philly

Red Cross is Fucked Up

I don't give much money to charities, I just don't have that much to give. But I do when I can. And it doesn't go to the American Red Cross. After 9/11, they fucked up so much of the money they got, I didn't think they'd be able to bounce back, but they did. So much of the money donated to the ARC didn't get to where it needed/was intended to go, it was appalling.

And then last year's hurricane season in the Gulf Coast region was just horrendous. Their response, or lack thereof was and continues to be a discrace.

And now, there's a report on how the ARC spent half a million dollars in the last three years pitching it's brand to Hollywood and reinforcing that brand as the recently ousted CEO Marsha J. Evans who fell lock step in line with the W administration's tactic of blaming the local officials instead of FEMA who had the sole responsibility of authority in the region.

There are tons of other great charities to donate money too. There's a list towards the top of the right pane of this blog. But the ARC is the only large outfit that I know of which organized blood drives; correct me if I'm wrong on that one.

An Hour Outside at Temple

How cold was it outside on Sunday? Well, after about forty-five minutes of shooting around the main campus of Temple at around 2.30p, I went to open my camera bag and one of the plastic buckles just snapped off as I pressed it. It wasn't just a defective buckle. It was the cold. How do I know? Because about fifteen minutes later, when I went to open the bag again, another buckle snapped due to being so frozen.

It was so windy, a little piece of schmutz blew into my camera and landed on the CCD sensor and it showed up in a few of the shots as a little black splotch against the gorgeous blue sky. I just cleaned the sensor last week so I know that it was clean. I cleaned it again tonight after the outing.

I spent an hour walking around in the 35mph winds which resulted in a below-freezing, plastic freezing wind chill. I wasn't worried about my camera though, it's been documented to work fine well below 0°.

It was the most time I had ever spent up there taking photos. There's a good amount of stuff to explore and take photos of, but it was so fucking cold I called it a day after an hour. I barely walked around maybe four blocks in any direction from the Student Center. I was east of Broad St for the full hour. I'll head back up there to explore some more once it gets a little warmer and less windy.

Above is a shot of that weird bell tower that is in a little quad just north of the main library. Exactly as-is out of the camera. No post processing for color adjustment or contrast or sharpening, just resizing. Came out perfectly. f/8, 1/500 sec, @12mm with the 12-24mm wide angle.

I took about sixty shots or so. A flickr set of twenty-two here.

Pentagon Pays Halliburton 99.5%

So, everyone knows that the administration is in cahoots with Halliburton. That's just a given. But in the past few years, the Pentagon has at least witheld a large amount of the reimbursements that auditors have felt out of line in Halliburton's cost-plus [meaning the more they spend, the more they make] budgets. This NY Times piece takes a look at the latest.

The auditors took a look at what Halliburton's been up to and decided that a quarter billion dollars, that's $250M, were potentially bullshit. And in the past, the Pentagon has for the most part agreed.

In 2003, the agency's figures show, the military withheld an average of 66.4 percent of what the auditors had recommended, while in 2004 the figure was 75.2 percent and in 2005 it was 56.4 percent.

But not this time around. This time, the Pentagon decided to withhold all of 3.8% of what the auditors thought should be withheld and pay Halliburton 99.5% of the $2.41B no-bid contract.

Remember way back when... When Veep "I'll shoot you in the face" Cheney said that we'd be greated as liberators and there would be parades with flowers for the U.S. troops? Remember when the Repugs said that the cost of the war to the American taxpayers would be something like $1.8B and that the war would be financed in large part by the profits from the oil we were there to steal protect? Remember when the cost of the entire war was going to be something like the 1991 war in Iraq, something like $50B-$60B? Now Halliburton is getting $2.41B for one year? One single company? As of 12.30a, February 27, 2006, the Cost of the War is $243B and growing. A good article on the costs of the war via this AlterNet article. Beware, it mentions the "V" word.

And on a related note, d'ya hear what Mr. Conservative Billy Buckley has to say these days?

One can't doubt that the American objective in Iraq has failed.... Our mission has failed because Iraqi animosities have proved uncontainable by an invading army of 130,000 Americans. The great human reserves that call for civil life haven't proved strong enough.

Oof.

Market East Walkway

I got off at the 13th St stop on the El the other day with the intention of getting to Market East to buy a weekly TransPass [I lost my fucking monthly pass last week, arg!], but I noticed that I was at the wrong stop and that I'd have to hoof it over to the next stop underground. Not bad I thought, I'd never taken this walk before. Bad idea.

Holy shit does it reek down there! The above shot is representative of that fetid effluvium. I pushed the yellow as a simple representation of the overpowering scent of piss. So there. It's not simply a shot of the beauty of tile and glassblock and stainless steel that is SEPTA's palette of style, it is an overt tug at the olfactory senses via the optic nerve. For the colorblind out there, bear with me on this one color wise, but you can get a whiff of it if you'd like by taking a trip down stairs between the 13th St and 11th St El stations.

