POE DISPUTE TURNS GRAVE, DARKER THAN ‘THE NIGHT’S PLUTONIAN SHORE’
In the Oct. 4-11 issue of the City Paper, local literary blogger Edward Pettit declared that Edgar Allan Poe, who flourished in Philadelphia but inconveniently died in Baltimore and is buried there, must be exhumed and reinterred in Philadelphia by 2009, marking 200 years since his birth. Poe lived in Philadelphia from 1838 to 1844. Baltimore Sun columnist Laura Vozzella replied with a caustic piece headlined “We Have the Body and We’re Keeping Him!” Baltimore mystery novelist Laura Lippman groused, “What’s next, a crab cake hoagie?” Jeff Jerome, curator of Baltimore’s Poe House and Museum, promised to punch Pettit “in the eye.” Philadelphia City Paper managing editor Brian Hickey nastily replied, “I’d expect nothing less from the syphilis capital of the universe.” [via INQUIRER]
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IRAQ WAR MOM: SILLY STRING SAVES LIVES, ALSO ‘FUN FOR A GIRL OR A BOY’
Marcelle Shriver headed to a Deptford warehouse Monday to watch a truck pick up an unusual, low-tech cargo intended to save the lives of American soldiers in Iraq. With donations from people across the country and help from a North Brunswick, N.J., shipping company, Shriver sent about 80,000 cans of Silly String to the troops, who use the foamy substance to detect trip wires on bombs. “It’s a little emotional,” said Shriver, who shot off a couple of cans of Silly String in celebration. ” . . . I know this will save lives. The soldiers need it.” With donations from people across the country and help from a North Brunswick, N.J., shipping company, Shriver sent about 80,000 cans of Silly String to the troops, who use the foamy substance to detect trip wires on bombs. Shriver got the idea for her Silly String campaign nearly a year ago from her son, Army Specialist Todd Shriver, a combat engineer who sometimes dismantles bombs as past of his job in Ramadi. Silly String is not standard issue with the military, which is used to using more costly, high-tech devices such as robots to deal with bombs. Marcelle Shriver sent some cans to her son, then started collecting it – from many sources – for other soldiers. [via INQUIRER]
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NOW MORE THAN EVER: OJ SIMPSON COMPLETELY FUCKED
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A second co-defendant in the O.J. Simpson armed robbery case said Monday that he will plead guilty to a reduced charge and testify against Simpson and four others in the alleged hotel room theft of sports collectibles from two memorabilia dealers. Walter Alexander, 46, of Mesa, Ariz., told a judge he will plead guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery, a felony. He could face between one and six years in prison. Outside the courtroom, Alexander and his lawyers declined to say what testimony he will provide. Earlier Monday, Charles Cashmore, 40, of Las Vegas, told the same judge that he would plead guilty to a felony and testify for the prosecution.”It’s always a prosecutor’s strategy to go after the little fish to get to the big fish,” Cashmore’s attorney, Edward Miley, said outside court. “In this, it seems to be that O.J. Simpson is the big fish.” [via ASSOCIATED PRESS]