Philly To Get Shittier

There’s an exhibit traveling the country currently titled “The Scoop on Poop.” It is, naturally, all about feces and how fun it is, or something.

Anyway, check out the AP article about the exhibit, which is currently at the Miami Metrozoo:

Miami is the exhibit’s second stop after opening at a Virginia museum in May. After the exhibit closes at the Metrozoo in January, it will make stops in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Redding, Calif.

Oh, was there any doubt.

Zoo Flush With Visitors For Poop Exhibit [AP/NBC 10]

Abridged ‘Daily News’ Columnists

Ronnie Polaneczky: Administration of the Robin Hood Dell sucks. You tell ‘em, Ronnie!

Elmer Smith: Politicans are mean!

Breaking: Possible Extension At Inky/Daily News?

Today is the final day of the contract for the Newspaper Guild, the largest union at the Inquirer and Daily News that represents a majority of the writers, editors, photographers, etc. So, y’know, the unimportant stuff.

Word came last night that there is a possible extension to the contract brewing. Federal mediator Walt Bednarczyk asked the two sides to extend the contract — both sides have already extended it once, from August 31 to today. The Guild has agreed to extension, and the company is expected to respond today.

Management has already agreed to contracts with 6 of the 12 unions at the paper.

Full memo from the Guild after the jump, but let’s share this part of it first:

With contracts with several unions still outstanding, the Company said it had no time available to bargain with the Guild Tuesday, but might have time Wednesday.

Guh-wha? Again, click through to read everything else.

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Reminder: Philadelphia Will Do SEPTA Contest

You only have… oh, I dunno, another couple days or so to enter the Philadelphia Will Do SEPTA Contest. As you can tell, I’m sort of running this thing by the seat of my pants, so who knows when I’m going to close it!

Anyway, here’s the deal: SEPTA has new power washers that are supposed to clear leaves from the track, making the “slippery rail” problem that plagues SEPTA in the fall not quite as bad. Of course, these power washing machines run along the tracks, and so it’s only a matter of time before one of them breaks down and causes delays in the morning.

Your job is to email septacontest@gmail.com with the date and the track (regional rail, EL and Norristown High-Speed Line) and you could win… something. Hey, I never said this was a good contest.

Best of luck.

Leftovers: Party On North Broad

• Fight on, Temple! The Owls ended their 20-game losing streak Saturday with a 28-14 win over Bowling Green. (The Falcons, naturally, beat them 70-7 last year.) Could a bowl game be next? Uh, no, but this guarantees a few more “Golden Age of Temple Football” billboards on I-95 next year. And, for Temple, a win is a golden age. [Inquirer]

• Oh, yeah, if you’re wondering, apparently Temple football fans can hold a grudge about being called a crappy football team for a long, long time. [Temple Football Forever]

• Hazleton, Pennsylvania, the first city to pass an anti-illegal immigrant ordinance in America, is now suffering from businesses closing (in the Hispanic business district) and such. But the mayor sympathizes with the business owners, so, y’know. [Inquirer]

• As much as I hate podcasts, there’s a new podcast up on SoundAboutPhilly by the always-entertaining Once Upon A Nation people. Play it for your out-of-town friends. [SoundAboutPhilly]

• A former Republican staffer in Bucks County claims he was fired after criticizing an email sent by GOP supervisor Fred Gold. The email featured a topless woman promotion “Breast Appreciation Day” — ho ho — and a sentence saying, “Beats the shit out of Martin Luther King Day, doesn’t it?” Gee, this ex-GOP staffer should learn that sexual correspondence over the Internet is part of the Republican party’s platform. [Bucks County Courier Times]

A Slightly More Competitive Ejaculate

Today’s sex column by Faye Flam deserves special annotation today. While the headline had its sperm-inducing chuckles, the rest of the article is more of a treasure than just the headline.

I don’t know what it is about Faye Flam’s column, but there’s always some sort of unintentional hilarity. Is it because I have the maturity of a 12-year-old? I do, but I don’t know if that explains it all. Could it just be that the way the Inquirer “has” to write about sex makes it funnier? Maybe. Could it just be an excuse to find something to make fun of in lieu of actual content? Certainly.

Anyway, In this week’s column, Flam reviews the 1996 book Sperm Wars. Here’s how she describes it:

Sperm Wars is aimed at those of us who have ever paused in mid-thrust to wonder what, exactly, we’re doing.

Funny. Usually mid-thrust I’m repeating the 1993 Philadelphia Phillies regular season batting averages over and over in my head. (”Darren Daulton, .257; John Kruk, .316; Mickey Morandini, .247…)

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Breaking: Upscale Store To Open On Walnut Street! Wow!

Today, ARC Properties — the part of ARCWheeler that’s dealing with the new 10 Rittenhouse Square project — announced that Barneys New York has signed a lease to occupy at least a part of the 10 Rittenhouse retail space. (It just says Barneys; I’m assuming this means it’s Barney’s New York and not some sort of discount brand.)

Construction on this building isn’t expected to end until sometime in 2008, so it’ll be a long while before you females can live out your Sex & The City-type recreations inside the store.

Alas. Walnut, though, does continue its upscale trend, especially west of Broad. Are there even any dollar stores left?

Full release (in JPEG form, as it arrived!) after the jump.

Update, 5:32 p.m.: A source confirms that it’s a Barneys Co-Op and not a Barneys New York. The Co-Op is their “younger-themed” store or whatever. Right.

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And So It Begins…

Sometime over the weekend, YouTube unleashed a bunch of content-deleting zombies onto the website and began deleting perfectly normal fair usages of video clips. Mainly, content from Comedy Central and the NFL seems to have been deleted, with clips of other sports probably on the way next.

So, weep, Internet public, as you can no longer view this kick by David Akers’ hit the post loudly and go in, and you will have to get that moment squarely from memory.

For now, all we can do is look to the future and find a new video sharing site with owners without such deep pockets.

Derailing The Gravy Train [Blinq]
Sept. 11: Eagles Doink Their Way To Victory

Adwatch: Bucks County Kitchens

Today, Adwatch looks at Mike Fitzpatrick, Republican congressman for the Eighth Congressional District, and his recent attack ads toward his opponent.

The ads mostly just replay a clip of Patrick Murphy on Hardball, where he can’t tell Chris Matthews whether he would have voted for the Iraq war (which he served in), and they play up his inexperience. Let’s explore one of these attack ads, after the jump.

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Every Celebrity Into The Gene Pool!

First, that’s only one celebrity. (Sharon Stone doesn’t count.)

Second, this story continues to get more intriguing. You have Rush Limbaugh, that dude who played Jesus in the Mel Gibson movie (Jim Caviezel), Kurt Warner, Jeff Suppan, Mike Tyson’s ex-wife and that woman who’s in the Acme ads (Patricia Heaton) against Michael J. Fox, Sharon Stone, Moby and Michael J. Fox’s mom.

Who will join next? Does Urkle support stem-cell research? How about Gillian Anderson? Ooh, and Demi Moore, I must know where she stands! I can’t make a decision on a subject without hearing what Kevin Federline thinks! And just where is Fatboy Slim on this issue?

Oh, and there’s a slideshow of all the players involved! Wow! Imagine if they did this for, like, local elections? (Had slideshows and celebrities involved.) People might actually vote.

More Celebs Jump Into Fox-Limbaugh Battle [NBC 10]