AltWeeklies Wire
D.C. Becomes the Home of the Youth Triathlonnew
D.C. Department of Parks and Recreation runs two free camps that train kids ages 9 to 14 in the triathlon mainstays: swimming, biking, and running—which happen to be mainstays of childhood summers.
Washington City Paper |
Dave McKenna |
08-07-2008 |
Sports
Is Beijing Ready for Prime Time? No Waynew
I've been living in Beijing since the beginning of July, covering the mad month-long preamble to the Games. My experience has been the polar opposite of what I had read and seen in news stories about how the Chinese are ready and willing to accommodate the Olympic athletes, coaches, spectators, media, and volunteers.
Boston Phoenix |
Sara Faith Alterman |
08-07-2008 |
Sports
Why the Twin Cities is the Best Place to Eat Ice Cream in the Universenew
With this many choices of local, handcrafted treats, why go anywhere else?
City Pages (Twin Cities) |
Rachel Hutton |
08-06-2008 |
Food+Drink
The Case of the Golden Thong, and Other Baseball Superstitionsnew
According to George Gmelch, cultural anthropologist and author of the article "Baseball Magic," superstitious behaviors among ballplayers fall into two major categories -- rituals and taboos. Nomar Garciaparra's famed batting gyrations, that's a ritual. When he jumps over the base line to take his position in the infield, that is a taboo.
Charleston City Paper |
John Strubel |
08-06-2008 |
Sports
Fiberglass Giants: Chicago's Last Bastions of Marketing Kitschnew
During the 1960s and 1970s, the sight of massive pop-art fiberglass figures greeted drivers on streets and smaller highways across the country. From California to Maine, drivers and their families were alerted by figures in the forms of hotdogs, hamburgers, cowboys, clowns, alligators and oranges, lobsters and loons.
Chicago Newcity |
David Witter |
08-06-2008 |
Art
In the Wake of E3, Gaming's Big Three Move Towards Indistinguishabilitynew
Even as little as two years ago, the Big Three had distinct identities, market niches, and competitive advantages that set them apart: Sony had the mass appeal and the vast library of exclusive titles, Nintendo had the family gamers, and Microsoft catered to the hardcore online crowd. Funny how a little cutthroat competition over a few billion dollars changes the equation.
Charleston City Paper |
Aaron R. Conklin |
08-06-2008 |
Video Games
A Culinary Postcard from China on the Eve of the Olympicsnew
After 24 hours in the air, the concept of jet lag seems quaint. I can barely figure out what day it is, much less the time. But despite my disorientation and general mental fuzz upon landing in Beijing, when I see the "Fresh Furit Platter" [sic] on the hotel bar menu, I perk up enough to pronounce it to myself with a Chinese accent.
Missoula Independent |
Ari LeVaux |
08-05-2008 |
Food+Drink
Geocachers Take the Treasure Hunt into the 21st Centurynew
Right under our collective noses, geocachers are placing small caches in ingenious places, uploading the GPS coordinates onto the official geocaching website and competing with each other to be the first to find these hidden treasures. The sport of geocaching has over 3,300 official participants in Quebec, and caches in every corner of Montreal.
Montreal Mirror |
Erik Leijon |
08-05-2008 |
Recreation
Alt.health: Your Daily Routine Could Be Cooking Your Spermnew
There are a lot of things that might make you shoot blanks. Among them are obesity, pesticides, stress, heat, smoking and drinking.
NOW Magazine |
Elizabeth Bromstein |
08-04-2008 |
Advice
A Seattle Company Tries to Prove That Playing its Games Improves Your Mental Statenew
Is sitting on your ass and staring at the screen on your phone the gateway to greater alertness and contentment? PopCap Games says yes. With a staff of 180, it's one of the heavy hitters in the $2.25 billion-a-year casual-games industry.
Seattle Weekly |
Jesse Froehling |
08-04-2008 |
Video Games
South Florida Stakes Claim as the Epicenter of American Bigamynew
Together, Eunice Lopez, boyfriend Rodneys Gonzalez, and her Cuban-American family have racked up 32 felony charges of bigamy over five years. With phony weddings going for up to $15,000 a pop, the clan garnered hundreds of thousands of dollars. And they're not alone.
Miami New Times |
Natalie O'Neill |
08-04-2008 |
Culture
Skyrocketing Food Prices and Biofuels Aren't What's Feeding Global Hunger Crisisnew
It sounds counterintuitive, I know, but the real food crisis gripping the world these days is not what everyone thinks it is. It's really more about the 80 per cent drop in real-time food prices since 1947 than the modest, dare I say, "market correction" of recent years.
NOW Magazine |
Wayne Roberts |
08-04-2008 |
Food+Drink
Gay Activists Fight James Dobson's Induction into National Radio Hall of Famenew
Truth Wins Out founder Wayne Besen states that while his group could have lived with a win by, say, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, Dobson's agenda -- which includes curing homosexuality and lobbying against same-sex marriage -- makes Focus on the Family's election intolerable.
Chicago Reader |
Deanna Isaacs |
08-04-2008 |
Media
What's For Dinner? Local vs. Organicnew
Greenhouse gas emissions from organic flood flown around the globe or pesticides and synthetic fertilizers from "conventional" food grown by a local farmer? Is that the only choice?
The Coast, Halifax's Weekly |
Lezlie Lowe |
08-01-2008 |
Food+Drink
Arborists from Around the World Gather for the International Tree Climbing Championshipsnew
The tree-climbing championships are hosted and organized by the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA), a nonprofit advocacy group based in Champaign, Illinois. The competition has existed since 1976, but it has never received the kind of attention lavished upon similar outdoor events such as rock climbing and lumberjack sports.
Riverfront Times |
Keegan Hamilton |
08-01-2008 |
Recreation
