Nope. It's the South Philadelphia Hebrew Association SPHAs (pronounced "spas"), a team that dominated the sport in the 1920s and '30s. The flashy shooter was set-shot expert Inky Lautman. David was the six-pointed star on the team's jerseys. And the savvy coach was Eddie Gottlieb, who was also the owner of one of the most successful teams in basketball history.

Today, the only thing Jewish about the current Sixer team is coach Larry Brown, who starred on the U.S. gold-medal team at the Maccabiah Games in Israel before launching his pro career. Brown was born in Brooklyn, that "other" Jewish basketball town. But there are plenty of parallels between the Hebrews, as the SPHAs were nicknamed, and today's Sixers.

Continue Reading...

I returned to the workforce three months ago, after being home for almost 14 months with my only daughter.

I have almost completed my doctorate in family studies, specializing in marriage and family therapy. I am a family researcher. I know the studies, and I can read them critically for sample size, methodology and faulty conclusions. I have all the information I need to go to work armed with the knowledge that I am not damaging my daughter, that she is thriving in peer relationships, learning that there are others who can love and care for her.

Nonetheless, I have been wracked with guilt about my decision to go to work. I am one of those for whom it is not a financial necessity but rather a personal necessity and actually wish sometimes we did need the money so my return to work would be necessary to the financial well-being of the family. This is the twisted logic that comes from exposure to that generalized yet pervasive rhetoric that somehow it is bad for me to work.

Jennifer Sweeney's article, especially her comparison of this rhetoric to "bathroom humor," put a sorely needed spin on the situation. I wanted to write to express my appreciation for her perspective and her talent in conveying it.

Continue Reading...

Patrick Deutsch has his home completely wired with X10 technology. He can control the temperature, lights, music and TV with voice commands -- and the television in front ot the toilet knows when to turn off.

Continue Reading...

"A year ago, tax relief was said to be a political impossibility. Six months ago, it was supposed to be a political liability. Today, it becomes reality."
-- President Bush, speaking at the White House while signing his tax cut into law

Bush buzz

Bush signed his historic tax cut Thursday, fulfilling the primary promise of his campaign after just five months in office. But analysts are still debating whether it will boost consumer confidence in the sluggish economy. Many believe that the cut, already spread out over a decade, won't survive if unforeseen circumstances dictate a change in spending priorities. For now, the cut effectively reverses the tax increases that former President Clinton signed into law in his first year in office, a move that Republicans decried at the time but was later considered a major factor in reducing federal deficits.

Continue Reading...

ORBS's main service was a blacklist of Internet mail servers -- computers capable of routing mail across the Net -- that the ORBS administrator, Alan Brown, had identified as potentially capable of forwarding spam. Now that blacklist is no longer available to network administrators, and they want to know why. One popular theory mooted on the Net is that Brown closed down the site rather than comply with a New Zealand court order demanding that he remove two specific ISPs from the blacklist. But Brown, who lives in New Zealand, is keeping silent. "I am unable to answer any of your questions," he writes in an e-mail. "Sorry."

Continue Reading...

Cave's article is a good examination of the current issues, but leaves out some very important factors. First: People do what they know, especially when they have money at stake, and since Hollywood is used to paying for Avids, Avid will persist on this human characteristic for quite a while.

Second: Avid is already over in Hollywood, in that the vast majority of projects edited on Avid are using the ABVB version, which has been out of production for almost three years.

Third: If all of Hollywood bought new Avids tomorrow, it wouldn't put much of a dent in their financial situation. If the thousand Avids working in studio features and television were all replaced tomorrow, it wouldn't add up to one-quarter of the company's current gross. Avid's future, if it has one, is in broadcast integration, where costs are under just as much, if not more pressure than Hollywood. And Avid has yet to make inroads on the established vendors in that market space.

Fourth: Apple's established MO of letting third parties integrate and support their products will slow high-end penetration. If Apple truly attacks the marketplace, especially with the resources to create reliable turnkey networked solutions for broadcast post, then you can put a fork in Avid. Either way, this issue will be resolved much sooner than the 10 years mentioned in the article.

-- Patrick Gregston, board member, Motion Picture Editors Guild

Continue Reading...

And there he was, with his street-killer growl, saying he didn't necessarily see that a sweep was out of the question.

