Thursday, April 9, 2009
Homo The Latest On the Gay Marriage Front—Wait, You've Gotta Be Shitting Me...
Posted by Dan Savage on Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 11:43 PM
Dr. Laura came out in favor of same-sex commitments? Not same-sex marriage—not yet—but Dr. Laura said that same-sex couples committing to each other is a "beautiful thing"? Wait, where did she say that? On Larry King Live? REALLY?
We're winning.
Politics Suzan DelBene's Voting Record
Posted by Eli Sanders on Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 5:30 PM
In this week's Stranger I have a short story about (and longer interview with) the new Democratic candidate for Congress in the Eastside's 8th Congressional District:
It sounds like Darcy Burner 2.0: Over in the Eastside's 8th Congressional District, a former Microsoft manager with no previous political experience has announced she's running for Congress as a Democrat. Her name is Suzan DelBene, and she arrives on the political scene less than six months after Burner, also a former Microsoft manager with no previous political experience, failed in her second attempt to push out Republican congressman Dave Reichert.
Today a tipster encouraged me to look up DelBene's voting record at King County Elections. In that record: Nine missed votes in special or general elections over the past four years.
I spoke to DelBene on the phone this afternoon and asked her why she'd missed so many opportunities to vote—including the general election of 2005 (the year of the gas tax repeal vote, among other things) and the general election of 2006 (a year when the Congressional seat she now wants was being voted on). Her answer:
I have never been a partisan political person. I really have been inspired by Barack Obama and the changes that we’ve made in our government and I feel like the decisions we make now are incredibly critical and I think I can help.
Yes, but about those missed votes...
I’m not a perfect person. I know everyone who runs for public office isn’t perfect. That’s about all I can say.
What will she say if (or, more likely, when) Republicans suggest that with a local voting record like this she can't be trusted to vote reliably in Congress?
I think anything I’ve done I’ve been extremely loyal and devoted. If I’m a Representative then that’s my job and I would be focused on my job.
Is DelBene embarrassed by this?
I think I said what I said earlier, which is that I wasn’t particularly partisan then. I’m not now. And we need people to make decisions about where we’re going now, and I think we should have an open forum where anyone can run for office who’s got the right skill set to help us out.
So who and what would she have voted for in the elections that she missed? For starters, Darcy Burner for Congress and Maria Cantwell for Senate in 2006, DelBene told me. How about 2005? She'd have voted no on I-912, the proposed gas tax repeal (which was ultimately rejected by voters). And what about that Washington State presidential primary that she missed in February of 2008? Delbene said she'd have gone for Barack Obama.
Why so many missed votes?
Business took me out of town a lot and that was one of my challenges in being at the polls every time.
She admitted, however, that she could have arranged for absentee ballots.
Crime Another Woman Robbed by Group of Girls in University District
Posted by Jonah Spangenthal-Lee on Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 4:31 PM
According to a Seattle Police Department report, another woman was robbed and assaulted in the University District last night by a group of teenage girls.
Around 11pm last night, a woman called Seatle Police to report that she'd been robbed near NE 41st St. and Eastlake Avenue.
The woman told officers that two or three young women ran up behind her, pushed her to the ground and took her backpack, which contained a laptop. According to a police report, the woman "did not get a good look at her attackers but noted that they were young."
Officers searched the area and stopped a group of three teenage girls, who apparently tried to give bogus home addresses to police. According to the report, the girls "even stated that they did not know where they lived at one point."
Police brought the victim of the robbery to the scene, but she was unsure if the three girls were the same ones that attacked her. Officers attempted to contact the girls' parents, but were unable to, so they transported the girls to the Spruce Street youth center, a social service agency that collaborates with law enforcement.
Last week, Seattle Police received several reports of robberies and assaults in the University District and Lake City, allegedly perpetrated by a group of three teenage girls.
Police could not confirm whether this most recent robbery was related to the the other incidents.
