Slog tipper Matt Hickey writes:

Could you please remind the readers that just because it’s way nice this weekend that it’s still no excuse to wear fucking flip flops everywhere? I’d like one summer of not having to look at people’s ugly, ugly feet.

Thank you for the public service.

Matt

It’s like you’re reading my mind, Matt.

The terribilosity of this cannot be expressed with the verbiography that I possess.

I know that as a scientist, I am expected to loathe all imperial measurements—inches, cups, quarts, gallons and Fahrenheit. Whining about the United States’ failure to embrace the metric system? Default behavior for dim bulbs seeking to seem sophisticated.

You know what? I don’t like metric measurements for many daily tasks. Why? Factors!

The metric system is based around base 10 numbers. Why? We have ten fingers, so our counting system is based around base 10. This makes jumping between large differences in magnitude—say between the size of my desk and the size of the State—relatively easy. But, ten is a terrible, ugly, number. With only two factors, two and five, it’s a bitch to subdivide measures.

Why couldn’t we have twelve fingers? Twelve is a beautiful number—breaking down into factors of two, three, four and six. Ahhh! Grab a ruler and try to measure a third of foot. Easy! Try to measure a third of a meter. A total pain in the ass! Nothing like an infinite repeat (33.3333333333333333333333333333333333… cm) to ruin a perfectly pleasant day.

Imperial measures for volume are even more pleasant, residing in the world of base 2. Thirty-two fluid ounces to a quart—factors of two, four, eight and sixteen. I’m practically drooling. Ever try to adjust a recipe using measuring cups in milliliters? Ack!

For the lab where I’m routinely bouncing between microliters, milliliters and plain old liters, metric measures are great. Nifty even. For daily activities like cooking? Not so much so.

(Tip of the hat to WiS.)

Updated!

If I could kill off two non-metric measures right now… hmmm.

So long Fahrenheit! What an inane way to measure temperature! We cannot even figure out how zero Fahrenheit was defined.

And goodbye to Letter, Legal and all the other hideous US paper sizes! Metric paper sizes are totally rad! The height-to-width ratio is 1: square root (2). So what? That means if you take two pieces of paper of the smaller size and put them next to one another? You get the next size up. Yay!

Via Ben Smith:

Barack Obama has always believed that same-sex couples should enjoy equal rights under the law, and he will continue to fight for civil unions as President. He respects the decision of the California Supreme Court, and continues to believe that states should make their own decisions when it comes to the issue of marriage.

I wish I had much to say about Sony’s coming-someday MMO, The Agency, after attending their online division’s reveal party last night in Bellevue. That won’t happen. My e-mail invite said the game would be demoed, but the only thing that was shown was a months-old video clip of incomplete gameplay. When I asked someone where new game footage was, a woman in attendance stared me down like I’d asked her why the sky is blue. She exclaimed that the game was nowhere near ready to play, but, oh, hey, there’s some exclusive art over there, seen it yet?

And I wish the developers had much to say, but while replaying the months-old video, The Agency’s head designer kept pausing in his narration to say that he wasn’t allowed to reveal certain details yet. By “certain,” he meant “most.” Not sure if SOE thought their “open house” party would be reason enough to come out, complete with fancy catering, ice blocks shaped like guns, booze ahoy, and chicks in Tank Girl-styled outfits… you can guess where this is going:

So, sure, I could rehash the game’s few deets-so-far. As in, this is an MMO that splits the difference between Goldeneye and World of Warcraft, and so far, it doesn’t appear to have a clear target audience or cohesive artistic core. But it’s hard to judge something that’s still quite unfinished. Nobody was saying how soon The Agency will come out, how it might change while still in development, or how the heck Sony will convince console gamers to cough up MMO-style fees, so last night, the only solid things in their corner were booth babes and dorks. Still, I’ll always hold out hope for a game with some Goldeneye flavor, so I’m looking forward to digging deeper into the PS3/PC game once the Bellevue studio gets an early version up and running.

