Greater Metropolitan Rainforest

Shouldn't they call that a dare?

2006-07-30T19:27:00.000-07:00

Seattlest travelled to Ballard and snapped a picture of a lutefisk eating contest. What could one possibly win that would make eating that much lutefisk worthwhile?

An unpleasant sound

2006-07-30T19:13:00.000-07:00

KEXP overnight DJ Greg Jaspan was kicked to the curb on July 19th, and he has a few things to say about it. Here's just one quote from an extremely long interview:

I was told that as a sign of "KEXP's appreciation of my work," they wanted to extend to me a severance package of eight weeks pay and that all I had to do was sign the agreement form. The agreement form was five pages of legal jargon which basically said that if I say anything to the press that reflects poorly on KEXP in any way, to be determined at the sole discretion of KEXP, that it would constitute a breach of the agreement and in such case they reserved the right to recoup every penny of this severance pay from me and sue me for damages.

For the record, Jaspan didn't take the hush money.

Savage and the winning team

2006-07-30T18:58:00.000-07:00

The Stranger's Dan Savage has an op-ed piece in Sunday's New York Times about the Washington state Supreme Court's decision to let marriage discrimination stand.

These defeats have demoralized supporters of gay marriage, but I see a silver lining. If heterosexual instability and the link between heterosexual sex and human reproduction are the best arguments opponents of same-sex marriage can muster, I can’t help but feel that our side must be winning. Insulting heterosexuals and discriminating against children with same-sex parents may score the other side a few runs, but these strategies won’t win the game

.

Check it out: It's titled Same-Sex Marriage Wins by Losing.

Some good news happened on Wednesday

2006-07-30T11:44:00.000-07:00

Idiot court decisions had us gnashing our teeth on Wednesday to the point where we missed the silver lining in local sports news. Actually, if we were to be perfectly honest we would have overlooked the sports news even on a regular day.

Via Seattlest, we learn that Carl Everett, the Mariner's designated dumb jock, was given the heave-ho. It wasn't so much his quotes about dinosaurs ("didn't exist") or his bizarre statements about gays ("gays being gay is wrong"), but for the fact that he was just really starting to suck at playing baseball. Or at least that's what we think they're saying.

Oh, well. Perhaps he can join John Rocker wherever he's batting these days.

Ethicurean: Everybody must get doned!

2006-07-30T11:33:00.000-07:00

"Doned" defined as "the consumption of milk and donuts," and its similarly stupefying effect. The gentle and sustainable folk at The Ethicurean decided to head out in the midst of last weekend's hellish heat wave and perform a donut duel. Subjects of this sugary three-way include local favorites Mighty-O and Top Pot and national glazed behemoth Krispy Kreme. The winner probably won't surprise you, but the writing is entertaining enough to make the journey more fulfilling than the destination.

Steam: The other white heat

2006-07-30T11:15:00.000-07:00

Seattle Steam Corporation
Originally uploaded by Mr. Boutwell.

You pay your gas bill, your water bill and your electric bill. There's the cable bill, the phone bill and then usually an add-on to one or the other is the Internet bill. When was the last time you paid a steam bill?

People don't quite believe you when you bring it up, but steam is a real and regulated public utility. Running beneath the streets in many of America's older major cities, including Seattle, are pipes delivering fresh, hot steam to large office buildings, hotels and apartments.

According this post at Answers.com, the Seattle Steam Company (plant door pictured above) has been delivering natural gas-created steam through its 18 miles of pipes to Harborview Medical Center, the Seattle Public Library and other clients since 1893.

It's mostly used for heat, though the hospitals find it does nicely for sterilization, too.

Photo of the Day: Seattle Arrival

2006-07-30T11:05:00.000-07:00

dockin
Originally uploaded by Severis.

The Evening Bulletin

2006-07-25T22:20:00.000-07:00

Queen Anne residents continue to tantrum about the inevitable.

No matter what happens, a bunch of people are going to be pissed off around 8AM Pacific time.

I had no idea that pay your storage bill every month was something other than bleeding obvious.

The Evening Bulletin

2006-07-24T22:13:00.000-07:00

From The Stranger: Jamie Pedersen seems to have momentarily forgotten about this thing called the Internet and this other thing called news story archives. Must be something in the water these guys drink, because Mike McGavick can't even go a few days without lying.

