The Stranger, Seattle's Only Newspaper: Slog http://slog.thestranger.com/blogs/slog/ Seattle's #1 Weekly Newspaper. Covering Seattle news, politics, music, film, and arts; plus movie times, club calendars, restaurant listings, forums, blogs, and Savage Love. en-us Copyright 2013 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. editor@thestranger.com (The Stranger Editor) webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Fri, 24 May 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Fri, 24 May 2013 14:00:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Don't Be Such a Mermaid! http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/dont-be-such-a-mermaid http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/dont-be-such-a-mermaid Anna Minard <p>This was in the teen-ish section of a chain clothing store:<br /><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:489px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/48fd/1369421419-dontbesuchamermaid.png" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/48fd/1369421419-dontbesuchamermaid.png" alt="Not Photoshopped." title="Not Photoshopped." width="477" height="572" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit">Anna Minard</li><li class="imageCaption">Not Photoshopped.</li></ul></div></p> <p><em>What the actual fuck?!</em> I googled. I got nothing explanatory in regards to this shirt.</p> <p>But I <em>did</em> find some pretty good internet-mermaid-hole shit.</p> <p>First: A brilliant WikiHow instruction manual titled "<a href="http://www.wikihow.com/Make-People-Believe-You're-a-Mermaid-at-School">How to Make People Believe You're a Mermaid at School</a>," with instructions such as "When the subject of of underwater life and the ocean comes up in class, act interested but informed, as if you are already an expert... Be ready to point it out when others are mistaken but don't make a nuisance of yourself.</strong>." And: "Change the subject when people talk about mermaids. <strong>A true mermaid</strong> would not be likely to enjoy having the secrets of her people discussed in public." I especially like "Part Five: Keep It in Perspective," which advises the reader, "Don't go overboard. If you drop too many hints or act too self-important, people will start to get irritated. <strong>The point of this is to become a mermaid, not to alienate your friends.</strong>" Obviously, memorizing <a href="http://www.wikihow.com/Make-People-Believe-You're-a-Mermaid-at-School">that entire page</a> for later recitation at parties would not be a waste of your workday.</p> <p>Second: A BBC News article titled "<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-18692830<br />">No evidence of mermaids, says US government</a>," which includes the sentence, "The article was written from publicly available sources <strong>because 'we don't have a mermaid science programme</strong>,' National Ocean Service spokeswoman Carol Kavanagh told the BBC."</p> <p>Either I have a brain injury, or this calls for a poll.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/dont-be-such-a-mermaid#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16864705&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Animals Oh, You Kids! Fashion http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/dont-be-such-a-mermaid?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16864705&id=comments 1 Don't Be Such a Mermaid! Not Photoshopped. Anna Minard Fri, 24 May 2013 14:34:35 -0700 The Stranger There's No Workable Solution for Seattle's Homeless Camps http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/theres-no-workable-solution-for-seattles-homeless-camps http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/theres-no-workable-solution-for-seattles-homeless-camps Anna Minard <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/bfa7/1369427626-packedmtg.png" alt="A full house in council chamber on Wednesday." title="A full house in council chamber on Wednesday." width="500" height="367" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">Anna Minard</li><li class="imageCaption">A full house in council chamber on Wednesday. Those pink signs read "Without food and shelter, people die."</li></ul></div>On Wednesday, the Seattle city council took another stab at what to do about Nickelsville, which has now been squatting on city land for two years. Residents of Nickelsville and SHARE's Tent City 3 packed the meeting, where Nick Licata was introducing for discussion his bill to <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/fight-brewing-over-new-tent-cities/Content?oid=16767077">further legalize encampments</a>, and they faced off against emotional Highland Park residents who begged the city to <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/04/neighbors-ask-the-city-to-evict-nickelsville/">kick Nickelsville out</a> of the current site (in a humane way, of course).</p> <p>Here's what I took away from the meeting: Much of the council seems opposed to Licata's bill, Nickelsville doesn't even want to use it anyway&#8212;they want <strong>a church to rent property for them</strong> under current religious encampment rules. But while councilmembers gave Licata's staff some time to work with Nickelsville and see if they can make that happen, sources at city hall say they don't see a church ready to pay the thousands of dollars it would take to rent an adequate site, and there's <strong>no way the council will fund that</strong> if they're already underfunding the shelter beds they apparently prefer over camps. </p> <p>So the mayor and Licata proposed a second option: Make Nickelsville permanent at its current site. <strong>This option has no traction anywhere</strong>. And the mayor is never going to stage the shittiest photo op in the world, i.e. sending in cops to tear down shelters and kick desperately poor families off city land.</p> <p>Meanwhile, the city now has two lawsuits filed against it&#8212;<strong>it's being <em>double sued</em></strong> by Nickelsville's neighbors. One is an adjacent property owner suing the city over reduced property values due to the encampment, the other is the Highland Park Action Committee, which is filing a claim against the city for allegedly allowing for an illegal use of the site, the council revealed at the meeting.</p> <p>So that leaves us nowhere. <strong>There's no politically or financially viable solution</strong>, apparently. They can't stay there, they have nowhere to go, no one has any money. We're totally fucked. And it's an embarrassment for the city, all around.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/theres-no-workable-solution-for-seattles-homeless-camps#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16864797&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> City http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/theres-no-workable-solution-for-seattles-homeless-camps?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16864797&id=comments 0 There's No Workable Solution for Seattle's Homeless Camps A full house in council chamber on Wednesday. Anna Minard Fri, 24 May 2013 14:23:48 -0700 The Stranger Taking Pictures of the Neighbors Through Their Windows http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/taking-pictures-of-the-neighbors-through-their-windows http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/taking-pictures-of-the-neighbors-through-their-windows Jen Graves <p>If you have your picture taken in public space, legal precedent gives you no leverage to sue when your picture appears in art or journalism. But what about when an artist takes a picture of you&#8212;leaving you unidentifiable except maybe to yourself and people who know you&#8212;through the picture windows of your house? <a href="http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/23/when-photography-imitates-voyeurism/?emc=tnt&tntemail0=y">A new New York gallery show raises the questions.</a></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/taking-pictures-of-the-neighbors-through-their-windows#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16865572&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Visual Art http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/taking-pictures-of-the-neighbors-through-their-windows?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16865572&id=comments 0 Fri, 24 May 2013 14:15:03 -0700 The Stranger "YOU ARE DEAD - MUDEDE'S OFFICE TELLS SHOCKED MUTARE MAN" http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/you-are-dead-mudedes-office-tells-shocked-mutare-man http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/you-are-dead-mudedes-office-tells-shocked-mutare-man Charles Mudede <p>Some Mudedes like to tell capitalism that it's dead, <a href="http://www.newsdzezimbabwe.co.uk/2012/04/you-are-dead-mudedes-office-tells.html">others like to</a>...<br /><blockquote>A Mutare man seeking to renew his passport was told at the Registrar-General Office he was long dead and was shown a death certificate to prove it.<br />Elias Simbarashe Munanzwi got the shock of his life when last month he was told by officials that he could not renew his passport because there was a death certificate bearing his name, identity number, date of birth and village of origin.</p> <p>&#8220;I was shocked to learn that records from the RG&#8217;s Office show that I am dead,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Up to now, I fail to understand how a death certificate was created bearing all my identity particulars.&#8221;</p></blockquote> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/you-are-dead-mudedes-office-tells-shocked-mutare-man#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16865160&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Death http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/you-are-dead-mudedes-office-tells-shocked-mutare-man?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16865160&id=comments 0 Fri, 24 May 2013 14:08:00 -0700 The Stranger Because We Live in a Post-Feminist World, I Guess http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/because-we-live-in-a-post-feminist-world-i-guess http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/because-we-live-in-a-post-feminist-world-i-guess Paul Constant <p>What are some of the top comments when a Redditor who happens to be a man <a href="http://np.