Freeman Interiors is an award winning Interior Design firm that emphasizes quality & detail in all phases of design from space planning, to design-build and accessories. This full service design firm will take you from “concept” to “completion”. Residential, Hospitality & the Corporate Industry are their clients. #freeman_interiors
1520 Spruce Street • Philadelphia, PA 19102
Pinefish – This seafood specialist offers a raw bar, lobsters, steaks, happy-hour oysters & a full bar. 1138 Pine St.
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I’m fascinated by people taking selfies. I remember when that craze started a few years ago, people either loved it or hated it swearing to never partake. Well I did give in and have been known to do a selfie or two in my life. At first I would only do half face selfies, but then I grew to love me and selfies and I am all in. Over the years I’ve captured a few of youse doing your best selfie and I present them here.
Nearly 1000 acres, miles and miles of trails, beautiful landscape and lots of wildlife, the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum is close to Philadelphia and a wonderful day trip for the whole family, friends or just a solo trip. I like to go there as often as I can, especially now with the warmer weather.
Stop by the front desk of the Visitor Center and find helpful information, including maps, brochures, birding checklists and restrooms. Binoculars and fishing rods are available for loan, free of charge. Food is not available for purchase. Explore the Center’s exhibits to learn more about the wildlife and habitats of the refuge and the communities that support the refuge’s work. In addition, please check the public event calendar for free guided nature walks and special events all year round, both on the refuge and in Southwest Philadelphia community centers!
I like to take the more woodsy paths so i can see wildlife, but there are gravel paths you can take as well.
There’s a boardwalk with benches for you to enjoy nature
Remember to wear your mask as the trails can be crowded
You can ride your bike on the trails
You can go fishing, make sure you have a license
Or you can just observe nature. Don’t disturb them, or try and pet them.
Enjoy your visit. We’re so lucky to have a wildlife preserve so close to Philadelphia. John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge at Tinicum.
8601 Lindbergh Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19153 (215) 365-3118
It’s Thursday, and it’s beautiful out. Diffidently head out back to enjoy in near the comfort of your home. I’ve gotten a lot of emails from folks of doing great stuff. Let’s see what’s happening.
Brr this weekend. The beaches are opening for socially distancing, and the universe is sending a rare Polar Vortex.
Thanks Hunnies Crispy Chicken and Aversa Pr for including me in last night’s #PhillyDinesIn Influencer Dinner. I really enjoyed the Buffalo Fried Chicken sandwhich. Today I had the Chicken Tenders. I can’t wait to order more in the future. The best chicken and I’m not just cackling about it.
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The City Sends out a great email every week on City Services
The Free Library is hosting “Quran Teen,” a virtual celebration in partnership with Philadelphia’s Islamic community. This one of a kind program on May 12 at 2 p.m. will feature an uplifting talk by a local Imam, followed by an introduction to some of the historic handwritten Islamic books in the Free Library’s collection, and will conclude with a melodic and heartwarming recitation from the Quran by a Philadelphia teen. Contact Kaitlyn Foti, FotiK@freelibrary.org, to speak with the organizers of this event.
Parks & Rec @ Home. On April 9, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation began a daily virtual programming series to bring the athletic, artistic, and self-improvement programs available at the City’s 159 rec centers to residents’ at home. Programs air on Parks & Rec’s Facebook page Monday through Friday at 3 p.m. Daily themes include: Movement Monday, Tuesday Art Club, and Wellness Wednesdays. To learn more or feature Parks & Rec @ Home in your reporting, contact Maita Soukup, Maita.Soukup@phila.gov.
New primary election date: What you need to know. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pennsylvania 2020 presidential primary election has been rescheduled to June 2, 2020. The new deadline for Philadelphia residents to register for this year’s primary is May 18, 2020. Mail-in and absentee ballots must be requested by Tuesday, May 26. For questions about upcoming elections, contact the Philadelphia City Commissioners: Nick Custodio, nick.custodio@phila.gov.
Check out more info from the City here
Re-watch Love From Philly! and donate what you can to help.
