Results tagged “washington”

Fun around town, for $10 or less:

Climate change has rapidly become part of our national discourse. As early as four or five years ago, the issue was treated by many as a paranoid conspiracy. Now, political figures from governors to presidential candidates to George W. Bush himself seem unable to avoid the fact that not only is our planet becoming warmer, but it is also losing the ability to produce key resources such as oil and clean water. Here’s a look at recent Earth-related news:

On Saturday, members of the Philadelphia Chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW), set off to march twenty-five miles from the National Constitution Center to Valley Forge National Historical Park, "to show support for veterans and service members testifying at Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan," an IVAW event occurring in Washington, D.C. March 13-16. The event gets its name from a quote by Thomas Paine, who said that winter soldiers are those who stand up for their country even in its darkest hours, and will be an opportunity for veterans who served in both locations to give "an accurate account of what is really happening day in and day out, on the ground" in the Middle Eastern war zones.

I'm a bit of an Anglophile. I love British just-about-everything, except for the food. But I especially love British humor. And after attending and enjoying a staged reading of Roy Smiles' last spring, I figured I'd really love the fully-mounted production at The Wilma Theater.

The Drexel women (15-11, 10-5) were looking like contenders after three straight wins, including a spanking of William & Mary. But then reality set in, in the form of #10 Old Dominion. The men (11-18, 4-12) didn't have to worry about being exposed as mediocre–everyone knew they stunk. But apparently they still felt compelled to show everyone, in the form of losses to William & Mary and Fairfield. Their regular season will sputter to a merciful end at home against James Madison tonight, and then at Hofstra on Saturday. The women host Towson tomorrow night, and George Mason comes to town Sunday afternoon. (Tickets for all home games are available through the Drexel Ticket Office: 1-866-4-DREXEL.)

  • Insiders say Barack Obama is the favorite to win the endorsement of the Philadelphia Building Trades Council, which would represent a striking break with Governor Rendell and Mayor Nutter, who are supporting Hillary Clinton. The trades council, which includes 37 locals of building and construction trade unions, was scheduled to meet this morning in Northeast Philadelphia to decide the issue.
  • The Drexel Lady Dragons (14-10, 9-4) got a pair of solid home wins this week, topping Delaware and James Madison. Now they'll take the show on the road, heading to William & Mary tomorrow night before a big showdown with #10 Old Dominion on Sunday. Things weren't quite as peachy for the men (11-16, 4-11). They lost a tough double-overtime game to Old Dominion last Thursday. Fortunately, they edged out a win against Delaware over the weekend. Tonight, the Dragons have an away game at William & Mary. Then they'll return home to host Fairfield Saturday afternoon. (Tickets for all home games are available through the Drexel Ticket Office: 1-866-4-DREXEL.)

  • A 17-year-old male knocked on the door of the security booth inside the lobby of the Queen Lane Apartments late Sunday. When the cop inside opened it, the young man fired one shot with an assault rifle, striking the officer in the left hip underneath his bullet-proof vest. Luckily the officer was able to immediately slam shut the door of the bullet-proof booth before the gunman fired twice more. The youth then ran off and Zahir Boddy-Johnson was arrested an hour later for the crime, and will be charged as an adult with attempted murder, aggravated assault, robbery, firearms violations and related offenses. The officer is in stable condition and is expected to make a full recovery.
  • What's new and/or interesting on TV this week.

    Often when Americans think of whom to vote for both in primaries and in presidential elections, we forget to consider the candidates’ lives before they were candidates. Here are some lesser-known bits about the presidential hopefuls:

  • David C. Sicoli, a Philadelphia priest with "a long history of abusive and manipulative relationships with adolescents," according to a grand jury report, has finally been defrocked by the Roman Catholic Church. No criminal charges were ever lodged against him. Numerous complaints were filed about his alleged misconduct with boys, however, and other priests warned about him, but the church continued to simply transfer him to different parishes, and even ended up naming him associate director of the CCD youth program for the entire Philadelphia area.
  • Drexel had one of those ho-hum weeks. The women (12-10, 7-4) split their games this week. They beat up on Georgia State before falling short against VCU. The men (10-15, 3-10) couldn't keep up with George Mason, but bounced back with a solid win over Towson. Tomorrow night, the Lady Dragons will be promoting breast cancer awareness at their home game against Delaware. The players will be wearing pink headbands and wristbands, and fans who wear pink will get free admission to the game. Then they'll host James Madison on Sunday. The men have a pair of away games this week, at Old Dominion tomorrow night, then at Delaware on Saturday. (Tickets for all home games are available through the Drexel Ticket Office: 1-866-4-DREXEL.)