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/wrzfx/this_is_me_the_being_dope_sick_when_i_quit_heroin/">puts up a picture post </a>about quitting heroin?</p> <blockquote><p>Congratulations man. Thats no easy feat. Heroin has taken many a life. Good to see somone beat it</p></blockquote> <blockquote><p>I don&#8217;t know you, but I love you for staying clean. It gives me hope for my brother.</p></blockquote> <p>Nice! What are some of the top comments when a Redditor who happens to be a woman <a href="http://np.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/1dvrvw/been_clean_from_heroin_for_2_months_and_this_is/">puts up a picture post about quitting heroin</a>?</p> <blockquote><p>Reddit just upvoted some girl&#8217;s mirror shot to the front page Holy fuck, guys</p></blockquote> <blockquote><p>I don&#8217;t get it. This is just a picture of a person. What is interesting about this picture?</p></blockquote> <blockquote><p>9 outta 10 would bang. With protection.</p></blockquote> <p><strong>I fucking hate the internet</strong>. <a href="http://skepchick.org/2013/05/the-stunning-difference-between-treatment-of-men-women-on-reddit/">Rebecca Watson at Skepchick</a> is the blogger that first noticed this, and she does a great job of explaining why it's so maddening.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/because-we-live-in-a-post-feminist-world-i-guess#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16865033&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> The Ladies Teh Internets http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/because-we-live-in-a-post-feminist-world-i-guess?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16865033&id=comments 7 Fri, 24 May 2013 14:03:24 -0700 The Stranger Everything Wrong with Television, in One Handy Chart http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/everything-wrong-with-television-in-one-handy-chart http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/everything-wrong-with-television-in-one-handy-chart Paul Constant <p><a href="http://www.vulture.com/2013/05/201213-tv-season-in-one-depressing-chart.html">The Vulture has composed an alarming chart </a>showing how many network television shows have taken hits in the ratings over the 2012/2013 season. </p> <blockquote><p>The vast majority of the nearly 90 series that had their second or higher season on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and the CW lost ground among adults under 50...<strong>more than 50 series declined by double digits</strong>, nearly 30 fell by 20 percent or more, roughly a dozen gave back a quarter or more of their young audience, and an unlucky seven saw their ratings collapse by at least one-third.</p></blockquote> <p>It's not all bad news: A few shows like <em>Supernatural</em>, <em>Grimm</em>, and <em>The Big Bang Theory</em> actually gained viewers. Wait, the <em>Big Bang Theory </em>gaining additional viewers is bad news, too, isn't it? Anyway, <strong>network television seriously needs to change their model</strong> before the bottom drops completely out. I suspect that cable is going to have to do the same thing soon.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/everything-wrong-with-television-in-one-handy-chart#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16864804&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> TV http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/everything-wrong-with-television-in-one-handy-chart?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16864804&id=comments 23 Fri, 24 May 2013 12:27:34 -0700 The Stranger A Gigantic Bookstore/Warehouse in Kent Is Closing http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/a-gigantic-bookstorewarehouse-in-kent-is-closing http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/a-gigantic-bookstorewarehouse-in-kent-is-closing Paul Constant <p><a href="http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/once-sold-tales-struggles-with-500000-books_b70820">GalleyCat says</a> that <a href="http://www.oncesoldtales.com/">Once Sold Tales</a>, an online retailer in Kent, is closing, and the owner needs to <strong>get rid of 500,000 books</strong>. A Redditor explains:</p> <blockquote><p>Carrie will be operating her website and selling books at the warehouse (1$ for paperbacks, 2$ for hardback, or 1.50$/lb) until the end of May &#8230; Details are still getting worked out but it looks like <strong>10 dollars for 8 books or 18 for 16</strong>. </p></blockquote> <p>If you're into spending your days rifling through a warehouse packed with dirt-cheap books, it sounds like<strong> a road trip might be in order</strong>.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/a-gigantic-bookstorewarehouse-in-kent-is-closing#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16864693&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Books http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/a-gigantic-bookstorewarehouse-in-kent-is-closing?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16864693&id=comments 4 Fri, 24 May 2013 11:52:16 -0700 The Stranger New California Law Could Prohibit Protesters From Riding Public Transit http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/new-calilfornia-law-could-prohibit-protesters-from-riding-public-transit http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/new-calilfornia-law-could-prohibit-protesters-from-riding-public-transit Brendan Kiley <p>A local ABC affiliate describes <a href="http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local&id=9083676">the situation</a> this way: "BART is rolling out a new plan that will allow it to ban passengers who don't behave."</p> <p>But <a href="http://todnews.com/2013/05/new-law-will-ban-protesters-from-riding-mass-transit-in-california/">the RT blog</a> describes it this way: "New law will <strong>ban protesters from riding mass transit in California</strong>... that power could be used to prevent political protesters from getting to demonstrations or essentially going anywhere."</p> <p><a href="http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/11-12/bill/asm/ab_0701-0750/ab_716_cfa_20110701_115626_sen_comm.html">The law is here</a> and states, among other things, that possession of any illegal substance, "lewd" behavior, "unruly" behavior, or pretty much anything a transit cop decides is undesirable&#8212;they get a lot of discretion&#8212;can lead to a year-long prohibition from public transit. (It seems one must have gotten three infractions in 90 days.)</p> <p>This measure was put in place, in part, because of <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/14/linton-johnson-bart-emails_n_963294.html"><u>repeated</u></a> <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Anonymous-planning-another-BART-protest-2334394.php"><u>protests</u></a> against BART in San Francisco after a BART cop shot and killed a mentally ill homeless man. (A few years prior, a BART officer shot and killed an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BART_Police_shooting_of_Oscar_Grant">unarmed 22 year-old</a>.) BART, of course, <a href="http://www.bart.gov/news/articles/2013/news20130130.aspx">defends the law</a> as an attempt to "create a safer, cleaner environment for BART riders and employees."</p> <p>But even the ABC report recognizes that "AB 716 won't only target violent behavior. It can be applied to protestors who have been arrested during free-speech movements."</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/new-calilfornia-law-could-prohibit-protesters-from-riding-public-transit#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16864437&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Occupy Transportation http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/new-calilfornia-law-could-prohibit-protesters-from-riding-public-transit?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16864437&id=comments 12 Fri, 24 May 2013 11:51:33 -0700 The Stranger China Approves 220-Story, 4,450-Apartment Pinnacle of Density http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/china-approves-220-story-4450-apartment-pinnacle-of-density http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/china-approves-220-story-4450-apartment-pinnacle-of-density Dominic Holden <p>This news is approximately <strong>three hundred million internet years old</strong> (I saw it Monday), but it hasn't been on Slog yet. </p> <p><a href="http://www.treehugger.com/modular-design/one-building-one-city-worlds-tallest-prefab-breaking-ground-june.html">Treehugger reports</a> that a firm called Broad Sustainable Construction has obtained final approval to begin, starting a June, building a <strong>220-story tower</strong> in Changsha, China, that reaches a half mile high, making it the world's tallest building. Ominously, they're giving it the same name as that bland restaurant on top of the Space Needle: <strong>Sky City</strong>. </p> <p>Unlike decorative towers that serve airplane food and trophy skyscrapers like the Burj Khalifa, this Sky City is supposedly functional, affordable, and comparatively inexpensive to build. Many components of the <strong>pre-fab modular construction</strong> are being built off site, so the on-site construction schedule is only about three months. "It all just bolts together," writes treehugger. "BSC claims that by building this way, they eliminate construction waste, lost time managing trades, keep tight cost control and can build at a cost 50% to 60% less than conventional construction." </p> <p>But the description gets a little breathless. "By using elevators instead of cars to get to schools, businesses and recreational facilities, thousands of cars are taken off the roads and thousands of hours of commuting time are saved," they gush, adding that it will include nearly one million square feet of vertical organic farms. "The numbers continue to stagger. In one building, there will be accommodation for 4450 families in apartments ranging from 645 SF to 5,000 SF, 250 hotel rooms, 100,000 SF of school, hospital and office space, totaling over eleven million square feet. <strong>The building footprint is only 10% of the site; the rest is open parkland</strong>."