philly

Philly Blogger Meet 10/2005

I won't be able to make it to tomorrow's Philly Blogger Meet at Nodding Head, but I wish I could. I haven't been to one in two months now. I'll be up in CT for Lady's grandparents' 61st anniversary. They're a great team those two.

I know that a lot of the Philly Future gang will be there as well as a bunch of great people I've met at the meetups in the past. More info on the Meet in this post by our Events Czar Scott who will most definitely be there.

Hoist up a Grog for me.

Denny Hastert's Blog

I haven't seen it posted on any of the other blogs yet aside from on /. so let me introduce the rest of the sphere to the Speaker's Journal, Speaker of the House and part time funnyman, Denny Hastert. Oh yes, he's blogging.

From his first post yesterday:

This is Denny Hastert and welcome to my blog. This is new to me. I can't say I'm much of a techie. I guess you could say my office is teaching the old guy new tricks. But I'm excited. This is the future. And it is a new way for us to get our message out.

Most of you know me as a coach by nature so I hope this gives you some inside access to the Republican playbook.

The internet is changing the way we share information. My office has been talking a lot about some of the conversations going on in blogosphere. So I thought, hey, I should start one and give you unfiltered updates on Capitol Hill.

There are not, however, comments. That would be a coup.

I never knew he was a coach by nature, I thought he was a part time Drew Carey impersonator, but fatter and without as rediculous looking glasses. He had this funny quip:

Speaking of the Hurricane season, renewed attention has been brought to the way we refine gasoline in this country. Today, energy companies started reporting their 3rd quarter earnings, and while Americans paying were record prices at the pump, energy companies were making record profits.

This is America. And Republicans don't believe in punishing success. But what are these oil companies doing to bring down the cost of oil and natural gas? They haven't built a refinery here in America since the 1970's. They've built refineries overseas, but nothing here at home.

We want some answers and you folks out there in the blogosphere do too. When are new refineries going to be built here in America? When is the Alaska pipeline deal going to be signed so we can get natural gas to consumers quicker? Conoco Phillips has reached an agreement with the state of Alaska on the pipeline. Exxon Mobil and BP need to do the same. These companies need to invest in America’s energy infrastructure and resources. Until they do, we're going to be asking some tough questions.

Hastert's proposed solution to the reliance on oil? Alaska. Not alternative fuels. Nothing on ethanol, hybrid, solar, hydrogen or any other non crude-oil based alternative. Thanks Denny.

My Live8 Article

The Fall 2005 edition of Global Scene Magazine is almost here and that means that I'll have a published article out there. I wrote and took the photos of a writeup on Live8 Philadelphia. Sa-weeet. If you click here, the photo on the bottom is mine - Def Leppard on stage.

I should be getting a few copies of the magazine soooooon. Cooool.

Project HOME

The Project H.O.M.E. event last night was great. Scott, Howard, Karl, Frank and myself represented Philly Future at the event. We also saw some more local writers there: Aaron from Philly IMC and Dan from Young Philly Politics. We all chatted with them throughout the night.

I took a few photos, but stayed with the gang for most of the night, it's always nice to speak to all of them fact to face instead of strictly online via email threads. I did use the 80-200 to get shots of the speakers. I put up a flickr set of nine shots with the one above being my favorite. Zoomed all the way at 200mm [~300mm in 35mm rates] and with the SB-600 zoomed in at 85mm, I shot from the second floor balcony thingie to the left of the stage and got some decent shots. I'm still not 100% comfortable with this lens as I am with my 18-70 f/3.5-4.5G and 50mm f/1.8D, but with time, I'm sure I'll learn to work this lens just as well. I already absolutely love it!

More info on the night to come on Philly Future.

Crooks on Crutches!

When did these two all of a sudden fetch a pair of crutches? When the shit hit the fan. Maybe it hit them so hard, they broke their patellas or perhaps snapped a ligament somewhere.

First off, I. Lewis 'Scooter' Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff
Reuters

And, Philly's own City Councilman Rick Mariano
BRADLEY C. BOWER / Associated Press

Exxon-Mobile Makes Closes $10B Quarter

Exxon Mobile made HOW MUCH? $9.92B in the third quarter.

During the third quarter, Exxon Mobil said its third quarter profits jumped nearly 75% from year-ago results to $9.92 billion for the Irving, Texas-based company. The quarterly results included a one-time boost from the restructuring of its ownership stake in a gas transportation company.

Quarterly revenues ballooned to $100.7 billion, up from $76.4 billion from the year-ago quarter.

The company said that its financial results in the third quarterly were depressed by the impact of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, which reduced production and saddled the company with $45 million a day in additional costs. Exxon Mobil warned that lower production will also impact financial results during the current fourth quarter.

But reducedproduction didn't stop their asses from price gouging. Thanks. You can see in the graphic above how the stock price soared right at the end of August, when Katrina hit.

Also having rediculous profits, Royal Dutch Shell which had a cushy $9.06B in the third quarter.

