Philly.com – the online home of the Inquirer and the Daily News – has a new redesign.

Our man Daniel McQuade of Philadelphia Weekly’s Will Do blog has some thoughts.

Well, well! Philly.com went a redesigned and… well, they got rid of the changing front page via Javascript, so the redesign is an immediate success in one area. Reader Christopher emails: “The site has totally gone retro 80’s pastel with geometric shapes and magic marker headlines. Feels like Miami Vice.” That kind of feels right, though — remember, this is a company that pays both Michael Smerconish and Christine Flowers, who must turn in their columns in magic marker.

Gauging TTN staff, our lame duck Editor, Chris Reber, says it “looks good, but isn’t that the same design as Stereogum?”

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Temple education professor Marc Lamont Hill was spotted going out to dinner with TV personality Star Jones, Dan Gross of the Philadelphia Daily News reported.

Celebrity media was all over Star leaving her previous man, or so I’m told.

Our man Marc Lamont Hill is always a “Sexy Single” when the Daily News gets into that and he’s a frequent contributor to cable news shows. On his blog, comments are raging on the rumors.

Photo courtesy of Bossip. 

We all read about that scam perpetrated against Temple’s email system. Fraudulent emails were sent to users, some of whom responded with their passwords. Spammers then used Temple’s system to send out advertisements for enlargement creams, enlargement pills, and get rich quick schemes. There is a silver lining, though.

I was not one of the users who fell for this scam. This is quite unusual, because I have a habit of being fooled. Two factors have combined to make me susceptible. I get excited whenever I receive emails. Each email is an opportunity to socialize. I cannot resist replying. Furthermore, my email signature used to contain five of my most important passwords and two credit card numbers so I would not forget them. My life coach, Dr. Guillermo Guadalupe, advised me to end this practice.

The worst example of my gullibility was when I mistakenly entered into a business relationship with a barrister from Nigeria. Kenneth J. Eket urgently needed my help. A previously unknown relative of mine, Engr M. Soodhalter, had been doing business in Nigeria when he died of liver explosion. He had been investing heavily in ice cream futures. There were over 42 metric tons of ice creams being held in a warehouse, ready to be sold at market. As the only living relative of Engr M. Soodhalter, only I could authorize any movement of this business account. Time was of the essence as the ice cream would soon melt. To move the ice cream, he needed a certified letter with my signature, a $5000 initial commitment, and all information relating to an active bank account of mine. After an email exchange, I wired him the money and sent him all the information and documents he needed.

I later realized this was all a scam. I lost the money in the account, the money I sent him, and some expensive letterhead. This scam also cost me 76 metric tons of cherry popsicles I was holding for some people in Senegal. The scammers had gotten into my other business dealings. I later inquired about the popsicles, and nobody in Senegal knew where they were.

I realize now, I should have gotten a life coach years ago. Dr. Guillermo Guadalupe controls my finances, and I am scam free. Thank goodness he found me at that free government money seminar.

Kirk Soodhalter is a Ph.D. student in the department of mathematics at Temple. Originally from Houston, TX, he got his undergraduate degree from Tulane University in New Orleans, LA. He likes to get haircuts and make toast. He enjoys manufacturing satire, more of which can be seen at his personal blog.

As the Democratic nomination process continues, supporters of both candidates accuse the media of bias. Each time a particular negative narrative takes hold in news stories for a few days, it is a sign of some sort of bias. At one time, these arguments gained much traction with me, but I was enlightened.

I used to think the media held a bias against me, personally. A few years ago, a now defunct kitten fancier website held the Kitty Cat Cutie Contest to which entrants would submit their cutest picture of a kitten doing something adorable. I submitted a photograph of my two-year-old tabby, Mr. Foo Foo. In the picture, Mr. Foo Foo is wearing a little bonnet and I am feeding him mashed tuna fish (chicken of the sea). At first, I just sent emails to my friend, imploring them to vote for my photo of Mr. Foo Foo. I realized, though, that I was going to need to recruit more people around the country to submit their votes. I sent press releases announcing the debut of Mr. Foo Foo on the cat fancier website to newspapers and to local and national television news organizations. Would you believe that not one of these organizations was willing to even send me a reply acknowledging my submission? I held a press conference, and nobody was there; well, except for Mother.

Understandably, I concluded there was media bias against me. Then something happened that allowed me to gain some perspective. A farmer called McKracken in rural Texas filed a complaint alleging that I was sneaking Mr. Foo Foo into his chicken coupe and turning him loose for the night. The media was all over this story like stink on rice. Local muckrakers wrote reams about Mr. Foo Foo’s contest entry and subsequent coupe incident. They sustained the controversy and frightened other farmers. Of course, the media completely distorted what had occurred, but that did not matter. It was all about the Lincolns.

On the whole, the media is not biased toward a particular point of view. News purveyors will frame a story in such a way to inflame passions and fears in order to generate revenue. There was never an anti- Foo Foo agenda. The only media bias is toward revenue generating controversy, even if it is manufactured.

Kirk Soodhalter is a Ph.D. student in the department of mathematics at Temple. Originally from Houston, TX, he got his undergraduate degree from Tulane University in New Orleans, LA. He likes to get haircuts and make toast. He enjoys manufacturing satire, more of which can be seen at his personal blog.