</p> <p>Here's a video:</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="500" height="281" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/MvX40RHW81w" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>I'm admittedly enchanted&#8212;it's a giant, modular arcology, you guys!!&#8212;but <strong>the pinnacle of density is not the pinnacle of destiny</strong>. In fact, it's arguably a relic of the past (towers in the park, anyone? and care to live in a mall?), and even if it's less expensive than other super skyscrapers, high rises are always more expensive to build and more complicated to finance than low-rise buildings, which provide ample density for a city and relate better to the street. Still, it's an amusing experiment in super-high-density-construction that isn't just for the rich. Though I doubt those 210th story penthouses are gonna be doled out to proles, either.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/china-approves-220-story-4450-apartment-pinnacle-of-density#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16820948&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/china-approves-220-story-4450-apartment-pinnacle-of-density?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16820948&id=comments 20 Fri, 24 May 2013 11:22:44 -0700 The Stranger A Review of the New Seafood Restaurant From the Owners of the Seven Matadors and Kickin' Boot Whiskey Kitchen* http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/a-review-of-the-new-seafood-restaurant-from-the-owners-of-the-seven-matadors-and-kickin-boot-whiskey-kitchen http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/a-review-of-the-new-seafood-restaurant-from-the-owners-of-the-seven-matadors-and-kickin-boot-whiskey-kitchen Bethany Jean Clement <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/its-not-happening/Content?oid=16834133"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/5aef/1369349413-chow-570.jpg" alt="Manager not pictured." title="Manager not pictured." width="500" height="434" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit">Kelly O</li><li class="imageCaption">Manager not pictured.</li></ul></div></p> <p>The manager at <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/its-not-happening/Content?oid=16834133">Ballard Annex Oyster House</a> is so smooth and good-looking, it's like you're in a movie. You're the extras out to dinner at the tastefully upscale, bustling seafood restaurant. The manager&#8212;who's <strong>suavely introducing himself </strong>and asking if he can get you a drink before the waiter, who will also introduce himself, arrives&#8212;is played by The Rock, at last realizing his dream of running his own restaurant from <em>The Rundown</em>. When you say you don't know what you want to drink yet, The Rock graciously allows this&#8212;reassures you, even&#8212;and, muscularly, moves on. No explosion ever occurs...</p> <p><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/its-not-happening/Content?oid=16834133">KEEP READING > > ></a></p> <p><small>*Plus Its Portland Cousin, Southland Whiskey Kitchen</small></p> Chow http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/a-review-of-the-new-seafood-restaurant-from-the-owners-of-the-seven-matadors-and-kickin-boot-whiskey-kitchen?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16857180&id=comments 0 A Review of the New Seafood Restaurant From the Owners of the Seven Matadors and Kickin' Boot Whiskey Kitchen* Manager not pictured. Kelly O Fri, 24 May 2013 11:21:27 -0700 The Stranger Pushing Rope http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/pushing-rope http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/pushing-rope Paul Constant <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/6308/1369416293-film-hangover-570.jpg" alt="The Hangover, Part III: If you squint, you can see what remains of Zach Galifianakiss self-worth and dignity." title="The Hangover, Part III: If you squint, you can see what remains of Zach Galifianakiss self-worth and dignity." width="500" height="351" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption"><em>The Hangover, Part III</em>: If you squint, you can see what remains of Zach Galifianakis's self-worth and dignity.</li></ul></div></p> <p>While it's true that <em>The Hangover, Part III</em> doesn't exactly duplicate the plot of the original <em>Hangover</em>, the way the atrocious <em>Part II</em> did, it doesn't bring anything much new to the screen, either. Doug (Justin Bartha) is kidnapped by a mob boss named Marshall (John Goodman), in order to convince the Wolfpack (Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms, and Zach Galifianakis) to chase down Mr. Chow (Ken Jeong), who has stolen millions of dollars' worth of gold bars from Marshall. It gets more implausible from there, with a series of heists and stunts and a chase scene or two, all around Tijuana and Las Vegas. I laughed out loud a couple of times&#8212;is it telling that the best jokes in the movie have to do with cocaine, I wonder?&#8212;but mostly, I just wanted it to be over.</p> <p>The problem is that it's the same humor as the other two Hangover movies, over and over again. Ken Jeong acts batshit crazy, Zach Galifianakis is inappropriate to just about everyone, and Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms get all the "can you believe this shit" lines, playing the fussy adults who have to chauffeur the hyperactive kids from one set piece to another. But they're not even given character arcs this time, unless you count bugging your eyes out and shouting "ALAN!" over and over again as a symbol of emotional growth.</p> <p>None of this would matter if there were a lot of crazy humor in <em>The Hangover, Part III</em>, but there just isn't.</p> <p><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/pushing-rope/Content?oid=16836667">Keep reading >></a></p> Film http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/pushing-rope?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16864007&id=comments 0 Pushing Rope <em>The Hangover, Part III</em>: If you squint, you can see what remains of Zach Galifianakis's self-worth and dignity. Fri, 24 May 2013 11:20:40 -0700 The Stranger Kelly O Gets Down with the Clown http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/kelly-o-gets-down-with-the-clown http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/kelly-o-gets-down-with-the-clown Kelly O <p><em>Insane Clown Posse play El Corazon tonight and tomorrow night. Tickets are still <a href="http://www.elcorazonseattle.com/">available here</a>.</em></p> <p><div class="blogImageRight" style="width:312px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/e543/1369417670-music-feature-570.jpg" alt="Violent J, the Duke of the Wicked, is on the left. Whoop, whoop!" title=" Violent J, the Duke of the Wicked, is on the left. Whoop, whoop!" width="300" height="211" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption"> Violent J, the Duke of the Wicked, is on the left. Whoop, whoop!</li></ul></div>Violent J is a hatchet-wielding, face-paint-wearing, wicked-clown rapper character, and one-half of supernatural hiphop-horrorcore duo Insane Clown Posse. Violent J and childhood friend Shaggy 2 Dope formed ICP in Detroit back in the early '90s and have since released 12 studio albums, 21 singles, seven EPs, and eight compilations on their own label, Psychopathic Records. The duo has earned two platinum and five gold albums (!!). They have a large underground following of dedicated and rabid fans known, of course, as Juggalos. I spoke with Violent J about fatherhood, cheap soda, religion, and boobs. He was extremely friendly, and made me miss the no-bullshit attitude of a born-and-bred Detroiter.</p> <p><strong>You're playing El Coraz&#243;n May 24 and 25. Why the two ICP Seattle shows?</strong></p> <p>Well, it's a small club, and it's been YEARS. No one would book us in Seattle for many, many years. Juggalos have a bad reputation, so for a long time, the closest we could come was Portland.</p> <p><strong>I have to ask. Your songs mention it, your fans guzzle it... why Faygo?</strong></p> <p>You gotta remember, we started out way back in the early '90s, comin' off the heels of the Beastie Boys and Run-DMC. DMC rapped about Adidas, and that was kinda like <em>their</em> thing, and the Beasties, at least back on their first album, used to mention White Castle hamburgers. Those things would link you to a group back then. When we were sitting around working on our very first songs, we wanted to incorporate who we were. We always drank Faygo.</p> <p><strong>Why not Vernors? That's from Detroit.</strong></p> <p>Vernors was expensive! Faygo Cola was only 69 cents for a two-liter. We used to leave the house and walk to the store with no money, and by the time we walked through the alley to get there, we would find at least seven empty bottles on the ground&#8212;then we'd walk away with a new ice-cold two-liter of Faygo, for free.</p> <p><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/kelly-o-gets-down-with-the-clown/Content?oid=16834549"><u>Continue reading &#187;</u></a></p> Music http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/kelly-o-gets-down-with-the-clown?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16864363&id=comments 0 Fri, 24 May 2013 11:01:00 -0700 The Stranger SIFF Picks of the Day! http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/siff-picks-of-the-day http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/siff-picks-of-the-day David Schmader <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:494px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2013/05/24/1369416654-screen_shot_2013-05-24_at_10.24.53_am.png" alt="Screen_shot_2013-05-24_at_10.24.53_AM.png" title="" width="482" height="210" /></div> (<em>The Punk Singer </em>screens at 9:30 tonight at the Harvard Exit.)</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:486px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/fc03/1369416483-screen_shot_2013-05-24_at_10.23.24_am.png" alt="Screen_shot_2013-05-24_at_10.23.24_AM.png" title="" width="474" height="331" /></div> (<em>The Rocket</em> screens at 6:30 tonight at SIFF Uptown.)