Monday, November 10, 2008
Housekeeping Dept. of Cute
Posted by Bethany Jean Clement on Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 6:10 PM
It hurts! More here.
Science The Death of a Probe
Posted by Charles Mudede on Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 4:42 PM
Poetry in the mode of science news:
Nasa says its Phoenix lander on the surface of Mars has gone silent and is almost certainly dead.Engineers have not heard from the craft since Sunday 2 November when it made a brief communication with Earth.
Phoenix, which landed on the planet's northern plains in May, had been struggling in the increasing cold and dark of an advancing winter.
A cold and dark winter is bad enough on this planet, but how much more awful it must be on another world.
Film / Breaking News The New Interim Director at Northwest Film Forum...
Posted by Paul Constant on Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 4:32 PM
...is Lyall Bush, the former Executive Director at the Richard Hugo House.
More information as it comes, full presser after the jump.
Money / Theater Hard Times
Posted by Paul Constant on Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 4:15 PM
It's been a tough day for money issues. In addition to Circuit City filing Chapter 11, the Brokeback Mountain opera apparently will not happen. Also, the same company has apparently scuttled a Walt Disney opera, which sounds like it could've been good. Save us, Obama, save us!
At Large A Picture Is Worth a 1000 Words
Posted by Dan Savage on Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 3:47 PM
But not this one. This one probably isn't worth five or ten, but... it's one of my favorite sights and this is the best my iPhone could do.
Approaching Manhattan from JFK. That's the Empire State Building there in the middle. Still get a chill when I look to the left before dipping down into the tunnel. Has it really been seven years?
Economy Circuit City Files Chapter 11
Posted by Grant Brissey on Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 3:23 PM
Soon: fewer outlets for disposable technology.
Circuit City Stores Inc., the nation's second-biggest electronics retailer, filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday (Nov. 10) but plans to stay open for business as the busy holiday shopping season approaches.It filed under Chapter 11 of the bankruptcy code, which will allow it to hold off creditors and continue operations while it develops a reorganization plan.
The Richmond, Va.-based company has been struggling as nervous consumers spend less and credit has become tighter, and the retail industry overall is facing what's expected to be the weakest holiday season in decades.
Circuit City also said it would cut 700 more jobs, after announcing a week ago that it would close 20 percent of its stores and lay off thousands of workers.
Via Associated Press
Sports Help Stuff the Ballot Box for Skate Like a Girl
Posted by Jonah Spangenthal-Lee on Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 3:13 PM
Nancy Chang, director of Skate Like a Girl—a local group encouraging young women to participate in a male-dominated sport, build leadership skills, etc.—has been named a L'Oréal 2008 Woman of Worth.
Chang is one of 10 women receiving the award from cosmetic giant but only one of them will walk away with a big sack of cash ($25,000!) to donate to their charity of choice.
You can help put $25,000 in Skate Like a Girl's coffers by going here and voting for Chang.
Sure, you could vote for some lady who passes out shoes to poor kids on Navajo reservations, but will that woman teach those kids how to ollie? Nope.
Voting starts today and runs through November 24.
City / Religion Seattle's Anti-Prop 8 March This Saturday
Posted by Dominic Holden on Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 3:06 PM
Is being organized by a Mormon.
Kyler Powell, 21, was raised as a non-denominational Christian in Boise, Idaho. But at the age of 16, after his parents divorced, he voluntarily converted to Mormonism and got baptized. “The Mormon Church’s stance on abstinence, dating, and the clothes you wear resonate with my personal morals,” says Powell.
But as a gay man, having lived in Seattle for three years, he’s protesting the actions of his own moral institution. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints led the charge to pass California's Proposition 8, which stripped nearly 20,000 same-sex couples of their marriage recognition last week. “I was kind of outraged with Prop 8, which inspired me to start a protest,” Powell says.
A rally will begin in Volunteer Park at noon on Saturday as part of a national day of action. Dave mentioned it here. (The national protest site, Jointheimpact.com, has been overwhelmed with traffic, Powell says, so another sister web site was launched to handle the overflow.) Marchers in Seattle will leave Volunteer Park at about 1 p.m. and hoof it down to Westlake Park for another rally. Powell is trying to recruit local elected officials, including state Rep. Jamie Pedersen and Congressman Jim McDermott, to speak at the event. (We're told that another event, previously scheduled at city hall, has been combined with this march and rally.)
Mormons turning on the LDS church for supporting Prop 8 isn’t just a local phenomenon. MormonsForMarriage.com makes the case for gays getting married, these Mormons say that Prop 8 is contrary to scripture,” and this high priest risks excommunication for opposing Prop 8.