It was just over 2 years ago when Meek Mill was released from prison. One of the first places he popped up was a very public fashion show by his rumored girlfriend, the Milano di Rouge Fashion Show at the Shops of Liberty Place. Yesterday they welcomed a son to their family. Congrats to Meek Mill and Philadelphia fashion designer Milano. check out the photos from the fashion show here.
| STEVEN SINGER JEWELERS CELEBRATES MOTHER’S DAY WITH 24 KARAT GOLD-DIPPED ROSES THAT BENEFIT LOCAL HEALTHCARE HEROES |
Steven Singer Jewelers helps you celebrate Mother’s Day with a special gift that helps you send Mom love while you support local restaurants and healthcare heroes.
The man that everyone loves to hate is spreading love by using a portion of sales from Singer‘s famous 24 karat gold and platinum dipped roses to purchase meals from Philadelphia restaurants and donating them to essential hospital workers and first responders. For owner Steven Singer, this is a win-win that thanks those tirelessly working to treat Coronavirus patients, and to support an industry in crisis during these unprecedented times.
Mother’s Day has traditionally been one of the busiest and most beloved weeks of the year for a local independent jewelry store like Steven Singer Jewelers. This year, the holiday takes on a brand new meaning for the expert jewelers at Singers as it kicks off a multi-month campaign to give back and be a good community partner during the Coronavirus global pandemic.
Starting this week, a portion of sales from Singer’s famous gold and platinum dipped roses will support food orders from recovering restaurants that will be donated to local hospitals. The famed roses are 12 inches in length, and are made from real roses preserved and then dipped and trimmed in 24 karat gold or platinum. Each rose is handcrafted by artisans, so just like snowflakes, each rose is one-of-a-kind. The roses start at $59.95 and feature a lifetime guarantee.
This Year’s Line Up Includes:
Rose Gold (New) – The brand new color for 2020 is ROSE! Singer’s popular, fully dipped classic gold rose now comes deeply dipped in rose gold. Add something new to a previous bouquet or start a new one with Steven’s brand NEW Rose Gold Rose! We recommend that you make it a threesome by pairing this rose with our Classic Yellow Gold and our Classic Platinum Roses for a luxurious bouquet sure to stand out.
On top of dipped roses, Steven Singer’s website also has a host of other ideas to show Mom the love – especially during unprecedented times when we all need the support of our families more than ever. Other gift ideas for this Mother’s Day include everything from diamonds to her favorite jewels, from bracelets to necklaces and everything in between. While the jewelry showroom on Jeweler’s Row at 739 Walnut Street is closed due to state-wide guidelines, Singer’s team is shipping nationally with free shipping for orders placed by Wednesday, May 6, 2020 by 2:00pm (EST), and overnight shipping as an option for orders shipped by Thursday, May 7, 2020 by 2:00pm (EST). For Mother’s Day gift ideas, and to order the gold and platinum dipped roses, visit www.ihatestevensinger.com.
From sales from the Mother’s Day roses to date, Singer and local restaurants supplied hundreds of free meals in the Philadelphia, Detroit and Indianapolis to hospitals including Pennsylvania Hospital, Penn Presbyterian, Temple University Hospital, and Jefferson. Restaurant partners so far have included Hungry Pigeon, El Fuego, Bazbeaux Pizza, Milk Boy, Del Rossi Cheesesteaks, New Wave Cafe, Manny’s Deli, Bucharest Grill, Rybread, Sabrina’s Cafe and others. “We want to brighten the days of nurses, doctors and hospital workers that continue to show up, risking their own safety to keep the public safe,” added Singer.
It’s been a model minute since I photographed the Met Gala, ok it’s been about 10 years. I did a quick search and found some photos in my archives from 2008, the 2nd time I shot the Met Gala’s ‘Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy’ Costume Institute Gala held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Back then, in the early years before social media changed everything and attracted three times as many people than you see in this photo, it wasn’t very hard to get the shots I needed. I waited patiently after the event ended to meander across the street to get my shots, before the fans got up the courage to try their luck. If you dressed the part, ie like a photographer in all black, and were respectful, you could blend in back then as there wasn’t a lot of security or organization for the departure.
As celebrities exited The Met Gala like Actress Kate Mara and designer Zac Posen (Kate is best known for playing reporter Zoe Barnes in the Netflix political drama House of Cards. She’s the one who gets pushed in front of the subway. What a way to go, it was memorable.)
