Books and firemen haven’t shared this much of the limelight since “ Fahrenheit 451 “. With Nutter’s proposed “cost cutting decisions” like closing down 11 Philly libraries and consolidating city fire departments making headlines ever since I returned to the Cradle...

Officials from the Mummers left the Mummers Museum last night after agreeing to sign a contract with the city to stage this year’s parade. New Year’s parade time cut in accordance with $300K budget. (Photo: Rikard Larma/Metro) Our annual Mummers Parade is a go this year . Which is great - becaus...

So I'm detouring again from the original thrust of this blog (politics, the occasional dabble into homeland security) and pontificating on something that came to mind last night. I actually plunked down $10 last night to see The Day The Earth Stood Still, which included one of the most hilariously u...

From an e-mail I received today: The City of Sierra Madre issued a Green Flag Mud Alert for Sierra Madre residences in potential mud flow areas. The National Weather Service is forecasting a 90% chance of rain in Sierra Madre on Tuesday and Wednesday, November 25 and 26, 2008. The quantity of precip...

Thousands of feature-length documentary films are produced every year, but almost nobody gets a chance to see them. A few dozen are shown to small audiences at major film festivals, and a handful make it into theaters. For every blockbuster like “An Inconvenient Truth,” there are hundred...

For some reason this got filed under “Weird But True:” “The San Francisco Fire Department is investigating one of its own after an off-duty firefighter was photographed wearing her badge while riding topless on a motorcycle. Sabine Balden appeared to be wearing her official badge w...

Back From a Family Reunion in California Nieces, nephews, ice-cream and beer in Capitola. Rented a Mustang for the drive to this beach town, but for a California beach in June it was cold as Fosters Freeze! Thought I couldn't wait to return to the smothering & buggy heat of North Carolina. Flip-...

plane dropping retardant vs. fire. guess who's winning right now. Gap Fire at 2:30 PM Originally uploaded by fishbum55...

The Globe reports yet another Boston firefighter has run afoul of the law: This time for allegedly soliciting sex for a fee. An officer disguised as a prostitute was standing at a public parking lot near Blue Hill Avenue and La Grange Place at about 10:50 p.m. Friday when Collin M. Herelle pulled up...

I can just imagine: “Sure, I can drive this. How hard can it be?” Maybe you should at least check out the “quick start” page of the operator’s manual. “Naw, I don’t need no instructions. I drove one last time it snowed in Tampa. Can’t be much different...