Did you know it's hot outside? Seriously.

Seattlest reviews Kaleidoscope Eyes: Songs for Busby Berkeley, a live performance featuring alternate soundtracks to the spectacular scenery of Berkeley's film choreography. If I wasn't currently living in dire financial straits, I'd certainly attend this final weekend.

Photo of the day: Taking the plunge

2006-07-24T22:10:00.000-07:00

Cannonball
Originally uploaded by djwudi.

A multiple exposure from someone's Greenlake swin this weekend (sure hope they showered afterward). Seemed appropriate, given the weather.

Greater Metropolitan Rainforest

2006-07-14T10:30:00.000-07:00

Seattle From Above
Originally uploaded by Simonds.

I love this picture. You really need to click through and then click "All Sizes" to appreciate it.

Picture of the day: Underground Tour

2006-07-10T11:41:00.000-07:00

Underground Tour
Originally uploaded by djwudi.

Along with the Space Needle and those amphibious tourbuses, Underground Tour is one of those uniquely Seattle tourism draws that manage to provoke a mixed reaction from the locals. Tourists tend to either like it or become completely irate that they paid eleven bucks for the privelege of walking through a series of basements. I'm not sure what they were expecting. Underground skyscrapers, perhaps?

Around the world in a coffee cup

2006-07-09T20:43:00.000-07:00

Coffee is serious business in Seattle, in more ways than one. This is probably the only city outside of New York where I've actually encountered people who will divide up their friends, co-workers or neighborhoods based on the type of coffee they drink.

Now you can out-snob the coffee snobs by further divvying up those demographics on nationality. Are they an adherent to the Italian school of espresso, or perhaps into the 50/50 dilution so favored by Parisians? This handy guide from the Well Fed Network stands ready to assist you in your beverage segregation.

Upcoming: Seattle Black Pride

2006-07-08T16:08:00.000-07:00

Queen City carries news of the upcoming Seattle Black Pride weekend. Events take place place July 21 - July 23 as a series of dances, movies and workshops. Catch most events at the Langston Hughes Center; films at the Seattle Asian Art Museum.

How about that mighty big weather

2006-07-08T15:48:00.000-07:00

Fountain at Westlake Plaza
Originally uploaded by TC..

We're in the warming phase now, as the weather widget on my battered iBook shows a current temperature of 81 and promising an eventual high of 84 this afternoon. If you can't make it out to Alki or Golden Gardens to dip your toes in the chilly waters, why not take a stroll through downtown's man-made waterfall at Westlake Park? Yes, through. There's a steel gangway going right through the middle of the fountain. Pomegranite smoothie at Starbucks afterwards is optional, but highly reccomended.

Followup to WA's attempt at regulating online speech

2006-07-08T15:41:00.000-07:00

In response to this post: WA wants to control what you write about on the Internet, I raised concerns about the state of Washington's attempts at regulating Internet speech, by asserting that anyone even writing about online gambling would be breaking the state's new law prohibiting the act of online gambling.

In that post, I promised to raise hell. I did my part. I was met with deafening silence.

Sometimes a cause just isn't sexy enough for certain organizations to care -- or, as one group told me, they're not really interested until the state actually attempts to prosecute someone for writing about online gambling.

So it goes.

Critical Mass: The police just can't contain themselves

2006-07-01T17:19:00.000-07:00

What is it about the Critical Mass bike rides that bring out the bad apples in police departments? Here's a disturbing report from yesterday's Critical Mass in Seattle:

...one beefy white guy got out of the van and ran after a guy sitting on a bike (he was not corking at that point). He was in the process of getting ready to ride off at the time. When the guy from the van ran after him, it happened really fast. he caught the bike rider and threw him to the ground. I assumed at the time that he was an angry driver with road rage and jumped off my bike to help the rider. I started pulling the rider up by his backpack in order to get him away from the nut attacking him who kept grabbing him and throwing him to the ground. At the same time, the guy on the bike was trying to get free of his backpack (the attacker had grabbed it too) and was swinging violently too as I was falling over the bikes and trying to get in the middle to seperate the two and try to stop the violence. At that point, the attacker started yelling “Stop! Stop! You’re under fucking arrest! I’m a fucking cop! You’re under fucking arrest. I’m a fucking cop!” I didn’t believe him at first as he just seemeed to be so needlessly violent with no cause whatsoever. I kept trying to break them apart.