</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:489px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/ef35/1369416516-screen_shot_2013-05-24_at_10.23.38_am.png" alt="Screen_shot_2013-05-24_at_10.23.38_AM.png" title="" width="477" height="284" /></div> (<em>About 111 Girls</em> screens at 9 tonight at SIFF Uptown.)</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:491px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2013/05/24/1369416611-screen_shot_2013-05-24_at_10.24.24_am.png" alt="Screen_shot_2013-05-24_at_10.24.24_AM.png" title="" width="479" height="306" /></div> (<em>C.O.G.</em> screens at 4 pm today at the Egyptian.)</p> <p><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Siff">Full guide here</a>!</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/siff-picks-of-the-day#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16864015&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> SIFF http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/siff-picks-of-the-day?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16864015&id=comments 2 SIFF Picks of the Day! Fri, 24 May 2013 10:37:53 -0700 The Stranger Hockey Players With Pets http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/hockey-players-with-pets http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/hockey-players-with-pets Megan Seling <p><a href="http://hockeyplayerswithpets.tumblr.com">hockeyplayerswithpets.tumblr.com</a>! <a href="http://hockeyplayerswithpets.tumblr.com">hockeyplayerswithpets.tumblr.com</a>! <a href="http://hockeyplayerswithpets.tumblr.com">hockeyplayerswithpets.tumblr.com</a>! <a href="http://hockeyplayerswithpets.tumblr.com">hockeyplayerswithpets.tumblr.com</a>! <a href="http://hockeyplayerswithpets.tumblr.com">hockeyplayerswithpets.tumblr.com</a>! <a href="http://hockeyplayerswithpets.tumblr.com">hockeyplayerswithpets.tumblr.com</a>!</p> <p>See Evgeni Malkin with a camel! See Brian McGrattan with a fuzzy puppy! See Zenon Konopka with a rabbit! See Evgeni Malkin with a flamingo! And a parrot! And... where are you getting all these animals, Malkin?</p> <p>This is the best thing to ever exist on the internet.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/hockey-players-with-pets#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16864005&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Animals Sports http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/hockey-players-with-pets?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16864005&id=comments 15 Fri, 24 May 2013 10:25:02 -0700 The Stranger "Arrested Godfather" http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/arrested-godfather http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/arrested-godfather David Schmader <p>Mitchell Hurwitz's masterwork meets Francis Ford Coppola's masterwork, courtesy of <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/Slacktory?feature=watch">Slacktory</a>.</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xkhp19kMl0w" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/arrested-godfather#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16863997&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> TV Film Teh Internets http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/arrested-godfather?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16863997&id=comments 1 Fri, 24 May 2013 10:17:09 -0700 The Stranger Governor Inslee Officially Declares State of Emergency in Skagit, Snohomish, and Whatcom Counties http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/governor-inslee-officially-declares-state-of-emergency-in-skagit-snohomish-and-whatcom-counties http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/governor-inslee-officially-declares-state-of-emergency-in-skagit-snohomish-and-whatcom-counties Paul Constant <p><a href="http://www.governor.wa.gov/office/proclamations/13-04.pdf">The PDF is here</a>. If you hate PDFs, the text of the proclamation is below.</p> <blockquote><p><strong>WHEREAS</strong>, a section of the Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River in Skagit County collapsed on May 23, 2013, closing the Interstate in both directions, requiring implementation of detours through adjacent neighborhood roadways, causing extensive disruption of the primary north and south bound transportation route through Western Washington, and impacting our citizens, businesses and economy in Skagit, Snohomish and Whatcom Counties; and </p> <p>The estimated cost to repair the bridge is <strong>$15,000,000</strong>. Repairs and necessary interstate highway closures require the approval of Washington&#8217;s Secretary of Transportation, and the Washington State Department of Transportation is coordinating resources and working to implement damage repairs. These emergency conditions warrant closure of affected roadways for a significant period and implementation of emergency procurement procedures to hire a contractor to repair the damage; and</p> <p>The roadway damage and its effects continue to impact the life and health of our citizens, as well as the property and transportation infrastructure of Washington State, all of which affect life, health, property, or the public peace, and constitute a public disaster demanding immediate action; and</p> <p>The Washington State Military Department has activated the state Emergency Operations Center, implemented response procedures, and is coordinating resources to support local officials in alleviating the immediate social and economic impacts to people, property, and infrastructure, and is continuing to assess the magnitude of the event.</p> <p><strong>NOW, THEREFORE</strong>, I, Jay R. Inslee, Governor of the state of Washington, as a result of the above-noted situation and under Chapter 38.52 and 43.06 RCW, do hereby proclaim that a State of Emergency exists in Skagit, Snohomish, and Whatcom Counties in the state of Washington, and direct the plans and procedures in the Washington State Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan be implemented. State agencies and departments are directed to utilize state resources and to do everything reasonably possible to assist affected political subdivisions in an effort to respond to and recover from the event. As a result of this event, the Washington State Military Department, Emergency Management Division, is instructed to coordinate all incident-related assistance to the affected areas.</p></blockquote> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/governor-inslee-officially-declares-state-of-emergency-in-skagit-snohomish-and-whatcom-counties#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16863990&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Transportation http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/governor-inslee-officially-declares-state-of-emergency-in-skagit-snohomish-and-whatcom-counties?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16863990&id=comments 4 Fri, 24 May 2013 10:17:07 -0700 The Stranger Is Brett Hamil the Most Attractive Person In Washington State? http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/is-brett-hamil-the-most-attractive-person-in-washington-state http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/is-brett-hamil-the-most-attractive-person-in-washington-state Dominic Holden <p>Anyone who can talk about the dance tax and regressive taxation like this <strong>wins in my book</strong>:<br /><div style="text-align:center;"><br /><iframe width="500" height="281" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bRwyJbjBEIk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>Thanks to tipper Jeremy!</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/is-brett-hamil-the-most-attractive-person-in-washington-state#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16863729&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Olympia http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/is-brett-hamil-the-most-attractive-person-in-washington-state?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16863729&id=comments 18 Fri, 24 May 2013 09:55:11 -0700 The Stranger The Pleasures of Twitter http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/the-pleasures-of-twitter http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/the-pleasures-of-twitter Charles Mudede <p>Do you want more?<br /><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Hilary Clinton trouser suit rainbow. It's just kind of great. I don't know why. <a href="http://t.co/CjCgLSj048" title="http://twitter.com/FelicityMorse/status/337172602445516800/photo/1">twitter.com/FelicityMorse/&#8230;</a><br />&#8212; Felicity Morse (@FelicityMorse) <a href="https://twitter.com/FelicityMorse/status/337172602445516800">May 22, 2013</a></blockquote><br /><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/the-pleasures-of-twitter#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16863713&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Celeb http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/the-pleasures-of-twitter?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16863713&id=comments 13 Fri, 24 May 2013 09:08:25 -0700 The Stranger The Only Thing More Tragic than a Bridge Collapse Would Be a 10 Cent a Gallon Increase in the Gas Tax http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/the-only-thing-more-tragic-than-a-bridge-collapse-would-be-a-10-cent-a-gallon-increase-in-the-gas-tax http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/the-only-thing-more-tragic-than-a-bridge-collapse-would-be-a-10-cent-a-gallon-increase-in-the-gas-tax Goldy <p>Not a coherent post, just a few quick thoughts about last night's <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/an-i-5-bridge-over-the-skagit-river-has-collapsed">collapse of an I-5 bridge</a> over the Skagit River in Mount Vernon:</p> <p><ul><li><strong>No one died.</strong> Amazing, given the amount of traffic this bridge routinely carriers, and the fact that the roadbed plummeted <del>120 feet</del> (some other number, I'm told) into the river below. Only two cars were dropped into the river, and all three occupants survived. Again, amazing. And bravo to the quick work of the first responders.