The 76ers were tired and emotionally drained by the Milwaukee series (only the second that they nearly threw away). They were knocked up. The Lakers were rested, cool and healed, and they were Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant on their own court, just itching to fulfill the notion of not losing another game this season. Those Lakers could still come back and win, of course. They're probably still favored by the bookmakers. After all, you can tell yourself that they took it for granted, that they went from cool to cold even, and that all they need now is to notch it up a couple of levels.

Continue Reading...

The next morning, I awoke to a single response. Things moved quickly and before long I had a tiny but definite mental picture of the respondent: an intelligent, funny young woman with a local background -- precisely what I was looking for. I was excited and things felt vaguely promising.

Two days later, I had forever lost any chance of meeting her. Haunted by my past, I had inadvertently committed a gaffe that she described as "the height of egotism." It was yet another example, as I frantically tried to explain to her in e-mail, of the scarlet B in action.

Most people don't know me and likely never will. However, if you ran an Internet search on my name, you'd find dozens of links to Web pages with my name mentioned on them. There used to be a lot more; many such links have withered and died in the past three years. Some of the links are to comments I made on Web sites, to sites involving computers, computer games or contract work I've done in the past, but such links are in the minority. The overwhelming majority of links are on the subject of Sasquatch. You know, Bigfoot.

Continue Reading...

"We are effectively going into a kind of suspended animation state," said Steven Johnson, co-editor in chief of Feed. Johnson founded the site with his counterpart Stefanie Syman in May 1995. In a letter to readers, Johnson and Syman explained their financial woes and bid a "temporary farewell." "While we still very much believe that content on the web can support itself, Automatic Media is not able to succor us until we see that day," the letter said.

Sam Lipsyte, a writer and editor for the site from 1995 to 2000, said, "I think a lot of people saw it coming, but I just think it's sad. Six years later, there really is not a lot of smart writing on the Web."

Continue Reading...

I wouldn't have said that about Dominic Sena's previous movie, "Gone in 60 Seconds." But I will say it about his current one, "Swordfish." "60 Seconds" wasn't a particularly good movie, but it was honest in a slap-happy, lunkheaded way: Although it was curiously low on car chases, it did give us lots of cars going really, really fast, and it was heaped high with car crash-ups, one after the other. It was almost Zen in its beef-brained consistency.

But with "Swordfish," Sena leaves his little toys behind. This movie desperately wants to be a sophisticated, complex thriller. And it's about a computer hacker, so you know it's going to be cerebral. And just in case the astonishing classiness of "Swordfish" starts to bore people a little bit, there's a car chase stuck in there for good measure, one that goes on for a numbingly long time and ends in a nice, big explosion. If that's not giving too much away.

Continue Reading...

We've got David Duchovny and Orlando Jones doing a vaguely hip Dean Martin-and-Jerry Lewis impression as third-rate community college professors who discover a meteorite crawling with alien spooge in the Arizona desert. We've got Seann William Scott, one of the finer practitioners of dudely acting in the field today, as a clueless wannabe firefighter who "helps" the two protagonists. We've got Julianne Moore as a prissy scientist who tells Ira (Duchovny), when they think they're doomed, "I would have rocked your world."

Continue Reading...

Like hundreds of other Bigfoot enthusiasts, Knoll is fiercely independent, but at the same time drawn to a community that provides a stage for him to express his unwavering belief that Bigfoot is out there somewhere, waiting to be discovered.

"It would be kind of sad if we found Bigfoot," Knoll says suddenly, unexpectedly. "Without the possibility of Bigfoot there is no wilderness left." He pauses again and adds, "The possibility of Bigfoot is the possibility of wilderness."

Continue Reading...

Last year's Orange Prize was particularly eventful: Before the ceremony, shortlisted author Zadie Smith gave an interview in the Mail on Sunday in which she appeared to criticize the choice of people on the jury and the prize itself. Then the winner, Linda Grant, was accused of plagiarism. This year, however, the controversy has been deliberately orchestrated. Addressing another source of complaint -- the all-female jury that picks the long list, shortlist and winner -- the Orange Prize committee devised an amusing and instructive plan: two separate jury panels, one made up of men, the other of women, each rendering its own verdict.

Continue Reading...