By then an asian (Hawiian?) cop had gotten out of the van and was involved with another biker who had been trying to pull the first cop off the first guy. That cop pinned the second biker to the ground face to the pavement. I *finally* saw a badge and backed off...

Full eyewitness report at The Stranger.

Anyone with images or video capture of yesterday's incident are encouraged to send them to SeattleBikeArrest@gmail.com.

Link below goes to Point83 discussion, where you'll find the latest events posted as they happen.

Blog imitates life

2006-06-30T20:02:00.000-07:00

I was at Sonya's tonight when a dramatic turf battle erupted over the window seat in the back bar! Dramaaaaaaaaaaaalamaaaaadingdong!

I saw the two guys get up to order drinks at the bar, and the two ladies came in and decided to shove all of their stuff aside -- cell phones, bags, and so forth -- to sit there. One guy comes back from the bar and says something to the effect of "hey, we're sitting here," The women (who happen to be black) start spewing some of the most racist bilge I've ever heard in any bar.

Actually it wasn't really all that dramatic of an ending, since the two guys decided to get up and leave the bar instead of escalate the situation. Good on them for taking the high road.

Or perhaps not. I'm doing my usual local Internet rounds and nearly fell out of my chair when I saw a post, allegedly from one of the men involved in tonight's tempest. The forum post I'm linking to at The Stranger's I, Anonymous is mean, in that catty high school girl sort of mean.

As for the "ladies" all I can say is, if that's the type of patron welcomed by Sonya's, I'll be more than happy to take my business back to the bars on Capitol Hill.

Or you could just get drunk

2006-06-30T10:09:00.000-07:00

There's always the Seattle International Beer Festival at the Mural Amphitheater in Seattle Center. Starting today and ending Sunday, $20 gets you in the door with ten "beer tickets" to use to sample the various brews. "Happy Hour" today from 4 - 5pm (12 - 1 this weekend) gets you 15 beer tickets.

If you can't make it, the Portland version of this swillfest kicks off on July 14th.

Weather report

2006-06-30T10:04:00.000-07:00

Wawona anchor
Originally uploaded by ChrisB in SEA.

It's going to be another nice weekend in Seattle, so why not head out to the Center for Wooden Boats and set sale on Lake Union in one of their many rentals. There's a few things land-based as well, including a survey of the schooner Wawona, which is pictured above.

Frasier finally gets his wish

2006-06-30T09:49:00.000-07:00

Moose, the Jack Russell terrier who played Eddie on the long-running, set-in-Seattle sitcom Frasier has died at the age of 16.

Flickr of the day

2006-06-28T13:55:00.000-07:00

Lazy Sunday
Originally uploaded by roscodebosco.

A nice shot from the Ballard Sunday Market. Making a mental note to check it out sometime soon.

The memory hole

2006-06-18T18:45:00.000-07:00

boobies.
Originally uploaded by Life As Art.

Don't you just hate it when you forget about something you wanted to do? I really wanted to go to the Fremont Solstice Parade on Saturday. Ah, well. There's always next year.

WA wants to control what you write about on the Internet

2006-06-15T19:27:00.000-07:00

The first casualty in the state's war on Internet gambling is a local Web site where nobody was actually doing any gambling.

-- Danny Westneat, Seattle Times columnist

Washington residents may have heard that the state recently enacted a law specifically making gambling at online casinos a crime. This is not the problem -- at least not for me. If you must pay the Stupid Tax, support your local Native American tribes.

The Washington State Gambling Commission has decided that writing about online gambling "in a way that seems promotional" is also illegal. It was enough to cause one Web site operator to shut down his casino review site. They're also telling The Seattle Times that their poker column may also be illegal.

The state is defining illegal as merely linking to a site where online gambling might be practiced or otherwise promoted. Let me repeat that: The state of Washington now regulates how and where its residents may link to other Internet resources.

I have a big problem with this. I hope that any other Washington resident would have a big problem with this, too.

First, I plan on writing to the ACLU and the EFF to say LOLWTF. I'd love to hear what they have to say about this attempt to regulate speech.

Next, I plan to submit this information and whatever I can find regarding the now-shuttered site to the folks at Chilling Effects.