</li></p> <p><li><strong>Our transportation infrastructure is awfully fragile.</strong> And I'm not talking about the concrete and steel that crumbled and fell after being hit by a truck. Squeezed between the Cascade mountains and the Puget Sound, we have few north/south alternatives to the I-5 corridor for moving people and goods between Seattle and BC and everywhere in between. Like the bridge itself, parts of our transportation infrastructure are short on redundancies, with potentially huge economic consequences for the region. Last night Governor Inslee said that the state has "emergency contracting procedures that are already being put into place," so the expectation is that the bridge replacement will take months, not years. But when the Big One hits, don't expect reconstruction to be so fast.</li></p> <p><li><strong>70,000 vehicles a day.</strong> That was the typical weekday capacity of the Skagit River bridge. It is also roughly the capacity <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/seattles-invisible-28-lane-freeway/Content?oid=16766783">equivalent to the 17 percent in bus service</a> that Metro would be forced to impose should the legislature fail to approve a transportation funding package that includes 1.5 percent local MVET option for King County. This bridge collapse will rightly prompt an expensive, expedited, bridge replacement. But Rodney Tom and his Republican senate caucus seem perfectly comfortable with slashing equivalent transportation capacity from King County. Go figure.</li></p> <p><li><strong>The only thing more tragic than a bridge collapse would be a 10 cent increase in the gas tax.</strong> Will this bridge collapse push lawmakers to finally come to terms on a transportation funding package? Hard to say. The two sticking points have been the Columbia River Crossing bridge (more on that in moment) and a proposed 10 cent a gallon gas tax increase to fund new projects and additional maintenance. Democrats will argue that the bridge collapse proves we need more transportation dollars now. Republicans will argue that the bridge collapse proves we need to re-prioritize our transportation spending. I can see both sides digging in their heels as they wait to see how the public responds to their message. But in the end, I'm guessing the GOP's patrons in the business community will push them to approve a package that includes some sort of tax increase.</p> <p><li><strong>&#8220;Quite frankly the Columbia River Crossing was the first i thought of"</strong> when she heard an I-5 bridge had collapsed, state senate Democratic transportation committee co-chair Tracy Eide <a href="https://twitter.com/Jordan_Schrader/status/337786130000928768">told the TNT's Jordan Schrader</a>. But will this move her Republican colleagues to drop their opposition to the CRC? Republicans oppose it because they say the designs are too low, but probably more so because it includes light rail connecting Portland, OR, to Vancouver, WA. Yet the federal and Oregon funding that has already been approved is contingent on the bridge including light rail, so there really isn't any room for Democratic compromise on that issue if the goal is to get this project going. Washington State has many bridges in worse stages of disrepair than the existing Columbia River bridges, the Republicans might argue. So yeah, I can see them digging in their heels on this one.<br /></ul></p> <p>Anyway, more for sure after I've had some time to talk to the players. And Happy Memorial Day to all of you with plains to head north of Mount Vernon this weekend!</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/the-only-thing-more-tragic-than-a-bridge-collapse-would-be-a-10-cent-a-gallon-increase-in-the-gas-tax#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16861127&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Transportation Olympia http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/the-only-thing-more-tragic-than-a-bridge-collapse-would-be-a-10-cent-a-gallon-increase-in-the-gas-tax?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16861127&id=comments 41 Fri, 24 May 2013 08:57:21 -0700 The Stranger Morning News: The Bridge Collapse, Obama's Speech, and a Crop of Terrible Movies http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/morning-news-the-bridge-collapse-obamas-speech-and-a-crop-of-terrible-movies http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/morning-news-the-bridge-collapse-obamas-speech-and-a-crop-of-terrible-movies Anna Minard <p><strong>I-5 Bridge Over the Skagit River Collapses</strong>: Despite the <a href="http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20130523/NEWS01/305239999#Everyone-safe-after-bridge-over-Skagit-River-collapses">shocking pictures</a>, there are no fatalities in last night's dramatic collapse of a bridge between Burlington and Mount Vernon. It happened at 7 p.m., and <a href="http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/construction/pugetsound/today.htm">traffic will be messed up for a while</a>. As to the cause of the collapse, Washington State Patrol Chief John Batiste says, "For reasons unknown at this point in time, <a href="http://www.komonews.com/news/local/I-5-Skagit-River-bridge-collapse-caused-by-oversize-load-208813861.html">[a] semi struck the overhead of the bridge</a> causing the collapse." That driver is cooperating with authorities. Here's <a href="http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/24/18465755-like-a-hollywood-movie-driver-survives-i-5-bridge-collapse-into-wash-river?lite">an interview with a survivor</a> (that picture is amazing), and Paul's collection of news updates <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/an-i-5-bridge-over-the-skagit-river-has-collapsed">as they happened last night</a>.</p> <p><strong>One Quick Note, Now that the PNW Is the Top National News Story</strong>:<br /><div style="text-align:center;"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Dear national media, Skagit sounds like badge-it. Not bag-it. From @<a href="https://twitter.com/levipulk">levipulk</a></p>&#8212; seattlepi (@seattlepi) <a href="https://twitter.com/seattlepi/status/337802854888767488">May 24, 2013</a></blockquote><br /><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div></p> <p><strong>Obama's Big Speech Yesterday</strong>: Outlined his second-term counterterrorism strategies, including <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/24/us/politics/plan-would-orient-cia-back-toward-spying.html?_r=0">shifting away from the use of the C.I.A.s Counterterrorism Center</a>, continuing drone strikes, and <a href="http://www.npr.org/2013/05/23/186306464/breaking-down-obamas-new-blueprint-for-fighting-terrorism">promising (again) to close Guantanamo</a>.</p> <p><strong>Department of Energy to Clean Up Leaking Hanford Tank</strong>: They've promised to offer a plan by June 14 as to <a href="http://www.king5.com/news/local/Plan-for-leaking-Hanford-tank-promised-by-June-14-208773671.html">how they'll pump out the "highly radioactive waste."</a></p> <p><strong>Taliban Launches Coordinated Attack On UN Compound</strong>: Explosions and gunfire <a href="http://touch.latimes.com/#section/1780/article/p2p-76039339/">erupt in central Kabul</a>; casualties are still unknown.</p> <p><strong>Melinda Gates</strong>: Comes in third on <em>Forbes</em>' list of <a href="http://www.geekwire.com/2013/melinda-gates-ranks-3-list-powerful-women/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+geekwire+%28GeekWire%29">most powerful women in the world</a>, behind German chancellor Angela Merkel and Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff.</p> <p><strong>SWAT Team Fatally Shoots Fife Father Holding Son Hostage</strong>: "Police said the man was using his son as a shield inside the house and at one point <a href="http://www.komonews.com/news/local/Officers-fatally-shoot-man-allegedly-holding-4-year-old-son-hostage-208818101.html">dangled his son out a second-floor window</a>," reports KOMO. Police shot and killed the man early this morning; his son is safe and with family members.</p> <p><strong>California State Senator Introduces State Reporter Shield Act</strong>: Ted Lieu, a Democrat from Torrance, <a href="http://touch.latimes.com/#section/1780/article/p2p-76039339/">proposed the bill in response to federal seizures of AP reporters' phone records</a>, saying, "A free press is necessary for a free people. Actions that chill freedom of the press hurt the foundational core of our democracy."</p> <p><strong>UW Gets Its Largest Freshman Applicant Pool Ever</strong>: More than <a href="http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2021045617_collegeadmissionsxml.html">30,000 students applied to be part of UW's freshmen class this year</a>, up 16 percent from last year. Down from 65 percent last year, about 61 percent of Washington students were accepted to the university.</p> <p><strong>The Worst Movies for Sale at Cannes Film Festival</strong>: The <em>Guardian</em> collects a gallery of the "<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/gallery/2013/may/24/worst-films-at-cannes">Palm d'Awful</a>," including <em>Sharknado</em> and <em>Bring Me the Head of the Machine Gun Woman</em>.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/morning-news-the-bridge-collapse-obamas-speech-and-a-crop-of-terrible-movies#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16863223&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> News http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/morning-news-the-bridge-collapse-obamas-speech-and-a-crop-of-terrible-movies?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16863223&id=comments 13 Fri, 24 May 2013 08:34:31 -0700 The Stranger Life Without Economics: Part Six http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/life-without-economics-part-six http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/life-without-economics-part-six Charles Mudede <p>And what is the profession of economics (which is <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/16/life-without-economics-part-one">not really about economics</a> but about asset management and things of that nature) like in advanced capitalist societies (ADS)? It has its equivalent in traffic engineering...