[Confidential to any Slog Happy attendees: watch your back.]
Books / Nerd Before You Slog Happy...
Posted by Paul Constant on Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 4:22 PM
Joh had a great suggestion on the comments to Megan's Slog Happy reminder post:
Do your local retailers a favor when you're in the neighborhood and get over to the Dreaming before Slog Happy and buy some books and have a chat with Aron (by far the most interesting and nicest business owner on the Ave).
He's absolutely right, and I'm going to stop by The Dreaming before Slog Happy tonight. You can find The Dreaming at 5226 University Way NE, and their phone number is (206) 525-9394. (If you need any further directions, Google Street View (at left) believes it's behind the weird blue blurry truck. They're open until 7 pm. Then we can all talk about what we bought at Slog Happy.
ALSO: As always, I'm bringing free books to Slog Happy. This time, there are a few sci-fi and a whole lot of non-fiction books, for the most part. So those of you who like those sorts of books should get there early for dibs.
Politics / Media It's Supposed to Taste Like a Shit Taco
Posted by Anthony Hecht on Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 4:06 PM
Jon Stewart explains the difference between democracy and tyranny to Sean Hannity, et al.
Olympia The Homebuyers' Bill of Rights Looks Dead
Posted by Erica C. Barnett on Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 4:05 PM
The homebuyers' bill of rights, which would give homebuyers by giving them a guaranteed warranty on new homes (essentially allowing them to sue contractors for shoddy work), appears, once again, to be dead, thanks to heavy lobbying from the Building Industry Association of Washington. Publicola has the story.
Media Today in Magazine Covers
Posted by Paul Constant on Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 3:48 PM
Failing Better plays around with this month's Esquire magazine cover. Apparently, the cover boy is George Clooney. But then Clooney's face splits into three pieces and below his face, it's Barack Obama's face. And below Obama is Justin Timberlake. And you can play with all three and mix and match the eyes, noses, and mouths of the faces like those mix-and-match books that took up so much of your time when you were a kid. (At left is Clooney with the presidential nose.)
I know I ragged on Esquire for their lame e-book cover a while ago, but this is kind of neat. It's a little game to play that will occupy your time for a little while and then you'll forget about it. Kind of like a magazine. If media publishers pay more attention to their medium's limitations, they'd be more likely to succeed. Way to be goofy in a cute way, Esquire.
Life / Mailbag A Message from the Hideout
Posted by Bethany Jean Clement on Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 3:32 PM
Everybody's favorite First Hill bar/gallery sends the best email ever—here, in its entirety:
A Message from the HideoutOn Tuesday our ice machine stopped working. One day everything is fine, the next it is broken. Just like that. It was only four years old and had worked like a dream- not a hitch. Every time we lifted the flap it was to the brim with sparkling clear ice- hundreds of pounds- it was like opening a treasure chest. If you ever felt down, you could just lift up the lid and smile at all the dazzle, the technology, the purity of it all. Have you seen 400 pounds of ice cubes, all at once?
So Tuesday it all came to an end. The fan stopped spinning. Drips of cold water leaked from the throat of this marvel. We gathered around, pointed flashlights, plugged and unplugged, unscrewed panels and poked around. When things are working great you just don't ask question, it's only when they break do you try and understand them.
And then Justin noticed the intake screen on the back, noticed the thick fur of dust and bellybutton lint and eyelashes that stuck to the screen like a sweater. We had killed it. All it ever asked was for someone to clean the screen and let it breath. We killed it out of our own neglect.
There is a price to pay for killing. And when you kill a machine the price is clearly written on a handwritten invoice with parts that you've never heard of and labor rates that rival a doctor. It was a bitter pill.
We encourage you to look at the things that are working so perfectly around you and pay closer attention. Get your oil changed. Fix that funky extension cord, take a minute and inspect. There are batteries to replace, filters to change, chimneys to sweep- letters to write- there is nothing worse than realizing that something died because of simple neglect. We are just lucky that it was an ice machine.