Ashley wearing a Keyhole Satin Evening Prom Gown, while her sister counterpart, Mary Kate glammed it up with her floor length gold pieced dress. I believe both of these outfits were from their fashion line The Row.
The show stopper entrance of the night was definitely André Leon Talley, who wore a signature cape. When he got to the middle of the stairs he opened his cape to reveal tennis great Venus Williams. A very calculated move, and noted in all the press the next day. Recently Andre wrote a book on his former boss, Anna Wintour, Vogue editor-in-chief and artistic director of publisher Condé Nast — as well as the name behind the Met’s Anna Wintour Costume Center . Last week, an excerpt from former Vogue editor-at-large André Leon Talley’s memoir, “Chiffon Trenches,” revealed that he has been left with “huge emotional and psychological scars” from his relationship with his longtime friend Wintour, whom he’s fallen out with in recent years. The book will be released September 8, during New York Fashion Week NYFW, another event where Anna Wintour reigns over. Touche André Leon Talley!!
The announcement was livestreamed via the Foundation’s Twitter account and co-hosted by VISIT PHILADELPHIA President and CEO Jeff Guaracino and Clare Reichenbach, CEO of the James Beard Foundation. As the original nominee announcement was set to take place in Philadelphia, the Foundation shared the virtual stage with several others from the great city, including Mayor Jim Kenney, Philadelphia’s Kalaya Thai Kitchen chef and owner, Chutatip “Nok” Suntaranon **(Nominee for Best New Restaurant), and Jamila Robinson, 2020 Journalism Awards Committee Vice Chair and Food Editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer. David Whitaker, President & CEO of Choose Chicago, also joined virtually from the Awards’s host city of Chicago.
Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic (D.C., DE, MD, NJ, PA, VA)
Outstanding Chef (Presented by All-Clad Metalcrafters)
A chef who sets high culinary standards and who has served as a positive example for other food professionals. Eligible candidates must have been working as a chef for the past five years.
Nominees were announced in nearly 60 categories of the Foundation’s various awards programs, including Restaurant and Chef, Restaurant Design, and Media. A complete list of nominees can be found at the end of this release, as well as at jamesbeard.org/awards.
Additionally, the Foundation announced today that they will forego hosting a physical ceremony for the 2020 Media Awards and instead will issue a press release on Wednesday, May 27, 2020 announcing the winners. Finally, Restaurant & Chef Award winners are now slated to be announced on Friday, September 25, 2020, from Chicago and they will be broadcast live via the James Beard Foundation’s Twitter feed. Additional details on the September announcement, including format and location, are forthcoming.
Check out the James Beard Foundation Awards Website for the rest of the nominations
It was a beautiful weekend, I hope you had a chance to enjoy the sunshine, even it was just on your front stoop or opening your window. Get out there today as well cause I think most of the week it’s gonna rain, a chilly rain. Ugh, it’s bad enough right…I haven’t done a “HughE Around Philly” column in awhile so let’s see what’s happening.
Oh my gosh, I haven’t worked out at all for the past 6 weeks. That has to stop. This past week I was checking a few studios who are virtually sweating.
Congrats to my friends Rosemary Connors and Ben Cross on the birth of their beautiful baby son, Ben Jr. who is in 1 month old today!!
Congrats Philadelphia Independents on their 6th Anniversary! Much love to Tiffica, Jennifer, and Ashley for their successful all handmade, all local. business in Old City.
People Doing Good: Medical Students for Masks a registered nonprofit raising money for PPE (N95 masks) to protect Philly area healthcare workers. ⇩ Website for more info ⌲ DM to get involved! linktr.ee/medical_students_for_masks
Meet the Founding Organizers of CoverAid Director Elissa Bloom, executive director of Philadelphia Fashion Incubator is proud to be a part of this incredible initiative supplying much needed PPE to the Philadelphia healthcare community. In the past 6 weeks CoverAid PHL volunteer sewers made 6,894 masks and have production orders of over 46,000 masks.
