So, do we call it "Black Thursday" now?

Wednesday was one of those oddball mid-week holidays that not everyone gets. While I appreciate the reason, I wonder why Veteran's Day needs to remain November 11, and isn't subjected to the American 3-day weekend treatment that other holidays endure. It's the same reason that Election Day should be on a Saturday, to allow as many people as possible to vote. Some traditions are way too engrained in our national habits and need to be changed, while others ...

A year after an unruly crowd trampled a worker to death at a Wal-Mart store, the nation’s retailers are preparing for another Black Friday, the blockbuster shopping day after Thanksgiving. Last year, frenzied shoppers at a Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, N.Y., trampled Jdimytai Damour, a temporary store worker who died soon afterward. To prevent any repeat, Wal-Mart has sharply changed how it intends to manage the crowds. That new plan, developed by experts who have wrangled throngs at events like the Super Bowl and the Olympics, will affect how customers approach and enter the stores, shop, check out and exit.

The most significant change at Wal-Mart is that the majority of its discount stores (as opposed to its Supercenters) will open Thanksgiving morning at 6 a.m. and stay open through Friday evening. Last year, those stores closed Thanksgiving evening and reopened early Friday morning. By keeping the stores open for 24 hours, Wal-Mart is hoping for a steady flow of shoppers instead of mammoth crowds swelling outside its stores in the wee hours of Friday.

So, the answer to crowd control is having the stores open on a holiday. Nice. I'm wondering how the hordes of Christmas shoppers are going to work-in a visit to Wal-Mart with their holiday feast.

"Gee, I'd like to stick around for some mince meat pie, but there's a $99 GPS on sale at Wal-Mart, and I want to get there before the white trash scoops them up."

Happy Thanksgiving.

Meanwhile, the people in the service industry get crapped on once again. Like it wasn't bad enough that they had to work long hours during the holidays for minimum wage, now they have to be there on Thanksgiving so Bubba can get his cheap laptop. Why? Because shoppers trampled someone to death last year in their rush to get a $25 DVD player.

"We are committed to looking for ways to make our stores even safer for our customers and associates this holiday season,” said David Tovar, a spokesman for Wal-Mart, adding that the retailer was “confident our customers can look forward to a safe and enjoyable shopping experience at Wal-Mart.”

It's most of your customers who should be committed. It's a sad commentary on the state of our society when a retail spokesman has to talk about making their stores "safer for our customers." The Christmas shopping thing has gotten way out of hand, and instead of discontinuing the ridiculous Black Friday price-drop, they decided to leave the stores open on a holiday. That makes good nonsense.

The best solution would have been to stop making such a big deal out of Black Friday and conduct business as usual. If they want to put their junk on sale, it can be done just as easily on December 4 as it can on November 27 or any other day in the sacred Christmas shopping season.

But God forbid they give up their precious discount day. Rather than punish people for being giant asses, they enable the behavior by ... anyone? ... opening the stores on the holiday! That will fix it.

Sometimes I don't understand you humans.

A tale of woe.

I used to love music. I went to a lot of shows and bought a lot of records. Yes, records. Now, not so much.

In those days - we're talking about the mid 70's to early 80's - music was adventurous, exciting and interesting. I think it's because none of us knew what money was or how to make it.

Bands like Gentle Giant, Focus, Manfred Mann's Earth Band and Emerson, Lake and Palmer played big houses and sold lots of records. Enough, at least, to keep them in business and earn money for their record companies. It was enough to be artistically interesting, sell-out a venue like the 3,600 seat Tower Theater and sell some records; even though their music didn't get played on mainstream radio stations. In fact, the idea that their music wasn't played on mainstream radio was a badge of honor.

We would peruse local record stores in search of the next interesting band. We'd trace their family trees to see who left which band and where they landed. Bill Bruford left Yes to join King Crimson. Buy the next Crimson record. Peter Banks left Yes to form Flash. Check out Flash. Keith Emerson was quoted in the latest issue of Circus magazine saying that Genesis was his favorite band. Buy a few Genesis albums and find out why. That's how we heard stuff like "Lark's Tongues in Aspic," "Small Beginnings" and "Supper's Ready," the 22-minute epic that for some reason I can recite the lyrics to. Probably because I've listened to it so many times it's etched in my brain like musical Mount Rushmore.

All of those people are either in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame or settled nicely into retirement. The days of experimental rock music are gone. They're gone because experimental rock music doesn't earn any money. All it does is make musicians happy, and that's not profitable.