By the way, same thing goes to any other local game devs: INVITE US TO SEE YOUR STUFF! Just as long as you promise I won’t have to endure turquoise cameltoe at your offices, anyway.

Once new construction occupies the hundreds of empty lots in South Lake Union and the Denny Triangle, Denny Way will essentially run through the middle of downtown. Cranes flanking the street, and design proposals filed with the city, show that Denny will be home to thousands of new residents and office workers. One of those proposed buildings, 1200 Stewart, being developed for Lexas Companies, will be a giant among them, standing 400 feet tall with twin towers on a block-long podium.

Thoryk Architecture

The big problem with block-long developments is their tendency to have massive unbroken faces with few or zero urban amenities, which turns off pedestrians. A lack of sidewalk activity makes for a dull and dangerous street. That’s why the downtown design guidelines’ number-one requirement for the streetscape is to “promote pedestrian interaction.” Another guideline, for public amenities, is to “design for personal safety & security.”

In practice, this means providing retail at the sidewalk. Shoppers and workers make the street lively and keep an eye out for public safety.

But the latest designs for 1200 Stewart provide no retail along Denny Way, and only a couple of small retail spaces off Denny. And the downtown design-review board approved the latest drawings on Tuesday for the next stage of review with no requirement to build any retail.

“Denny is not going to be coffee shops and newsstands,” said downtown design-review board member James Falconer. “You’re not going to saunter down Denny. You have to accept it for what it is.” (Whether the Department of Planning and Development has officially provided an exemption to the design guidelines for Denny is unclear; calls to DPD for comment haven’t been returned.)

Falconer excused the lack of retail on Denny, saying that there was no place to park cars. But with 800 (!!!) below-grade parking spots in the proposed development, his assertion seems ludicrous.

Malaika Lafferty, who has lived for 11 years in the Cascade neighborhood, which borders Denny at the site of 1200 Stewart, says, “I think honestly, if we’re talking about improving the density in our core, I don’t know how one can do that without providing amenities at street level. It’s about what the neighborhood needs, and we need retail down there.”

I know, I know—Denny is clogged with cars and isn’t a very hospitable place for pedestrians, so building for retail in its current state seems unrealistic. But here’s the thing: Traffic on Denny is fucked—and will only become more fucked—and most of the thousands of newcomers will have feet. So they’ll be walking up Denny to get to Capitol Hill, crossing Denny to go downtown, or walking down Denny to go shopping. It’s the only street that functionally connects South Lake Union to Belltown and Capitol Hill. It will be a pedestrian corridor regardless of what we build, so we should plan for pedestrians.

More after the jump.

Continue reading "City Design Review Board Undermines Denny" »

This is what passes for wall art just down my street:

(“I just wanted the rush of putting something on this wall … Coincidentally, I didn’t get a rush - - - ain’t that a bitch”)

And this stop-motion video shows the wall art they get in Buenos Aires:

(Hat tip to Penny Arcade for the video link.)

The allegedly meddling mom has been indicted. Take it away, Associated Press:

A federal grand jury indicted a Missouri woman Thursday for her alleged role in perpetrating a hoax on the online social network MySpace against a 13-year-old neighbor who committed suicide.

Megan Meier, 13, hanged herself in her bedroom after being targeted in a MySpace hoax. Lori Drew of suburban St. Louis is said to have helped create a false-identity MySpace account to contact Megan Meier, who thought she was chatting with a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans. Josh didn’t exist. Megan hanged herself at home in October 2006 after receiving cruel messages, including one stating the world would be better off without her.

Drew was charged with one count of conspiracy and three counts of accessing protected computers without authorization to get information used to inflict emotional distress on the girl. Drew has denied creating the account or sending messages to Megan.