You may join the email list here if you like. Reader-reviews of the Hideout are here.
Drugs Pot Will Be Legal in 20 Years
Posted by Dominic Holden on Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 3:11 PM
The polling prodigies at FiveThirtyEight have turned their eyes to the prospects of legal weed. A few months back, they reported on polls finding growing support for legalization. This week, they look at who's been getting high.
The peak time for pot usage occurs at or about age 20 — a period known to most of us as "college" — before declining fairly rapidly throughout one's 20s and then plateauing from roughly age 30 through age 50.More important to the policy debate, however, may be the fraction of adults who have used marijuana at any point in their lifetimes.
I've been looking at public opinion research about pot legalization for several years, and one consistent theme is that folks who have tried pot—they got high, ate a taco, enjoyed it, fell asleep, and nothing bad happened*—are far more likely to support relaxing pot laws. Those folks are getting older, and the generation who has never tried pot is getting deader. Once the boomers who tried pot dominate the senior electorate, decriminalizing pot will be as easy as gathering signatures and putting it on the ballot.
*Some people smoke pot and have a terrible time.
Savage Love Savage Love Letter of the Day
Posted by Dan Savage on Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 3:00 PM
I'm the "straight" married guy you mock who haunts Craigslist looking for guys to blow me. I don't mind, your arrows are usually dead on. I'm basically old and fat (but not ugly) but have prize genitals. It has taken me a few years to get good at this, but I get mind-blowing oral sex from male strangers, and a few regulars, perhaps twice a month.My question is: What in the world are these guys getting out of blowing me? Our encounters are brief and most don't even take their clothes off. I reciprocate rarely but can hardly wait to rinse out my mouth. My best guess is that it is a magnificent diverse world and there is no explaining people's tastes.
A Little Deeper, Please
I hope you're sitting down, ALDP, because this here gay guy is about to blow your mind (and only your mind): some people—male and female—actually like giving blowjobs. They enjoy it, it turns them on; some gay men are particularly fond of blowing straight-identified guys and these guys should light a little candle under a portrait of Craig Newmark every night before they brush their teeth. I think the percentage of gay men who enjoy giving head is greater than the percentage of straight women who enjoy giving head, ALDP, but that's just an informed hunch, with most of info drawn from the mail that pours into "Savage Love" HQ. I've never received a single letter from a gay guy complaining about a boyfriend who refused to suck him off; I've got digital files stuffed with thousands of letters from straight guys whose girlfriends (less common) and wives (much more common) won't blow 'em.
But your best guess probably comes closest to nailing this—and so many other—sexual phenomena: it is a magnificent diverse world and there really is no explaining people's tastes.
Politics / Religion Regarding Last Night's Hardball
Posted by David Schmader on Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 2:32 PM
As I mentioned in the Morning News, last night's Hardball featured a gay-marriage discussion between Maggie Gallagher of the National Organization for Marriage (the group behind the shamelessly fear-mongering "Gathering Storm" ad) and Joe Solmonese of the Human Rights Campaign, and here it is:
First impressions: Maggie Gallagher is more eloquent than I imagined, and Joe Solmonese was less eloquent than I wanted.
A key point left unaddressed is brought up by Gallagher's repetition of the idea that "redefining marriage will change marriage forever." This is true, and pretending it isn't is unwise. The question is whether this disruption to the existing idea of marriage is threatening enough to deny equal rights to an entire class of citizens, and the answer is unequivocally no.
Yes, granting marriage rights to same-sex couples will "change marriage forever," just like the civil rights movement changed public transportation forever, and the suffrage movement changed democracy forever. This is called progress, and protecting the (unfair) world that the marriage-is-only-between-a-man-and-a-woman folks have grown accustomed is in no way so pressing a concern it mandates denying equal rights to an entire group of Americans. (In other words: wrapping her brain around the new realities of 21st-century life is Ms. Gallagher's job; it is not the government's job to perpetuate injustice just to keep her and her ilk comfortable.)