Now, we manufacture stars on television. We group them into marketable icons and parade them in front of an audience who presumably votes on their favorites. The most marketable ones are thrust upon us like the flu, and we're powerless to resist. It's music disguised as a big marketing machine. If Keith Emerson was dead he'd be rolling over in his grave.

As for me, I've chosen to ignore the big marketing machines, as I did when I was young. It's a consistent behavior that I am proud to say I've grown into as an older adult. Some things need to stay with you. There are a handful of bands like Umphrey's McGee, Gov't Mule and The Derek Trucks Band that sell their wares on the road playing for tiny houses in front of devoted fans with little or no radio play, but the sense of adventure is gone. Maybe I don't have the energy for it or maybe it no longer exists. Either way, music ain't what it used to be - which is something I can say for a lot of things.

For one thing, we don't have record stores any more. What few big-time music chains still exist are selling the television stars and radio exposed artists because they can't afford to stock CDs that might sell a piddly ten thousand copies. It's all about the bottom line.

That's the sad part. Music has become a corporate venture. No longer can people like Kate Bush, Peter Hammill or Focus get a recording contract, and if you can't get a deal you probably can't afford to continue. So, bands are left to market their own music, and that requires a lot more work on the part of the listener and even more on the part of the artist. They're fighting against a huge machine that starts with television.

Like a lot of things, it isn't going to be what it was, and people like me are left with the memories of picking through records looking for the next interesting thing. Something to stimulate me and make me think - two qualities that seem to be sadly lacking in the world of corporate music. It's a shame that an entire generation of music-loving people will be denied the simple pleasure of finding a gem among the rubble, because the musical family tree now consists of the audition for the television show, followed by the marketing campaign that produces the album that is thrust on us by the machine that produced the television show.

That isn't art. It's just marketing.

Not much to say today

So, we'll just look at a cat half asleep on my sofa.

An athletic supporter.

I'm intrigued by those surveys and opinion polls that determine "The City with the Most Beautiful People" or "The Smartest Towns in the U.S." Mostly because I find it hard to believe that there are more beautiful people in Pasadena, California than in Des Moines, Iowa. Either they're not looking hard enough or they have an odd definition of beauty.

Those sorts of surveys try to link people with the city they live in. It's a nice idea, but it strikes me as hogwash. Like the idea of "Southern Hospitality" or "Midwestern Charm." If you come to Philadelphia and are treated well, you're supposed to be surprised. Sports fans have an identity too, whether we like it or not.

The Phillies lost the World Series Wednesday night. Being a Phillies fan, I'm supposed to be devastated. I'm not, but that's because I treat sports as entertainment. Like a movie or a TV show, I find that I can distance myself from the proceedings because I'm not directly involved. If the game entertains me, I'm happy.

Fans from Philadelphia are supposedly hostile, tough and passionate. That's true of a lot of cities in the northeast. We have a reputation for boorish behavior that tends to indict us all for the actions of a few, and that's ... well, it's probably true, but still...

We are identified with the teams we affiliate ourselves with. That's an odd notion, since our birthplace or residence makes us a fan of a team more than anything else. Subsequently, when the team we like wins, we become winners. When they lose, we're losers. You could earn $100,000 and drive a Porsche; if the Phillies lose, you're a loser too.

Now, we're subjected to ridicule from Yankees fans because "their team" beat "our team" in the World Series. One co-worker recently declared that "all is right with the world again" because the Yankees had won.

To go along with that notion, fans often use the term "we" when they're talking about the team, as though they were involved somehow. Other than paying for a ticket or watching the game on TV, they had nothing to do with it. Yet they still proclaim, "We won!" I guess it gives them some sense of self-worth that they can't get from their family, job or hobby. It's kind of sad that some people place such a high value on something that they have no control over.

When the Eagles lose, there's a region-wide gnashing of teeth and loss of sleep over a football game. Sometimes the fans take the loss harder than the players. That's odd. It's all fun and games until you start to take it personally, then it's more like a psychosis. I wonder if they make a drug to treat a loss of erection brought on by football?

So here I am, loser Phillies fan, about to take a year's worth of abuse from Yankees fans for something that somebody else did. Well screw 'em. I'm not changing my profile photo and I'm not giving up my season tickets.

