BY ELIZABETH FIEND When dragonflies head south, they like to ride the tailwinds generated by cold fronts. But when they go north, they prefer to buzz home on warm winds. We know this because scientists attached radio transmitters to the insects along with a single-wire antenna, powered by a super-tiny battery, running down the length of their abdomen. Video may have killed the radio star at the tail end of the 20th Century, but radio is back, big time in the 21st. Radio Frequency Identification tags and chips are here. RFID, as it’s called, is an identification system that allows […]
SALTY DAWG: Captain Noah At Full Mast! Aye Aye!
Did anyone else hear Captain Noah — yes, that Captain Noah — on with Preston and Steve* this morning? Dearoldcaptainnoah Well, you missed a classic. Consider this an all-points bulletin for a recording of the interview — if you’re a Philly-area kid who grew up sending your pictures to Dear Old Captain Noah (send them right away, do not delay!) — you need to get with this, though it may scar you for life. Remember how, on the Magical Ark, the Captain would finish making a craft and then the garbage-eating hand puppet would come up and take away all […]
No Good Journalist Goes Unpunished
TO: The Inquirer In my high school yearbook, I stated two goals: Owning the New York Yankees and winning a Pulitzer Prize. This was the late 80s. And who was winning all the Pulitzers? The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Inquirer was my first journalism job: a correspondent in the two-year program. I left to work in New Orleans, then returned to Philadelphia six years later. I thought The Inquirer would be my last journalism job. For four years, I had the opportunity to work with people I liked and respected. I was given the chance to travel and write stories from […]
RADIO SILENCE: Megaphone Of The ‘Hood Muzzled
DAN GROSS REPORTS: THE “VOICE of the African-American Community” was silenced yesterday when all employees of WHAT (1340-AM) were fired from the talk-radio station. Inner City Broadcasting did the firing. The company had sold the longtime staple of black issues in Philadelphia to Havertown’s Marconi Broadcasting Co. for $5 million in November, as the People Paper’s Jonathan Takiff reported at the time of the sale. Marconi has not disclosed its programming plans for the station, which has been the home for decades to popular morning personality Mary Mason, who could not be reached for comment. Mason was on air yesterday […]
NPR FOR THE DEAF: We Hear It Even When You Can’t
ON FRESH AIR Actor Alec Baldwin has been nominated for a Golden Globe award for his role in the TV sitcom 30 Rock. He recently appeared in the films The Good Shepard, Running with Scissors, The Departed and The Aviator. Actress Helen Mirren has been nominated for three Golden Globes this year. For her roles in the TV mini-series Prime Suspect and Elizabeth I, and for her work in the film The Queen. ON THE WORLD CAFE This Friday listen to Kiefer Sutherland’s Top 5 on World Cafe! The season premiere of 24 airs Sunday, 1/14. Listen to Kiefer discuss […]
Cover Wars: Whose Artfag Kung-Fu Is Stronger?
Whenever we would see sisters around town rockin’ a black burqa in the August swelter, we would wonder aloud: Why would a modern Western black woman become a Muslim? It just seemed to us like trading one form of slavery for another, especially for women. And then we heard an NPR interview with a Muslim sister that asked this very question and her answer, transcribed from memory, had a sad but compelling logic: In a world where I walk around unveiled and get called ‘bitch’ & ‘ho’ routinely, Islam offers less freedom but more respect. Word, that. However, it depresses […]
GUNCRAZY: Two Damn Fools Shoot Each Other Over How Tall James Brown Was, Not Was
ATMORE, Ala. (AP) – A man shot a friend when the two got into an argument over James Brown’s height, police said. Dan Gulley Jr. was charged with assault in the shooting of David James Brooks Jr., police said. Officers said the men were at a friend’s home on Monday when, according to witnesses, the argument over the height of the late “Godfather of Soul” escalated, with Gulley, 70, shooting Brooks, 62, twice in the abdomen. Brooks went to his car, got a gun and shot at Gulley but missed, then went to the police station, officers said. Gulley also […]
HOLLA: An Open Letter To Martha Raddatz
BY JAMES DOOLITTLE You weren’t fooling me none, sweetheart. A few Sundays ago while you were jib-jabbing away with Stephanopoulos, I looked deep, beyond that educated stare, and saw the fire, the heat, the undeniable glow that made me think you might show love to a street thug from Philly. And now . . . we all know, courtesy of the mighty Keith Olbermann: “But first, it would not be COUNTDOWN without the top three newsmakers of this day, politically stylized for your protection. . . . And number one, my old colleague from Channel 5 in Boston, Martha Raddatz, […]
PBR: Burrell Trade To Red Sox In The Offing? Shhhh…
BY PATRICK BERKERY Name-dropping: it isn’t just for sycophant promo-sexuals anymore. (I’m not naming names, but if you’re feeling a little hot in your complimentary My Morning Jacket fleece pullover, as your Shins advance plays in the background and you’re meeting Irv Fucknut from Suck My Dick records for dinner at the Tin Angel tonight before some emerging singer-songwriter’s 7:30 set, then, yeah, I’m looking right at you.) So humor me, and my little brush with baseball genius. I participated in the annual Hot Stove Cool Music benefit concerts in Boston last weekend. Lots of baseball dignitaries like ESPN’s Peter […]
SINS OF THE FATHER: Dad Of Greatest Constitutional Violator In Modern Memory Is Elected Chairman Of The Board Of Constitution Center — Apparently Nixon’s Ghost Was Unavailable
January 11, 2007 Dear Friend: I am delighted to write and share with you some very exciting news about the future leadership of the National Constitution Center. It is with great pride that I announce that former President George H.W. Bush has been elected Chairman of the Center?s Board of Trustees for the year 2007. This is the only Chairmanship he holds currently, so we are especially touched that he has agreed to serve in this capacity. President Bush occupies a special and beloved place in American life that reflects many of this institution?s core values, especially the ethic of […]
THIS JUST IN: Fumo Sent THE LETTER Last Summer From Federal Prosecutors, And No It was Not A ‘Come Spend A Week At Our Beach House’ Invite
Typically, prosecutors send target letters to people who are likely to be charged, as a warning and as an invitation to testify before the grand jury. It’s an offer that the targets usually refuse. “It is the rare case, in my experience, that you can talk a prosecutor out of charges once a target letter is issued,” said Lawrence S. Lustberg, a Newark lawyer who defended one of the Commerce Bank executives convicted in the 2005 City Hall corruption trial. However, the delivery of a target letter, part of a secret grand jury process, is no guarantee that charges will […]