Books E-Book Rumor of the Day
Posted by Paul Constant on Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 2:25 PM
From Computerworld:
Barnes & Noble Inc. is reportedly working with Sprint Nextel Inc. and an unnamed manufacturer to build an e-reader device to compete with Amazon Inc.'s Kindle and Sony Corp.'s digital book reader.
This would certainly muddy the waters if it's true. If every bookseller makes its own brand-specific e-reader, that will probably kill the e-reader for mass audiences for another few years. If everyone's got one, and you have to be loyal to that bookseller to buy the e-books, I think most people will shy away from them. Somebody needs to work on a simple, DRM-free reader that doesn't require brand loyalty.
Boom Hope You Like Looking at That Parking Lot
Posted by Dominic Holden on Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 2:06 PM
Last March, developer Murray Franklyn demolished a row of neighborhood businesses and bars on Pine Street and Belmont Avenue—including the Cha Cha, Bus Stop, Manray, and Kincora—to make room for a mixed-used development. Shortly thereafter, the project manager said Murray Franklyn may begin construction within a year. (The company faced a legal challenge over whether its design for the building jibed with city code; a judge gave the project a green light in July 2008.) That year is up, but the site remains a block-long, gravel-covered parking lot.
Murray Franklyn's former development manager, Wade Metz, is no longer with the company. Instead, a receptionist directed me to the company's new point person, Steve Hiller. I asked Hiller when construction would begin.
“No, no, no, no, really, no plans at the moment to where that’s going,” Hiller told me. “Basically it’s a 'no comment' because I don’t have knowledge on it.” Hiller, the head of marketing for the Bellevue-based company, which specializes in suburban housing developments, was not aware of the project, the site, and had never heard of The Stranger. He asked me to send an email and that “maybe” someone would get back to me.
I called back the main phone number, explaining that Hiller wasn't familiar with the development plans. “He wasn’t?” said the receptionist. “He’s the marketing department head.”
Follow-up emails and phone messages left with other people at the company this morning have not been returned.
Murray Franklyn purchased the site in March 2007 for $6 million.
Transportation / City Nickerson Road Diet Postponed Indefinitely
Posted by Erica C. Barnett on Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 2:03 PM
A proposed "road diet" that would add a turn lane in the center of Nickerson Ave. NW, add a bike lane in one direction and a sharrow in the other, and reduce travel lanes for cars to two, has been postponed indefinitely. Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) traffic engineer Eric Widstrand says the agency "wanted to make sure we coordinated [the Nickerson rechannelization] with the Alaskan Way Viaduct" replacement. According to SDOT's web site, the agency needs to "evaluate how Nickerson Street would interact with the roadway network... taking into account the north portal of the bored tunnel" that is supposed to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct, according to SDOT's web site. Translated, that means: SDOT is waiting to see if car traffic on Nickerson will go up if and when the bored tunnel is built. Although residents expressed opposition to the changes at community meetings held by SDOT last month, Widstrand says the decision was "not based on community concerns." Tomorrow is the last day to comment on the proposal.
Transportation / Olympia County Funding Up for Floor Vote Today
Posted by Erica C. Barnett on Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 1:47 PM
Legislation that would give counties more spending flexibility and new revenue sources to pay for human services and transit is expected to come up for a floor vote in the state senate today. The bill, sponsored by Debbie Regala (D-TK) in the senate and Ross Hunter (D-48)—a potential candidate for King County Executive—in the house—would:
•Allow counties to impose a utility tax of up to 6 percent in their unincorporated areas (currently, only residents of incorporated cities pay utility taxes), with natural gas exempted and electricity taxes limited to 1 percent;
•Give King County greater flexibility in spending the proceeds from its mental-health/chemical dependency and public safety levies (which can currently only fund new programs, not help sustain existing ones, such as drug court);
•Authorize a 7.5 cent/$1000 property tax levy to pay for transit.