<br /><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/bf92/1369407735-img_20130521_103529.jpg" alt="The Greenest of Green Cars" title="The Greenest of Green Cars " width="500" height="500" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">The Greenest of Green Cars </li></ul></div><br />In the way that the only goal, maintaining high rates of growth, of the economics profession in its present state doesn't solve any real thing, the traffic engineer's goal, undoing jams, solves zip in the big picture of our present social and environmental situation. Economic growth at even a compound rate of 2 percent has no actual meaning for a society that's so wealthy that it has to <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/08/life-without-economics-part-five">socially manufacture poverty</a>. Similarly, clearing up traffic congestion has no actual value&#8212;indeed, it makes things worse by decreasing the misery for drivers and increasing the number of cars on the road. The success of a traffic engineer, like the success of an economist, means nothing in reality but something in our distorted view of it.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/life-without-economics-part-six#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16863474&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Economy http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/life-without-economics-part-six?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16863474&id=comments 5 Life Without Economics: Part Six The Greenest of Green Cars Fri, 24 May 2013 07:56:06 -0700 The Stranger Fast &amp; Furious 6: Justin Lin's Automotive Ballet Careens to an Explosive Conclusion http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/fast-and-furious-6-justin-lins-automotive-ballet-careens-to-an-explosive-conclusion http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/fast-and-furious-6-justin-lins-automotive-ballet-careens-to-an-explosive-conclusion Paul Constant <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/a1b4/1369202308-gallery_12.jpg" alt="The Gangs All Here: What is this, a table? I cant drive a table!" title="The Gangs All Here: What is this, a table? I cant drive a table!" width="500" height="207" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption"><b>The Gang's All Here</b>: "What is this, a <em>table</em>? I can't drive a table!"</li></ul></div></p> <p>I don't think the financial success of the Fast &amp; Furious franchise is entirely attributable to fast cars and cheap thrills. I think a great deal of the movie's appeal at the multiplex comes from the fact that it's the only major summer movie franchise that features a truly multicultural cast. Not only that, these movies are totally blas&#233; about the fact that they star a multicultural cast; nobody is a token character, none of the characters spend time dwelling on their differences. These are highly unrealistic movies&#8212;about which more soon&#8212;but the cast may be the most <strong>realistic set of faces</strong> you'll see in a blockbuster all year, if you live in a major American city. Part of the appeal of a Fast &amp; Furious movie, I think, comes from that recognition.</p> <p>Which is good, because even the most unrealistic movie needs to have some sort of a base of realism on which it can build. And <em>Fast &amp; Furious 6</em> is one of the most unrealistic movies you'll see this summer. Director Justin Lin, now on his fourth Fast &amp; Furious film, has taken a fairly unassuming street-racing series and made each movie crazier and crazier until finally, with what might be his final entry in the franchise, he has given birth to a whole new genre: <strong>Car-fu</strong>. Using absolutely no 3D and plenty of what appear to be practical effects (with lots of CGI tossed in for good measure), Lin has become the John Woo of the demolition derby, tossing what feels like a good-sized mall parking lot full of cars around his sets until it becomes a kind of surrealistic ballet. You've got cars crushed by debris. You've got cars skidding daintily on their bumpers, perpendicular to the ground. You've got cars lashed to each other, flying through the air. They pirouette, they dance, they dive, they leap. They fold like origami, they roar, they butt into each other like rivals during mating season.</p> <p>And the automotive violence rubs off on <em>Fast &amp; Furious 6</em>'s human cast, too. When The Rock, as a law enforcement officer named Luke Hobbs, tosses a bad guy around a Moscow interrogation room, it's not a body doing violence to a body. It's one of Lin's automotive crashes, dolled up in human form. Hobbs sends the crook sailing through the air into ceilings and floors and walls, only to pick him up and chuck him again, until he becomes injured and so turns into some sort of a simpering, whining...<em>pedestrian</em>, begging for mercy. And Vin Diesel's Dominic Toretto only has one signature move: <strong>The flying head butt</strong>. Toretto leaps at his target with his whole body, bringing his gigantic, gleaming dome down square on the poor sap with a sickening bludgeoning sound effect. It's not so much a physical assault as it is a hit &amp; run.</p> <p>The plot&#8212;what little there is&#8212;calls back to just about every Fast &amp; Furious movie that came before, and so it's <strong>a mess to explain</strong>.</p> <p>Hobbs, on the trail of some sort of a criminal mastermind named Shaw (Luke Evans, good enough) recruits Toretto and his friends (basically the same crew that was assembled for <em>Fast Five</em>'s big heist, including Paul Walker, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Sung Kang, and Elsa Pataky) with the promise of universal pardons for all the sins they've committed in the past movies. And he dangles the possibility of a reunion, too: Toretto's beloved girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), who seemingly died back in the fourth F&F movie, is alive and working for Shaw. Yeah, it's a convoluted soap opera. But you don't have to have seen the previous movies to get the gist of what's going on, and once all the exposition is over and done with, none of it really matters, anyway.</p> <p>The action is what counts, and Lin does some excellent composition work in the car chase scenes. Cars speed, lunge, and careen into each other. Lin gives us a sense of place and he builds a natural sense of drama into these scenes. Vehicles range from normal cars to street racers to <strong>shovel-headed dune buggies</strong> to very fast tanks to SUVs to gigantic planes, and each vehicle has its own personality and capabilities. You always know who's in which car, and what they're trying to do with their car, and who's trying to stop them. That's no easy feat, and Lin pulls it off and makes it look easy as he does it. He also leavens each action scene with at least one bit of physics-defying stunt work that leaves audiences laughing with disbelief. (At one point, a car windshield is portrayed as something that can successfully and comfortably break an out-of-control fall.) To Lin's credit, the laughter seems to be with him, rather than at him, which means that those stunts work, somehow. It must be talent, because nobody is that lucky.</p> <p>But don't get me wrong. This isn't a departure from the series, or even an especially good movie. The dialogue is awful. The plot basically eye-rolls itself to death in parts, and the story is unnecessarily paunchy in the middle. While the action sequences are well-put-together, other parts of the movie are lazy and shoddily assembled. (<strong>The Rock's goatee keeps disappearing and reappearing</strong> in scenes that are no more than a few hours apart in the story's timeline.) </p> <p>But goddamnit, <strong>I liked this movie</strong>. I like that while it certainly doesn't try to be smart, it never stops trying to entertain the pants off its audience. I like that the movie ends in such a way that it serves as a satisfying conclusion to both the second trilogy of F&F movies and to the whole franchise in general. I like Vin Diesel's gravelly delivery, when it comes alongside his little twisted, self-aware smile. I like that The Rock gets called the Hulk, Captain America, and Thor by three different characters in the film, making him a one-man version of the Avengers. I like that the script hints at a concept for a <em>Fast &amp; Furious 7 </em>that has me genuinely excited. I like that <em>Fast &amp; Furious 6 </em>desperately wants me to leave the theater feeling like I saw a spectacle. For a guilty-pleasure popcorn movie, I think that's a pretty okay deal.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/fast-and-furious-6-justin-lins-automotive-ballet-careens-to-an-explosive-conclusion#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16840306&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Film http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/fast-and-furious-6-justin-lins-automotive-ballet-careens-to-an-explosive-conclusion?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16840306&id=comments 16 <em>Fast &amp; Furious 6</em>: Justin Lin's Automotive Ballet Careens to an Explosive Conclusion <b>The Gang's All Here</b>: "What is this, a <em>table</em>? I can't drive a table!" Fri, 24 May 2013 07:51:21 -0700 The Stranger Watch the Columbia Glacier Recede http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/watch-the-columbia-glacier-recede http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/watch-the-columbia-glacier-recede Eli Sanders <p>If you haven't already, spend a moment with <a href="http://world.time.com/timelapse/">Timelapse</a>. It takes decades of government satellite images and turns them into short movies that show you what we've been doing to the planet recently. </p> <p>In addition to watching the Columbia Glacier recede, you can watch coal seams being opened up in Wyoming! And sprawl sprawling in Las Vegas! And rainforest disappearing in Brazil! And, if you use the search function, Seattle densifying!