With news coming like an avalanche out of Washington about the President authorizing illegal wiretaps in the name of the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act, the emerging controversy about the present and future uses of radio frequency ID chips, and the Department of Justice requesting and receiving the query records ... more

A while ago, and for a number of different reasons, I became interested in cryptography. For those who donӴ yet know, cryptography is the study of Գecret writing,Ԡof turning a readable text into an unreadable code or cipher, in order to keep it secret. I put it that way because thereӳ a difference ... more

Around the same time FOX Network personality Bill OӒeilly was defending his defense of Christmas and the War in Iraq to television-talk show host David Letterman, the news scroll started to roll at the bottom of the set. News around midnight on Tuesday, Jan. 3 was that 12 of the 13 miners trapped ... more

blog; (in both its noun AND a verb forms) is a shortened form of the word ԷeblogԠwhich is itself a contraction of two other words ֠ԷebԠand ԬogԠ(So itӳ simple: ԷebԠ+ ԬogԠ= ԷeblogԠand ԷeblogԠgets shortened to Ԣlogԩ. The ԷebԠis the Internet and a ԬogԠis a diary or a journal. ... more

Pennsylvanians, in the November 8th Election, showed that the rage against unwarranted and seemingly unconstitutional pay raises continues to burn. With two State Supreme Court Justices up for retention, votes that typically see success, and overwhelming approval of those judges, the voters spoke a loud ... more

The weather in Pittsburgh may not be the only grey cloud over the city. With Pittsburgh's declining population and the rise of music downloading off the Internet, clubs, promoters and record stores are also feeling the chill. Gone are legendary hotspots like the Decade, Graffiti, the Electric ... more

Rob Hoffman of The Front had a chance to talk with Doug Martsch of Built to Spill about the band, life, and the music industry. Built to Spill will be playing Mr. Smallӳ Theatre in Millvale on September 30th at 8:00PM.
Rob: What do you think has given you the credibility to survive ... more

Ԕhe standard gripe about Pittsburgh's music scene is that the talent's here -- most would argue that there's more original-music talent here than in many other big cities -- but [there is] no infrastructure to support it.Ԡ֠Justin Hopper, music critic 1: A Good Night Had By All You should have ... more

Pittsburgh Comedy History 101 I have been involved in the Pittsburgh comedy scene for almost 23 years since opening The Funny Bone in1982. I have seen many acts come and go, the majority mostly going, a small number coming, brutality masters whoӳ only calling card was ... more

Everyone wanted to do something. No one knew what it should be. Several students telephoned the other branch campuses. Their students were in the same predicament. Energy was there, but leadership was lacking. It was as if government had declared open season on students. Scott Delaney was sick ... more