Support Science and Art, Simultaneously
The rift between science and art has gone on for long enough. To be a civilized society, we need both. So why not let them coexist more often? With their proton and dark matter plush toys, Particle Zoo proves that the two can live harmoniously. But the company is based [...]

After contributing to the Obama campaign, Jan Ting was asked to leave the GOP.

The nation’s environmental movement has long been associated with middle- and upper-class Americans who have the economic agency and political sway to combat issues such as global warming. Temple organization Philly Eco Kids strives to educate low-income citizens and young people, two demographics that are often viewed as powerless in the environmental campaign, about the [...]

As an Israeli reporter for the Jewish newspaper the Jerusalem Post, a pro-Israel position is a standard position to take. But as a Palestinian Arab born in the West Bank, Khaled Abu Toameh’s argument deviates from the norm.
“If I was Israel, I would not give away one inch,” Toameh said.
The Middle Eastern journalist, whose father [...]

Candy ravers everywhere will hate me for saying this, but Radiohead’s pay-what-you-want album In Rainbows isn’t that progressive. A band of millionaires released their seventh record as a free download - so what?
Fishtown’s Eric Harms has been doing that for years. Since 2005, he has provided hundreds of free digital albums on apolloaudio.com.
His Web site [...]

REVIEW - Philly’s live music scene triggered my latest existential crisis Saturday. Two psych-rock patriarchs played the same night: Devendra Banhart at the Fillmore at the TLA and Animal Collective at the Starlight Ballroom. As a sucker for any music of the New Age folk, tripped out, changes-my-brain-waves persuasion, it was a tough call.
Plus, both [...]

More music festivals should take place in the fall.
It seems obvious, but organizers at Coachella, Pitchfork and hundreds of jazz festivals warp our Summer Ale-addled minds into thinking that it’s hip to dehydrate. Thankfully, Philly’s Flava Fest coordinators picked a weekend Farmer’s Almanac scholars would approve of.
The festival, which runs from Sept. 20-22, formed out [...]

More music festivals should take place in the fall.
It seems obvious, but organizers at Coachella, Pitchfork and hundreds of jazz festivals warp our Summer Ale-addled minds into thinking that it’s hip to dehydrate. Thankfully, Philly’s Flava Fest coordinators picked a weekend Farmer’s Almanac scholars would approve of.
The festival, which runs from Sept. 20-22, formed out [...]

Girl Talk’s Greg Gillis, an awkward white guy with cat-like turquoise eyes, disagreed with me.
His latest album, “Night Ripper,” is a pureed mash-up of hundreds of Top 40 samples, with each song layering twenty-some grunge, Dirty South rap and obscure indie blips into one danceable track.
I suggested that Gillis must be an indecisive iPod player, [...]