Me on Rock on Miers

So Harriet Miers has withdrawn. And the phrase that comes to mind is "Where's my O.J. prize?" What the fuck you say? It's a line from one of Chris Rock's Bring the Pain referring to his reaction to the O.J. verdict now a decade ago. He was saying how white people were too mad and black people were too happy. White people felt completely screwed over by this he observed. Black people were too elated he saw. He joked that he went to his mailbox in the morning and looked inside for his O.J. prize because everyone was so personally happy about the decision.

But this is a little different.

But still, Where's my Harriet prize?

Oh Craigslist

I love me some craigslist and I've been using the Philly incarnation since before Day 1 of living here. I just saw this posting which may be one of the weirder ones I've ever seen. I shall cut & paste it in its entirety in case it expires soon [reposting of the posting is checked as okay].

* * * * * FREE plane ticket to AZ... Drive w/me back to Philadelphia...
Reply to: [email protected]
Date: 2005-10-22, 4:45PM EDT

1st- If you decide to take me up on this offer I will want to see a picture of you and a good description. 2nd- I will be paying for a plane ticket to fly you to Tempe, AZ and we will be driving back together...

i'm a friendly, talkative, sweet, non smoking, massage student trying to get back to Philadelphia, PA so I can be closer to family and friends there. I have no pets, kids or drug habbits but am very open minded and creative.

I will be paying for the moving van, gas, and food during the road trip back. You need to have a good driving record, or have a good licence so that you can secure the truck - I don't drive or I would do this alone if I could.

Besides taking a fun road trip with a fun girl, with all food, gas and return fee's covered - I'm willing to give you my used lap top computer for helping me or my new souround sound system thats got a built in VCR/ DVD player. I have other things as well you could look at and decide on when you get here but I will give you somthing valuable for helping me...I just don't have that much money.

Please PLEASE... get back to me as soon as possible so we can start making the arrangments. I HAVE TO LEAVE BY NOVEMBER THE 1st or BY THE 3rd OF NOVEMBER...!

- Jeni

* Job location is PA to AZ to PA...
* Compensation: USED Functional Laptop computer, Free plane ticket to AZ, Free food on road trip back, etc.
* This is a contract job.
* no -- Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster.
* no -- Please, no phone calls about this job!
* no -- Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.
* yes -- Reposting this message elsewhere is OK.

* * * * *

Sounds like an adventure. Something like this would be a great story to read about and blogged about. And photoblogged about. Even video blogged. I think I'd take this person up on the offer if I didn't have a job right now.

City Paper on Daily News

I find stories of the media covering the media interesting. This City Paper cover story is no different. Mike Newall [who defected from PW to CP earlier this year] spent some time in the Daily News newsroom talking to the reporters and editors about the decisions from the KR brass. He describes the paper in its glory days:

On one side of the Flamingo Room hangs a collection of black-and-white photographs, many of which recall the paper's early-1980s heyday.

There's one of the famed columnist Pete Dexter pulling what looks to be a piece of gum out of his ear. Dexter penned beautiful, Hemmingway-esque dispatches often drawn from his hard-living lifestyle. "I didn't have a beat. I just did what I wanted to do," Dexter once said, remembering his time at the paper...

And now, when things are looking more than grim:

But today, on the other side of the Flamingo Room, opposite the photos, is a glass partition that overlooks the newsroom, which is far more subdued now; it feels more like an emergency room waiting area. There's good reason for this.

"The mood is shit," says one reporter. "We're doing our best to put out a great paper but we're also really busy looking for jobs."

He reports that more than twenty-five editors, reporters or designers have applied for the buyout which will make the process a little easier than if Editor Michael Day had been forced to fire people, "but is symbolic of the paper's sagging morale" Newall writes.

The papers of the United States are slowly dying. One by one, they are tightening their belts and they can only go on for so long without adapting to new times. I think that they themselves are partly to blame as many have become lazy in not reporting the news. The recent tribulations of the paper of record The NY Times with Jayson Blair and Judy Miller don't help the public's image of our newspapers either.

I read both papers online, never in print. It's just more convenient for me. I'm not awake enough in the mornings on my way to work to be able to pick up a paper and read through it on the train. I can't just sit at my desk with a newspaper sprawled out in front of me either. But I don't read as much of the paper online compared to how much of a paper I read when I have it physically in my hands. Lady recently subscribed to the weekend edition of the NYT and I pick it up at some point on the weekends. Reading the editorials, a few stories off the front page and flip through some sections. I must read through the NYT Magazine though. I grew up with the NYT. I've been reading it since I was about ten or so. I'm just used to it. I still haven't gotten used to reading the Inky or the DN yet. I dunno if I ever will. Now, I dunno if I'll ever get the chance to get used to it.

News on the SEPTA Looming Strike

This Inky article is a glimmer of hope in the talks between the powers that be at SEPTA and the union workers who plan to strike at midnight on Halloween.

The proposal calls for all members of the Transport Workers Union Local 234 to pay 5 percent of their medical plan premiums. That is down from SEPTA's initial demand of a 20 percent contribution.
...
The new contract offer also calls for annual raises during the next three years, totaling 9 percent.

It's a start and it's better than what I got, which is nothing right now.

Hopefully, they can reach an agreement so that me and the other ~500,000 or so people who rely on SEPTA everyday can get to work on November 1st.