Andrew O'Hehir's article, on the whole, makes me happy as a Tolkien fan. It's good to see someone seriously critique "The Lord of the Rings." It is certainly time for its virtues and failings to be appreciated. But much of this happiness was lost when, like too many journalists today, O'Hehir makes a point by quoting the author out of context, in this case completely reversing what should be a clear conclusion: that Tolkien was not even remotely supportive of fascist or Nazi ideals (of any kind), and in fact passionately hated all that Hitler stood for. Here is the quote in full (nearly) from Tolkien's letter:

But I suppose the major English vice is sloth. And it is to sloth, as much as or more than to natural virtue, that we owe our escape from the overt violence in other countries. ... People in this land seem not even yet to realize that in the Germans we have enemies whose virtues (and they are virtues) of obedience and patriotism are greater than ours in the mass. Whose brave men are just about as brave as ours. Whose industry is about 10 times greater. And who are -- under the curse of God -- now led by a man inspired by a mad, whirlwind, devil: a typhoon, a passion: that makes the poor old Kaiser look like an old woman knitting.

Continue Reading...

]]> Read the story

Andrew O’Hehir’s article, on the whole, makes me happy as a Tolkien fan. It’s good to see someone seriously critique “The Lord of the Rings.” It is certainly time for its virtues and failings to be appreciated. But much of this happiness was lost when, like too many journalists today, O’Hehir makes a point by quoting the author out of context, in this case completely reversing what should be a clear conclusion: that Tolkien was not even remotely supportive of fascist or Nazi ideals (of any kind), and in fact passionately hated all that Hitler stood for. Here is the quote in full (nearly) from Tolkien’s letter:

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2001/06/08/tolkien_ali/feed/ 0 http://www.salon.com/2001/06/08/glow_524/ http://www.salon.com/2001/06/08/glow_524/#comments Fri, 08 Jun 2001 17:52:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/tv/glow/2001/06/08/glow Series

The new animated series Time Squad (9 p.m. Fri., Cartoon Network) debuts. A kid and a robot time travel to stop historical figures from committing blunders that would alter the future. Sounds a little "Sherman and Peabody"-ish to me, but what do I know? Robin Williams gets James Lipton's undying adoration on a new Inside the Actors Studio (8 p.m. ET/9 PT, Sun., Bravo). E! True Hollywood Story (9 p.m. Sun., E!) gets the goods on the making of John Hughes' 1984 coming-of-age comedy "Sixteen Candles," which starred Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall and a host of other half-forgotten teen stars (John and Joan Cusack, excepted). Carrie makes beautiful music with a jazz musician (Craig Bierko) on Sex and the City (9 p.m. Sun., HBO). Proving that HBO isn't perfect, we have the inexplicable sixth season opener of Arliss (9:30 p.m., Sun., HBO). The Fisher brothers get a shock at the reading of their father's will on Six Feet Under (10 p.m. Sun., HBO).

Specials

Continue Reading...

]]> Read this story at http://www.salon.com/2001/06/08/glow_524/

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2001/06/08/glow_524/feed/ 0 http://www.salon.com/2001/06/08/anniversary_party/ http://www.salon.com/2001/06/08/anniversary_party/#comments Fri, 08 Jun 2001 17:32:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/entertainment/movies/review/2001/06/08/anniversary_party "The Anniversary Party" is something of a sprawl, a movie that rumbles on about 20 minutes longer than it should and clutters its windup with too many climactic moments -- in a modest picture like this, just one would do.

And yet it keeps you riveted. "The Anniversary Party," written and directed by two actors, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming, who also star, is a sterling example of the right way to go about a vanity project. Leigh and Cumming wrote the movie for their friends to star in; it was shot in 19 days using digital video cameras. Yet save for the flaws already mentioned, "The Anniversary Party" rarely feels self-conscious or draggy.

Cumming is the versatile character actor who most recently starred in "Spy Kids" and "Josie and the Pussycats"; he also played the mincing desk clerk in "Eyes Wide Shut." Leigh, an earthy and often mesmerizing actress, has starred in a wide range of independent and commercial features alike, from "Last Exit to Brooklyn" to "Dolores Claiborne," since she made her first big splash in Cameron Crowe's 1982 "Fast Times at Ridgemont High." She also recently appeared in the Dogma picture "The King Is Alive"; working on that movie opened her up to the potential of digital video.

Continue Reading...

