Philadelphia Will Do

August 30, 2007

Phila. Suburbs New Hot Spot For, Uh, Space

The Philadelphia area may not be the bed of high-tech innovation, but a firm in the suburbs is making a buck on the lucrative field of space tourism.

ETC said in a press release that its contract with Virgin "puts Pennsylvania on the map as the current center of commercial space training."

The center of commercial space training. We're entering into a new golden age for Pennsylvania, people.

Would-be space tourists to train in Phila. area [Phila. Business Journal]

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September 22, 2006

Leftovers: Fire, Water, Sue

• PECO is probing the cause of yesterday's explosion/fire/half-day. But guess what? "Litigation is possible," according to the Inquirer. Dun dun dun! [Inky]

• Several commenters on this thread have proposed John Kruk as the Phillies' new manager. It's official: Beerleaguer has gotten too popular. Then again, who could resist the dreamy Jason Weitzel? [Beerleaguer]

• Yesterday, the Space Shuttle Atlantis returned to earth very smoothly. Today, an astronaut fainted at a press conference. (The astronaut is okay.) It was not the one from Philadelphia, though. Hooray! [AP/CNN.com]

• Two more homicides in Philadelphia this morning -- a 19-year-old and a 20-year-old. Sigh. [Inky]

• And, finally, Sweeney is hosting the Dog Olympics tomorrow. Oh, now this is an event for the ages. [Philebrity]

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September 19, 2006

Leftovers: First They Came For The Marlboro Men, And I Did Not Speak Out Because I Was Not A Marlboro Man...

• The Bulletin on the Smoking Ban: "The anti-smoking Nazis have passed their first Nuremberg law, and more will follow." Because if you can't compare genocidal facism to a not being able to light up in a bar, what can you compare it to? [Bulletin]

• The Inquirer's Marc Narducci asks if Eagles fans are overrated because he saw a few people leaving the game early Sunday. As a commenter pointed out, the Eagles certainly left the game before any of their fans did. And who the hell is Marc Narducci (or anyone, really) able to judge who is a "true" fan or not? That being said, Eagles fans did get way too many votes in the most recent AP poll. [Eye on the Eagles]

• Your three new City Councilpeople come November, ladies and gentlemen: Carol Campbell, William Greenlee and Daniel Savage. How many people saw that list and said, "Wait. The writer of Savage Love is running for City Council?" [AP/Philly.com]

• Terrell Owens is now "likely" to rejoin the Dallas Cowboys for their Oct. 8 game at the Linc. ARAMARK breathes sigh of relief, buys 50 billion kegs of Bud Light in advance of game. [AP/Yahoo!]

• And now for the latest edition of Northeast-Philadelphian-In-Space: The shuttle Atlantis has had its return delayed due to a piece of debris that may have floated out of the craft. They're likely to return Thursday or Friday now, upon which Chris Ferguson will get a celebratory shopping spree at Franklin Mills. [AP/CNN.com]

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September 18, 2006

Leftovers: Tough Break

• Jevon Kearse, injured near the end of the Eagles' loss to the Giants yesterday, is out for the year with a knee injury. Gee, yesterday's game just keeps getting better and better. Tomorrow, the team's going to announce that anthrax was accidentally released at the game and everyone needs to get tested. [Inquirer]

• Wireless Philadelphia has a pricetag! $21.95 a month. (The "Digital Inclusion" -- read: poor -- rate is $9.95.) The service hasn't even started yet, and the rates have already gone up from the $20/month promoted when the city signed the deal. Capitalism sure is a hideous bitch goddess. [Civil Defense]

• In New Jersey, the state will no longer pick up deer carcasses, which means driving in Jersey just got about a million times more awesome. [AP/Camden Courier Post]

• Just after Chris Ferguson, the astronaut reared in Northeast Philly, leaves the space station, there's a toxic spill. Coincidence? Yeah, most certainly. [Reuters/CNN.com]

• Hey, Bob Casey can talk!

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September 12, 2006

Leftovers: Buy, Eagles Fans, Buy

• The Eagles will be selling 1500 standing-room only tickets for each home game tomorrow morning, sending IT departments into a frenzy when they realize that every single person at the office is constantly refreshing the Eagles homepage. [Daily News]

• John Perzel has proposed a huge increase in police officers all over the state, including 1,300 new cops in Philly alone. Perzel: "We're here today to send a clear message to the drug-dealing thugs, the illegal gun-pushers, and all those responsible for terrorizing our neighborhoods and communities - your days are numbered." Drug-dealing thugs had a mixed reaction to the news. [Inquirer]

• Herb Denenberg answers the tough questions: "Question: Can an insurance company refuse to insure my dog?" [The Evening Bulletin]

• Is it any coincidence that when a Northeast Philadelphia native is in space, the astronauts lose a bolt into the abyss? I think not. [AP/CNN.com]

• Now you can get to Harrisburg in 90 minutes instead of two hours! Yay? Hurrah? Does anyone actually travel to Harrisburg? [AP/Philly.com]

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September 11, 2006

Astronaut Finally Goes To Place More Desolate Than NE Philly

Chris Ferguson, the Northeast Philadelphia native who had to sit through weeks of delays of the launch of his first shuttle flight, has finally popped his microgravity cherry.