But the church’s local leadership is in denial about its role in passing the measure—even after yesterday's protest outside a Mormon chapel in the University District.
“The Catholic Church was also involved in it, so I don't know how they can single out the LDS church,” says Thomas Olson, president of the Mormon’s Seattle North Stake.
However, national church leaders sent this memo to members of the church this summer, stating, “We ask that you do all you can to support the proposed constitutional amendment by donating of your means and time to assure that marriage in California is legally defined as being between a man and a woman.” Members of the church contributed an estimated $22 million to the campaign, making up two-thirds of the money for the pro-Prop-8 campaign. Seattle-area donors contributed huge sums.
“I'm not sure what [the protest] accomplishes, based on they are targeting our places of worship based on a vote taken in the State of California,” says Olson. “We certainly don't condone bigotry or targeting gays or lesbians,” he says. “I guess people would say … that we have done that, but that is not out intent.”
When repeatedly pressed for an example of the harm that same-sex marriages would cause Mormons, Olson couldn’t name one. Instead, he cited the church’s own morality. “It gets back to this basic view about God's intent for his children,” he says. “I don't know I can give you any more clarity without sitting down and talking to you about this.” (I declined)
Powell’s commitment to the LDS, meanwhile, is waning. “After putting in so much time and effort [to the church], it is hard to accept them because they are saying that—for what I have been born with—they would excommunicate me, ” He says the church doesn’t know he’s gay (well, they might know now), so he hasn’t been excommunicated.
“I honestly am ready to write my resignation letter to the church,” Powell says.
Politics / The Ladies Today's Yay
Posted by Erica C. Barnett on Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 3:05 PM
On the heels of news that Obama is considering two anti-choice Republicans, Chuck Hagel and Richard Lugar as his Secretary of State (all those who think foreign policy has nothing to do with women's rights, please redirect your attention here, here, here, or here), here's some potential good news: Obama seems poised to overturn one of the worst aspects of Bush's anti-woman foreign policy, the global gag rule. The gag rule bars US foreign aid from any family planning group that even counsels pregnant women about abortion, including in countries where abortion is legal. Planned Parenthood Federation president Cecile Richards told the Washington Post she expects "a real change" to the United States' family-planning policies abroad, RH Reality Check reports.
Meanwhile, one of Obama's public health advisors told Bloomberg she expects the president-elect will reverse US policies that emphasize abstinence and monogamy within marriage in poor countries such as Rwanda and Uganda--policies that don't work in places where infidelity by men is nearly universal and where basic information about safe sex is in short supply.
??!! / Chow Enriching the Lives of Animals! (Not You, Turkeys)
Posted by Lindy West on Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 3:00 PM
The folks at the Woodland Park Zoo just sent out a press release hyping their upcoming Turkey Toss, "part of the zoo’s ongoing enrichment program to help enrich the lives of the zoo’s animals, promote natural animal behavior, keep animals mentally and physically stimulated and provide added enjoyment for zoo visitors."
Because nothing's more natural than an African lion munching on a defrosted turkey from Albertson's.
WHEN:
Saturday, November 22, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
Jaguar, 10:00 a.m.
Snow leopard, 10:00 a.m.
Golden lion tamarin monkeys, 11:00 a.m.
Arctic foxes, 11:30 a.m.
Piranhas, 11:30 a.m.
Wolves, 1:15 p.m.
Pigs, 1:30 p.m.
Komodo dragons, 2:00 p.m.
Grizzly bears, 2:00 p.m.
Lemurs, 2:00 p.m.
Tiger, 2:00 p.m.
Jaguar, sure. Snow leopard, got it. Wolves, duuuh. But piranhas? Lemurs? Golden lion tamarin fucking monkeys? These are not exactly turkeys' natural foes. Do monkeys even like turkey?
Okay, okay. Point taken, you goddamn monkey.
International This One's For the Ladies
Posted by Paul Constant on Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 3:00 PM
There's an interesting article here about a long, seemingly endless hunt for a female serial killer in Germany. Here's the lede:
[The town of] Bad Kreuznach finds itself at the centre of one of the most bizarre, high-profile murder mysteries in the country's history - the search for an apparent serial killer whom police and prosecutors call, simply, 'The Woman Without a Face'. They have no fingerprints to go on. No witnesses. No description. What they do have is a trail of DNA, now stretching back 15 years and across three countries - as well as a grisly new reason to put a face to her double helix. A case that had for years been gnawingly disturbing, yet still fairly obscure, has leapt on to the front pages of German newspapers. For it appears now that the mystery woman may not only be a killer, but a cop-killer.
