Things We've Read Today
From Philebrity:
As we speak, hordes of fat sunburned people are nearing dehydration in a parking lot in Camden, NJ. ... They are Jimmy Buffet fans, and Pierre Robert has been taking phone calls from them all afternoon. The patience this man possesses is boundless. It better be: We're talking about a group of people that has managed to eroticize shark fins.
Related: Don't let the PBRs fool you. Phileb prepped.
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Best Headline of the day comes from All Spin Zone:
Plumbers Crack Gets Pentecostal Preacher In Trouble. Couldn't resist, even if it happened in Arkansas.
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Headline you'd expect to read in the Onion (but is actually on CBS3's site):
Woman Claims 'Motherhood Is Boring.'
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Our friends the panda and the tree kangaroo need special help in the heat.
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El Toro, Nose & Bob have teamed up. You may have seen their squiggles on signs and street corners around the city. They've formed a band. Or at least a group show at FreeJade Gallery. (via Phillyist)
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Who's killing our golden retrievers? Kiko's House explores what's happening to the mortality rate of the hugely popular canine companions.
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Philadelphia Will Do goes to the shore for a paid vacation and starts channeling Helen Gurney Brown - anyone remember the parody of her Cosmo column in the Harvard Lampoon, which began, "Shoehorns fascinate me":
Did you ever wonder why Atlantic City casinos aren't all that tall? You look at them and go, "Wow, those are ugly. I'm surprised they're not uglier and taller."
Or maybe that's just me. Anyway, the casinos aren't quite as tall as they could be because of Bader Field, an airport right in Atlantic City. (This is different from the Atlantic City International Airport.) Apparently, these bureaucrats think that planes need "room" to "land."
Well, the casinos got their way recently, as Atlantic City formally filed papers to close to airport -- which, according to the OED, was the first one in the world called an "air port" (neat!).
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Did we bury the lede today in our story on the store formerly known as John Wanamaker? A List of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago thinks so.(A little nervous how they know how to spell lede like newspaper people do. It's like they're cracked the code.)
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Front pager in the New York Times today about the overcrowding in the Senator's-only elevators at the Capitol reminds me of a quick story. Couple months ago I was reporting a piece on a hearing, being ferried around by an old hand, Jim Kuhnhenn, the beat reporter for Knight Ridder. The rule is that you're not supposed to hop in the Senators' ride, except, sometimes you can when they're not around. And they weren't around.
So we're two steps in when Sen. Orrin Hatch joins us, assuring Jim it's Ok, smiling at me. I had just written on the blog that he looked like a wax figure version of himself. Then I feel a collegial hand on my shoulder and it's Sen. John Kerry. "Hello, gents," he says. Not only in their car. In the club. One happy family.
Say no more, or we'll have to take away your pica pole.
Thanks for the kudos on the headline, Daniel. I must say, written at 5:50 in the am, it was sort of an unconscious inspiration.