Clinton defends Obama and slams Bush’s attack, saying:

President Bush’s comparison of any Democrat to Nazi appeasers is both offensive and outrageous on the face of it, especially in light of his failures in foreign policy. This is the kind of statement that has no place in any presidential address and certainly to use an important moment like the 60th anniversary celebration of Israel to make a political point seems terribly misplaced. Unfortunately, this is what we’ve come to expect from President Bush.

No clubs have taken any of our writers hostage lately, but here’s what has happened in the last day…

Groovy-Ass German Funk!: Compliments of Terry Miller.

Slats vs. the S.L.U.T.: Which would you rather ride? Ew, that sounds dirty.

Props to DJ Riz: For all his rare disco and funk cuts.

I’m a Video Star: I’m my head.

Tonight in Music: To the Waves, El Perro del Mar, Paul Baribeau, the Kills.

Eurovision: Don’t mention the wars!

The Soundtrack for a Movie That’s Never Been Made: Solaris.

Sound Check: Trent Moorman interviews the Lymbyc Systym’s Jared Bell.

For You Slackers: Neumo’s adds a second Posies performance to Friday’s show.

Today’s Music News: Brian Cook has a bi-polar relationship with today’s headlines.

Accidental Mash-Up: The new Mates of State record gets some unexpected Spanish vocals.

Sasha Frere-Jones Brags About Seeing Erykah Badu: And remembering Charles Mudede’s best opening sentence ever.

There’s more. There’s always more.

Hey look! A baby turtle!

Today, the Department of Defense announced a $2.3 million award to the University of Cincinnati to study brain trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder.

But, according to an email leaked to a citizens’ advocacy group, VA bosses are discouraging social workers and psychiatrists from diagnosing PTSD in veterans because it’s inconvenient:

In the words of Melanie Sloan, the righteously outraged director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, “the VA is calling on its employees to deliberately misdiagnose returning veterans in an effort to cut costs.”

Which isn’t just outrageous—it’s outrageously dumb.

Ignoring PTSD now will only cost the VA, with interest, in the next few decades. As this WSJ story reports, PTSD is both underreported and lasting:

Many military personnel are reluctant to seek counseling for PTSD because they are afraid that seeking help would harm their careers. A recent survey by the American Psychiatric Association found that 75% of military personnel felt that asking for assistance would reduce their chances for promotion.

Undoubtedly, some people fake PTSD—but the incentives lean towards underreporting, not overreporting.

Military officers and psychologists fear that veterans of the two wars will suffer mental-health problems for decades to come, a largely hidden cost of the current conflicts.

“There’s a financial cost to this, but more importantly there’ll be a cost in lives if we don’t get a handle on this problem now,” Sen. Christopher Bond (R., Mo.) said in a recent interview.

Money for research is good. Money for treatment is imperative.

For those of you who didn’t make it to the Emerald City Comic Con (ECCC) last weekend, I’ll fill you in: it was awesome.

This year, the ECCC moved into a new, gigantic space at the Washington State Convention Center to give us nerds more room to roam.

I was only able to make it to the con on Sunday—no, I didn’t go in costume—but the place was still friggin’ packed. It also smelled a little stinky.

There were lines wrapping around the room for some of the big name comic writers and artists signing books and doing sketches, but nobody seemed to care about the “celebrity” guests, who practically had tumbleweeds blowing by their tables. Just what the hell is a Farscape, anyways?

All the booksellers were well stocked—a huge improvement over last year, where there were, like, three dudes selling comics—and willing to haggle, and I walked out with a full run of Sandman books. Big disappointment of the day: I couldn’t get one seller to drop his asking price for this beauty:

According to the guy selling this monstrosity, it’s “totally worth $800 bucks” because it “doubles as a coffee table.”

For those of you that missed this year’s rad ECCC, Kelly O’s got your back. Ms. O shot a fantastic two-part video with local ruffian and comic fan Jeff Leonard, featuring the Suicide Girls (???) and a dude dressed as Space Ghost who bears an uncanny resemblance to Paul Constant. Hmm….

