New South Philly and Old South Philly

Last Friday, the Obama campaign organized a debate watching party at the South Philly Bar & Grill, halfway between Pat's Steaks and Geno's Steaks. The Phillies were trying to clinch their playoff spot, and a bar full of earnest liberals taking the big screens away from the Phils wasn't universally loved. The fact that they took the screens away to support Barack Obama wasn't appreciated by everyone, either.

Here is the debate, just as it was that night at the cheesesteak nexus of the universe.

Late Night at Barnegat Light, September 20, 2008

Sometimes it is difficult when you're an adult to let all the scales drop away and just play. Ocean air and a round or two of sidecars don't hurt the process. A recording (click here) of myself and friends, late at night, playing in the surf. Put in on in the background, and near the end you can hear us well splashed by rogue surf.

The Non-Sporting Life

You're a little suspect as a man if you aren't passionate about sports. Me? I like myself some baseball, but I can take or leave other sports, mosly the latter. I'm comfortable with it, but (click here) I have some thoughts about not really giving a damn in a sports-obsessed culture.

"Woo-eee! Our city's sports mercenaries have bested your city's sports mercenaries!"

I should care about this?

Hawkish GOP Delegate Drugged, Robbed Of $120,000 After One-Night-Stand At Convention

I couldn't resist the following story (see the video link below).

It used to be that the Democratic Convention was the great playground of pols 'n' hookers, where the heavy action was, but the party of family values (and the representative profiled here) has muscled into the action, and this story indicates that the hookers realize what is in their enlightened self-interest, and are applying their rational selfishness by going after the conscienceless big money these days.

This enterprising lady read her Alexis de Tocqueville and Ayn Rand before she took this soulless putz upstairs. She doesn't advocate bombing a country before stealing their resources, though.

Hawkish GOP Delegate Drugged, Robbed Of $120,000 After One-Night-Stand At Convention
September 16, 2008 at 04:11 PM

The Pioneer Press reports on the self-described "poor judgement" of Gabriel Nathan Schwartz, 29, of Denver. Schwartz was in Minneapolis last month for the Republican National Convention when an innocent one-night-stand ended rather badly for the young delegate.

He met her in the bar of the swank hotel and invited her to his room. Once there, the woman fixed the drinks and told him to get undressed. And that, the delegate to the Republican National Convention told police, was the last thing he remembered.

When he awoke, the woman was gone, as was more than $120,000 in money, jewelry and other belongings.

The thief's take stunned cops.

"It's very, very, very rare," Minneapolis Police Sgt. William Palmer said. "I can think of a couple of burglaries where we had that much stolen, but it's the first time I've heard of this kind of deal."

The Pioneer Press also posts footage of Schwartz taken from the convention in which he lays out his hawkish plans for the Middle East. He says that the US should "bomb the hell out of" Iran. When asked how the US should pay for such a strike, he suggests, "We should plant a flag, take the oil, take the money. We deserve reimbursement."

Quizzo, on second thought

I ran my game last night, and tried some different sorts of questions. The short podcast recording above (click here) gives my impressions after last night.

The Quizzo Underground, Part I

In Philadelphia, a strange subculture exists around a bar pub quiz game called Quizzo. This is my first podcast post (click here) on having a front row seat to those who play for fun, and those who are driven to play. What is an entertaining evening of brain teasers becomes a compulsion for some, and not winning is not an option....