A question on Thursday/Mondays quiz in the Edgar Allan Poe round had to do with the bird Grip. “The bird that inspired The Raven was named Grip and actually belonged to this writer, more famous than Poe at the time. Who was that famous writer?” The correct answer was Charles Dickens. If you haven’t already read it, please check out this piece I did recently on that very bird. The stuffed bird is actually at the Philly Free Library. I think it’s pretty damn interesting that a single bird inspired two of the most famous authors of the 19th century (though I’ll personally take Poe over Dickens any day of the week).

Last week I did a piece on 5 things you didn’t know about Ben Franklin. They ended up discussing it on 1210 AM. Did you know that he hung out with Satanists, was in the Chess Hall of Fame, and left the city of Philly $200 million…in 1991?

On Sunday, two men became immortals for all the wrong reasons. Kyle Williams and Billy Cundiff both came up small at the end of very important games. I decided to look back at Philadelphia athletes and coaches who choked…and what Williams and Cundiff can learn from how #1 reacted to it.

I don’t do a lot of food and drink stuff on here, but I do like to share when I find interesting people. And this guy sounds pretty interesting. He is known simply as Lêe, and he’s opening a bar on 10th and Race soon called the Hop Sing Laundromat (named after a characer on Bonanza). The whole thing seems to be shrouded in mystery. It was supposed to open like a year ago, and it still doesn’t have an opening date. There are thousands of pennies on the floor, and thousands of nickels on the bar, there will be complimentary shoe shines at the door, and there will be over 1,000 types if liquor available. Here are a few choice lines from an interview Lêe recently did with Philly Eater.

…we’ve moved the bar from one side of the room to the other in the middle of the night because we thought the employees should have a better view of the room…If Hop Sing Laundromat lives up to the expectation of our guests and the media, then it is just pure luck. And, if this whole thing goes south, then I and I alone will be the biggest idiot in town for trying, and rightly so…My biggest fear, actually, is dying before I get to open Hop Sing Laundromat. Honestly…Your time spent here should remain private and not end up on a website. There are no recording devices of any kind allowed in the main room, and that includes cellphone cameras…To point your phone camera at someone not in their best light is demeaning at best. Privacy is a privilege and not a right in 2012, which is really strange. I believe in those values. I understand there are people who need to be updated instantly on what’s going on in their world at all times, but they won’t be doing it at Hop Sing Laundromat..What I’ve learned on my research trip, driving 33,000 miles in 70 days through 48 states, is that every cocktail bar thinks their version of a classic cocktail is the best version ever made. They all stock their establishments with a limited selection of spirits to make their own versions of these cocktails. That’s a mistake. Our guest’s version of any cocktail is and always will be the best version of them all. The perfect drink.