Vic Walczak, legal director for the Pennsylvania ACLU, sees the FBI's action as pure "intimidation," and part of a "much bigger war on demonstrators" in Pittsburgh. [more inside]
posted by acro on Oct 6, 2009 - 69 comments

Pittsburgh celebrates its 250th birthday today (warning: audio). It's too late to see the Festival of Lights, but Fort Pitt Museum has a full day of activities scheduled (and cake!). Historic Pittsburgh offers texts, maps, and 10,000+ photographs of the city and its people.
posted by Knappster on Nov 24, 2008 - 18 comments

The Howling Mob Society. Looking out over the burning Strip District from the safety of his office in Pittsburgh's Union Station, Thomas Alexander Scott must have been humbled. Only days before, as president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Scott famously suggested that impoverished and striking railroad workers be given “a rifle diet for a few days and see how they like that kind of bread.” Now, with the local Pittsburgh militia all but mutinied and the State Militia rapidly retreating, he must have wondered if his hard-line stance had backfired… [more inside]
posted by damnthesehumanhands on Dec 3, 2007 - 9 comments

One Cold Hand seeks to reunite lost gloves with their owners.
posted by exogenous on Dec 2, 2007 - 8 comments

The Iron City Houserockers were Pittsburgh's entry in the Heartland Rock Sweepstakes that occured after the success of Bruce Springsteen and Bob Seger. They had literate lyrics, tough rock and roll backing, and clear-eyed vision. Led by Joe Grushecky, a special ed teacher by day, produced by Miami Steve Van Zandt of the E Street Band, and possessed of tunes like "Junior's Bar" (youtube), they seemed poised to hit the big time, but it never quite happened, which is the music audience's loss. He is, however the subject of a loving tribute in the form of "A Good Life: The Joe Grushecky Story" (trailer).
posted by jonmc on Oct 15, 2007 - 27 comments

It's not spam, it's BACN. A web-term that was influenced by the proliferation of web 2.0 social networks used to describe "notifications you want, just not right now." Twitter requests, facebook notifications, bill-payment receipts, etc. Even though you're expecting the e-mail, *and* you want to read it, now is just not a good time to click the "read" button. You want to; you just don't have time right now. Hopefully the video and numerous blog postings in the last 24 hours will help to bring awareness to this new web-term recently brought to light this past weekend at Podcamp Pittsburgh.
posted by punkrockrat on Aug 20, 2007 - 50 comments

Genius at work. Bill Strickland is the visionary creator of the Manchester Bidwell Corporation, a combination craftsmen's guild, training center and (completely amazing) school. The school comes complete with a sound stage and record label that has won numerous grammys for the music recorded there as friendly favors from jazz legends to Bill and his students. He has been profiled in major business magazines for being a master educator with the ambition to become a master franchiser by working with Ebay CEO Jeff Skoll (see, "Applying model worldwide") to go global with his approach to education. He won the Macarthur in 1996. You can also watch his famous slide show, or some live footage of his presentation on youtube.
posted by The Straightener on Jan 16, 2007 - 4 comments

The Musical Giants page, which contains portraits of recording artists from various genres, is my favorite section of Wayno's on-line portfolio. In this interview, Wayno discusses his influences, work routine and collaboration with fellow Pittsburghers The Karl Hendricks Trio.
posted by njm on Mar 7, 2005 - 2 comments

The number 666 has been drawn by the Pennsylvania Lottery 12 times. Well, legally that is. On April 24, 1980, Pittsburgh personality Nick Perry, host of local TV shows and the live lottery drawing, fixed the lottery drawings. Perry has since passed away, but the story lived on in a (badly made) film adaptation. [more inside]
posted by ALongDecember on Aug 5, 2004 - 8 comments

Bridges and Tunnels of Allegheny County. They hold bridge conventions here in Pittsburgh because there are around 2000 bridges in and around the city. Take the tours to see some of them. My favorites: Westinghouse, Smithfield St., East St., Panther Hollow.
posted by tss on Jun 12, 2003 - 14 comments

Mullet Talk, FM morning radio show comedy at it its finest. Of course, in Pittsburgh we appreciate the finer things in life. Sadly, this is the only episode I could find on the web.
posted by Recockulous on Sep 25, 2002 - 10 comments

Bikes and cars don't mix. At least, according to the author of this column. As someone who cycles for fun and commuting, I was alternately amused by his anti-bike spewing and terrified that he's a case of road rage waiting to happen. Remind me never to bike in Pittsburgh.
posted by RakDaddy on Jul 24, 2002 - 77 comments

Big foundations pull funding from city school district. According to my inside source at the Board of Education here, the foundations and the BoE consider the school board's shenanigans to be "marginal." That is, unusual compared to most school boards for districts this size. I would think there are many bad school boards like ours, right?
posted by engelr on Jul 10, 2002 - 3 comments

City as Loser? Iron City was ranked last out of 40 cities in this year's "Best Cities for Singles" in Forbes magazine. Not that Forbes is the ultimate arbiter of the single life (don't they specialize in male readers over 35 with money?), but your best defense of Pittsburgh or your own medium- or small-sized town would be appreciated.
posted by engelr on Jun 11, 2002 - 26 comments

I didn't grow up thinking I talked funny... but thanks to the internet, I now know why I was turned down for all those newscaster jobs. Jano yinz talked funny too?
posted by m@ on Nov 13, 2001 - 21 comments

Anyone catch the fall of Three Rivers? The Steelers want some footage of the stadium falling. The Kingdome falling made the headlines here before, but didn't have any contests to my knowldege. So I was wondering does anyone know of any other buildings coming down? Any suggestions on what buildings should come down? And does the destruction or closing of a favorite place in your city or recall any fond memories?
posted by brent on Feb 11, 2001 - 4 comments

Mario's back! I'm a couple days late on this, but I just want to say that as a sports fan, I'm glad to see Pittsburgh Penguins owner Mario Lemiuex has returned to the ice in style. He's a class act and a great player.
posted by snarkout on Dec 29, 2000 - 14 comments