Aug 24, 2011

This is the most bizarre story I have seen in some time: http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Police-investigating-man-photographing-girls-at-2138229.php Basically, a father allowed his daughter to change in public at the Seattle Center International Fountain, spotted someone taking a picture, demanded to see that photographer’s camera, then called the...

Aug 21, 2011

I was down at The Waterfront today, and while there, I watched crowds of people filter into Myrtle Edwards Park for the 2011 Seattle Hempfest. I thought for a few moments about going in myself, but decided better of it for a few reasons: 1) After 20 years of this stuff, I doubt there is anything in this Hempfest I haven’t seen before. 2) Yawn. Pot was...

Aug 18, 2011

I just got home from a trip down Pike Street, and I almost got taken out, ironically, in a manner very similar to that on Dexter Avenue two weeks ago. As I was sitting at the stoplight at Pike Street and Broadway, a straight-up Gangsta G in a silver BMW pulled up beside me in the right turn lane, blasting the shitty autotuned rap selection of the day. When the...

Aug 13, 2011

You know, being a Seattle taxpayer can feel a lot like being a crack whore. You get fucked, fucked, and fucked again, and when you are laying there, orifice bleeding — your pimp slaps you across the face because you didn’t get fucked enough. Hell, I would go so far as to say that being a Seattle taxpayer is worse than being a crack whore, because we...

Aug 2, 2011

Meet George. George is unhappy. George rented an apartment in Denny Triangle, and George’s landlord allegedly stole George’s money. George doesn’t have 3 months and hundreds of dollars in court costs to get his money back, so George has taken action the old fashioned way. He’s taking to the streets and spreading the word. Good for George. When it comes...

Jul 30, 2011

On Thursday, a man was hit and killed by an SUV as he was riding his bicycle through South Lake Union. That man’s name was Michael Wang, and he was hit by an SUV which did not bot her to stop. As a matter of fact, the driver has yet to be found. All we currently know is that the murderer was driving a brown SUV with tinted windows. On Friday, I wrote a post...

Jun 24, 2011

I am neither a liberal or a conservative. Contrary to popular belief, neither am I a nihilist or an anarchist. If I had to be pigeonholed into one particular ideology, I would be considered a ‘skeptic’. Now, what does this mean exactly? Being a skeptic means that I distrust all political parties intensely. It means I assume that all politicians, all...

Jun 3, 2011

Yesterday, shortly after 5pm, I decided to get a couple of slices from Pagliacci Pizza. At first, I couldn’t decide between the Lower Queen Anne location or the Capitol Hill location, but when I realized that it was the middle of rush hour, I decided to avoid Mercer like the plague and head up The Hill. When I got up to Broadway, I parked my scooter, and...

May 9, 2011

This is the saddest story I have read in some time: http://www.king5.com/news/Boy-dies-friends-disgusted-by-slow-response-121535594.html This past weekend, an Everett boy was left under a capsized boat for 40 minutes as game wardens and police stood by and watched. The boy has died. Why didn’t they help him? Because Law Enforcement was out on the water...

May 7, 2011

On June 19th, a group of self-described “sluts” and their proud supporters will take to the streets of Seattle. Now, had I reported this story alone, I would be called an offensive sexist along with whatever else the PC crowd could find in their vocabulary. Since the mainstream media is also calling these people “sluts”, however, I don’t think any of...

May 6, 2011

A couple of years ago, I was involved in an “effort” to educate businesses about photography and the law. Specifically, I tried to educate them that photography, in almost all cases, is perfectly legal in public or in places of public accommodation (casinos, sidewalks, shopping malls, hotels, etc). After a fellow blogger was illegally detained in...

May 4, 2011

When I bought my scooter a couple of months ago, I was paranoid about riding it home. “What if a cop stops me?”, I thought to myself, “I don’t have proof of insurance yet”. When I got back to my nerd cave, I immediately jumped on the computer and pulled up my insurer’s website to get quotes. As I was scrolling through the...