After that, the next step would be to write to the gambling commission to ask them why they think they have been given the authority to act as thought police.

Once that letter has been finished, I'll write my representative in Olympia to ask what he or she thinks about the actions of this state bureaucracy. I shamefully admit I have been rather lax in paying attention to state politics. No more.

If you are a Washington resident, and if you care at all about a government agency trying to regulate your speech, then I implore you to do the same.

Pike Place Market, Seattle

2006-06-15T18:39:00.000-07:00

Pike Place Market, Seattle
Originally uploaded by David Sifry.

I love the clouds on this shot.

Photo of the day

2006-06-13T14:53:00.000-07:00

Pink! Elephant
Originally uploaded by sprizee.

Picture of the day

2006-06-12T12:02:00.000-07:00

Seattle downtown
Originally uploaded by gaurang.

It's Monday. Get back to work.

The Caffeine Blast

2006-06-12T07:35:00.000-07:00

Today's selection: Adagio's Yunnan Jig.

A friend tells me that one of the things he loves best about Belltown is watching the parade of drunks stumble out of his neighborhood's bars and clubs at closing time. Supposedly, the trashed young men and ladies (but apparently, more so the men) will do just about anything if you shout it at them in an encouraging way.

Not everyone is so thrilled to see their neighborhood invaded every weekend by the amateur tipplers, of course, and they're starting to make noises at the city to Do Something About It. Could part of the answer involved getting rid of closing time?

Those of you searching for performance art combining men in drag, flaming hula hoops and men in drag need look no further.

Have you seen this man? "Suave, smart and charming," Leonard Ramey seems to be every inch an alleged con man. He's on the FBI's 10-Most Wanted list for white collar crimes, standing accused of bilking many Pacific Northwest residents out of more than one million dollars. Rumor has it he's even screwed over the mob once or twice. If that's true, I'm sure he'll... turn up... eventually.

If you're still bummed out about the whole Net Neutrality defeat in Congress last week, Tristan Louis presents two items for consideration: A famous John Gilmore quote ("The Net treats censorship as damage and routes around it.") and the concept of mesh networking.

The Caffeine Blast

2006-06-11T12:35:00.000-07:00

Today's selection: Irish Breakfast, with a dash of Spearmint.

Did you attend Seattle's version of the World Naked Bike Ride yesterday? I haven't found any recounts of the local event, but it sounds like the participants down I-5 in Portland had a blast (photo link / story link).

In the truth is stranger than The Onion department, we have the United States military machine calling yesterday's prisoner suicides at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba "an act of asymmetric warfare waged against us".

When the Internet dies, should we blame Seattle? The Stranger reveals that local political consultants Gogerty Stark Marriott were the voices whispering in AT&T's ear durings its lobbying efforts to defeat the net neutrality amendment in Congress.

I'm not too concerned about the lasting effects of this recent netshaking event. Noting that many of the so-called "red state" representatives voted to defeat the amendment, I'm thinking their antipathy to a neutral Internet will last right up until the moment they find out how their votes screwed over access to their campaign Web sites. Or more likely, when some of their more vocal constituents discover their favorite fundie resources are suddenly blocked or throttled.

Snopes confirms it: Sun tea is a bacteria incubator. I can't remember ever getting sick from drinking sun tea, however, I grew up in Phoenix, AZ. You can fry eggs on the sidewalk during a Phoenix summer, and hopefully that killed off any microbial beasties.

When is a tantrum not a tantrum? When it's all about the money.

On yesterday's bit about Michael Cohn, the man having an extended hissyfit over not getting his free tote bag at a baseball game: He's represented by Alfred G. Rava, a southern California attorney making a name for himself by suing or threatening to sue businesses offering "ladies night" promotions.

So what's the connection to Cohn? The baseball promotion was a Mother's Day gimmick, the tote bags were given to female fans only. This isn't the Los Angeles psychologist's first stab at a gender-based lawsuit, having previously sued a Palm Springs hotel because it dared to cater to lesbians.

It should also be noted that the Angels sent four tote bags to Cohn -- as well as a letter of apology.

Seattle photo of the day

2006-06-11T12:18:00.000-07:00

Pioneer Square.
Originally uploaded by OpticalOdyssey.