See you next year!

“Now that I am Governor, you must do what I say!”

The Obama interview in Willamette Week.

Would you stop the DEA’s raids on Oregon medical marijuana growers?

I would because I think our federal agents have better things to do, like catching criminals and preventing terrorism. The way I want to approach the issue of medical marijuana is to base it on science, and if there is sound science that supports the use of medical marijuana and if it is controlled and prescribed in a way that other medicine is prescribed, then it’s something that I think we should consider.

Seems an innocuous enough answer: He’ll stop the raids on sick people, but he won’t “support” medical marijuana until it goes through the same rigors as pharmaceuticals. (Not that there isn’t a ton of evidence already.) Of course, that’s a cop-out response because he’s not promising to stop prosecutions and the government usually won’t fund or allow “sound” research on the schedule-one drug. In the meantime, he says, we have higher priorities. Here’s the RNC’s retort…

Barack Obama’s pledge to stop Executive agencies from implementing laws passed by Congress raises serious doubts about his understanding of what the job of the President of the United States actually is. His refusal to enforce the law reveals that Barack Obama doesn’t have the experience necessary to do the job of President, or that he fundamentally lacks the judgment to carry out the most basic functions of the Executive Branch. What other laws would Barack Obama direct federal agents not to enforce?

Gee, RNC, it seems like Obama agrees with the current Republican administration: After 9/11, the federal government overhauled priorities for the FBI—federal agents—directing resources away from certain domestic crimes and toward terrorism.

But there’s no question that the GOP has pulled an about-face on terrorism before. The real question is this: Given the public support for medical pot in swing states, will McCain try to muzzle the RNC on the medical-marijuana issue before November?

More “campaign ads candidates wish they could run” here.

“This is a historic day—the goal of marriage is now closer than ever for same-sex couples in California.

“Here in our own state, we remain hopeful that our efforts to build a way to marriage through domestic partnerships will continue to win the support of lawmakers and citizens…. I’m confident that we’ll have a similar historic day in Washington, and I believe that day will come soon.”

I love how upfront Murray is about his agenda for Washington state’s domestic partner legislation: he’s open about his intent to, chunk by chunk, secure for gay couples all the rights and responsibilities of marriage that the state has the power to bestow. Unfortunately the decision in California today and the passage of full civil unions in Oregon last year means that Washington state trails its West Coast neighbors where the rights of same-sex couples are concerned. Hopefully we can catch up to at least Oregon during the next legislative session.

Critical Mass brings news that Publishers Weekly has cut the pay rate for their reviewers by exactly 50%. They sent out this e-mail:

Dear Reviewer,

We are under constraints to reduce our expenses and must reduce the fee we pay to reviewers. Any reviews assigned after June 15 will be billed at $25 per review. However, you will be credited as a contributor in issues where your reviews appear. Please know that we value the work you do for us. Your astute reading and writing are what make our magazine so valuable in the industry and we regret this necessary action. All of us here are also experiencing change but we expect that we will continue to be the gold standard in book reviewing.

This is depressing. A number of publications cut their books sections entirely in the last year or so. Now, even the publications devoted strictly to books are drastically cutting their finances. Granted, Publishers Weekly has never been a general-interest publication (it’s more of an industry rag) and their reviews have often been very, very bad. But this is a really troubling sign.

NARAL Pro-Choice America’s endorsement of Barack Obama yesterday has unleashed a massive shitstorm among other pro-choice groups and within the organization itself from folks who feel betrayed by the national group’s preemptive support of a candidate whose voting record on reproductive rights has been nearly identical to his Democratic opponent’s (the main substantive difference being that Clinton has been far more pro-active in sponsoring pro-choice legislation.)

Indeed, NARAL has consistently given both Clinton and Obama 100 percent ratings on issues relating to reproductive rights—prompting reproductive-rights advocates to wonder: Why divide the pro-choice and alienate Clinton supporters? Why not let the nomination process play out and, assuming Obama becomes the official nominee, endorse him then?

