Trenton Thunder 9/1/15

Last September I went to three minor league baseball games in the span of 8 days, with two being first-time
visits (and the other being the Camden Riversharks, who have since moved out of the area). I started with the Trenton Thunder, and what did I find when I left the light rail stop nearest the ballpark? The New Jersey State Prison!

Thanks, Google! Good to know they're open 24-7.
Wouldn't want crooks waiting outside all night to get in.
And 3.8 stars!

Along the wall of the prison there's a mural...

I noticed that structurally all three parks sort of look the same. Did minor league parks go through a cookie-cutter phase like, for example, the Vet, Three Rivers in Pittsburgh and Riverfront in Cincinnati?

Art Institute Building...

1618-22 Chestnut St. Not sure how I didn't look up at this before. From the article I read, it's art deco. I like. The same article said the lower three floors are becoming an Old Navy. Meh.

P.S. I posted something to this blog! Yay!

I'm Feeling The Bern

So this happened over the summer when I was at the Navy Yard taking pictures of the new development (including park space) there...

And then this happened last night on my way home from work...

A few minutes later it hit me: this is why I should vote for Bernie Sanders.

All of this paranoia and the extra "security" that doesn't really protect anyone, all of this crap that began after the 9/11 attacks, annoys me more and more with each passing day. (Well, pretty much everything annoys me more every day, but that's another story.) And, as much as I like her and much of what she's done and what she wants to do, Hillary Clinton -- previously a United States Senator and Secretary of State -- is part of the political machinery that has led to this steady erosion of our freedoms. This has to change, and I don't think Clinton will be as willing to make the needed changes as Sanders.

Make no mistake: I'll vote for whichever candidate the Democrats nominate to go up against the survivor of the RepubliScum Clown Gang Wars. But when Pennsylvania holds its primary (which is so important with the number of delegates at stake, the state schedules it for the day before the first party convention begins) I'm voting for Bernie Sanders.

All he has to do is be competitive and make my vote meaningful. In 2008 I voted for Hillary even though by the time the PA primary occurred it was a foregone conclusion that she came from way ahead to lose the nomation to Barack Obama. At the time I honestly had doubts that he could win in November. Oops. So maybe I shouldn't think this way, but I see no chance one of the GOP clowns can win in November 2016. They've painted themselves and each other into the most extremist corner. None of them (not even John Kasich, who's probably the most sane of the GOP clowns) can escape this when the general election rolls around.

So do your part, America, and make my vote count!

And look up at the sky!

Cropped version:

Cira Green

This just opened, and I went there and took pictures today since I didn't have to go into hell work. I wanted to post these right away so I just uploaded without cropping or any kind of editing. Maybe I'll put some edits on Instagram later. (Or maybe not. I have to go into hell work tomorrow and I'm having my latest brain surgery the next day...update: surgery actually happened a week later.) This includes a couple of skyline shots and one or two were taken through glass panels.

A park on top of a parking garage? What a time to be alive.

Thanks, Bill Cosby

This is a mural that I found on North Broad Street, near Glenwood Ave., when I first started working for the state...

This is the same location now...

This is why it's gone.

Philly Photo Day 2015

So, as I wasn't feeling up to snuff lately and had to work anyway, this is the only picture I took for this year's Philly Photo Day (edited most of it out to turn it into a panorama shot). And I didn't even submit it in time to be part of the exhibition. So here it is.

Some Recent Street Art Pics

These are pics I took recently on various wanderings around town...

The amazing Kid Hazo installed this, as you can probably guess. Unfortunately, by the time I got there the fake cameras were taken down.

Most of the stickers I spot are in places like Center City. This is actually on Frankford Avenue near Linden, not far from my house.

These next few, including the WRDSMTH works above, are in the vicinity of South Street. (A shame one of them ha been tagged). I was looking for another Kid Hazo work that was there, but once again I got there after it was already removed.

Above is a work from another of my favorites, Joe Boruchow. Sad that it's been tagged by graffiti.

This last one I found on my way to the Fringe Festival's Opera Philadelphia/Bearded Ladies collaboration, "Andy: A Popera."  (Highly recommended if you can get a ticket for any of the remaining shows, but I think it's pretty much sold out.) I don't remember exactly where this fence was but I think it's on Front Street, under the El, somewhere between Berks St. (where I got off the El) and Oxford Avenue (where I turned from Front St. to go to the venue for the show).

The Linc: Dawkins, Turbines

I've been slipping a bit lately on here, so in honor of the start of the Eagles' season, here's another post I'm moving here from the photo blog. In November 2012 I was at a Temple football game at Lincoln Financial Field (hey, Temple finally beat Penn State and they're 2-0 this year!), when I took these pictures. In 2012 the Eagles retired the number of Brian Dawkins...

...and, because I noticed them, I took a pic of the wind turbines atop the Linc...

The Eagles are big on generating their own energy and being environmentally friendly, and since the turbines went up, they've also added a lot of solar panels, many of them in the parking lots (serving as cover for cars as well as pulling in the sunlight).

Neshaminy State Park

Here's something about my Twitter use: I don't "favorite" tweets because I actually like them. If I enjoy them that much I retweet, with or without an added comment. I use favorites as sort of bookmarks to refer to later. If I can't or don't want to immediately open a link in a tweet (for example, if I'm out and there's a link to YouTube and I don't want to play it then, or if I'm trying to catch up on my Twitter feed and don't want to stop to read an article), I make it a favorite and return to it later.

So check out the date of this tweet I favorited:

I saw this and decided I wanted to check out this view.

It took me over a year. I finally managed to get to the park last month. It's not easily accessible by public transit. But with my new status as a morning person who gets out and does things, on a recent Sunday I made the trek. And I did see a view of the skyline, although I'm not sure I was at this Logan Point. I actually walked down to the river and walked along the shoreline.The maps on the park website indicate that Logan Point is part of a paved walkway, while I went right down to the beach. Also, it's so far away that I wouldn't call it "incredible," although maybe it looks different from the actual Logan's Point vantage. Still, it is pretty cool to be able to see downtown Philadelphia from such a distance. So here are some of the pics I took...

I feel like I need to get back there on a less hazy, hot and humid afternoon...and also to find the Logan's Point view tweeted about by Visit Philly.

I'm not sure if this is some sort of art, of refers to these tracks, which I'm guessing were used to launch boats onto the river.

This is a panorama shot I tried. With the river in constant motion, it looks really, really weird.

And here's a look across the river at New Jersey. (Not actually a panorama shot -- I just cropped out everything above and below.)

Back in the park, it turns out the Eagles have helped out with planting new trees and some educational signs.

Near the end of one of the picnic areas, some trees have been carved up.

I'm not quite sure what this project is/was supposed to be, but here are some pics from inside the walls...

Panorama again.

This old place is on the grounds as well...

...and so is this little theater.

Of course, the pool is popular on a hot summer day.