Tag Archives: Pittsburgh

Farewell, Dear O

original.jpgOne of my friends told me about the closing of a restaurant in Pittsburgh affectionately known as The O. I meant to blog about it at the time, but put it off because I didn’t quite know what to say. There’s never a good time to say these things, or an easy way to say them, so I’ll just go ahead and speak my mind.

I don’t know if anybody who reads this blog has ever been to The O. I only went once, over a year ago. It was a hot dog place to end all hot dog places. They served hot dogs, hamburgers, assorted sausages, pizza… The list went on and on. It was a operating monument to greasy food. And the fries. Oh, the fries. Plentiful doesn’t begin to describe it. You all probably remember the old McDonald’s Super-Size. Maybe you think it’s pretty big, possibly even too big. But believe me when I tell you that the regular large, not even the X-tra large, dwarfed the Super Size. I hesitate to even compare them. The scale of The O’s large defies description. You really had to see it to believe it. Imagine a regular restaurant’s big basket of fries. Got that in your head? Good. Now take that, and pile fries in it until you’ve got a good six inches. That’s the ballpark I’m talking about here. I sorely doubt any single person could have comfortably eaten it, and isn’t that how much a "large" size should really supply?

Unfortunately, I don’t live anywhere near Pittsburgh. I always knew that my chances of ever getting the chance to go back to The O were slim to nil. But you know, that was okay. I felt better just knowing that it was out there, that bastion of grease and boiling oil holding steady against the salad-mongers who invade our grocery stores by the day.

Alas! I shall miss The O. What could ever replace it?

Know Thy Enemy

"Know thy enemy and know thyself, find naught in fear for 100 battles. Know thyself but not thy enemy, find level of loss and victory. Know thy enemy but not thyself, wallow in defeat every time." – Sun-Tzu

Pittsburgh pro-lifers have an opportunity to not only know their enemy, but also to inform him of his foolishness.

You Are Invited!

Join Dan Frankel and the Hadassah Greater Pittsburgh Chapter for "Stem Cell Advocacy: Education and Action"

Time: 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Date: Sunday, Feb. 12
Place: Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh
Levinson Hall, Squirrel Hill
Registration Cost: $5

  • Learn about the latest developments in stem cell research from Dr. Alan Russell
  • Understand how stem cell research can impact Pittsburgh’s economy
  • Hear about pending state legislation
  • Become an advocate and gain community organizing skills
  • You CAN make a difference in educating your neighbors and getting good laws passed.

With state and national developments in research and regulations, stem cell advocacy is becoming much more significant – this is your chance to learn more about this important issue!

To register, contact Hadassah as soon as possible. Send a $5 check (payable to Hadassah) to the Hadassah office at 1824 Murray Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15217. Please be sure to include your name, address, phone number and e-mail address.

Advance registration is required. Hope to see you there!

Representative Frankel is misleading when he uses "stem cells" in such a vague manner. He is an advocate of embryonic stem cell research, which is not only unethical and immoral, but also a waste of taxpayer money. It’s cured no diseases and is unlikely to cure any in the near future. If any folks go to this meeting, let me know how it goes. I’d love to go and present the facts to Mr. Frankel myself, but I may have other obligations to attend to.

Number Johnny Five is Alive!

blogfest5.jpgLast night was Pittsburgh Blogfest 5. These events just keeping getting better and better. This time, we had a special treat in the form of über-blogger Robert Scoble. Robert is a “technical evangelist” for Microsoft. He also co-wrote a book with Shel Israel called “Naked Conversations : How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers“. Don’t let his current employer fool you, though. He’s been known to use his blog to dis the 800-pound gorilla on occasion, as well as praise their competitors. Anyhow, Robert was in town to participate in a panel discussion on business blogging organized by the Pittsburgh Technology Council. The event will be podcast and I’ll get you the link as soon as it’s up. Since Robert was to be in town anyhow, someone thought it would be cool to invite him to our blogfest. We celebrated his 41st birthday with a cake and the gift of a Terrible Towlâ„¢. He seemed to have a good time with us. Everyone seemed to enjoy his company as well. I spent a little while talking to him, but I didn’t too deep into anything because 1) I’d be talking out of my tuchus (regarding a lot of tech industry current events) and 2) I would have had to admit that I’d never read his blog (though I’ll rectify that soon). Despite having a pseudo-celebrity in our midst, there was no press presence this time. I’m sure those who saw the horrible picture of me in the Post Gazette are thankful for that. 😉

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Graduates and Young Professionals Bible Study

Tonight begins another semester of bible studies at the Ryan
Catholic Newman Center (The Oratory)
. This semester we’re discussing Scripture’s
relationship to Liturgy. We’ll discover how they’re made for each other. Texts (aside
from the Bible, of course) will include the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “The
Lamb’s Supper” by Scott Hahn, “On Being Catholic” by Thomas Howard,
“Why Do Catholics Do That” by Kevin Johnson, and “Teaching Truth
by Signs and Ceremonies” by Rev. James Meagher.

The bible study group for graduates and young professionals will be held on Tuesdays
at 6PM, starting tonight. Our first two discussions will focus on paragraphs 1066
to 1209 of the Catholic Catechism (“The Paschal Mystery in the Age of the Church”
and “The Sacramental Celebration”) . If you’re in the Pittsburgh area,
please consider joining us. 🙂

The Perils of 24-hour News

"The scare tactics, poor reporting and lack of reputable sources came to a sad and tragic climax this week as we news junkies watched. The horror of a West Virginia mining disaster was brought into homes coast to coast and there was no shortage of misinformation. Thirteen miners had been trapped by an explosion and cave in deep within a coal mine near Buchannon. As the first dead body was recovered, Fox News Channel reported that no one knew the cause of death, as yet, but assured we viewers that they would have that information, first. Hosts Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes then badgered a Red Cross volunteer live, worldwide, demanding the woman give them an opinion about whether it would be ‘better’ if the dead man was found to have ‘suffocated from carbon monoxide inhalation? or had been ?crushed to death by the cave in’. Luckily, the volunteer kept her head, and rather than give an uninformed guess (the basis for most television news), she informed Hannity three times that she could not possibly give him an answer. She’d never been to a mining accident site, she explained, and the Red Cross’ job was to comfort the families of the victims, not to perform autopsies."

"It was hard for Sean to mask his disappointment."

"Meanwhile, over on CNN, Anderson Cooper was getting to the core of the story by interviewing an anonymous teenaged girl who had talked to somebody who had stood next to a meeting between the trapped men’s families and the coal company. The meeting, held in a nearby church, was off-limits to the press (smart move, families). That didn’t stop CNN. They found this little girl who had talked to somebody who overheard what was going on in that meeting. And with this one twice-removed completely unreliable source, they hit the air live, worldwide, to inform the awaiting viewing public about the latest developments. "

Read more of what Scott Paulsen has to say.