The alternative path certainly hasn’t won NARAL any fans.

Ellen Malcolm, of EMILY’s List, issued a statement calling it “tremendously disrespectful to Sen. Clinton — who held up the nomination of a FDA commissioner in order to force approval of Plan B and who spoke so eloquently during the Supreme Court nomination about the importance of protecting Roe vs. Wade — to not give her the courtesy to finish the final three weeks of the primary process. It certainly must be disconcerting for elected leaders who stand up for reproductive rights and expect the choice community will stand with them.”

The National Women’s Political Caucus, meanwhile, issued a statement saying they were “disappointed” in the endorsement, adding, “We believe that this announcement at this time will divide the choice community at a time when we need to stand united.”

And in swing states around the country, NARAL affiliates representing a quarter of NARAL’s state chapters have already condemned the endorsement, which NARAL made without consulting its affiliates.

In Oregon, statewide NARAL director Michele Stranger Hunter said her group was “proud to have two strongly pro-choice candidates running for President. And we look forward to supporting whoever the nominee will be and are committed to defeating Senator John McCain (R-AZ) in November.”

NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri went further, conducting robo-calls across the state to clarify that the Missouri branch of NARAL has endorsed neither Clinton nor Obama. “In our membership demographic, a lot of longtime women’s rights supporters are strong supporters of Hillary Clinton,” Missouri NARAL director Pamela Sumners told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “If we had been consulted, we would have said, ‘Let this play out. We have two strong pro-choice candidates” in Obama and Clinton.

In New York and Pennsylvania, the statewide NARAL groups issued nearly identical statements calling the decision—”made internally by NARAL Pro-Choice America, based in Washington D.C., and without the consultation of the NARAL state affiliates across the country,” as both statements put it— “premature.”

And here in Washington State, NARAL Pro-Choice Washington director Karen Cooper called the endorsement “an unconscionable slap in the face to Senator Hillary Clinton, adding, “Time and again, both Sens. Clinton and Obama have stood up for the right to privacy and the right to choose. American women would be well-served by either Clinton or Obama in the Oval Office.”

Endorsing Obama now is hardly a bold move by NARAL Pro-Choice America (unlike, say, endorsing Joe Lieberman), which has never had anything but kind words to say about both Democratic primary candidates. By endorsing now, NARAL could alienate a substantial portion of their membership—a risky move at a time when the distinction between Democrats and Republicans on reproductive rights couldn’t be more obvious.

Remember all the grief San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom got for issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples four years ago? Well…

The long-awaited court opinion, written by Chief Justice Ronald M. George, stemmed from San Francisco’s highly publicized same-sex weddings, which in 2004 helped spur a conservative backlash in a presidential election year and a national dialogue over gay rights….

After a month of jubilant same-sex weddings here, the California Supreme Court intervened and ordered the city to stop issuing licenses to gay couples. The court later invalidated the documents and declined to address the constitutionality of a state ban on same-sex marriage until lower courts acted first.

And the court is conservative….

The California Supreme Court has six Republican appointees and one Democrat. Scholars have described the court under the leadership of chief justice George as cautious and moderately conservative.

I vaguely remember mentioning something about a “Charlize Theron” person that is scheduled to be, as those of us “in the business” are fond of saying, “on the red carpet” at SIFF’s always uber-glam Opening Night (May 22nd! I’m already drunk!). And goodness knows that that’s just exciting as all hell. I also think I said something about Stuart Townsend’s abs, and about how he and/or they will be “red carpeting”, too. (OMG! Just LOOK at the boner that man gives me!) But what I don’t vaguely remember telling you, because I vaguely remember just finding out about it two fucking seconds ago myself, is that Michelle Rodriguez of, you know, “Lost” or whatever, will also be “on the red carpet” Opening Night. As it were. But of course, she’ll be ripped to the tits, and driving a car. Ba-dum-bum.