"The Bread of Life Mission is a sixty-five year old Gospel mission that was formed for the purpose of serving Seattle's most needy and homeless population. Located in the Pioneer Square District, the Mission has stayed true to its originally stated purpose. We seek to reconnect homeless men to their communities by offering hope, encouragement, and opportunity on their journey towards recovery, independent living, and wholeness. The Mission is ready and able to advance that purpose."

The Caffeine Blast

2006-06-10T16:04:00.000-07:00

Today's caffeine selection: Adagio Almond. Which reminds me, it's probably about time for me to order again. I think I've had this jar since a week before Christmas.

Bored? Looking for something to do? Seattlest has a list of things to do with out of town guests that do not involve a trip to the Space Needle. It works just as well as a to-do list for locals.

Ever complained about something? Ever have one of those moments where, in hindsight, you realized your complaint was utterly foolish and you can't believe you wasted everyone's time with your tantrum? Here's to hoping Michael Cohn acquires such hindsight.

Liberty, the hot new thang on Capitol Hill (not to be confused with Sugar, the floundering new thang on the Hill) is nice, but seems to be having some service issues. My personal review from last Thursday: Nice space, good food. It's worth a go, but don't bitch about the wait, they're completely indifferent about it. In fact, I'd speculate that the management knows full well they're the flavor of the week.

Here comes the war on words: Eli Sanders of The Stranger is live at YearlyKos, whereDailyKos publisher Markos Moulitsas reacts to Maureen Dowd's latest New York Times column (paywall, sorry). Calling Dowd an "insecure, catty bitch," Moulitsas vows to get his side of the story out to readers asap. He's not too concerned with going up against people who buy ink by the barrel, noting "I reach more people than most of these publications that are interviewing me—I don’t need them."

Sail away

2006-06-10T15:44:00.000-07:00

Sailboat-on-Lake-Union
Originally uploaded by manleyaudio.

A little water sport action on Lake Union. Lovely shot.

This is how a bridge gets built

2006-06-10T15:36:00.000-07:00

Big Boat, Little Boat With A Bridge-Span on Top
Originally uploaded by jellywatson.

And the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge continues to fall into place, er, so to speak. Not really fall, perhaps that's the wrong word. In any case, here's a big orange ship loaded down with the new deck sectons that we'll all be driving on very soon.

Cold comfort

2006-06-10T14:19:00.000-07:00

Although I live in relatively new building, it is located in Seattle and therefore the designers didn't see the need for an air conditioning system. Neither did I, until last summer. Seattle's hot season may be short but it can be brutal.

A portable air conditioner made its way into my apartment on Thursday afternoon, the lovely Wintair 8,000 BTU portable.

The most lengthy part of the setup was waiting for it to arrive from Home Depot. Due to a content glitch on their Web site, I was a little annoyed when it didn't show up within the promised 5 - 7 days via UPS, but about two weeks later via bulk shipment. I can imagine almost anyone gave Home Depot a better deal on shipping 80lbs worth of air conditioner than UPS.

Actual installation went like this: Strip away box, attach big crinkly exhaust hose to a special window adapter kit and plug in. That's it.

Oh, then there's the water thing.

Air conditioners tend to reduce the humidity of the air they process; that moisture ends up as condensation on the refrigeration coils. In wall-mounted or central air units, the water can just be routed to drain off somewhere. In a portable unit like this, the water gathers in a tank.

More accurately, the water gets sucked into a 3/4 gallon tank that needs to be emptied. Working on the gravity effect, the rubber plug is a tiny outlet near the very bottom of the unit, where no possible bowl or pan can be placed for convenient draining. I've settled on rolling it into the bathroom and hoisting it into the tub when needed.

A small price to pay for keeping cool.

But how will the fish see the sign?

2006-06-06T10:33:00.000-07:00

Fish Ladder That o' Way
Originally uploaded by daniel.mcg.

Walkabout

2006-06-03T20:00:00.000-07:00

On the bridge
Originally uploaded by dantc.

World of Warcraft is available whenever I want it (except on Tuesdays, and for dozens of hours after any patch but I digress), as are the episodes of my favorite Tivo'd shows. Sunny days have been something of a premium lately, so I hopped on a ferry and took a quick stroll around the Bainbridge waterfront and business district.