Besides, whether the Phillies won or lost, I still have to get up at 5:30, schlep to work, pay my bills and find a reason to do it all over again the next day. I think that's harder than beating the Yankees.

The pluses and the minuses.

So, OK New Jersey has a new governor. At least in January. The people have spoken - and we all know how intelligent the people are. They're the same people that have made American Idol a top-rated TV show and Jessica Simpson a top-rated recording artist. Suffice it to say, I have no faith in the voice of the people.

The enemy of the state, Jon Corzine can begin packing while our newest, bestest buddy Chris Christie (who curiously has two identical names) moves into the governor's house and will supposedly make things right between the state and its taxpayers (us).

Meanwhile, when is the last time you saw taxes go down or some long-term government decision go the way of the common man? I'll give you a chance to think about it. Take all the time you need.

............................

OK ... ready?

Never, that's when.

So, your new governor has promised to right all the wrongs done by the Evil Empire led by the last guy. That's nice. Write it down, because you don't want to forget what he said in four years when you're voting for the next guy who promises to right all the wrongs done by the last guy you elected.

Can you see where I'm going with this?

Better yet, can you see where you're going?

God of Thunder

There is a new resident at the castle. His name is Thor.

Since Kitty died it's been lonely around here. I found that adopting a cat from the local animal shelter is only a little more difficult than buying a gun. There is a lengthy application process, and they actually call the people you list as references - so be careful.

The PetsMart stores are satellite agencies for the local shelter, and I've been stopping in from time to time to check on the available felines. Last Friday I found Thor. He's a 2-year old Grey Tabby and he picked me out. The shelter named him Thor. It seemed like a cool name, so what the Hell. Besides, I'm mostly calling him Kitty anyway. He doesn't seem to mind.

Initially, I was looking for a kitten, since I wanted to raise one from scratch. But kittens are kind of ornery and I'd feel strange leaving one here all day while I was at work not knowing what kind of mischief he'd be up to while I was gone. They had a few adult cats. Thor's big grey face came through the cage and those green eyes attracted me immediately. When I took him out of the cage he started purring and opened his paw and poked at my arm. Done.

I thought there would be a get-acquainted period where I would have to gain his trust and he mine, but almost immediately after I let him out of the carrier in the living room he took to me like we had known each other for years. He sits with me on the sofa and sleeps with me at night. He follows me around the condo like a grey shadow and as soon as I disappear from his sight he is running to find where I went. That sounds a lot like the last resident around here.

He had his "wellness visit" at the vet today and so far, so good. I had them do a blood panel to make sure everything is OK. He had some ear mites (which are routine in shelter cats) and had just recovered from a slight respiratory ailment that the shelter treated him for. I also noticed that he is missing a few of his tiny front teeth. The vet didn't think much of it, since those teeth don't do much of anything. The people at the shelter told me he was a stray, so there's no telling what happened to his teeth.

He weighs 14.5 pounds, which sounds big for a cat, because it is. It's 5 pounds more than Kitty ever weighed, but the vet told me he's not overweight, which is nice since he eats like a pony.

He has a couple of odd habits, like sleeping on his back with his paws in the air, and he has a very soft voice which I just started hearing lately. When I brought him home he didn't speak at all. He's just starting to squeak now.

What's most interesting to me is how quickly we became pals. It's almost as though he'd been waiting to come here. He instantly took to the place and started using his scratching post and litter pan right away and slept with me the first night he was here. It's a little eerie. I'm not a mystical person by nature, but this guy has me wondering. It's not like I'm Doctor Dolittle or anything, but I find that animals like me, for some reason.

A lot more than most people, anyway.

Vote with your head, not over it.

Tuesday is election day. It's kind of big here in New Jersey, since we'll be electing a governor. Without going into any political detail, the incumbent Jon Corzine is supposedly hated by the electorate and it's a close race between him and Republican Chris Christie.

As usually happens in these situations, the sitting governor has made a lot of controversial decisions including scaling back the property tax rebate and increasing the state's sales tax to 7%. All of this came in the wake of a huge state budget deficit and we are led to believe that if those and other steps were not taken the state could be on the road to bankruptcy.

When a guy puts the state on the back of the taxpayers the guy running against him has a relatively easy time convincing voters that the state needs to change. He'll run out a lot of promises about lowering taxes and making things right again. That's an easy campaign to run and an even easier one to win, since none of us likes to have anything we pay be increased.

