Boom

You're Welcome

Why yes, I AM a genius. It's a simple solution to the two problems that Seattle can't shut up about lately: transportation and underemployment. Forget expanding costly, hobo-filled mass transit and forget building more ugly roads. Bring back sedan chairs. They're like jet packs, except they actually exist.

Minimal wear on pavement. Zero emissions, depending on the carriers' lunches. Eco friendly, in that they can be made from reclaimed materials. With non-sedentary jobs, the rates of chronic lifestyle-related illnesses should go down. It might even be possible to reintroduce manufacturing jobs into the region--look at this guy in Taiwan!

While the photo above (from www.bath360.co.uk ) shows a sedan chair model that only creates two jobs, larger chairs could employ 4 to 6 people. Easy enough to scale up for family models, and I'm sure modern technology can add in a few safety features (although perhaps in a sedan chair, being thrown clear is the better choice?)

Mao claimed they were downgrading to the carriers, but I bet Mao never had a customer service job. (Unless you count being an assistant librarian as a customer service job. I picture it as the kids at my local branch who shelve books, and never interact with anyone other than their boss.)

works well

I would love to know how this global poll was conducted. It starts off kind of dull--but then:

In only two countries, the United States and Pakistan, did more than one in five people feel that capitalism works well as it stands.

In some other situations these days--ahem, Seattle mayor's race--it seems like US reality is less weirdo free market/socially conservative as polls would suggest. But my impression of the world in general makes me think a global poll would rely on cell phones, which would, at least 'round here--get away from the old-person-land-line polling slant.

peewee

During the early afternoon lull in the weekend storms, the Sweetie-Boom household walked approximately eight miles to the store. At Genesese field there were two muddy teams of midgets attempting to play football. (Not the game almost universally known as football, but dumb concussion-filled American football.)

The running backs were so tiny they could've easily been stolen by crows. There was standing water on the field deep enough for seagulls to swim in it. (Which was funny: they didn't bother moving even while the game was being played. "Booo-ring" say they seagulls.) The boring parts of football games, where a whole lot of people stand around on the field measuring things? Multiply the length of time those parts take, and then remove shiny cheerleaders, expensive commercials, replays of actual action, and close-up camera shots. The 10-yard markers had essentially been washed into the mud, although parts of the end zones were still visible.

I thought soccer parents were freakishly dedicated--and they are--but football parents are nuts. Let me remind the parents I know of a few kid sports that offer cozy indoor seating: volleyball, kung fu, basketball, swimming, gymnastics, boxing, Wii and reading.

fool me once

Visiting the WA secretary of state voting results page last night and again this afternoon caused me to have idiocy-induced heart attacks. Both times, the problem is me thinking about Ref 71, and intending to check the page that Ref 71 results are posted on, and forgetting about Tim "Can't Make Me Go Away" Eyman's latest stupid initiative, and then freaking out with shades-of-2004 dismay at the numbers.

Then I remember 'oh yeah, I can't make Eyman go away' and scroll down, and recover. 

(And PS) Dear Tacoma and Assorted Other Little Towns of Methlehem aka Pierce County: Cascadia and the Salish Sea would prefer it if you moved to Maine or Orange County or Utah, or Spokane for that matter, with the other jerks.

(And PPS) My Mayor McActivist continues to hold his lead. Even before they count the 203 votes his volunteers collected and drove to the airport before midnight last night. I think Slog's interview with him this afternoon is remarkable.

I Love Ed

Seriously, Ed. You inspire. The main reason I want Referendum 71 to pass is because it's right, and once every few years I think it's nice to see society as not generally horrible.

The secondary reason I want Referendum 71 to pass is so Ed Murray can pat himself on the back and go off to the other Washington and kick some righteous gay butt on the federal level.

I hope he didn't throw up.

This time a year ago, I was ripping on Cindy McCain's ugly-butt gold suit with Teen Vampire Hunter Tessa T. We were mean. I had been quietly drinking Democrat blue cocktails earlier in the evening, but was so stressed/keyed up they barely registered. Then: astonishment, relief, and much laughter and surprised blinking. 

Shortly afterward that, she tried to convince her dad she should celebrate Obama's election by getting a day off school. Back in my day, missy, Reagan made sure we all went to class, except when we were busy saying no to drugs out in the parking lot.

you're beautiful, but ain't it time we said goodbye-ay-yiii.

The house is around the corner from one end of a street that is a collection of small restaurants. Neighborhood business types have labeled this 'Restaurant Row', which is more fitting than it is thrilling. Another one just opened, and a Thai place is coming in November, and since we moved in five months ago, ice cream and espresso places have opened, approximately in the same stretch. In the middle of this section is a bar called Angie's. I haven't been in.

I like a genuine dive bar, and in some cases (5 Point, Baranoff) have been known to defend everything from the jukebox to the quality of the food to, yes, the pee smell and the topless mermaid in the men's room. I haven't been into Angie's. I am divided as to whether this is a sign of my increasing timidity or simply a sign that I haven't been in the market to buy crack.

Exhibit A: Mike Seely, in the Seattle Weekly last March. Apparently the only people who don't love it are the lame-ass gentrifiers such as myself.

Exhibit B: Jonah Spangenthal-Lee's crime blog, which says Tom Carr is trying to shut Angie's down. It goes on to list the eight times the po-po has visited this year.

Exhibit C: The SeattlePI.com goes into more specific detail of the po-po visits, where we learn, among other things, that $18 is the price for both an unspecified sexual 'favor' and a rock of crack. (Isn't $20 easier, I mean, who carries all those singles around?)

None of these links really address why I haven't been into Angie's. I don't actually know what the inside of the place is like. Outside the place, starting around twilight pretty much every night, there are 1-4 dealers hanging around out front of the bar, and in the small parking lot next to the bar. Sometimes there are also just guys out having a smoke, the difference is apparent because the smokers all say hey, how you doin' baby and are casual/friendly. The other guys lurk, popping out into traffic for a drive-by client now and again; they also tag-team with partners in the park/illegal office on our corner and they are all hyper-alert, like nervous prey animals. It's routinely the same guys.

We end up with a fair amount of crack-n-sex litter on the street; we've traded the needles of our old 'hood for wee rock baggies and used condoms (and the one, exciting morning with ziploc bags of bullets!). The po-po is doing a lot of checks on the park/office since August, and they're obviously at Angie's a lot, too. If they were selling weed, I wouldn't care. Crack is weird. I don't entirely understand it (which is a good thing).

I am not a fan of the po-po, but I also am not a fan of seeing people so whacked out from their addictions that they're negotiating $18 worth of sex or, as happened regularly on the hill, nodding out on the sidewalk. Calling 911 for nodders was not seen as gentrification. I haven't called the cops for crack yet, but in part this is because calling 911 for a passed-out junkie gets her emergency medical attention. Calling 911 for a crack ho gets her jail time.

I probably won't go to Angie's soon. I doubt closing it would benefit the neighborhood. It does seem like the bigger issue--close or no close--is directly related to the current owner's failure to comply with the 'good neighbor agreement' he signed. Which strikes me as not so much a major social issue relating to race and finances, but more along the lines of a restaurant being closed by the health department if it doesn't follow the rules.