Entire set here.

b-b-b00btube

2006-06-02T13:01:00.000-07:00

I've been having great fun tonight watching the short remixes of TV Sheriff and the Trailbuddies. They're Los Angeles-based performance artists who do live video/music remixes. Particular favorites are 'Dom Francisco Disco' and 'Armageddon Disco Party.'

How to tell when you're in America

2006-05-28T19:04:00.000-07:00

Only in the United States -- at least the parts outside the Northeast Corridor and San Francisco -- would you find a newspaper doing a feature story on a family with no car.

I mean, seriously. That's it. That's the angle. These people exist without personal motorized transportation!

You can't really blame The Seattle Times for going with the story. After all, it's only focusing on the reaction that most people have upon meeting someone without a car:

The Petersons' choice to go carless is often met with shock. Usually, they try to avoid bringing it up.

There'a great sidebar list of the silly questions people ask once they learn the family is sans-auto. I'm not sure I understand why a car is required to go to the movies or buy ice cream, but the public wants to know.

It's all so bizarre.

Memorial Day Weekend

2006-05-28T13:02:00.000-07:00

There's something about three-day weekends that cause drama dustclouds to kick up on the Internet. From LiveJournal to Metafilter, from MySpace to JournalFen, there's a metric ton of electronic teeth-gnashing -- I mean, even more than usual -- right now.

My favorite so far has been the community site that banned a user because he happened to use an image in his profile that several people didn't like. The whole tempest in a teapot started on Friday morning within a subthread of an otherwise insignificant post.

Two hours later, one of the community maintainers hacked together a quick poll to ask how people felt about "offensive" user profile images, and whether or not such images should result in exile from the community. The overwhelming results were "they're gross and icky" and "no, it's just an image."

Five minutes later, a new community rule threatening the Banhammer of Doom and other dire consequences for posting "offensive" profile pictures was instituted by the same maintainer.

So far this has resulted in an additional dozen-plus top-level posts complaining about a harsh new rule that didn't reflect the community sentiment, other posts defending the maintainer and semi-coherent rants against mean people (they suck, in case you were wondering).

And remember, all of this was over a single community member who posted three times in a single sub-thread.

It might be the three-day weekend that's responsible for such wankery. People just feel the need to do something with all that extra time on their hands, and for some people that something means stirring up the drama pot.

This casual observation led to a transcript of a talk Clay Shirky gavein 2003. Titled A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy, Shirky discusses the patterns he's noticed in online communities of notable size and age. Although geared toward the creators of social software, the ideas discussed within his speech should be required reading for any budding community leader/maintainer/moderater or whatever you want to call yourself.

In short: Members define a community site's purpose and tone, and will often do so in ways that the founders never anticipated or particularly want. But once the community defines itself, it's quite hard (if not impossible) to force it to redefine itself to suit the maintainer's needs. As Shirky's conclusion partially reads, "The users are there for one another. They may be there on hardware and software paid for by you, but the users are there for one another."

Waterfront Color

2006-05-17T13:27:00.000-07:00

Waterfront Color
Originally uploaded by fluxn.

And another nice shot from the waterfront.

Goodnight

2006-05-16T23:02:00.000-07:00

Seattle waterfront
Originally uploaded by Cl1kr.

Here's a nice picture of the Seattle waterfront for you to gaze upon until I post again.

Let's blather about the weather

2006-05-16T22:52:00.000-07:00

Having grown up in Phoenix, there was a time when I'd openly mock anyone complaining about weather under 100 degrees. That time has passed.

Although 84 wasn't exactly horrible, it wasn't what I'd call pleasant -- at least not for anyone trapped in a small studio apartment with perfect insulation and no air conditioning.

Not that I'm being self-referential or anything.

Normally I'd find a nice, cool cafe somewhere and settle in with an ice drink until the temperature dropped back down into something a little less oven-like.

Here's what the local forecasters say we can look forward to tomorrow:

KOMO: 78
KING: 78
KIRO: 78

It's unanimous, which doesn't mean much of anything. But what's a new and local blog to do if it can't ramble about the weather?

Things in my backyard

2006-05-16T22:40:00.000-07:00

Low-flying jets have been spotted in the blooming Olympic Sculpture Park. Belltown Bent says Boeing jet fuselages can be spotted rolling on rails as they head to their final assembly destination in Everett.