So, Christie makes it sound like he's going to be everybody's best friend and still manage to put the state back on track. Those two things would seem to be politically impossible, but he's working with a group of voters who are tired of paying for things and it's possible that he could be our next governor.

There is also a ballot question that asks us to vote on a referendum to secure money to buy open space and slow the growth of development in the state. That sounds like a good idea. Since the state can't come up with enough money to purchase land to develop, the property owners always go with the offer from the developer and sell their property for a high price so that someone can build homes, stores or something that isn't trees, grass or farmland. The state needs to raise more money to keep property from being developed, and the only way they can outbid the developers is to ask us to give it to them.

The opponents say that voting yes will raise our taxes, and we should vote no because we don't want to have our taxes raised. What they fail to tell us is that more homes means more police, fire and other services that are paid for out of ... anyone ... tax money. Developing land for commercial or residential use requires more services from government. Government services are paid for from tax money and taxes always go up. But it's easy to get people to vote no for ballot questions, since a no vote usually means that we're against something that we don't want, and we don't want higher taxes. But taxes never go down regardless of how we vote or whom we elect.

So, we have an election with two easily winnable contests, unless voters are smart enough to realize something my economics professor told me. "No new taxes means no new services."

My fear is that 51% of us aren't smart enough to realize that.

The hub of stubs.

The next time you read one of those newspaper stories about people making a small fortune selling their event tickets on StubHub or some other Internet agency, take it with an appropriate grain of salt.

Since my seat-mate was committed to going to a Gov't Mule concert last night, we had decided to put our World Series game 3 tickets on the StubHub and make some money off the deal. The idea was to make enough for me to pay off a small debt and to have enough to pay for next year's 17-game plan. Nice idea, eh? Not so fast, Kimosabe.

With a face value of $150 each, the initial listing went up last week for the Princely sum of $2,500 for the pair. Quickly, I realized that the price was a tad bit high, since there were other seats in our section for around $2,000. But I let them sit a few days, figuring that the others would sell and ours would move to the top of the list. Plus, there were greedy New Yorkers involved, and that's always good for business.

Long story short (I know, too late) I had to reduce the price about 5 more times until, with less than 4 hours to game time the price was at $500 each - which was still higher than some other seats in our section (yes, there were still seats left) but would at least give us enough to pay for next year's tickets after subtracting out StubHub's hefty 15% brokerage fee.

Looking around the site I saw that there were still 85 listings and tickets available in every section of the ballpark. Ours were in 206 near the right field fair pole, so they were good but not great seats. Once I saw that there were better seats for about the same price I realized that they weren't going to sell.

The not-so-happy ending of the story is that I was able to find someone to go to the game with and the good thing was that we were in one of the few areas of the ballpark that was under cover, which was good since the game was rain-delayed an hour twenty and the rain continued for most of the night. I couldn't help but wonder about all of those people who paid big bucks for better seats and sat there getting soaked while we were in the relative comfort of the overhang. Schmucks.

I suppose there are some people who made a few bucks selling their playoff tickets, but the lesson I took out of it is that the seats have to be very good to fetch the big bucks. I probably could have sold them for slightly more than face value, but that wouldn't have been as good as going to the game which, even though the Phils lost, was a nice event to attend. And I wondered about all those seats that were still on the site at 5:00pm. Between the horrible weather and the short notice, I guess they went unused.

Unless you absolutely cannot go to an event or have great seats, you might be disappointed at the results of selling your seats on the Internet.

When celebrities rule the world.

Weeks after an Australian variety show made headlines around the world after a group of white performers donned blackface to perform as the Jackson brothers, Tyra Banks is making headlines herself for turning her latest "America's Next Top Model" candidates bi-racial for a photo shoot.

During Wednesday night's "ANTM" episode on The CW, Tyra took the remaining six young women of Cycle 13 to Hawaii, where she took pictures of the models after they were transformed into different races.

At some point, I stopped myself and wondered why I was reading that story and thinking that I was so much better off as a human that America's Next Top Model didn't matter to me either as a concept or a television show. It goes back to the American Idol philosophy that says we don't have a shortage of singers ... or models, so one wonders how a TV program is produced that manufactures either. Moreover, I think that donning blackface to perform as the Jackson Brothers qualifies as overkill.

But then, I took solace in the fact that celebrities are going to rule the world ...

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez said he met privately with actor Sean Penn on Wednesday, and that the Oscar-winning celebrity may film a movie in Venezuela.

