I could never be a Yeshiva student in Brooklyn. My new glasses are too cool for school.
Borough Park’s Bobover Yeshiva B’Nei Zion has banned students from wearing thick-framed, retro glasses because the now-chic eyewear represents “the new modernism,” the New York Post reports.
This week’s release of Star Trek Into Darkness has nerds everywhere sweating through their completely un-ironic Captain Kirk t-shirts. But what’s getting their tighty-whities in a twist is the film’s take on Spock as a Vulcan love machine, locking lips with his Starfleet girlfriend, Uhuru. No matter how much chemistry there is between actors Zachary Quinto and Zoe Saldana, one thing I do not want to see is a Spock sex scene (even if it reveals an erotic use for the Vulcan nerve pinch). In an effort to spare our eyeballs from similar horrors, here’s a list of other pop...
Say Neigh to Councilman Squilla’s Horse-Carriage Expansion
Rush hour is not the time for anachronistically quaint rides.
Extraordinary Unpublished Cape May Novel Found in Closet After 50 Years
The story behind Charles Whitecar Miskelly’s The Cape.
The son of Dutch and Irish immigrants, Charles Whitecar Miskelly was a South Jersey shipbuilder who died in 1963 at age 83. He was also a writer, one who shut himself up in his home office and banged out stories on a typewriter he repaired with a fishing line. He wrote historical novels and short stories about the towns around him, as well as beautiful, sometimes heartbreaking poetry.
Gosnell Guilty on 3 Counts of First-Degree Murder
Jury in Philadelphia abortion doctor trial reaches verdicts.
Nosy Neighbors Are a Dying Breed of Crime-Fighter
Why you should make friends with the people next door.
As details spilled out of Cleveland’s "House of Horrors," I asked the same question that you undoubtedly asked. How on earth could three young girls be held captive in a modest home in the middle of a crowded neighborhood for more than a decade without anyone knowing?
That’s when it hit me. We are slowly losing a crucial crime-fighting tool: nosy neighbors.
Prince Harry’s Jersey Shore Visit: 13 Must-Stop Spots (Including Wawa)
A suggested itinerary for a royal at the Shore.
On Tuesday, Prince Harry will be visiting Seaside Heights and Mantoloking, two towns that were torn apart by Hurricane Sandy. That's a very nice gesture, and one that should raise spirits—or at least throngs of screaming women—for a town that's been through so much in the last six months.
But let's be real here: This is Prince Harry. Prince "Parties Naked in Las Vegas" Harry. The guy's got some more touring to do.
NBA Insider: Don’t Expect Moneyball Magic From Sixers’ Sam Hinkie
The new GM isn’t a basketball guy, but he can talk to the team owners in their language.
In the coming days and weeks, as new Sixers GM Sam Hinkie and his advanced metrics approach to basketball are celebrated, remember the sage words of an NBA executive I talked to on Friday:
“This is ‘Moneyball,’ and ‘Moneyball hasn’t won a playoff series yet,” he says.
What about that 2009 first-round triumph over Portland?
“That wasn’t Moneyball,” the exec says, dismissively. “That was Yao Ming, who was a transcendent player.”
Because of accessibility and user-friendliness via cell phone, Twitter has become the social media platform of choice among young people, and those who would otherwise have difficulty accessing the Internet. That brings us to the lazy (and complicated) shorthand “Black Twitter,” a term used to describe a segment of Twitter users who are black and participate in black culture online—though it should be said (and it should be obvious) that not all black people use Twitter in the same way.
Dan Snyder Vows to Protect “Redskins” Nickname to His Death
What the NFL team owner could learn from the Chink’s Steaks name change.
Well, at least Daniel Snyder never owned Chink’s Steaks.
Chink’s, you’ll remember, is the northeast Philly steak shop that changed its name to Joe’s Steaks + Soda Shop a couple of months ago, after years of protests that the name was insensitive to Asian-Americans. Shop owner Joe Groh wanted to expand his business, and he did—and he made the right decision, it appears: The shop just made Zagat’s list of Top 10 Philly “guilty pleasures” in part because the name change meant customers didn’t have to feel too guilty. Changing the name to reflect 21st-century sensibilities, it seems, was a smart move by Groh.
Watch Out! I’m About to Sexually Harass You!
You know what’s really "unwelcome"? The Department of Education’s new definition of sexual harassment, that’s what.
Hi there! I'm in your English 101 class with you, and you look like a nice person. Would you like to go out on a date with me?
No? Okay, well, never mind, then, I’ll just—
What? You say I sexually harassed you? How? By asking you out? Since when does that qualify as sexual harassment?
Get Ready for the 3-D Printed Gun
A look at the first fully functional 3-D printed gun, and what it means for Philadelphia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK55GSbSWQ0
By now, there seems to be little doubt that Philly is a tech city. We’re overflowing with geeks, GIS firms map out our future crime patterns, and we play Pong on the Cira Centre. We’re even a hotbed for the current holy grail of all things geeky: 3-D printing—thanks to the members of our ever-growing maker community like Hive76, NextFab Studios and the Department of Making and Doing.
So who in Philly will make a 3-D printed gun first? If they haven’t already, that is.
Fox News, Jason Collins, Tim Tebow and Me
Fox uses my words about a Christian athlete to make a point about gay players. There’s a difference.
This is what comes of not obsessively Googling my own name: I missed that Fox News decided to quote me a week or two ago. Take a look at this video:
Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com
What’s weird: The quote comes from a column I wrote more than year ago for Scripps Howard News Service, back at the height of the Tim Tebow craze. I wasn’t a fan of Tebow’s “Look At My Awesome God!” antics, and said so.
“Most of us have learned to live with boundaries—to avoid thrusting our religion into arenas where it is unexpected or unwelcome,” I...
Hava Nagila (The Movie) Tells the Story of a Famous Song
Producer Marta Kauffman talks the new movie, growing up in Broomall, and creating hit TV show Friends.
You Might Not Have ADHD. You Might Just Be Tired.
Will we ever solve the mystery surrounding the symptoms and diagnosis of ADD/ADHD?
The New York Times recently fanned the flames of the controversy over whether many cases of ADD, and even ADHD, are actually cases of sleep deprivation. Every time this idea hits big media, the same reactions happen: Other media picks it up, overgeneralizes and twists it; camps are formed, and people go to (verbal) war.
Before You Die Over Rats at Green Eggs Cafe, Look in Your Kitchen
Here, the FDA’s list of "acceptable" food contaminants.
Philadelphia's foodies are in a tizzy over video that surfaced this week showing a gaggle of rats enjoying after-hours pizza at the Green Eggs Cafe Midtown in Center City. The video has sparked an outpouring of revulsion on local social media, but I honestly don't know what all the fuss is about.
Stray Cat Strife on the Main Line Over Radnor Ordinance
Opponents worry cats will starve. Proponents shout "rabies!"
It's been quite a month for our fine furry friends in the Philadelphia region. First there was the wild turkey who was running around West Philadelphia. (He has his own Twitter account, naturally). Then there were the rat sightings. Then there were more rat sightings. (Surprisingly, the rats don't have their own Twitter account, although @ThePhillyRat is currently available ... just saying). And now, it's stray cats that are the subject of much hand-wringing.
Prom season is upon us. A whiff of cologne carries on the warm spring breeze, and before you know it, photos of friends’ kids and younger siblings, draped in formalwear, are popping up on your newsfeed.
Prom is a generally nostalgic tradition, but like everything else in the lives of teenagers in 2013, it's now a more complicated affair than it was during the Sixteen Candles era.