</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/watch-the-columbia-glacier-recede#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16860867&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Teh Internets http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/24/watch-the-columbia-glacier-recede?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16860867&id=comments 6 Fri, 24 May 2013 06:00:00 -0700 The Stranger An I-5 Bridge Over the Skagit River Has Collapsed http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/an-i-5-bridge-over-the-skagit-river-has-collapsed http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/an-i-5-bridge-over-the-skagit-river-has-collapsed Paul Constant <p>The news is blasting across Twitter right now:</p> <p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">BREAKING: The I-5 Bridge over the Skagit River has collapsed. Cars are in the water. Avoid the area. More soon.<br />&#8212; KOMO News (@komonews) <a href="https://twitter.com/komonews/status/337754001640681472">May 24, 2013</a></blockquote><br /><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p>Looks like both the northbound and the southbound lanes are out. The best person to follow for up-to-the-minute updates on Twitter at the moment is <a href="https://twitter.com/Lynsi_SVH">is Lynsi Burton, a reporter for the<em> Skagit Valley Herald</em></a>. KOMO radio is taking calls from witnesses. You can <a href="http://www.komonews.com/radio/">listen in on their website</a>. One witness says a 50-foot portion of the bridge is gone and rescuers are on the scene. More updates as they come.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE 7:32 PM</strong>: Here's a picture from the scene:</p> <p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Via @<a href="https://twitter.com/gina_svh">gina_svh</a> - the I-5 bridge over Skagit River between Burlington &amp; Mt. Vernon WA. Cars and people in the water. <a href="https://t.co/JmFjnE6jhO" title="https://twitter.com/Gina_SVH/status/337756116719136768/photo/1">twitter.com/Gina_SVH/statu&#8230;</a><br />&#8212; Bobby (@BobbyRobertsPDX) <a href="https://twitter.com/BobbyRobertsPDX/status/337757231669985280">May 24, 2013</a></blockquote><br /><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p><strong>UPDATE 7:34 PM</strong>: Based on witness reports and the above photo, it sounds like they're talking about <a href="http://bridgehunter.com/wa/skagit/4794A0000000/">this bridge</a>, which was built in 1955 and which <a href="http://bridgehunter.com/wa/skagit/4794A0000000/">Bridgehunter.com</a> says got a satisfactory rating back in 2010:</p> <blockquote><p>Inspection (as of 08/2010)<br /><strong>Deck condition rating</strong>: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)<br /><strong>Superstructure condition rating</strong>: Fair (5 out of 9)<br /><strong>Substructure condition rating</strong>: Satisfactory (6 out of 9)<br /><strong>Appraisal</strong>: Functionally obsolete<br /><strong>Sufficiency rating</strong>: 57.4 (out of 100)</p> <p><strong>Average daily traffic</strong> (as of 2010)<br />70,925 </p></blockquote> <p><strong>UPDATE 7:40 PM</strong>: KING 5 has <a href="http://www.king5.com/news/local/Report-I-5-bridge-collapses-over-Skagit-River-cars-in-water-208758631.html">another photograph of the scene</a>. At least two cars are in the water, and all north-south traffic is stopped.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE 7:48 PM</strong>: Holy shit, these pictures are incredible:</p> <p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Pic of<a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23Skagitbridgecollapse">#Skagitbridgecollapse</a> taken by friend of @<a href="https://twitter.com/annakxly4">annakxly4</a> NB lanes collapsed into river. Several cars submerged <a href="http://t.co/nTJBmzPfY8" title="http://twitter.com/kxly4news/status/337759089515982848/photo/1">twitter.com/kxly4news/stat&#8230;</a><br />&#8212; kxly(@kxly4news) <a href="https://twitter.com/kxly4news/status/337759089515982848">May 24, 2013</a></blockquote><br /><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p><strong>UPDATE 7:58 PM</strong>: I'm depositing more on-the-scene tweets after the jump, so this post will load in a timely fashion.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE 8:01 PM</strong>: K<a href="http://www.king5.com/live-stream/pop-up-no-ads/KING-Live-Stream-205421141.html">ING 5 is streaming live from the scene </a>right now.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE 8:22 PM</strong>: <a href="https://twitter.com/MDeyerin">Marcus Deyerin on Twitter</a> is saying that two people are being extracted from a truck that's in the water at the moment. Authorities are asking people to stop coming to the scene, as they're getting in the way. Also, they're asking residents of Skagit to stay off the phone if they can, as lines are getting tied up.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE 8:28 PM</strong>: Rescuers in boats are at the scene. I've put another photo after the jump.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE 8:30 PM</strong>: On Twitter, <em>Skagit Valley Herald</em> reporter <a href="https://twitter.com/Gina_SVH/status/337772019821199360">Gina Cole says</a>: "Stretcher with second person pulled from river. Unsure if person is alive, but no applause from onlookers this time when they reached land." KOMO says one person has been pulled from a car and two have been rescued from a truck. <a href="http://live.producermatthew.com/p/live-channel-1.html">Here's a KOMO live feed</a>.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE 8:35 PM</strong>: I've heard from multiple eyewitnesses on different news livestreams that the collapse appeared to happen because a wide load truck struck a beam on the bridge. We're a long way from discovering the reason for all this, though.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE 8:58 PM</strong>: <a href="http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Interstate-5-bridge-collapsed-over-Skagit-River-4544826.php"><em>The Seattle P.I.</em> says t</a>he bridge was declared "safe and sound" by Washington's Department of Transportation in 2008.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE 9:05 PM</strong>:<a href="http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2013/05/bridge-collapses-on-interstate-5-over-skagit-river/"> Brian Rosenthal at the <em>Seattle Times</em> writes</a>:</p> <blockquote><p>Rescuers think they have pulled everybody out of the water, but they&#8217;re not sure, [Marcus] Deyerin [of the Northwest Washington Incident Management Team] said.</p> <p>Anybody still in the water will probably not be rescued, officials said.</p></blockquote> <p><strong>UPDATE 9:08 PM</strong>: And then there's this update, from the <em>Everett Herald</em>:</p> <p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Everyone accounted for, no fatalities in <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23Skagit">#Skagit</a> County bridge collapse, according to reporter on scene.<br />&#8212; The Herald (@EverettHerald) <a href="https://twitter.com/EverettHerald/status/337781199550431232">May 24, 2013</a></blockquote><br /><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p>Governor Inslee and Transportation Secretary Lynn Peterson are about to get in a plane and fly to the scene.</p> <p><strong>UPDATE 9:17 PM</strong>: And with the news that there were no fatalities, that's the end of this live-Slog. Any new developments will appear as new posts on Slog tonight.</p> <p><strong>PICTURES FROM 7:58 PM</strong>: </p> <p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">I-5 Bridge over <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23Skagit">#Skagit</a> river. <a href="http://t.co/VjWuOosJSF" title="http://twitter.com/oneactlife/status/337760275941957633/photo/1">twitter.com/oneactlife/sta&#8230;</a><br />&#8212; Dustin Moore (@oneactlife) <a href="https://twitter.com/oneactlife/status/337760275941957633">May 24, 2013</a></blockquote><br /><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">NEW PHOTO: <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23BREAKING">#BREAKING</a> I-5 bridge collapse in Skagit Valley &#8212; there are cars and people in the water. <a href="http://t.co/HvcbNvN1jU" title="http://twitter.com/NWCN/status/337760821243437056/photo/1">twitter.com/NWCN/status/33&#8230;</a><br />&#8212; NorthWest Cable News (@NWCN) <a href="https://twitter.com/NWCN/status/337760821243437056">May 24, 2013</a></blockquote><br /><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">NEW PHOTO: <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23BREAKING">#BREAKING</a> I-5 bridge collapse in Skagit Valley &#8212; there are cars and people in the water. <a href="http://t.co/HvcbNvN1jU" title="http://twitter.com/NWCN/status/337760821243437056/photo/1">twitter.com/NWCN/status/33&#8230;</a><br />&#8212; NorthWest Cable News (@NWCN) <a href="https://twitter.com/NWCN/status/337760821243437056">May 24, 2013</a></blockquote><br /><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p><strong>PICTURE FROM 8:28 PM</strong>:</p> <p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">KOMO-TV: Emergency responder boats in the water attempting to rescue people in Skagit river <a href="http://t.co/jqB7vskeyt" title="http://twitter.com/passantino/status/337771308387553281/photo/1">twitter.com/passantino/sta&#8230;</a> (@<a href="https://twitter.com/passantino">passantino</a>)<br />&#8212; BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/BuzzFeedNews/status/337771518157271040">May 24, 2013</a></blockquote><br /><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/an-i-5-bridge-over-the-skagit-river-has-collapsed#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16859637&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Transportation Breaking News http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/an-i-5-bridge-over-the-skagit-river-has-collapsed?