May 3, 2011

Sunday was International Workers’ Day. A day which, every year, sees thousands of people march through Downtown Seattle. A day over which I am deeply conflicted. In 2011, in my heart of hearts, I know that I am watching “Decline of the Roman Empire, Part II – This Time It’s Personal”. Not only am I watching it, but I am living it. The...

May 2, 2011

Ding Dong! The witch is dead! Which old witch? The wicked witch! The witch that flew airplanes into buildings? No. The witch that launched three wars and killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people? No. The witch that molested 6 year old girls in the airport? No. Come on people, you know that witch I am talking about … it’s the ”mastermind...

Apr 29, 2011

This afternoon, the City of Seattle agreed to pay the family of John T. Williams the sum of 1.5 million doll ars in order to avoid a lawsuit. That’s right, the “City of Seattle” which means “the 608,000 residents of the City of Seattle”. Did Ian Birk, the man who murdered Williams, pay $1.5 million to the family? No. Did Ian Birk,...

Apr 27, 2011

Mayor Mike McGinn, or as I like to call him, M3, has proposed a new initiative to make Seattle nightlife safer. The first part of his proposals involves cab stands. Mike would designate specific parking meters for cabs after hours, which would in turn make it easier to hail a ride home. These convertible cab stands are being proposed for Downtown, Belltown,...

Apr 26, 2011

Not long ago, the primary news source for Capitol Hill, the Capitol Hill Blog, ran a story about a man named “Joe”. You see, Joe is a man who lives in Pike/Pine, and Joe is upset that a nearby nightclub (The Baltic Room) has been increasing their noise level over the months. To try and solve his problem, Joe has called the police on several occasions, and...

Apr 26, 2011

‘The Seattle Police Department and the King County Sheriff’s Office have formed a unique partnership with the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission to develop a curriculum to improve the way police officers are trained to interact with people. For the past decade, police training has focused on tools and physical tactics for keeping officers...

Apr 19, 2011

Today, I rode my scooter up to Broadway in order to check out a couple of eateries, including our newest business, Yogurtland. After circling the block once, I found a parking space in front of one of the restaurants. I backed my scooter in so that my rear wheel was touching the curb (as is required by law), purchased my parking sticker, and hung it on my...

Apr 13, 2011

Even though Seattle is the greatest city in the country, it does have some peculiarities that make it lacking in some areas. One of these areas is a vibrant street food culture. In most large cities, street vendors are part of the landscape; a landscape that really helps add to the “energy” of the streets. Seattle, however, only has a few street...

Apr 13, 2011

Yesterday, a group of people lined 5th Avenue between Madison and Marion to protest Washington State SB 5073. I’m not terribly up to speed on this bill myself, but apparently it would, among other things, create a “voluntary” registry of patients who use medical marijuana. The registry would be “confidential”, with the caveat that...

Apr 12, 2011

Today at 10am, students gathered on the lawn of the Seattle Central Community College to protest the proposed 11% budget cuts in higher education funding. According to a release by organizers: “Our educated workforce is the engine that drives our economic survival, allowing us to attract and retain powerhouse multinational industrial and technological...

Apr 9, 2011

If you remember, back in December, a large controversy erupted when a group tried to place ads on King County Metrobuses that were critical of Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. The ads were pulled because “County Executive Dow Constantine was advised by law-enforcement authorities that the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign’s Israel ad could...

Apr 7, 2011

Speak of the devil. “Neighbors in Lake City are fighting back against the mayor’s plan to add bike lanes to a big North Seattle hill, eliminating two lanes for cars. This week, yellow-and-black signs questioning the change to Northeast 125th Street appeared on the hill with the main number for Mayor Mike McGinn’s office. The Seattle Department of...

Apr 6, 2011

When the King County Prosecutor refused to prosecute Ian Birk, I was pretty angry at Mayor Mike McGinn for not doing something tangible to make things right. I felt that his speeches after the fateful decision were long on words and short on substance. I thought then, and still do, that he should have fired the Seattle Police Chief. I also wretched several...