Happy smelling.

Click the photo for a slightly larger version on my photoblog.

Shooting Tomorrow

I think I'm gonna head up to Temple tomorrow with Lady and take some photos up there. I've been up there a couple of times to play ultimate over at Cecil B. Moore field at nigiht. Playing ultimate at night under the lights is quite fun by the way. It's gonna be cold and windy though. More than a sweatshirt and jeans tomorrow.

Center City Bulidings

Philly's got some tall buildings. Not as many as many other cities, but there was a gentleman's agreement [or was there!?] to not build anything taller than Billy Penn. But Philly's catching up with the other big building cities around the world quickly. But the bulidings along Broad St just south of City Hall tower above, but in a friendly manner. They're manageable. The Atlantic Building, the Wachovia tower, all nice sized. Nice to look up at on a blue-sky day too.

Man's right angles cutting into nature's shape-shifting cotton balls.

Wharton

UPenn's Wharton [Huntsman Hall] buliding on 38/Walnut Sts is a weird looking building. It took some time, but I think I like the way it looks now. I've passed by it enough and looked at it from enough angles to have taken it in now. Backlit by the setting sun on a particularly blue-sky day like earlier today, it looked really nice.

Out Shooting

I was out shooting for several hours today all over town in West Philly and then back in Center City at a few spots. A lunch truck on 38th St, a new fish joint on Locust St and one of the premier restaurants in the world over on Walnut St. And I took shots of this gorgeous city all in between. I did a lot of walking around and taking the bus. It was colder than I thought it was going to be. The weather report said 50° and I failed to see the 30+ mph gusts of wind though. Blech. A Triple5 sweatshirt and jeans weren't enough and I was quite cold. Oh well. I think the shots came out fairly well. Still a few more places to hit up before this first month of AOL freelance work is complete.

Vacancy in the 175th District

And there's a blog keeping up to date with the news. Background:

Since my State Representative, Marie Lederer, has announced she will not be seeking another term, the upcoming Democratic primary in May is likely to nominate the next seat holder in this vastly Democratic district.

LEDERER, MARIE (DEM) 19,772
MESTER, GREG JR. (REP) 4,607

As such, I'll be posting news and information about the potential candidates for the Democratic nomination. I'll add any info I get about other parties, too.

Whose gonna run in the Dem primary? Sounds like a shoe in with a five to one margin in the general.

***UPDATE***
To clarify, the 175th is roughly east of broad and north to Spring Garden and then over to 4th and up to Girard. And south to Wharton. The 182nd juts into the 175th in the Washington Square area. A map via Committee of 70

Photo Soiree

Last night's photo show opening was very nice. Day by Day is a place that I had never heard of before, but apparently passed by a hundred times. It's right on the corner of 21st and Sansom Sts, just below Tampopo. Day by Day is usually closed and I learned why last night: they're mainly a catering place so they close on the early side. Buuuut, they're starting a Saturday brunch starting this Saturday when they open their doors at 10.30a. Messy and Picky may be making our way over there in twenty-four hours or so, we'll see how getting up in the morning goes.

Bradely Maule of Philly Skyline and Mark Adams of All Proper have a gorgeous spread of photos all around the space. Maule's shots looked mainly like 11x14s or 11x17s and Adams' shots were in large frames in bunches of four 8x10s. Maule's shots were ones that I don't recall ever seeing. One of a trophy in a garbage can and another of a set of boats huddled below the foggy shadow of the Ben Franklin. Adams' shots were more graphical in nature with man and nature occupying the single frame. Shots of repetition reinforced by the groupings of four. They complemented each other well in their contrast.

The crowd was great and was well spread out throughout the space. A scrumptious spread of wine, cheese, grapes and later chocolate covered strawberries invited us in and we prompty sat right behind it. I had a ton of smoked gouda as you can see by the half wheel remaining in the above shot. Lady and I had one hell of a long conversation on accents with Dan from Philadephia Will Do. Lady's halfway between Bahston and New Yauwk Connecticut upbrining, Dan's local Philly knowledge and my just north of NYC ears were keen to each other's wording. Dan knew his stuff too as he aced a course in linguistics in college. I noted that one of my best friends from college, who is originally from Warminster, studied linguistics for her Masters and not until I told her recently that she pronounces the world "drawing" as "drawling" did she realize that she said "drawling" which is funny, since I'd think that word would come up at some point of her two years at her fancy schmancy school [she's better than all of us!] while studying linguistics.

I think this is the first time I've met new people during this winter olymics and not brought up how much I love curling. I fought the urge. But really, I do love curling.

Peep the show at Day by Day sometime. And if you like what you see, pick up a framed and matted print for $80 - $100, they're all gorgeous.