Ferguson (at right) and the rest of the astronauts took two days to get from Earth to the International Space Station. The AP reported that he had a wide grin as he was given a tour of the ISS. Hurrah!

The crew is on schedule for its very important mission: Installing solar panels on the space station. If you're scoring at home, that means we can use solar energy reliably, but only if we travel two days into space first. Hey, it's a start.

Shuttle Atlantis Docks at Space Station [AP/Phillyburbs.com]
Space Shuttle [NASA]
Archives: Chris Ferguson

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September 08, 2006

Northeast Philadelphian Will Apparently Never Make It Into Space

Another day, spaceship delay.

Ex-Northeast Philadelphian Chris Ferguson was originally scheduled to go into space Aug. 27, but Hurricane Ernesto delayed the launch. Since then, there have been about four days prepared for launches, but various problems with fuel sensors have delayed the mission.

Today was the latest fuel sensor to delay the mission, and NASA said they'll likely try again tomorrow. But, really, don't expect the shuttle to launch tomorrow, either: It's clear that space doesn't want a Northeast Philadelphian, and is doing everything it can to stop it. Alas.

NASA manager: 24-hour launch delay likely [CNN]
Shuttle Has Another Glitch, Faces Possible Launch Delay [KYW 1060]
Aug. 18: Northeast Philly Renaissance Continues: Ex-NEstie To Go Into Space

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August 28, 2006

Leftovers: Sixers Plan Trade of AI To Mom's Team

• Allen Iverson's mom has gone an bought herself a basketball team! The Richmond ~~Iversons~~ Warriors will play in the ABA, a small pro league where anyone with $20,000 and a dream can buy a team. Look for her at courtside, holding up a "THAT'S MY TEAM!" sign. [AP/FOX Sports]

• Appearing on FOX News Sunday, Delaware Senator Joe Biden refuted the notion that he's too Northern (I guess) to run for President. How so? To wit: "You don’t know my state. My state was a slave state. My state is a border state. My state has the eighth-largest black population in the country. My state is anything from a Northeast liberal state." Tune into the Sunday talk shows next week, when Biden notes all the lynchings the state's had. [Wonkette]

• A report says that 24 percent of Philadelphians report being sexually abused. Fortunately, this puts us on par with other cities in the country. Er, wait. [CBS 3]

• Pagans -- the, uh, loosely affiliated religious groups, not the motorcycle gang -- recently held a conference in Fort Washington. How wild was it? As the Northeast Times notes, "They even wore T-shirts, tank tops, shorts, skirts, sneakers and sandals. And some had baseball caps, too." [NET]

• It's going to be a little longer before Northeast Philadelphian and astronaut goes into space, as the shuttle launch has been delayed. [AP/Yahoo!]

• Don Vito is heading home after his arrest. [AP/6 ABC]

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August 25, 2006

Top Story Of The Day, Of Course

Tune in next week, when Will Bunch's editors make him report on a really cute kitten stuck in a tree.

Pluto too small to line up with planets [Daily News]

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August 24, 2006

It's Official!

We've run out of news.

Solar system loses a planet [CNN.com]

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August 18, 2006

Northeast Philly Renaissance Continues: Ex-NEstie To Go Into Space

Okay, so Bianca Ryan's million dollars is a pretty big thing to happen to Northeast Philadelphia; probably the biggest thing since, uh, ever.

But Ryan might've just been one-upped by Chris Ferguson, who is slated to head into space at the end of the month. Space? Holy shit! (Ferguson is also a fellow alum of St. Martha's grade school, although our similarities pretty much end there, since he's successful.)

During his roughly 12 days in space, the 44-year-old Ferguson will "conduct high-intensity robotics operations and perform administrative jobs," according to the Northeast Times. (That second part kind of makes him sound like a space secretary.) Ferguson also plays drums in a "rock and roll band," according to his NASA bio.

The main point of the mission is to install solar panels on the International Space Station. But it's not just that:

"Expanding your horizons doesn’t come without a cost," he said, adding that Earth is a small planet in a large universe.

NASA’s long-term goal is to go farther into the universe, perhaps to Mars or back to the moon. It might be generations before NASA gets back to the moon or centuries before Earth can colonize another planet, but Ferguson is glad to be doing his part to advance the cause.

"You have to start some place," he said.

And, really, what better place to start than by installing some solar panels. Godspeed.

Off he’ll go... [Northeast Times]
Christopher J. Ferguson [NASA]

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March 23, 2006

Blogicized: Special All Female Edition

• There's nothing to get a husband excited like an engorged tick on a Boston terrier. Yum. [TinaPoPo]

• The question had to be asked: If we were all in space, would people who lost their legs now have a level playing field? Please consult old episodes of Futurama for the answer. [Starting a Landslide in My Ego]

• Here's an alternate view from Inky architecture critic Inga Saffron on the demolition of the old Liberty Bell Pavilion. [Changing Skyline]

Photo by timwilson

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February 22, 2006

Incidentally, this should be covered by benefits

Today's Metro debate:

Hell yeah! Why not go all out? Shoot yourself into space with 10 weeping widows in bikinis doing a gun salute and somebody blastin' "You Shook Me All Night Long" on a totally kick-ass boom box! Now that's a way to go!

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