The influenza pandemic of 1918-19 killed between 50 and 100 million people around the world, more than died in the battles of World War I. In the United States, the hardest-hit city was Philadelphia, where the spread of the disease was spurred by what was meant to be a joyous event: a parade.

The Flyers made a run to the Stanley Cup Finals nearly a decade ago, but the team hasn’t made it out of the first round since 2012, and the team finished 16 points out of a playoff spot last season. For those fans who can’t deal with the prospect of finishing behind the Penguins in the Metropolitan division, the team has opened what it calls a “Disassembly Room,” where fans can pay to expel their rage by smashing a TV with a sledgehammer.

Yesterday on my other blog I posted about the most hilariously mislocated hotel I’ve ever heard of. It’s the hotel that in 1910 was located in the Philadelphia stockyards, just the other side of the railroad tracks from the hog pens, between the slaughter house and the abbatoir:

Who knows what the planet will look like in 13 years? It’s entirely possible we’ll all be living in space, drinking space juice and eating space pizza. The robots will have taken all of our jobs. The President of the United States will be Bill Belichick. The Marlins might be good. Or playing on an island.

Gritty, the Philadelphia Flyers’ sensation-causing mascot, is a weird and scary avatar for a weird and scary time. The 7-foot-tall orange monster didn’t just put one city in touch with its identity: He is all things to all people. He is meme. He is messenger. He is message. And, in many respects, he is messianic.

source: K

Traffic crawls along downtown’s Chestnut Street, horns honking as cars block the intersection. Up ahead, construction claims one of three lanes, and a Canada Dry delivery truck is parked in the bus lane, forcing city buses to squeeze by.

On a recent weekday, a police officer wrote a $76 ticket to the Canada Dry truck on Chestnut Street—its fifth parking citation in one morning. “Where else would we park?” delivery worker Parrish Deale said, unfazed by the stack of tickets on the truck’s dashboard. “We’ve got to make these deliveries.”

Same shots, different iPhones.

Somewhat annoying that flickr rearranges things with some dynamic layout nonsense.

source: DF

The man known simply as Lê has a lot of f-ing things to say in this f-ing interview.

information that the city has sought to redact on the basis that doing so could reveal “confidential proprietary information and trade secrets.”

I mean, really? Amazon should have only accepted bids submitted via blockchain.

It’s the end of an era — finally.

There was something pleasantly archaic about using tokens, provided you had one ready and weren’t in a scramble to find it.

After months of absurdist humor, bizarre memes and a demanding hashtag, Steak-umm finally saw the fruits of its labor Monday: Twitter verification.

In case there’s not enough weird beef humor in your life, you can now get 100% verified weird beef humor.

https://twitter.com/steak_umm/status/951505372682080256

the entire “Steak-Umm bless” motto started as a way to wish trolls well after they had decided to harass a frozen meat product on twitter. we figured if that’s what their life had come to they must be in need of a beefy blessing

Here, an interview with principal organist Peter Conte, who has been playing the iconic instrument there for 30 years.

I started to find many more things about Philadelphia that are better than in New York.

Usually. One thing about Philadelphia is seriously broken. Philadelphians do not know how to get on a bus.

In most places around the country, a fun, community-based meatball contest would be the source for a few laughs, some neighborly connection, and maybe some light-hearted smack talk. But in Philadelphia — South Philadelphia, specifically — things just can’t be that easy.

The situation remains fluid

Lancaster officials take pride in the city’s quaint downtown of brick buildings, narrow sidewalks, and old-time street lights — a big draw for weekend tourists. So it came as a surprise last May when California-based Mobilitie LLC came to town certified as a utility, giving it quick access to the city’s rights-of-way.

Also, cheese balls, but the spherical kind:

http://www.philly.com/philly/food/20161103_First_beer__then_coffee__now_cheese__locals_are_making_it_better.html

More also, why people serve cheese platter: http://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/on-cheese-platters