There will be a fascinating true crime book written on this one day.
2008 Mrs. O
Posted by Eli Sanders on Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 2:52 PM
Posted with Mark Mitchell in mind (and with suspicions that he already knows about this)... A newish blog devoted to the fashion choices of Michelle Obama.
The review of today's White House appearance:
The coral-red silk crepe sheath features three-quarter sleeves, an empire waist and a high neckline with a burst of sunray pleats emanating from the collar. Purchased several months ago, but not yet worn to a major event, [Maria] Pinto thought Mrs. O might debut it for election night. Mrs. O accessorized the look with simple gold hoop earrings and patent leather red heels.We have to say, Mrs. O looked fresh-faced and well-rested today. The mini break post-election has really done her well. And the dress. The clean lines flatter her figure, while the pleating at the neckline adds just the right touch of detail. If this isn’t Jackie-esque, we don’t know what is.
The Ladies "The Red Vadge of Courage"
Posted by Erica C. Barnett on Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 2:44 PM
Thank you, Grist, for my favorite headline ever.
News Demand For Food Is Up
Posted by Unpaid Intern on Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 2:33 PM
Posted by News Intern Aaron Pickus
The University District Food Bank, located in the basement of the University Christian Church on NE 50th Street and 15th Ave NE, is experiencing a more than 20 percent increase of households provided with food. This increase is occurring at the same time that donations are falling.
Bill Lowie, Assistant Director at the University District Food Bank (UDFB), says that there is usually a jump in the amount of times households are provided with food during October. A household, in the context of UDFB, can be any amount of people. A person is required to state how many people they are trying to feed and is given the appropriate amount of food. For instance, a household can mean anything from a family of four living in the U-District to a resident of Nickelsville. Any one household is allowed to come in only once a week. With this in mind, Lowie reports that during October of this year UDFB provided food to households on 4,600 separate occasions compared to 3,600 during the same time last year. The average household is two people.
Donations to the University District Food Bank can be arranged here.
Economy Why General Motors Is Worth Saving
Posted by Jonathan Golob on Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 2:30 PM
General Motors will not see 2009 without a government bailout. What used to be the centerpiece of the American economy has a decent chance of not seeing Obama's inauguration.
If this should happen, it would be an atom bomb dropping on the American middle class. It might be hard to see from here (or maybe not), but GM and the auto industry are among the few things that have worked in the US private sector, from a social and economic point of view. You know the deal. Work hard, turn in your hours, and you'll be rewarded with the American dream: home, retirement, some vacations, and so on. Be part of the great, producing company, and all of this is yours.
On the other hand, the service sector that has come to dominate the US economy is most notable for producing shitty, disposable jobs that are considered a stepping stone to something better. So what future will we favor in these tough times--becoming underappreciated, union-less armies selling outsourced, imported goods? Or becoming a well paid worker that actually makes things?
And here's what might be most shocking--despite being saddled with the costs and responsibilities of being the largest private pension and health insurance provider in the world, has made clever and key investments that deserve fulfillment. Yes, I'm talking about an American car-maker; hear me out.
Nevermind the now-defunct EV-1--the first modern mass-produced electric car. GM's heavy-duty hybrid technology would be far more revolutionary than Toyota's. Likewise, the technology in a Chevy Volt does a far better job of playing to the strengths of electric and gas motors than any competing hybrid. For more technical details, you should hop over to DearScience.org for an explanation.
GM has great ideas, their manufacturing quality is on par with the Japanese manufacturers, they have beloved small cars they've started pumping.
Early on in this crisis, we decided that AIG--an insurance company that made horrifyingly bad decisions--was worthy of rescue. We're now up to $150 billion in a growing pit of despair attempting to save a company that did little to create or maintain a middle class. On the other hand, the same sum invested in American industry as loans would have a clear, immediate and profound effect on the economy--putting money into the pockets of line workers, new products on the global market that are competitive and even potentially make our society more energy efficient.
The alternative frightens me. If we allow GM and the auto industry to fail, it's unclear what, if anything, would replace the key role it played in our economy. I cannot fathom how to renew an industrial middle class without the auto companies--and the vast manufacturing networks supported by them.
2008 Re: The Urban Archipelago
Posted by Eli Sanders on Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 2:05 PM
George W. Bush, man of the evangelical base, created the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives.
Barack Obama, man of the city, is going to create the White House Office of Urban Policy.
Teh Internets It's a Shame That "Slogging" Was Already Taken
Posted by Paul Constant on Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 2:00 PM
Are you ready for The Slow Blogging Movement?