]]> Read this story at http://www.salon.com/2001/06/08/anniversary_party/

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2001/06/08/anniversary_party/feed/ 0 http://www.salon.com/2001/06/08/npfri_52/ http://www.salon.com/2001/06/08/npfri_52/#comments Fri, 08 Jun 2001 16:52:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/people/col/reit/2001/06/08/npfri Say their name, say their name. But whatever you do, don't say they're nasty.

The members of Destiny's Child insist that there's a fine line -- one they're careful not to cross -- between sexy and nasty.

"We definitely consider ourselves role models," the trio's 19-year-old frontwoman Beyoncé Knowles tells the Toronto Sun. "We're very aware there are people looking up to us. But there's a line between sexy and nasty, and Destiny's Child is sexy, yes we are, but we're never nasty."

So put that in your Bootylicious and smoke it.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Do as I say, not as I get paid obscene sums to do

"I wouldn't encourage my child to work in an industry that focuses on superficial attributes."

-- Christy Turlington on how she and Ed Burns plan not to birth a whole passel of mini-models, in the New York Post.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Time for another hanky-dress?

Continue Reading...

]]> Read this story at http://www.salon.com/2001/06/08/npfri_52/

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2001/06/08/npfri_52/feed/ 0 http://www.salon.com/2001/06/08/memo_3/ http://www.salon.com/2001/06/08/memo_3/#comments Fri, 08 Jun 2001 08:00:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/news/politics//feature/2001/06/08/memo INTEROFFICE MEMO

Date: Sunday, June 10, 2001
To: The President
From: Andrew H. Card Jr., Chief of Staff
Re: Schedule Changes
cc: Karl Rove, Karen Hughes, Ari Fleischer

Mr. President:

Due to recent developments in the Senate (that thing I told you about with the guy from Vermont), the vice president has asked us to make some revisions in your schedule for this week. Dick feels that with the 50-49-1 mess in the Senate (we'll go over the math again later), we need some serious face time with the other side. I've taken the liberty of setting up some must-sees for you. Here's the rundown:

Monday 11 a.m.: 10-minute photo op with Sarah Brady and her Handgun Control posse. (You can hug her if she seems receptive, but do not under any circumstances give the "fake gun" greeting to anyone.) The meeting shouldn't conflict with your workout/lunch with the NRA, so not to worry. Still waiting on Chuck Heston's availability, though.

3 p.m.: I know we're loading you up, but Joe Biden (Senator, Del., new Foreign Relations chair) is anxious to speak with you about the state of the world. (We'll give him 20 mins.) The skinny: Can't talk about: China, Russia, the Middle East, Nepal, Africa (anything west of the Seychelles), the Balkans, Cuba. Can talk about: Mexico. If he presses, toss in Australia. (Did you see "Crocodile Dundee in L.A."? Hilarious!)

Continue Reading...

]]> INTEROFFICE MEMO

Date: Sunday, June 10, 2001
To: The President
From: Andrew H. Card Jr., Chief of Staff
Re: Schedule Changes
cc: Karl Rove, Karen Hughes, Ari Fleischer

Mr. President:

Due to recent developments in the Senate (that thing I told you about with the guy from Vermont), the vice president has asked us to make some revisions in your schedule for this week. Dick feels that with the 50-49-1 mess in the Senate (we’ll go over the math again later), we need some serious face time with the other side. I’ve taken the liberty of setting up some must-sees for you. Here’s the rundown:

Monday 11 a.m.: 10-minute photo op with Sarah Brady and her Handgun Control posse. (You can hug her if she seems receptive, but do not under any circumstances give the “fake gun” greeting to anyone.) The meeting shouldn’t conflict with your workout/lunch with the NRA, so not to worry. Still waiting on Chuck Heston’s availability, though.

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2001/06/08/memo_3/feed/ 0 http://www.salon.com/2001/06/08/salinger_4/ http://www.salon.com/2001/06/08/salinger_4/#comments Fri, 08 Jun 2001 00:40:00 +0000 http://www.salon.com/books/today/2001/06/07/salinger On June 7, 1944:

Esmè writes to the sergeant.

"For Esmé With Love and Squalor" (1953), J.D. Salinger

From "The Book of Fictional Days"

Continue Reading...

]]> On June 7, 1944:

Esmè writes to the sergeant.

“For Esmé With Love and Squalor” (1953), J.D. Salinger

From “The Book of Fictional Days”

Continue Reading...

]]> http://www.salon.com/2001/06/08/salinger_4/feed/ 0