I took another picture of an advertisement at SEPTA's Market East station today. But first I have to mention that SEPTA has been on this "green" kick all month. They have these "green" advertisements all over the station about how using public transit saves on fossil fuels and whatnot. And I think that's good--I'm all for conversation.

But some of their signs make my eyes bleed. Like this one:



So... what's wrong with this picture? Well, if you look closely, there is green and blue lettering, right next to each other on a white background. Can't see it? Look closer, I assure you it's there. But yeah... putting similar colors like that next to each really doesn't work out that well.

Keep in mind that no flash was used on that picture, so there is no "washing out" of the colors. What you see in the pic is pretty much what I saw when looking at it from a distance of 3 feet.

My inner graphic designer is crying.

Those who are new here might have missed my previous entry about the guy who flashed a TV reporter. Well, should anyone have concerns that it might have been a photoshop job, here is the video of that incident:



Relax, the naughty bits are blanked out. It's just a short clip of the actual scene. Still somewhat odd, though.

 
Seen on a local news site:



And yeah, that's a TV news reporter in the foreground. She attempted to interview the guy, and he flashed her. Clearly he's not all there.

The whole story can be found on KYW1060's website.

On my way into work this morning, I noticed that both the streets and the R5 were practically empty. I didn't think much of it until I went down to street level for lunch. As soon as I arrived in the lobby, I saw a horde of... what I can only describe as living, bleeding, and mangled corpses banging on the glass and shoving themselves against the doors. I ran back up 6 flights of stairs and let my co-workers know ASAP! I got some help and we were able to shut down the elevators and block off the stairs with office furniture.

We don't have much in the way of food here, other than a few vending machines. There is a deli across the street, but that might as well be a million miles away right now. Electricity isn't a problem, as we have a backup generator on the roof and about 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on site. We're kinda screwed as far as weapons go, however. As I write this, some of the other guys are scouring the utility closets and taking note of anything that can be improvised into a stabbing or bludgeoning weapon.

Last time I checked the view from the roof, there were a number of burglar alarms going off and some smoke rising from the direction of City Hall. There is NO police or military presence at this time. I also happened to have my HT with me and have been talking to other hams over what repeaters I can reach. The reports are all the same as here in the city.

For now, I'm going to stay put and hope that this is just a local outbreak that can be contained. As far as I can tell, Internet traffic has not been significantly affected. I'll keep updating as long as we have connectivity here and try to post some pictures later.

It looks like the Main Line's own Susan Tepper has been charged with assaulting another nanny. She was charged with two counts of assault and one count of harassment for allegedly leaving scratches on the nanny's face and bruises on her body, as well shoving the nanny's 9-year old daughter to the ground.

This charge comes just three months after Susan was sentenced to a year's probation for assaulting her previous nanny with a bag of carrots. I don't think the judge is going to be too happy to see her the second time around...

Someone asked over on pa_furry if there was a community for furries in SE Pennsylvania. There was not, so I went and fixed that. :-)



This community is for furries living in southeast Pennsylvania. That would include the following counties: Bucks County, Chester County, Delaware County, Montgomery County, and Philadelphia and its suburbs.

Have fun!

Early in the afternoon, our building was hit with a blackout. (The generators were still powering the webservers and network. Don't get nervous!) Since there was no power to the main office space though, they let us out early.

With such awesome weather today, I walked around the city for a bit, and saw this guy begging for money in the PATCO Station at 8th and Market:



Now, the guy was supposedly blind. He said so when I walked by him. So, can someone please explain to me how he managed to get halfway up the stairs? Could someone explain to me why he positioned himself on a staircase, of all places?

In case I didn't mention it, we're having really awesome weather in Philly right now. :-)

Earlier tonight, around 8 PM I was on my way to the train station in Center City Philadelphia. Imagine my surprise when after one fire engine races by me, so did another, and another after that, and then stopped at the end of the street. It turned out that there was quite a bit of fire department activity at the 1600 Lofts on Chestnut Street.

The units stayed there for about half an hour, and then some of them began departing. I left at that point and went to catch my train. I did not see any evidence of injuries or fatalities.

omnibahumut reports from his blog that the 1600 lofts is occupied by AIPH students and received reports that the "second floor was filled with smoke". It is unclear at this time whether any AIPH students were involved. (He also ventured closer than I did has pictures taken of the actual building)












( 7 more pictures behind the cut )

Store 'Employee of the Year' Charged with Trying to Rob It

A man who was shot while allegedly trying to rob an armored car guard at a Pathmark supermarket in Cedarbrook Plaza on Saturday has been identified as an assistant manager who recently was honored as employee of the year.

Cheltenham Township police say the store's assistant manager, Curtis Sanders, is alleged to have attempted a robbery by spraying the guard with pepper spray as he was exiting the rear of the store with a money bag.

The guard thwarted the robbery attempt by shooting the suspect twice.

Also, it looks like we have another group of people who are taking their religion where it doesn't belong: school board meetings - Prayer at Coatesville Council Meetings Comes Under Fire

The article goes on to mention that religion was being "mixed in with business" during the meetings. We're not talking something in the opening of the meeting (which is somewhat customary), but religious stuff taking place in the meeting itself. A quote from the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia in the article had this to say:

"I was appalled at the intermixing of religion and business. I was also quite concerned that the city counci members wear their religion on their sleeve."

Yikes. Also, I just love the name. "Freethought Society". Their website is at http://www.fsgp.org/ Things have even gone so far as for the ACLU to send a "please desist" letter to the school board.

Of course, I suppose there would be an innocent explanation to that. The article noted that calls to council members had not yet been returned, so I'd be interested in hearing what they have to say about the whole thing.

If there's one good thing about Philadelphia cabbies, when you need to get somewhere fast, they'll do their best to get you there as quickly as possible! In this case, the fare apparently was hungry and wanted to get to Old Nelson's Deli at 7th and Chestnut in Center City.

Unfortunately for him, a local street gang consisting of a street lamp, bike rack, two bicycles, and 3 newspaper machines had other ideas:





Man, those Philly cabbies don't screw around.




I guess if there's a moral to this story, it is this: when a Philadelphia cab driver asks you to pass the salt, pass the salt!

(Or something.)

This picture was taken at a Mexican restaurant in downtown Philadephia earlier today:



Well, at least they have a sense of humor. I guess that's good.