2009-03-03
This is an interesting look at the Great Depression, and its impact on the Railroad industry, Philadelphia, and the environment. Anyone who has ever driven down route 291 to the Philadelphia Airport knows of the vast oil refineries, and the horrible smell that is associated. It’s interesting to see just how many railroad cars sat there waiting to be used.
Point Breeze, 1935 « THE NECESSITY FOR RUINS. (via ruins.wordpress.com)
2009-02-05
Rendell wants to eliminate 400 of Pennsylvania’s 501 school districts in an effort to reduce costs.
Ed Rendell believes that in today’s economy, we can no longer afford to support 501 school districts.
This wouldn’t be the first time Pennsylvania forced consolidation of its school districts. Before 1962, Pennsylvania had almost 2,000 school districts.
This decision comes after a Standard & Poor’s report (pdf) stating that “average spending tends to decrease as districts grow in size from about 250 students to about 2,500 students. But spending tends to go back up
again as district enrollments exceed 3,000 students”.
According to the report, there are 312 districts in Pennsylvania with less than 3000 students
It probably won’t have much of an effect on the Philadelphia School District, as the school district already encompasses the entire county, and is the largest (by enrollment) in the state.
Most of the school districts already work together for Career and Technology Centers. The report uses this as an example of the schools working together effectively. There are currently about 75 of these Career and Technology Centers, so I expect the new proposed school district map should look something like the current Vocational School map, which can be found here.
For those of you with Google Earth, and interested in the current PA school districts, I have created a map of all the PA school districts for your enjoyment! It’s in KML format, because it’s too large for GeoRSS to support.
Download the Pennsylvania School District Map for Google Earth
2009-01-20
2009-01-14
This will be displayed as Arizona Tourism Avatar come Sunday
I’m looking forward to the Arizona Tourism twitter to be sporting the Eagles logo!
2007-03-14
Tonight’s weather was simply amazing: 75 degrees, no rain, no wind, on March 14th! It also happened to be a Wednesday night, my traditional night to spend time with one of my awesome college friends Elli, so it was another lovely night in the city.
First we stopped off to get some sushi at Samson Sushi Delight. Which may just be my new favorite sushi place in center city. They offer brown rice, good portions, and extremely fresh vegetables. The staff is very nice, and knows their competition well, and has excellent prices, especially considering the relatively generous portions they serve. I had the Avocado Roll, and the Vegetable Roll (which is not on the menu, but came highly suggested from Elli).
For more information: http://www.sansomsushidelight.com/
We then took a stroll around town, through Rittenhouse Square, and Fitler Square, eventually ending up at Markward Playground. This is where I first witness the sport of Cycle Polo. I must be really out of touch with the times, to have never even known such a sport existed, but it really was quite interesting to watch.
We spent the rest of the night swinging on the swings, and deciding to play for this summer. It is unofficial, but it seems that this upcoming summer of 2007 will be “The Summer of Fitness” including a lot of biking, hiking, and other outdoorsy sports. This will probably be in stark contract with last summer’s “Summer of Milkshakes”, and I suppose that is a good thing.
There will be a lot of changes this summer, and probably a lot more commuting. But this summer is coming soon, so I will need to start making my goals soon. If anyone in the NJ/PA/NY area is looking to help me and take part in my summer of fitness, please get back to me.
Let’s just hope the weather stays this nice!
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