The city of Okuma Japan has been evacuated indefinitely pending the outcome of the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, where the cooling system for at least two of three failing reactors have yet to be powered up more than a week after the area was rattled by a 9.0 earthquake then ravaged by a 33-foot tsunami. So far, nuclear meltdown has spared Japan, but the situation remains serious. As of tonight, engineers are considering whether they’ll have to entomb the plant’s No. 3 reactor in concrete, the ‘Chernobyl Option.’
Predictably, the crisis has raised questions about… Continue Reading Category Archives: Featured
Nuclear Neighbors
The city of Okuma Japan has been evacuated indefinitely pending the outcome of the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, where the cooling system for at least two of three failing reactors have yet to be powered up more than a week after the area was rattled by a 9.0 earthquake then ravaged by a 33-foot tsunami. So far, nuclear meltdown has spared Japan, but the situation remains serious. As of tonight, engineers are considering whether they’ll have to entomb the plant’s No. 3 reactor in concrete, the ‘Chernobyl Option.’
Predictably, the crisis has raised questions about… Continue Reading Turning Bones into Art
A few Sundays ago, I was at Philadelphia’s Mutter Museum viewing the Hyrtl Skull Collection, an ensemble of multi-ethnic craniums collected from throughout Central and Eastern Europe by Dr. Josef Hyrtl during the early 1800s. Hyrtl, a professor of anatomy at the University of Prague, believed that racial and intellectual traits could be determined by studying the cranial bone structures of various groups. The museum acquired Hyrtl’s 139 skulls, along with thirty-six placentas and six sets of genitals, in 1875.
Beneath each skull is a brief bio of its time as a living thing, including name, country, profession and… Continue Reading Federal Inmates Ain’t All That
Brent Delzer, 36, is currently serving a three-year federal prison sentence after pleading guilty in August to one count of conspiracy to traffic marijuana. “The Worst Summer Camp Ever” is a series of Delzer’s dispatches from the Federal Prison Camp in Duluth, Minnesota. The Feral Scribe interviewed Delzer on the eve of his surrender to federal marshals in September. That interview, which provides more details about the case, can be found here.
I was going to start this project some time ago. I had it all set in my brain on how I was going to do… Continue Reading Beautiful Freaks
Olde City, Philadelphia – During intermission, Danny Borneo, co-founder of the Olde City Sideshow, a neo-vaudevillian variety hour, steps outside to smoke a cigarette. The show has returned to Philly, performing at National Mechanics restaurant, housed inside a former bank that was built more than 200 years ago by William Strickland, in his day a pioneer of Greek revivalist architecture. On stage, Borneo and his three cohorts – Candy Mayhem, Reggie Bugmuncher and other show co-founder Martin Ling the Suicide King – had performed a variety of cringe-inducing skits, one of which ended with Borneo extinguishing a cigarette… Continue Reading The Perils of Low-Budget Motels
For the budget road tripper, occasional stays in a fleabag motel are a given. They’re convenient, cheap and charming in their own special ways. I’ve stayed in my fair share of them. Some had mold beneath the peeling wall paper. One came with hair in the sink. In another, a used condom and wrapper laid rudely in the bathroom wastebasket. More than a few had cigarette burns in the carpet. Paying between $25 and $45 a room, it never was any surprise that these rooms didn’t sparkle or smell particularly well. The trick is to ignore what you see, sleep… Continue Reading The Home Stretch
Winter wreaks havoc on the regional rail lines, causing frequent delays, which usually means long waits in the cold. For me, a late trolley equals a missed train equals a missed bus to the office, resulting in tardiness and smaller paychecks. Sometimes the train ride becomes a debacle. Earlier this month, on my way home, the train lost power between stops. For 45 minutes we sat in the dark, cold vessel until it coupled with another train that pushed us to the next station. There, we unloaded and waited 30 minutes for yet another train.
I could air grievances… Continue Reading From Around the Travelsphere
A round-up of travel items from around the world.
Bans and Restrictions
A ban on booze in Phuket’s national parks has angered Russians to the point they’re canceling vacations to the island, located off the coast of southwestern Thailand. The ban comes on the heels of a college student’s alcohol-related death. Inside Russia, president Vladmir Putin forbade government officials from taking vacations amid chaos-causing airport power outages. In America, a Russian junior hockey team was booted from a Delta Airlines flight out of New York for drunkenness.
An Italian law banning nondegradable plastic bags in one of the planet’s… Continue Reading A New Year’s Eve Journey Home
I was twice stranded in Madison last summer due to van troubles, making it back to Philly a week after I was supposed to return to my job in September. Now here I am three months later having missed another week of work due to an inability to get from here to there.
Five days after a blizzard slammed the east coast, delaying thousands of flights, I was finally on my way back to Philly.
The fog in Madison yesterday was thick, raising concerns I might again be delayed. But everything was on schedule when I arrived at Dane County… Continue Reading Thanks a Billion, Snowflakes!
I was more than a little eager to get back to Philly, to return tomorrow to work since I missed much of last week to be here, and to focus feverishly on the business of traveling and writing.
But the specter of disappointment loomed.
In case you haven’t heard, an important blizzard blanketed the east coast with more than a foot of snow, causing major delays in air travel. Before leaving today for the airport, I checked Continental’s website, which said my flight was scheduled to land in Philly on time. But when I go to check-in, I double… Continue Reading 
The People in My Day