Slow Blogging is a rejection of immediacy. It is an affirmation that not all things worth reading are written quickly, and that many thoughts are best served after being fully baked and worded in an even temperament.Slow Blogging is speaking like it matters, like the pixels that give your words form are precious and rare. It is a willingness to let current events pass without comment. It is deliberate in its pace, breaking its unhurried stride for nothing short of true emergency. And perhaps not even then, for slow is not the speed of most emergencies, and places where beloved, reassuring speed rules the day will serve us best at those times.
Slow Blogging is a reversal of the disintegration into the one-liners and cutting turns of phrase that are often the early lives of our best ideas. Its a process in which flashes of thought shine and then fade to take their place in the background as part of something larger. Slow Blogging does not write thoughts onto the ethereal and eternal parchment before they provide an enduring worth in the shape of our ideas over time.
Short response: I can has LiveJournal?
Long response: But...that's not blogging, is it?
Arts / Boom Consolidated Works: the Teardown
Posted by Brendan Kiley on Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 1:50 PM
ConWorks—the "multi-disciplinary contemporary arts center" founded in 1997 by Matt Richter, home of much good art [Greg Lundgren, SuttonBeresCuller, theaterrun, 14/48, much more], some strong controversy after the board dismissed Richter, hired a slick-talking huckster to replace him, and soon ran the place into the ground—is finally being torn down.
(You can revisit those days—Remember them? Remember that replacement, the unctuous Corey Pearlstein? And the inscrutable board president Robb Kreig?—in a series of Theater News columns.)
Photos courtesy of Matthew Richter.
After:
Richter has been hanging out at the demolition site and writes: "This morning I found, literally in a pile of rubble, this big Plexiglas sign that used to hang in the lobby welcoming people to ConWorks. If ConWorks gets a eulogy, this should be it."
Welcome to Consolidated Works. If you haven't been here before, here's the idea in a nutshell:
ConWorks is arranged architecturally like a wheel, with a hub and spokes. The lobby is the hub of this wheel, and the rooms laid out around it are the spokes. These rooms include:
* a 150-seat mainstage theater
* a 50-seat movie theater
* a 4,500 square foot gallery
* a music stage
* an arts resource center
* a full bar and lounge
* three artist studios
* offices for six fellow nonprofits
If you haven't seen the whole facility yet, please feel free to ask at the box office about taking a tour of the space. We love showing it off.
Our programming follows the same hub-and-spoke structure as our architecture, The hub, in this case, is theme, and each eight-week "Consolidation Series" examines a different theme--Artificial Life (Fall 1999), or Imagined Landscapes (Winter 2000), or Suspension (Winter 2004), for example. The spokes, in this analogy, are the various arts disciplines themselves.
Each Consolidation Series includes a film series, a music series, a visual arts exhibit, a mainstage production in our theater, and a series of lectures, all examining a common theme. The theme is the glue that ties the total ConWorks experience together. It provides our curators in each arts discipline with a common starting point and a common goal, and it offers you, the audience, a preliminary answer to the most common question heard around contemporary art -- "What was that about?"
This resource center is a good place to start exploring the current theme. Here you'll find statements by the curators and the executive director, displays tying into the theme and programming, and see and hear some of the upcoming programming in the series.
Consolidated Works is a nonprofit organization, supported by many individuals like yourself, in addition to private foundations, corporations, and municipal granting agencies. Please join us as a supporter by becoming a member or a donor today.
Help build Seattle the contemporary arts center it deserves.
Richter says he's been hanging out at the site, taking photos, and made friends with the demolition guys. They let him wander around and take photos (and took a few photos of dramatic parts falling when he wasn't there). "The demolition guys were incredibly curious about what had happened there," Richter says. "Far more curious than the board of directors ever was."
He also notes that the demo company takes the old lumber, mills it clean in Tacoma, and resells it as salvage lumber. "So if anyone wants furniture made from the old Consolidated Works," Richter says, "point them to xomonline.com."
Goodbye all over again, ConWorks.
UPDATE
Steven Vroom sent along some links to other digital panoramas at ConWorks from back when:
http://www.vroomjournal.com/panorama/lobbyvr.php
http://www.vroomjournal.com/panorama/conworks1.php
http://www.vroomjournal.com/panorama/conworks2.php
2008 Yes He Can!
Posted by Bethany Jean Clement on Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 1:25 PM
In your face, grumpy Nader guy! Our hearts are not broken; quite the opposite.
Books Is Your Novel Lagging?
