Sully's Stuff

The Blast Furnace for February 26. 2006

Putting a gumband around the week that was in Pittsburgh, PA, here's The Blast Furnace, for February 26, 2006:

1. Microwave Whizzinator. Giant Eagle is instituting a new no drinks in the microwave policy following a McKeesport run in with a full Whizzinator. Was this story more or less disturbing when they though it was a real member?
2. Sing a song of Pittsburgh. The Post-Gazette is looking for a song that captures the spirit of Pittsburgh – the thing of it is, thanks to Mr. Rogers, we already have one.
3. IB gone. Dr. William Sulkowski (a dentist), Dr. Daniel Iracki (internal medicine) , Dr. Mark Trombetta (an oncologist), David Bluey and Carol Coliane go all red state on the Upper St. Clair School district, killing the International Baccalaureate Program, arguing that its un-American, anti-religion and its expensive. Over beers they told me the real reason – they thought it had something to do with chiropractors.
4. Black and Gold in fashion. Pittsburgh Steelers gear accounts for 40% of NFL licensed merchandise sales so far this year. Even the Pirates and Penguins are wearing it.
5. Plan B. Ed Rendell, Dan Onoroto, and Bob O’Connnor want you to know that the Penguins will get a new arena, even if you have to pay for it.
6. Honus Slept Here, but you can’t. A proposal to turn “the Carnegie House That Honus Wagner Lived In” into a bed and breakfast is derailed by parking, savings baseball fans from having to go to Carnegie on purpose. Ironically, a Honus Wagner house at $135,000 only costs 10% as much as a Honus Wagner baseball card.
7. The Sequoia Voting Machine. Dan Onorato selects Sequoia Voting Systems Inc. over Diebold, saying “it was much easier to program it to give me 2 votes for every 1 cast than the competition and its functionality for making sure dead voters continue to vote is 1st rate.”
8. The Pittsburgh Movie. Carl Kurlander’s dermatologist wants a movie about Pittsburgh (A Tale of Two Cities) told in the style of “Super Size Me” and “Roger and Me.” Now, he’s trying to sell The Pittsburgh Movie. Isn’t that what we have Rick Sebak for?
9. Alcoa’s NYC home. Alcoa quietly moves corporate headquarters to New York City. Apparently CEO Alain Belda was looking for a shorter commute and an office with walls.
10. Tartans go dancing. Carnegie Mellon’s Tartans win their 20th game and first outright UAA men’s basketball title and head for the Division III NCAA tournament, their 2nd ever (many warmly recall the 1977 squad that lost in the 1st round). Congratulations Coach Wingen!

posted by Sully @ 2/26/2006