And now, this poor misguided letter:

Dear Adrian, I don’t live in Seattle anymore, but I read Celebrity I Saw U every week. I moved to Boston last year. But yesterday while I was working at the JFK Presidential Library, none other than Kate Hudson, Owen Wilson and Owen Wilson’s nose came strolling in! I was shocked. I sold them their admissions ticket, and they spent two hours in the museum. They didn’t say much because they were too busy being disgustingly cutesy with each other, concluding their tour with a lover’s game of tag in our pavilion. Gross! Who knew that suicide attempts actually do strengthen a relationship?

Anyway, I immediately thought of Celebrity I Saw U, since I love your column, and these are the only celebrities I’ve ever seen.

Love,
Aly

I am sure I speak for everyone when I say Thank you, Aly, for that remarkable glimpse into the secret and unnerving world of Hudson-Wilson love, for your weekly reading of Celebrity I Saw U, and for your creepy ability to read through time.

No, this isn’t another depressing “Every Child Deserves…” post. I try to limit those posts to no more than one a week, despite the numerous examples of spectacularly bad opposite-sex parenting that I run across, or alert readers bring to my attention, every damn week. I just wanted to make sure that readers who bitch endlessly about my “Every Child Deserves…” posts catch this quote at the bottom the CNN piece about the decision in California.

Groups saying they were promoting a pro-family agenda had vowed to fight a statewide law allowing same-sex marriage.

“The government should promote and encourage strong families,” said Glen Lavy of the Alliance Defense Fund. “The voters realize that defining marriage as one man and one woman is important because the government should not, by design, deny a child both a mother and father.”

Gay families can’t be strong families—and our children don’t deserve the protections of marriage—because every child deserves a mother and a father.

Sigh.

Says Slog tipper Rebecca…

I really can’t bear to read the “Every Child Deserves…” items anymore but I think this shows why it’s good on you to keep running ‘em.

Minneapolis loves, loves Nick Garrison and Suzy Hunt in the touring 5th Avenue production of Cabaret.

From the Daily Planet:

The true stars of this production, though, are supporting actors Suzy Hunt and Nick Garrison. Hunt plays Fraulein Schneider, Clifford and Sally’s landlady who shares a doomed romance with a Jewish fruit-shop owner. Hunt provides the emotional epicenter to what truly is a tragic story. Nick Garrison is enchanting as the over-the-top emcee who serves as the audience’s guide to the cabaret and beyond. Garrison opens the show’s second act by talking to audience members and reminding them this is live theater. At one point he noted to a colleague of mine that he could easily dive into her shirt—a moment that was fondly remembered for hours post-show.

Minneapolis is right—those two wiped everyone else off the stage and out of my memory. Especially Nick, with his nimble banter and clarion voice. He was, as Christopher Frizzelle said in his review, born to play the Emcee.

Congratulations to Nick and Suzy.

This just in from Slog tipper Doug:

I’m cleaning out my closet this morning and came across this painting I made five years ago. It used to hang on a wall in my house until a friend of mine (a white male like myself) said, “Wow, that’s really racist.” Embarrassed, I took it down and stuck it in the back of a closet. But coming across it now, I’m still not sure: Is it really racist? I’m hoping the open-minded Slog community could help me out on this. Thanks.

Here are American Heritage Dictionary’s definitions of racism:

1. The belief that race accounts for differences in human character or ability and that a particular race is superior to others. 2. Discrimination or prejudice based on race.

And here is the painting. (Safe for work.)

(My two cents: No, the painting isn’t racist, though the exaggerated cartoon features give off a vaguely racist stink.)

Just look at this image:

Jay-Z and Gong Li. Amazing. The woman who brought life to Chinese cinema in the arms of the man who brought death to hiphop.

For Mindy…

by JeanineAnderson