Posted by Paul Constant on Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 1:01 PM
Are you doing National Novel Writing Month? Are you having a hard time keeping up? Try Write or Die ("Putting the 'Prod' in Productivity"). Write or Die is a widget that lets you enter a specific time that you need to write for. If you stop writing continuously, the widget will make an obnoxious sound to alert you that you've stopped writing. On the Kamikaze mode, if you stop writing for a certain amount of time, the widget will start deleting words until you start typing again. It's certainly a way to ensure that writers will stay productive.
If you're doing Nanowrimo this month, you should have roughly 17,000 words by now, and you're a third of the way done. If you've successfully made it this far, congratulations. If not, well, write or die.
Hetero Every Child Deserves a Mother and a Father
Posted by Dan Savage on Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 1:00 PM
Twelve-year-old Ismael Nicholas Bugarin could barely stand as he and his two little sisters ran to a neighbor's house for help Saturday evening, knife wounds on their faces and necks.Carlos Zavala opened the door when he heard the children banging and yelling. Ismael, known as Nick, collapsed into Zavala's arms. He had a broad slash across his throat, and a 12-inch knife fell from his sweater, Zavala said.
Nick died in Zavala's home in the Valley View Mobile Home Park in Dodge Center, about 20 miles west of Rochester. Next door, the children's mother, Teresa Bugarin, 27, soon would be found dead. Her husband, Ismael Bugarin, 33, was found alive with apparent stab wounds.... When the children burst in on Saturday night, Nick's sisters, 8-year-old Jasmine and 6-year-old Sabrina, clung to Castellanos. One had a slash on her cheek, the other a cut under her chin.
When Castellanos asked them what had happened, the girls cried, "My dad! My dad!"
Chow With a New President, Comes a New Soda (Or Pop, Whichever you Prefer)
Posted by Megan Seling on Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 12:39 PM
Currently in local grocery stores, in time for the holidays:
I promise you, it looks much better than it tastes. The lovely, deep ruby color draws you in. You think "Something that pretty must be tasty, right?" Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. The label is as conflicted as I am about the product. It says it's made of 100% natural flavors, yet it also claims to "contain no juice." So the 100% natural flavor isn't the flavor of pomegranate juice? What is it the flavor of? Red isn't a natural flavor, but it sorta tastes like red. It doesn't taste like natural pomegranate, that's for sure.
You confuse me, Pomegranate 7-Up. Happy Holidays to you too. Bah, humbug.
2008 / Architecture The New Capital
Posted by Charles Mudede on Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 12:09 PM
Something I wrote six years ago:
There was a time when a city could be the capital of a century, the way Paris was the capital of the 19th century. In the 20th century, particularly the second half, cities could only be the capital of a decade--for example, Washington, D.C. was the capital of the '60s, or Los Angeles was the capital of the '80s. The '90s, however, had two capitals: Seattle and New York City.As with century capitals, decade capitals have clear conclusions. Washington, D.C., came to an end with Watergate; L.A. ended with the Rodney King riots; Seattle ended with WTO; and New York ended with WTC. Now the question is this: What is the capital of this decade?
The answer has finally arrived: Chicago.
We have left the Seattle/New York period and entered the Chicago one. We get a sense of this in every sentence Chicago Fan writes:
Apart from the irony of Obama resembling McCain’s putative President-hero [Teddy Roosevelt], there will be a lot of practical results from Obama’s Chicago connections. Beyond upping the odds that Chicago will land the 2016 Olympics, I can also assure you that Hyde Park-Kenwood (Obama’s home neighborhood) has just become the safest urban neighborhood in America, despite its high crime statsHe knows that he lives at the center of the new world.
One other point: The dominance of The Windy City over the next decade also marks the end of capital-sharing arrangements and the return of the one.
But, wait, is there something we are missing? Chicago is really the capital of the next decade; Seattle and New York were the capitals of the 90s. What about the OOs? Was it just a vacuum? No. Something was there. Between the end of the Sea/NY stage and the start (November 4th) of the current one there's nothing but the capital of the 10th century, Baghdad. It returned as a zombie capital, a negative capital, the capital of an upside down world, the capital of the Bush years.
Baghdad is the capital of the OOs.
2008 Tumbler and Tempo, Meet Renegade and Renaissance
Posted by Anthony Hecht on Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 11:51 AM
New Secret Service code names for the Obamas:
Barack Obama: Renegade
Michelle Obama: Renaissance
Malia Obama: Radiance
Sasha Obama: Rosebud
Also:
Joe Biden: Celtic
Jill Biden: Capri
And:
George W. Bush: Tumbler
Laura Bush: Tempo
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