with bare chests and new curly cues. Maybe it's the whole New Orleans thing. When......

Texas is thawing, the Northeast is freezing, and a sort of natural order seems almost restored to the Ist-A-Verse. Almost. Londonist HQ—that is to say, the city of London—was battered by heavy winds, making it a bad time to be a twelve-meter (nearly forty-foot) tall snowman. Still, not everyone decided to keep warmly covered. Meanwhile, back indoors, the Big Brother racism is now causing all kinds of headaches for international diplomats, and Londonist got into......

Yo, Philly Orchestra rocks, man! It received "one of four MetLife awards for Excellence in Community Engagement.... for its Camden Community Partnership Initiative, a three-year-old partnership committed to using musical engagement as a means to improve the economic condition, emotional health, and future outlook of the city." Very nice. Speaking of cool local music stories, check out this article about an 11-year-old sixth-grader who's a talented and accomplished jazz pianist, with his own band......

That ramp at the Linc was swaying again, and this time the movement was even caught on tape. But engineers still insist the ramp is safe and sound. Regardless, it sounds like during the off-season they're going to try to find a way to make it not sway, so fans don't get so freaked out all the time. Fighting crime is clearly going to be the big issue in the 2008 mayoral race, so......

DISCLAIMER: I wrote this months ago. I'm fully cured now. I've been saving it until I thought maybe I wouldn't be embarassed to post it. I still am. But I'm also suffering from Writers' Block. Hello. My name is Katie. I am 22 years old. And I have a yeast infection. This wasn’t always a problem, you know, I didn’t always have this issue. In fact, this is my very first yeast infection. I developed......

The PA Gaming Control Board isn't handing out its two Philly slots parlor licenses until tomorrow, but Mayor Street has already picked one group he'd like to be a recipient: Planet Hollywood's Riverwalk Casino. That just happens to be the group with lots of local minority investors that plans to use city-owned land - and that's funding the New Years Eve fireworks display. The foot fetish guy has moved on to South Philly, but......

With the Army-Navy game in town this past weekend, by mid-Friday, the streets of Center City were packed with men in uniform and sighing women. As I walked home from work late Friday evening, for every one military man I saw, I quickly spotted at least to two women pointing and girlishly giggling. I can’t explain the “I love a man in uniform” phenomenon. Sometimes it works for me (as can be proven by......

The city's smoking ban is being modified, with the new version (which prohibits smoking at sidewalk cafes, and gives a permanent exemption to small taverns that generate only minor revenue from food sales) getting signed around December 14th, and then taking effect on January 8th. Between those two dates, no ban of any kind will be active or enforced. The organizers were apparently trying to keep it quiet, but news leaked that the Union......

Somehow, the world of -ists managed to make it through the week despite news that Jen & Vince broke up. -Chicagoist had fall on their mind as they made squash and fudge, read "House of Leaves" and ">tried to figure out what's next for the Cubs. Not fall related, but still of utmost concern, the whole skinny black pants thing. -Torontoist fought off an evil scourge of raccoons and went to go see who......

It's so rare that we have a slow workday. This might be our first since our job started. And we're not entirely sure what to do with ourselves. Fortunately, nothing on the internet is ever slow. So here we are. Gothamist: Howsabout starving writers? Austinist: Philly isn't the only city that doesn't know what to do about its smoking ban. SFist: Canine movie fest? Count us in! Parisist: And again, we ask, you're asking who......

All those gun control bills got voted down in Harrisburg, but some supporters of the legislation are calling it a success that the bills even got as far as they did. Folks who use Route 291 near the Philadelphia International Airport are going to be rerouted onto Bartram Avenue for some time. This is to make room for construction while a runway gets extended. Local restaurateur Susanna Foo acted out a fantasy of many......

New York is trying to cut down on trans fats by restricting local eateries to a mere 0.5 gram of trans fat per serving. Granted, this is Philadelphia, not New York (no one even mention the whole borough thing), but since we followed their lead with the smoking ban - admittedly to limited um, success(?) so far - Phillyist is keeping a close eye on what they're banning in the future. That way we can......

Mayor defies predictions, our sullen tipster (it was you, wasn't it Norm?) and DMac's sparkly, sparkly graphics and actually signs the smoking ban. (We're pretty shocked, too.) So, we suppose you should smoke 'em if you got 'em, 'cause early next year it won't be so easy. Once again, Phillyist warns you to be careful to whom you open your door: a man, described by police as "desperate and dangerous" tried to talk his......

After last night's loss to Houston, we no longer care what Will Bunch (Ryan Howard doesn't pitch) or ESPN's Alan Schwarz (and his interestingly anonymous Phillies fan reader) say. We're ready to say that the Phillies are out of the Wild Card race, and we're so sure of it that we're writing this post before San Diego inevitably beats Colorado and takes a three-game lead over the Phillies. Because the Phillies play the first......

The proposed smoking ban has passed City Council. The Mayor still needs to sign the bill before it becomes law, so now would be the time to smoke 'em if you got 'em. Wharton discusses Net Neutrality. (via) A former Geriatric Nursing Home, currently being renovated for future use as a charter school held a secret surprise inside, specifically: decaying human remains. A local firefighter who died in service is honored....over 100 years after he......

Eschaton points towards news that Big Brother may have been paying more attention than any of us thought. dovate (via Philly Future) has a new plan for some old viaducts. Philadelphia Will Do let's us know that the smoking ban may go through...sort of. Citizen Mom has a question about rainbow vs. chocolate jimmies (and whether "rainbow jimmies" means what she thinks it means). Strangely, Phillyist was having a similar debate not too long ago.......