Chavez added that he discussed politics with Penn, who said he would soon see U.S. President Barack Obama. Chavez said he'd asked Penn to tell Obama he should take action to earn his Nobel Peace Prize, and should scrap a plan for the U.S. military to increase its presence at bases in Colombia.

Oh great. Sean Penn (a.k.a. Jeff Spicoli) is discussing politics with world leaders. How did that happen? Where is the United Nations while all this actor-mediated diplomacy is going on? Meanwhile, Madonna is making her own promises...

MPHANDULA, Malawi – Madonna has promised electricity to a village in Malawi, the impoverished southern African country where she runs a charity organization and from which she has adopted two children. Speaking in Mphandula, some 30 miles from Malawi's capital, Lilongwe, the singer said Thursday: "I know you work in darkness. I will bring you electricity."

Wow. Madonna has super-powers. I had no idea. How about bringing them the values of good taste? That would be an accomplishment. Electricity is just some wires strung together.

So, pity me while I ponder the vagaries of using too many plastic bags, excess product packaging and the proliferation of unskilled drivers on our roadways. It pales in comparison to what celebrities are doing while wandering around without adult supervision.

We're all Stooges.

I know there's a World Series going on, but in the interests of equal time, I'll present this thought-riddled essay on life and living. Have a seat.

My blogger buddy Howard posted this haiku the other day about our behavioral quirks and how our self-consciousness affects the way we behave:

beneath the facade

is a me so seldom seen;

peel back the layers

It got me to thinking about an old thought and something I struggle with when I'm forced to struggle with it.

When I'm talking to parents and they're talking about the behavior of their children I tell them that even though I have no children, I know that there are three types of personalities, and they're based on which one of the Three Stooges their children resemble, Moe, Larry or Curly. I tell them to evaluate which one their kid is and which ones their kids are friends with, because the similarities are important. I know it sounds stupid, but follow along:

Moe is the leader. He's the one that the other kids look to when it comes to moving toward a behavior or doing something when the alternative is doing nothing.

Curly is the clown. He's the one who entertains the other kids and makes them laugh and forget about their little day-to-day struggles. He's a good-natured slob who is harmless in the grand scheme, because part of his behavior is based on what Moe does. If he's not around Moe, he's probably doing something harmless.

Larry is the one who will do whatever Moe or Curly wants. He's the one you don't want your kids to be, because he'll bend with whatever issue Moe or Curly bring up. He's everybody's best friend and a danger to himself and others. If your kids are Larry's you should worry about whom they pal around with. If the Moe's are troublemakers, Larry will follow them, and that's a problem for everybody.

Your kid might be a Moe, which is great if he's an honor student and hangs around with other honor students. But if he's a bad kid, he's going to find Larry's who will participate.

Adults are the same way, but it's more subtle because we behave differently in different environments. I see people at work who behave entirely differently than they do when they're on their own time. That's dangerous too, because they feel pent-up at work and can't wait until they get out of the necktie and can "let loose." We call them weekend warriors, and they're a danger to themselves and others. They were probably Larry's as kids and transferred their Moe following to their workplace, where they blend in until Friday at 5:00pm.

Most of us are Larry's, I think. You would think that it would be split 33% each, but I think it's more like 10% Moe, 20% Curly and 70% Larry. Most of us sway with the breeze and behave in a way that we deem acceptable for our environment. It's acceptable and called "socializing" but the more I think about it, the more I think it may be socializing but it's also hypocritical. At the end of the day we retire to our solitude and think about our behavior and sometimes we wonder why we acted that way. Mostly, we attribute the behavior to our environs or our friends rather than what we really thought or felt, and that's where the hypocrisy comes in.

We're all chameleons to a degree, and we will adapt ourselves to our surroundings. It's the rare Moe who can find his true identity and behave consistently in various situations. I think those are the successful people in the workplace, since they don't have to alter their ideas to fit some structured environment. They are comfortable at work because they are being themselves. Those of us who feel confined by our surroundings are only comfortable in one place, and that place usually isn't the office or some retail job where we have to kiss somebody's ass for a paycheck.

So anyway, I was just thinking - maybe we should try to be a little more like Moe or Curly and be true to ourselves. If we're decent people to begin with, it shouldn't be difficult to translate that behavior to the workplace. The problem lies with making it work on a day-to-day basis where we are as happy with ourselves in public as we are in private.