Thanks so much to Philly Mag and Brian Howard’s compilation story on the COVID19 on 12 Philadelphians Share Their Coronavirus Pandemic Impact Stories and specifically the story on my journey. My Pandemic Story: by Jason Sheehan HughE Dillon on Surviving COVID-19 and Wanting to Do More to Help
Happy May 1. It’s been a difficult last 8 weeks; a huge sacrifice for all of us to Stay Home, Social Distance and Give Up Our Freedom (and jobs) for the good of humanity. Life will definitely be different, even after the vaccine. One thing I really hope happens if someone has a cold, the flu, a sore throat, they will stay home. There’s so much conflicted info out there, and so many different onions. I found this article to be very informative. Head on over to the site to read the answers, or ask a question of the author.
Scott Hsieh, Research Scientist at Mayo ClinicUpdated Mar 26 ·
You asked for possibilities, so I’ll give you four:
TOTAL ERADICATION
This is how SARS ended. Despite reaching multiple countries, rapid and severe action by multiple governments cut the case count to zero. Once the virus disappeared from the last human host, SARS was declared eradicated.
SARS was about as contagious as COVID-19 and certainly more deadly. But it didn’t have the ability to hide in mild cases like COVID-19 does.
If the world had gotten its act together two months ago, total eradication of COVID-19 would have been a real possibility. Today, it is looking very very difficult. It may be taking up residence in rural towns in Africa, 200 miles away from the nearest hospital, away from easy government intervention. So do we just throw up our hands into the air and give up now? That brings us to …
THE “HERD IMMUNITY” STRATEGY
Historically, major plagues (think Black Death) infected and infected until we reached herd immunity. If half the world has already experienced and recovered from COVID-19, then the virus will have a hard time spreading because it will hit the wall of an immune patient as often as a vulnerable one. This is the basis of the modeling that says 70% of the world will eventually be infected by COVID-19. (Note that these models usually assume that we stand back and do nothing at all, which is the worst case scenario)
There’s no question that herd immunity would work. After all, it DID work with the Black Death. But it’ll cost us millions of lives to get there, our hospitals will definitely overflow, and moreover, a vaccine is probably just a year away. We can do better than this.
LET’S JUST HOPE IT GOES AWAY IN THE SUMMER
This has become popular in certain circles. The flu is seasonal, so maybe COVID-19 will be also? Can’t we hope?
There are two problems here. The first is geographical. When it’s summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s winter in the Southern Hemisphere. So let’s say you live in Europe or the USA. Even if you don’t care about the people below the equator, they would experience outbreaks during their winter (our summer), and some carriers would inevitably fly back to the Northern Hemisphere around September and we’ll face the disease again. This year it was easy to travel ban China in January, a few more countries in February. What are we going to do this fall? Travel ban the entire Southern Hemisphere? Travel ban the rest of the world two months later when it takes root across the globe? You still have to survive all the way to next summer.
The other problem is more subtle and has to do with R0, the basic reproductive number. Seasonal flu has an R0 between 1.1 and 1.5, so it grows exponentially. We don’t have to push it down very far to get it less than 1, where it will decay exponentially (that’s what makes it seasonal). COVID-19 has an R0 of 2 or 3. It might take an R0 beating but still stay above one. This means it would slow down, but nonetheless continue to expand in spite of the added sunlight.
ENHANCED SURVEILLANCE AND CONTACT TRACING AS A BRIDGE TO VACCINE
I think this is the hope of many developed countries today. It goes like this: declare a national emergency to cut the case load way down, buy time, and raise awareness about social distancing and hand hygiene. Put drive-through test locations in every major city (Korea). Pass a law saying that every hospitalized patient with pneumonia must be tested for COVID-19 (Singapore). And mobilize teams of epidemiologists, preferably hundreds of them, to spring into action once you lift restrictions.
Now with this infrastructure in place, you are guaranteed to catch outbreaks before they become large. 20% of COVID-19 patients need to be hospitalized, so even if you are only testing people who report to the hospital you should still catch outbreaks when they are on average five people in size. Once you’ve identified a case, deploy one of your teams. Get the 30 closest individuals to each patient, isolate them all for two weeks and test all of them. If any of them test positive, repeat the process again and grab another 30 individuals.