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16859637&id=comments 116 Thu, 23 May 2013 19:25:21 -0700 The Stranger 10-Year-Old Girl Accidentally Shot Dead by 14-Year-Old Boy http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/10-year-old-girl-accidentally-shot-dead-by-14-year-old-boy http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/10-year-old-girl-accidentally-shot-dead-by-14-year-old-boy Goldy <p><a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2329670/Maggie-Hollifield-Pastor-s-daughter-10-shot-killed-outside-home-horrific-accident-14-year-old-boy.html">Ten-year-old Maggie Hollifield</a> was shot and killed by a 14-year-old boy outside her Virginia home, a horrific accident that should not be confused with <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/2013/05/20/5432723/10-year-old-north-highlands-girl.html">10-year-old Elvira Campos</a> who was shot dead in her Sacramento County living while watching TV, or <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/14-year-old-girl-shot-killed-riding-bus-queens-article-1.1348236">14-year-old Daja Robinson</a> who was shot and killed on a bus in Queens. Can't tell the players without a scorecard.</p> <p>FYI, <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/kids-shoot-the-darndest-things/Content?oid=16837331">my recent gun rant here</a>.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/10-year-old-girl-accidentally-shot-dead-by-14-year-old-boy#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16858344&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Guns http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/10-year-old-girl-accidentally-shot-dead-by-14-year-old-boy?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16858344&id=comments 29 Thu, 23 May 2013 16:37:16 -0700 The Stranger Glenn Beckwatch: CNN's Atheist Plot, Revealed! http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/glenn-beckwatch-cnns-atheist-plot-revealed http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/glenn-beckwatch-cnns-atheist-plot-revealed Paul Constant <p><a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/21/there-are-no-atheists-in-foxholes">Yesterday, Dan showed you</a> the awkward footage that ensued when CNN news-idiot Wolf Blitzer accidentally asked an atheist if she thanked the Lord for delivering her from the tornado. </p> <p>Today, <a href="http://christiannightmares.tumblr.com/post/51164159357/glenn-beck-wolf-blitzer-interview-with-atheist">Christian Nightmares notices</a> that Glenn Beck thinks the whole scenario smacks of a conspiracy. He begins, "I really like Wolf Blitzer, and I think he's a good man," but "that questioning was peculiar, even for Wolf, who I think is a religious man." Beck concludes that Blitzer was set up by a producer who is "<strong>sympathetic to the atheist plight</strong>" or "just doesn't like Christians." That producer knew the woman was an atheist but hid the information and told Blitzer to ask the question about God in order to raise awareness of atheism. "That was there for a reason," Beck says, knowingly.</p> <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="500" height="281" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/U1t48BB1H9E" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/glenn-beckwatch-cnns-atheist-plot-revealed#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16858337&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Media Religion http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/glenn-beckwatch-cnns-atheist-plot-revealed?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16858337&id=comments 20 Thu, 23 May 2013 16:34:39 -0700 The Stranger Spotted on a Window http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/spotted-on-a-window http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/spotted-on-a-window Anna Minard <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/368f/1369351170-whg.png" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/368f/1369351170-whg.png" alt="WHG.png" title="" width="500" height="367" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit">Anna Minard</li><li class="imageCaption"></li></ul></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/spotted-on-a-window#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16858311&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Two-Block Radius http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/spotted-on-a-window?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16858311&id=comments 18 Spotted on a Window Anna Minard Thu, 23 May 2013 16:26:57 -0700 The Stranger Holder Signed Off on Warrant to Seize Fox News Reporter's Personal E-Mails http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/holder-signed-off-on-warrant-to-seize-fox-news-reporters-personal-e-mails http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/holder-signed-off-on-warrant-to-seize-fox-news-reporters-personal-e-mails Paul Constant <p><a href="http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/23/18451142-holder-okd-search-warrant-for-fox-news-reporters-private-emails-official-says?lite">This is a big deal</a>:</p> <blockquote><p>Attorney General <strong>Eric Holder signed off on a controversial search warrant</strong> that identified Fox News reporter James Rosen as a &#8220;possible co-conspirator&#8221; in violations of the Espionage Act and authorized seizure of his private emails, a law enforcement official told NBC News on Thursday.</p> <p>The disclosure of the attorney general&#8217;s role came as President Barack Obama, in a major speech on his counterterrorism policy, said Holder had agreed to review Justice Department guidelines governing investigations that involve journalists.</p> <p>"I am troubled by the possibility that leak investigations may chill the investigative journalism that holds government accountable," Obama said. "Journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their jobs."</p></blockquote> <p>Yeah, well, that horse is already out of the barn, isn't it, President Obama? Ryan Lizza succinctly explains why this news matters:</p> <p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>How can Holder conduct a fair review of DOJ media policies when he personally approved warrant calling reporter a criminal and flight risk?</p>&#8212; Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) <a href="https://twitter.com/RyanLizza/status/337700272744824832">May 23, 2013</a></blockquote><br /><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/holder-signed-off-on-warrant-to-seize-fox-news-reporters-personal-e-mails#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16857193&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Politics http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/holder-signed-off-on-warrant-to-seize-fox-news-reporters-personal-e-mails?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16857193&id=comments 26 Thu, 23 May 2013 16:01:10 -0700 The Stranger Yet Another Example of Oppressive Government Regulations Destroying Free Enterprise http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/yet-another-example-of-oppressive-government-regulations-destroying-free-enterprise http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/yet-another-example-of-oppressive-government-regulations-destroying-free-enterprise Goldy <p>A New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control investigation has found that 29 bars and restaurants, including 13 TGI Fridays, allegedly <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/nj-investigators-bar-mixed-dye-with-rubbing-alcohol-and-served-it-as-scotch/2013/05/23/cd26c0a2-c3c4-11e2-9642-a56177f1cdf7_story.html">substituted cheap booze (or worse!)</a> while charging for premium drinks:</p> <blockquote><p>At one bar, <strong>a mixture that included rubbing alcohol and caramel coloring</strong> was sold as scotch. In another, premium liquor bottles were refilled with water &#8212; and apparently not even clean water at that.</p> <p>In January and February, investigators went to 63 establishments they suspected were scamming liquor customers. They ordered drinks neat &#8212; that is, without ice or mixers &#8212; and then covertly took samples for testing.</p> <p><strong>Of 150 samples collected, 30 were not the brand</strong> as which they were being sold.</p></blockquote> <p>Why can't government regulators leave the market to sort this out for itself? Nanny-statism at its worst!</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/yet-another-example-of-oppressive-government-regulations-destroying-free-enterprise#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16857177&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Crime Booze http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/yet-another-example-of-oppressive-government-regulations-destroying-free-enterprise?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16857177&id=comments 25 Thu, 23 May 2013 15:56:55 -0700 The Stranger Boy Scouts Lift Ban on Gay Members http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/boy-scouts-lift-ban-on-gay-members http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/boy-scouts-lift-ban-on-gay-members Paul Constant <p><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/23/us/boy-scouts-sexual-orientation/?hpt=us_c2">CNN says</a>:</p> <blockquote><p>The organization's 1,400-member national council voted for the policy change, which will take effect January 1.</p> <p>"No youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone," says the approved resolution.</p> <p>The BSA will <strong>maintain its ban on gay adult leaders</strong>.</p></blockquote> <p>Hooray for not excluding gay kids, but boo for the ban on gay leaders, which probably exists to mollify a few idiot bigots who still believe that all gay men are pedophiles. And, <a href="https://twitter.com/fakedansavage/statuses/337693301400555520">as Dan pointed out</a>, atheists are still not invited to the club, so the Boy Scouts have a long way to go yet.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/boy-scouts-lift-ban-on-gay-members#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16856916&amp;id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Breaking News http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/05/23/boy-scouts-lift-ban-on-gay-members?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16856916&id=comments 39 Thu, 23 May 2013 15:35:44 -0700 The Stranger