philly

Giants on Tonight?!

I knew that the Giants would be playing on Saturdays for their final two games of the year, but it didn't register that their final game would be on New Year's Eve with an 8p start time! Good god. There better be a TV, with cable, with the GMen on wherever I'm at in six hours. Win and they clinch the division!

Gay Cowboys?

Me and Lady may be off to see the gay cowboy movie at the Ritz tonight. I'm not a big fan of Heath Ledger, but I do think Jake's sister's pretty hot and that counts for something, right? Heh. I'm a big fan of Ang Lee though and I just learned that he's behind this film.

Gotta go find a frame for an 8" x 10" of my brother's family that I took at my sister's wedding that my mom wants to hang up in their house next to the photo of her and my Dad I got them for Christmas. Sucks that Matthew Izzo right by the house is closed until after New Year's. We're headed off to Foster's to peep some more Umbra goods.

NYE Weather

So the weather is supposed to be pretty shitty here in Philly for NYE. Arg. But I'm supposed to be at a house party, so that shouldn't matter much as we should be indoors for the night. But I still don't know where this par-tay is supposed to be and I expect to start drinking somewhere in the neighborhood of twelve to eighteen hours from now. I guess it won't matter much where I'll be. I just don't want to get wet.

What's the NYE tradition here in Philly? NYC is Times Square, I think DC was on the Mall. I'm assuming Philly is on the Parkway by the PMA? I was sick last NYE so Lady and I didn't go out, we stayed in for a Law & Order marathon. I feel good as of right now, so drinking and getting ingnorant must continue as originally planned. Oh man, let's get ignorant.

Hopefully I won't be too sloshed to lose my camera or something. I'll have enough sense of mind to leave it at home if I feel I may become too sloshed... hopefully. But I don't think I should be getting that sloshed, I haven't been in quite awhile.

Black Tie and Boobs

I love me some good photography. When the WaPo put up a page of what they thought was their best photography from 2005, I eagerly clicked over. Once there, I clicked on the 'Political' section. Up popped what they felt were the twenty-three best shots of the year. Above is the third of the bunch. It, err, stuck out from the rest.

What is going on!

Photo: Lucian Perkins/WaPo

Santa Fe Burrito

While Messy and Picky hasn't exactly been a hotbed for posts, I have been busy going around and taking photos of the places we've visited in the past and pairing them with our older reviews. And we've got a new review up of Santa Fe Burrito over on 11th St. Pretty good eats.

Some of the places I've been busy taking photos of: Tony Luke's Beer and Sports Bar, World Fusion [the batteries to the flash crapped out on me while shooting this and I didn't notice and didn't replace them until later that night so it's a little weak], Valanni, Singapore Kosher Vegetarian, Penang Malaysian, Maggiano's, Good Dog Café, Buca di Beppo, Continental Restaurant and Martini Bar to name a few. I have my favorite shot picked out from the bunch. Any one pop out for anyone in particular?

More reviews and photos to come in the new year!

NSA Hands out Cookies

Weren't we always told not to take things from strangers? What if strangers slipped candies into our pockets and we later ate them? Well, The National Security Agency sorta did just that the AP reports. Apparently, the NSA website has been sticking cookies which don't expire until 2035 [three years before Google's cookie expires!] on the harddrives of visitors of their website.

In a 2003 memorandum, the Office of Management and Budget at the White House prohibited federal agencies from using persistent cookies - those that are not automatically deleted right away - unless there is a "compelling need."

A senior official must sign off on any such use, and an agency that uses them must disclose and detail their use in its privacy policy.

Peter Swire, a Clinton administration official who had drafted an earlier version of the cookie guidelines, said that clear notice was a must, and that "vague assertions of national security, such as exist in the N.S.A. policy, are not sufficient."

Daniel Brandt, a privacy activist who discovered the N.S.A. cookies, said mistakes happen, "but in any case, it's illegal."

Now, I await the war on Daniel Brandt, aka the Cookie Monster.

Flour or Coke?

A horrifying story in today's Inky about a female Bryn Mawr student falsely accused of transporting upwards of a kilo of cocaine/speed/opium while headed home to California after finals. She spent three weeks in a Philadelphia jail cell. This happened two years ago, but a civil-rights lawsuit was filed recently on the eve of the expiration of the statute of limitations.

"I haven't let myself be angry about what happened, because it would tear me apart," Lee said. "I'm not sure I can bear to face it... . I'm amazed at how naive I was."

That naivete, she said, began when screeners at Philadelphia International Airport inspecting her checked luggage found three condoms filled with white powder. Lee laughed and told city police they were filled with flour. It was just part of a phallic gag at a women's college, she told them, a stress-reliever, something to squeeze while studying for exams.

The police didn't find it funny. They told her a field test showed that the powder contained opium and cocaine.

A lab test later proved the substance was flour - and no one now disputes that Lee is innocent, including the prosecutor.

Now that's some fucked up shit.

I think everyone's seen a cop/FBI/CIA/... show where they do that taste test of powder. I think I recall a cop coming to speak to us in either high school or middle school telling us that they did/could do such a thing and it wasn't some fake Hollywood stuff [I may be warping reality with TV here though]. But either way, I've read that cocaine is supposed to taste pretty nasty and is supposed to have a numbing effect. So, a taste test should reveal a nasty tasting and then numbing substance. Flour tastes like, well, flour. Yes, coke is often cut with flour, baking soda, talcum powder, sugar... but none of those things cause a numbing effect. So what the fuck happened during two field tests at the Philadlephia airport?

I can't imagine spending three weeks in a cell. I don't know if I'd just lose hope even if I was 100% positive I was innocent, shit just happens and I read about it every day, I just did again right here!

Lee's lawyers say that there are two possibilities as to why the two field tests resulted in a positive for drugs:

Either the field test was faulty or someone fixed the results.

And to futher the matter, a prison guard, who recognized Lee from her volunteer work at Overbrook HS, thinks that the two positive tests were racially motivated. Whoa.

W is Not Above the Law

The above graphic is an ad by the ACLU which appears in today's NY Times.

via Susie

NYE

Looks like friends from NY will be coming to town for NYE here in Philly. Apparently there's a house party to be had! And some of the party goers will crash chez nous.

But I'll have to be in some kind of presentable form to make it back to NY for New Year's Day dinner at my parents' house or face excommunication from the fam. I'd also like to see some of those crazy Mummers as well if it's nice out, a great photo op. I met Mayor Street there last year.

Is Wal-Mart Good For America

NO.

For so many reasons.

I've bee meaning to watch the Frontline piece Is Wal-Mart Good For America for ages now and I finally sat down in front of my computer for an hour and knocked it out. I saw the Wal-Mart Movie last month with ~300 other Philadelphians and it made me want to watch this 2004 piece even more.

Wal-Mart's business practices to ship manufacturing overseas and encourage their suppliers to manufacture their goods overseas to meet Wal-Mart's pricing demands is pretty despicable. Seeing them testify in court against American companies on behalf of illegally price cutting Chinese manufacturers is despicable. Seeing their VPs weasel through questions is despicable.

It's a good, educational hour.