    The Sixers are still going (for now) as they seek to match their season-high four game winning streak (they’ve won at home against Washington 101-96, Miami 101-84, and the LA Clippers 101-80) with a win over the Dallas Mavericks tonight at 7PM at the Wach (get tickets or watch here). They will host the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday at 7PM at the Wach (get tickets or watch here). If you’re going to that game, get there early: they’re honoring Marc Iavaroni (member of the ’83 Championship Team) by giving away a Mr. Potato Head to the first 5,000 fans.

    href="http://torontoist.com/2008/02/phototo_snowbal.php">photographing a big, organized snowball fight.

  • SFist partook in some hipster bashing.
  • Shanghaiist uncovered all the sordid details of Hong Kong's biggest celebrity sex scandal ever.
  • DCist was concerned about a new reality TV show in the works that might make people who live in Washington look like privileged jerks.
  • Phillyist wants a pet baby more than anything in the world.
  • Chicagoist had a time honored motorists vs. cyclists debate.
  • Austinist reported on seven-time Tour de France champ and crybaby Lance Armstrong's hissy fit at a local venue.
  • Berks County is featured in one the strangest hauntings regarding road-related weirdness. At Hawk Sanctuary Mountain there is a legend that a shining, ten-feet tall apparition spooks drivers travelling along the two-road lane which ascends the mountain. The mountain, situated between Ecksville and Bailey's Crossing, is also allegedly haunted by the spirits of settlers who were killed by Indians during the 1700s. Meanwhile Bristol - located in the extreme south of Bucks County, northeast of Philly - is also haunted by a road specter. Midnight Mary is the name given to the female ghost that lurks around Bordertown Road. Like a majority of classic phantom hitchhiker tales, Mary, often dressed in white, and usually dripping wet, often vanishes from the backseat of vehicles. Legend claims that the woman died in a car accident when she was travelling home from a prom with her boyfriend. Strangely, although her boyfriend's body was dredged from the murky waters, her body was never found, and yet her drenched form is often observed walking into Manor Lake.

    The Drexel Lady Dragons (11-9, 6-3) split their games this week, losing at Northeastern before coming away with a solid road win at Hofstra. In both games, the Dragons got a big contribution from sophomore forward Gabriela Marginean, who was named Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Week for her efforts. The men (9-14, 2-9) went 0-2 (again) this week, dropping games to Georgia State and Northeastern. The two losses brings the Dragons' losing streak to five games. On deck for the men: home games against George Mason tomorrow night, and Towson on Saturday. The women host Georgia State tomorrow night, then go on the road to VCU Sunday. (Tickets for all home games are available through the Drexel Ticket Office: 1-866-4-DREXEL.)

    The Sixers lost to the Orlando Magic Saturday in an excruciatingly close game (108-106). They will try to regroup tomorrow night against the Washington Wizards at 7PM at the Wach (get tickets or watch here), and the Miami Heat on Thursday at 7PM at the Wach (get tickets or watch here).

    The Drexel hoopsters had a rough week. The men (9-12, 2-7) dropped an overtime game at home to William & Mary last Wednesday, then got whooped by VCU on the road. The women (10-8, 5-2) saw their nine-game winning streak come to an end with an overtime loss of their own, against Towson. Then they couldn't seal the deal against William & Mary, and ended up giving up a late lead to lose their second straight. The women will have a good chance to bounce back this week, though, going on the road to the CAA cellar-dwellers: Northeastern tomorrow night, then Hofstra Sunday afternoon. Maybe the men will get a couple win as well, as they're playing a couple teams as bad as they are: at Georgia State tonight, then hosting Northeastern late Saturday afternoon. (Tickets for all home games are available through the Drexel Ticket Office: 1-866-4-DREXEL.)

