Bach Choir of Pittsburgh Online Charity Auction Is Open

Auction closed, 3/12/08. Thanks if you participated!

If live in the Pittsburgh area, and you're into the Steelers, art, music, dinners out or days of beauty, the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh Charity Online Charity Auction has something for you.

Auction items include Steelers memorabilia and tickets, Pitt basketball tickets, a weekend condo rental at Hidden Valley, and a shopping spree at Lippencott Alpacas Farm Store.

The auction is open until March 12, 2008.

All proceeds benefit the Bach Choir of Pittsburgh.

Support the Science2008 Presidential Debate, Set for April 18 in Philadelphia

I was an early supporter of ScienceDebate 2008, when it was just a twinkle in The Intersection's eye. While I'm not a scientist or a science blogger per-se, I've long been fascinated by science, blog about it occasionally, and find our country's slide towards the endarkenment quite depressing.

Through the hard work of Science Debate 2008, they've reserved space in Philadelphia and have invited the major presidential candidates. Great job, folks!

We don't know if any of the major candidates will show up, but we do know they've all been invited.

While "big voices" (like The New York Times) have urged this science debate, I felt more small voices would help too. So, I sent the following E-mail to Clinton and Obama today:

My E-mail to the Clinton Campaign:


Subject: I Sincerely Hope You Accept the Proposal to Participate in the ScienceDate2008


Your campaign was the first campaign to talk about the importance of good, unbiased science in government. Please help show America that you are willing to debate the important issues of science with Barack Obama (I'm not holding my breath that any Republican candidates will show up - we know how they feel about science!).

Sincerely,


Laurie D. T. Mann
McDonald, PA

PS: I am pretty sure I will vote for you in the Pennsylvania primary which follows this debate, partially because you indicated earlier in your campaign that you were taking science seriously. I want to believe that you still do!


*********************************


My E-mail to the Obama Campaign


Please Accept the Challenge to Debate Hillary Clinton in Philadelphia on April 18th on the Issues of Science


Your campaign hasn't talked too much about the importance of good, unbiased science in governmental-decision-making - Clinton's has. Please help show America that you are willing to debate the important issues of science with Hillary Clinton (I'm not holding my breath that any Republican candidates will show up - we know how they feel about science!).


Sincerely,


Laurie D. T. Mann
McDonald, PA

PS: I am pretty sure I will vote for Hillary Clinton in the Pennsylvania primary which follows this debate, partially because she indicated early in her campaign that she was taking science seriously. While I'm glad your campaign has thought about global warming and the need for energy independence, we need a pro-science president. Frankly, most European countries, Japan and Brazil have more pro-science governments than America's current government.

Is Huckabee Nadering Romney?

It looks like!

Not that I'm a fan of any of them, but it is kind of funny.

Forbes Removes "Whistleblowers on Fraud Facing Penalties"

Now, I know Web sites, particularly magazine and newspaper Web sites, are run for profit and are under no obligation to keep all their content online.

That said, I think it's a huge mistake that Forbes magazine seems to have removed the famous "Whistleblowers on Fraud Facing Penalties" article, written by Deborah Hastings and published on 8/24/07. It was about the US government prosecuting US citizens who were trying to fight fraud in Iraq.

So I wrote to Forbes to complain:


To: Forbes Magazine
Subject: What Happened to the "Whistleblowers on Fraud Facing Penalties" by Deborah Hastings Article (date: 08/24/07)?

Why isn't it online anymore?

I thought that was one of the most important articles Forbes ever published, not to mention one of the most unlikely, given the conservative tilt of Forbes. I blogged about the article, and linked to it from my Web site.

So, I did a periodic link check and found the article cannot be found at the Forbes site. I think that's very unfortunate. It's too important to not keep it online in its entirety as a constant reminder of how far our country has sunk over the last 7 years.

Luckily, I downloaded a copy of it. I am tempted to post a different 20% of it every day on my Web site, so that the content can be retained on the Web and without violating your copyright.



Disgusted, but not surprised,

Laurie D. T. Mann
McDonald, PA

Finally - Dim Sum in the Pittsburgh Area

2012 update - the dim sum place in Robinson Township died a few years back. I miss it. I'm not sure why this blog post gets so many visits. When we go to Washington, then we get decent dim sum! [[I can't recommend the York Buffet Sushi & Grill across from the Mall at Robinson. I've been there maybe three times, it has a few kinds of dim sum, everything there tends to taste stale.]]

I've had dim sum many times in Boston, New York and San Francisco since at least 1982. When I moved back to Pittsburgh in 1993, I kept waiting for a genuine dim sum restaurant with the carts to open up. I figured that since Pittsburgh was always at least ten years behind the times, maybe one would open up by 2000. I shouldn't have held my breath.

It's not that I haven't had good Chinese appetizers in Pittsburgh - I have. The China Palace in Shadyside has excellent appetizers. Ditto the New Dumpling House in Squirrel Hill, Spice Island Tea House in Oakland and Ya Fei in Robinson. We always meant to try the Hong Kong in Dormont, but as they only served dim sum one Sunday a month, it was easy to forget to go there. And while there seems to be a dim sum place in Allison Park, I've never been to Allison Park.

So I was delighted to stumble over the Golden Palace, 5920 Steubenville Pike (near Beaver Grade Rd. on the same side of the street) in Robinson Township (412-489-5398). It's in a former Chinese buffet restaurant that closed last year and has just reopened. While they don't serve buffet, it's no great loss. It has a pretty typical Chinese menu and it has dim sum every day. Not only dim sum, but dim sum from carts on the weekends! (The menu online is in Chinese, but they include photos of some items.)

It was pretty good. The menu isn't huge, but the steamed buns were excellent as were the shrimp dumplings and turnip cake. We didn't have any dessert, but the dessert cart had some good-looking custard tarts and sesame balls.

It's definitely worth the trip to Robinson Township to go to this restaurant. It's on the same side of the road as the Arby's and the Eat and Park. Maybe if they get more business, they'll add more kinds of dim sum!