That's the trick. So, with a bow to Howard, I present this haiku response:

make your life your own

and you'll be happy with you;

and they will be, too.

Ten million years of evolution down the drain.

NEWS FLASH:

Grade schools in Oregon, public health officials in Georgia and nursery schools in Tennessee now teach kids to cough and sneeze in their elbows. The Lake County, Ill., Health Department recommends elbow coughing to help prevent the spread of whooping cough, or pertussis. The Montgomery County Health Department in Maryland endorses it; so does the Colorado Children's Immunization Coalition.

"They've been doing it since kindergarten; it's an automatic reflex for them," says Nessan, a teacher at Meridian Park public elementary school in the Shoreline section of Seattle.
Over the past decade or so, schools and day-care centers around the country have gradually adopted the technique as a way to ward off colds, flu, whooping cough and other easily transmitted bugs. It's been replacing the traditional cover-your-mouth-with-your-hands-or-a-tissue approach that has long been considered the polite and most sanitary technique.

You have to be careful though, to not touch anything with your elbow after coughing in it. Do not to put your elbow in your mouth, eyes or nose, and if your elbow touches a table or other hard surface, both it and the elbow must be scrubbed with a sanitary cleanser containing bleach and a damp cloth.

Then, the surface should be flame-treated to insure that all disease-causing germs are dead, and the remaining surface area should be placed into a shredding device so that the shards do not cause any spread of remaining bacteria.

After the surface is thoroughly shredded, the remaining shreds should be steamed and burned at a temperature not less than 300 degrees Fahrenheit for no less than twelve minutes. The resulting smoke should not be breathed, so you will need to wear protective gloves and a face mask. If you do accidentally breathe in the smoke, your lungs will have to be flushed with a mixture of propane, peroxide and alcohol for six minutes in a sterile environment.

Once the smoke dissipates into the atmosphere, nearby aircraft must be warned of its presence so they will not accidentally use the air in their cabin air systems.

If that happens, the plane will be shot down by the Air Force and the shredding process started again.

Just don't cough, OK?

Another fall in Philadelphia.

Sunday was too nice a day to spend inside watching football or doing laundry, so I took out for our beautiful city, camera in tow, to try to find something interesting to liven up the black space - both here and inside. One of the good things about being single is that I can pick up and go someplace. It's really the only good thing, but I digress.

The entire time, that Hall & Oates song "Fall in Philadelphia" was running through my head, although all I could remember was the chorus [I'm gonna spend another fall in Philadelphia] and some odd lyrics here and there. When I got home and looked it up, I was a little (a lot) confused about what the song is about and didn't have the energy to analyze it, so I just posted some photos. As usual, I think you can click on them and view them full-screen, but I've lied about other things, too.

That's obviously Independence Hall, and one of these days I'm going to take the tour like thousands of foreigners who were out today on vacation. It's probably interesting, and since I enjoy history I think I'd enjoy it. It's just making that left turn to the entrance and bypassing the bars and restaurants in Old City that's the problem. I did manage to sit on a nearby bench and enjoy a $2 sandwich with enough bread left over to feed some little sparrows, so it wasn't a total loss. Animals are my friend when I have food. It's the people version of having money.

The same building - different view. As I was taking this shot one of the handsome carriage drivers was arguing with a security official over urinating on the street. I never figured out whether it was the horse or the driver they were talking about, and I didn't stick around long enough to find out.

This odd little juxtaposition occurs near the Convention Center on the way toward Liberty Place (the blue building). The older one is St. Peter's U.M. Church. I like the old/new contrast and it always catches my eye, only this time I was fortunate enough to have the camera around.

This is a statue on Chestnut Street called "The Signer." It attracts a lot of tourists who like to pose in front of it with their hand in the air. That's probably really funny when they get home.

This is the Carpenter House. I covered it from a different angle last year, but this time I liked the trees and the setting.

The streets in Old City are filled with historic homes and little alleys. This is one of them, off of Spruce Street. They always remind me of those scenes in "The Sixth Sense" where Bruce Willis is walking around. I know there's more history than that, but I'm a little strange. And if you asked me about my "dream house," it would be one of these row homes in the city.

This is the inside of the Market Street Terminal where some SEPTA trains arrive. There are people around, but the 8 second exposure bleeds them out. Behind me is a sports bar and to the left is the exit to the Reading Terminal Market where you can buy fresh foods and enjoy a nice lunch. I had a $2 sandwich from a cart on Market Street, so there's no accounting for tastes.