  • Frank Funaro, who runs a nightclub and a real estate business on South Street in Philadelphia, was robbed of $40,000 yesterday morning at his home in Washington Township, New Jersey. A gunman, apparently deliberately targeting the family, was hiding in the backseat of the car when Funaro's wife went out to drive her son to school. He forced the two back into the house and demanded money. Police received a 911 hang-up call from the home and responded, but the family told them everything was all right because at that point the robber was still hiding in the closet. Minutes after the officers left, the gunman fled in a blue minivan, and police received another call. When they returned they found the family upset, but otherwise unharmed. Call Washington Township police at 856-589-0330 if you have any information.
  • Drexel's Lady Dragons (10-6, 5-0) ran their winning streak up to nine games with a win over UNC-Wilmington on Sunday. They'll visit conference co-leading Towson tomorrow night, then host William & Mary on Sunday. The men (9-10, 2-5) spit their past couple matchups. They beat last-place Georgia State but then dropped their home game to Hofstra. Hopefully, they'll have a better showing at home tonight against William & Mary. And then they get to go to conference leading VCU. Have fun with that. (Tickets for all home games are available through the Drexel Ticket Office: 1-866-4-DREXEL).

    Drexel's Lady Dragons (8-6, 3-0), led by Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Week Narissa Suber, extended their winning streak to seven games, beating Delaware and George Mason on the road. Now they'll look to keep up the winning ways at home, hosting Northeastern tomorrow night and UNC-Wilmington Sunday afternoon. The men (8-9, 1-4), on the other hand, look to stop their three-game skid as they face a couple of their fellow CAA cellar-dwellers at home: Tonight against Georgia State, and Saturday afternoon against Hofstra. (Tickets for all games are available through the Drexel Ticket Office: 1-866-4-DREXEL).

    The Sixers weren’t able to pull it out against the Bulls, losing with a disappointing 100-97 score. Unfortunately it seems the Inqy is right: they’re not such a great team this year.

    Eggers is the literary darling that some people love to hate. We admit that his ubiquitous presence around the time that A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius was published made us nauseous, but after reading the book, we understood what all of the hoopla was about. Since then, his subsequent work, such as You Shall Know Our Velocity and What Is the What, as well as being the founder of McSweeney's, The Believer, and charitable organization 826 Valencia (and its offshoots) have established him less as a literary upstart and more as a true contributor to American writing.

    Fun around town, for $10 or less:

    What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend

  • The Inquirer takes another look at the battle between St. Louis and Philadelphia to be the next town to host a pro soccer team.
  • The fact that this morning's article about "Bonnie and Clyde" turning themselves in starts with a story about Kirsch's tits would be funny anyway, but we find it particularly amusing given the focus and title of our post on the subject yesterday. Yesterday's snow storm didn't cause too much trauma, besides a few accidents, some icy roads and sidewalks, and some school delays. The developer working on the Girard Warehouses ("the historic complex of early...

    The Inquirer has the story of an American soldier from Bucks County who worked hard in Iraq trying to rebuild the country and is now home for the holidays. Princeton University scientists announced yesterday that they'd discovered a way to reproduce the chemical signals that the bacteria that cause cholera use to communicate with each other, which opens up the possibility of a new way to fight bacteria: talking to them in their own...

    Let’s get this out of the way early: The Eagles season is still, for all intents and purposes, OVER. To have a chance at the playoffs, they would have to win every game but one. And that is good because the game against the Patriots can already be put in the books. The team from New England is going to stomp the Eagles like Editor Jill running into a disgusting, yet otherwise harmless, cockroach. When you factor in games like the visit to clearly superior Dallas, the trip to struggling yet dangerous New Orleans, and a likely chokejob against a stiff like Miami or Buffalo, the Eagles really have no chance in hell of making the playoffs. But that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy yourself and laugh your ass off when the Birds eke out a game that they had no business winning against the self-sabotaging Washington Redskins. If that team should happen to have a nickname that is abhorrent to a whole race of people, so be it! So sit back, relax and soak in the glory of this meaningless, mid-November victory against a hopeless also-ran! It’s diary-time!

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