This process of contact tracing is a targeted lockdown. Rather than shutting down the entire country, you shut down a small community of about 30. China found that 85% of transmission occurs in family clusters. By drawing a larger net of about 30, you might stop something like 95% of all transmission. In Singapore, they will call you at home three times a day if you are in isolation, and if you run outside against the rules, they attach a GPS bracelet on you.
Sometimes, people get through contact tracing (or arrive from a different country) and you’ll see another outbreak, but you’ll catch it again when this happens. China used this process at scale in Wuhan, having mobilized 1800 such contact tracing teams with 5 or more people each.
Oh yes, ideally you do this all WITHOUT declaring a national emergency and closing every restaurant in the nation for three weeks. Countries around the world had time to prepare, but didn’t. We are paying the price now.
Keep this up for a year and then the vaccine is ready. Now you can get your herd immunity without sacrificing 2% of your countrymen, and you can go on with your life like nothing ever happened.
SOURCES
For those curious, here’s further reading straight from the experts.
Recommendations from the WHO Infectious Hazards Advisory Group
Contact tracing as applied in Singapore
Report of the WHO-China Joint Mission on COVID-19 (summary recommendations on page 21)
UPDATE March 26: An article in The Atlantic appeared titled “How the Pandemic Will End” that spells out much the same possibilities that I wrote above. The writer picked out three possible scenarios that exactly match mine (except for the “seasonal flu” part, which I mainly wrote as a mythbuster), so if you liked this answer and want more, you can check that out too. More Info At https://www.quora.com/q/coronavirus?source=banner
When I first started out with Philly Mag, almost a decade ago, besides the party photo columns I had another column called One Shot. One shot was a standalone shot of an event, celebrity or something of interest sorta like Instagram before Instagram was a thing. I thought I would post a few of my favorite from the last decade.
This photo of Harrison Ford filming a movie in Philly called Paranoia. It was a great summer. Paranoia is a 2013 American thriller film directed by Robert Luketic. Barry L. Levy and Jason Hall wrote the screenplay, loosely based on the 2004 novel of the same name by Joseph Finder. It stars Liam Hemsworth, (Who brought his then girlfriend Miley Cyrus to the set everyday for the first month until she became too much of a distraction as her legions of fans would follow. She was asked to not show up at the set anymore. This is when she began exploring Philly, especially South Street, Philly Thrift for AIDS and got her famous locks cut off into a pixie cut. The duo had been staying at the aka Rittenhouse, and Miley would walk her dog every day at the park, nearly unnoticed. Then the fans found her at the aka and would wait every day for her to exit. The couple then moved to the St. James where they rented an apartment for the duration of the filming.)
Gary Oldman, Amber Heard, and Harrison Ford. The film was released on August 16, 2013 and bombed at the box office, grossing $16 million against a budget of $35 million. It was described as “clichéd and unoriginal” by review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, where it has a 7% approval rating.[4] (Harrison really has to give up flying, earlier this week he was cited by the FAA for improper crossing an active runway. BTW Harrison Ford is married to actress Calista Flockhart, who grew up in Medford NJ. Flockhart attended Shawnee High School. Following graduation in 1983, Flockhart attended Glassboro State College (now Rowan University) ) appeared in my August 2012 Philly Mag One Shot Column.
It went like this: Food for thought? Was Harrison Ford thinking about what he was going to have for dinner at Rouge last night? Because that’s where he went about an hour after I snapped this shot on the set of Paranoia, which was filming at 12th and Walnut streets…. By the way, I’d like to thank the Starbucks at 12th and Walnut for letting me sit there for seven hours to get the shots I needed yesterday. I think I tried everything on their menu to “pay for my seat.” I especially liked their chicken salad sandwich with cranberries. (Yes, I shot this photo through their window.) Head on over to Philly Mag to read the rest of the column and see where the cast were spotted. They were an active bunch Philly Mag One Shot Column
It happened, of course we’d love if the money was used for the Front Line Health Care Workers instead of honoring them, but that wasn’t an optional. Let’s look at a few photos I shot, and at the end there’s a link to CBSPhilly with more photos.
One final fly over. I have a few photos including crowd shots
CBSPhilly Photos
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The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts – where there’s always something going on.