This is the rotunda (I guess that's what it's called) of Liberty Place - the blue building to the left in the photo above. There are shops and a food court. The other building (Liberty Place 2, to the right) is full of condominums, and it's where Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels has a little $30 million place.

Speaking of which, Wednesday is the beginning of the World Series, and as I sit here we still don't know whether it's the Angels or the Evil Empire. Time, as always, will tell. I'd like to have it wrapped up by Hallowe'en, but there's a snowball's chance of that.

More new technology.

That clanging noise you heard today was me succumbing to social pressure and trading in my cable box for one of those DVR cable boxes so I could record programs that I wasn't able to watch. Because of social obligations and baseball games, I haven't been able to see one episode of The Office, and I missed the last episode of The New Adventures of Old Christine and FlashForward. I know, your heart bleeds for me.

So I bit down hard and decided to cough-up the $15.95 a month and go after the DVR box. Being new technology, there's a slight learning curve involved, but I'm able to adapt.

For instance, catching up on The Office costs me 99 cents per episode, while Christine episodes are free. What's up with that? So, I'm out another six bucks because I like Pam.

The plus side is that I can watch those programs sans commercials, except for the network ads, which, in the case of the CBS show, hyped up the ridiculous Survivor program that I have managed to avoid for over 10 years.

VOICEOVER: Jeff Probst is an Emmy winner for outstanding reality host.

JEFF: The tribe has spoken!

Really. Outstanding Reality Host is an Emmy category, and he's actually proud of that accomplishment. That's like being voted the best ballet dancer in Camden, New Jersey.

Then, I notice that there are a spate of movies available for a fee. All sorts, like 1st Time Twinks, Hung & Drill Bill and Hungry Ass Studs. Those are in the "adult" category, subset "Gay" folder. The one that the cable guide doesn't tell you about. Ten bucks. I don't know what a twink is, but I'm guessing it isn't about the first time someone tried a fried cake. Although, there may be cream in the middle, but I don't want to know about that.

Your first reaction might be one of horror, that regular cable outlets could be selling gay porn, but my first reaction was that there has to be money in it, otherwise they wouldn't bother. It's all about that 'privacy of your home' stuff that the Bill of Rights guaranteed us. They didn't say anything about ten bucks a throw, so that's for you to work out. They also didn't say anything about charging us to watch TV, so there ya go.

Otherwise, there's Quizzo, hosted by Johnny Goodtimes (not his real name) who asks absurdly easy questions; presumably to make us all feel better about being smarter than people who watch regular television or wouldn't be caught dead paying ten bucks for gay pornography - or at least wouldn't want it showing up on our cable bill.

Keep your hands and feet away from the cage at all times.

OCTOBER 23 - CNN - A bear on ice skates attacked two people during rehearsals at a circus in Bishkek, the capital of Kyrgyzstan, killing one of them, Kyrgyz officials said Friday.In the incident, which happened Thursday, the 5-year-old animal killed the circus administrator, Dmitry Potapov, and mauled an animal trainer, who was attempting to rescue him. "The incident occurred during a rehearsal by the Russian state circus company troupe which was performing in Bishkek with the program, Bears on Ice," Ministry of Culture and Information director Kurmangazy Isanayev told reporters.
It is unclear what caused the bear to attack Potapov.

Really? Well, it's clear to me. It's a bear.

I've never seen a bear in the wild, but I'd guess that if I did, he wouldn't be smoking a cigar, wearing a top hat and ice skating. That's just a guess.

Here's your Word of the Day...

anthropomorphism

Attribution of human motivation, characteristics or behavior to inanimate objects, animals or natural phenomena.

Every so often an elephant escapes his cell at the circus and tramples people, a bear attacks or some other animal gets fed up with his human-like living conditions and resorts to his natural instincts - and we act surprised. "Oh God, I don't know why that pet shark bit his leg off. We named him Flappy." Flappy the shark.

The sad part (other than keeping an animal captive and making him ice skate) is that they shot and killed it after the attack, as though that was their best option of animal control - other than the ice skates, top hat and a big chain.

If you took one of us and dropped us into the woods, we'd spend days looking for a road so we could find a McDonald's or Starbucks, eat something and make a phone call. Those are our instincts.

If you dress-up a bear and make him skate around in a circle he'll eventually find a way to kill you.

Why is that so shocking?