•Mandate that cities in King County move forward with annexation of areas with 4,000 residents or more (like White Center) by 2014; and
•Mandate a state performance audit on King County by 2011.
King County is facing a budget shortfall between $40 and $50 million next year. Meanwhile, Metro foresees a shortfall of around $100 million. King County Council chair (and KC Exec candidate) Dow Constantine estimates that a 7.5 cent property tax could raise up to $25 million for Metro; combined with $25 million from the federal stimulus, that would get Metro just halfway to its goal. "We have to take a hard look a the choice between further raising property taxes and cutting transit service," Constantine says. Economically, "it's not a very good time to be raising people’s property taxes," he adds.
Media Potheads and Turtles: Dangerous
Posted by Dominic Holden on Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 1:37 PM
Ted Van Dyke on Crosscut asks if Seattle is "too mellow on crime?" He describes the menacing panhandlers near the Pike Place Market and the overall sense of danger in Belltown. How did it get so bad?
Public safety is government's first responsibility. Yet, here, we seem not always to take it seriously. Former police chief Norm Stamper, nationally known for his permissive law enforcement, viewed WTO demonstrators, before the fact, as harmless flower children, although the demonstrators' aims and tactics had been in prior evidence elsewhere. We affirmed laxer enforcement of local marijuana laws, although on-the-street officers will tell you the new upward limit of marijuana possession is ridiculously high. Hempfest is treated as a getting-high Seafair.Are we too mellow or, putting it another way, unconcerned?
This is the part of the article where Van Dyke would connect the problems of lax pot enforcement or the former police chief's ill preparedness for a protest a decade ago with what's happening downtown today. But Van Dyke pivots to...
Yet, at the same time, we know that in minority communities, in particular, absent fathers are a big problem. We also know that data indicate kids do better in all respects when raised in a traditional home. Marriage creates bonds and obligations that unmarried relationships do not. That is why, among other reasons, I support gay marriage, although it often has nothing to do with child-raising.In New York, then-District Attorney Rudy Giuliani cleaned up a previously crime-ridden city by enforcing a "zero-tolerance" policy against all violations. When offenders were locked up for minor violations, the city found, major violations also fell off. Many of the same people were found to be committing both.
Hey, Ted, thanks for the support on gay marriage. But New York's anti-crime strategy is an absurd example of what we should do in Seattle. When Giuliani cracked down on pot heads, arrests for pot possession spiked by 18 times its previous rate. It's not necessarily that pot smokers were out committing crimes; NYPD simply arrested as many people on the street as possible by using pot smoking as an excuse. Marijuana arrests jumped from around 700 arrests a year to nearly 60,000 a year, some estimates show. And the enforcement focused disproportionately on communities of color, the National Development and Research Institutes found (85 percent of all pot possession arrests were of black and Hispanic persons). Arresting all the stoners at Hempfest will only protect Seattle's burrito population. But if Van Dyke wants to argue that cops ought to crack down on minor crimes—including crimes ten years ago—to make him feel safer in Belltown, maybe he'd refute the widely embraced principles of community policing and rethinking drug enforcement. Those are the tactics, after all, in effect when the mayor and Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske announced that Seattle's crime rate recently hit a 40-year low.
Housekeeping Not That You Would, But...
Posted by Megan Seling on Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 1:30 PM
Don't forget that Slog Happy is TONIGHT! In 4.5 hours, actually.
Where: Blue Moon in the U-District, 712 NE 45th St.
When: 6 pm (their happy hour starts at 4:30, however).
What: $2.50 wells! Free books! Nametags! Lara's birthday!
Why: Because we love you!
You'll be there, right? I can't imagine why you wouldn't...
Quick tip: Blue Moon is cash only, so come prepared with billz or come prepared to use the ATM at the bar that may or may not have a service charge.
Celeb Wednesday Afternoon Stand-Up: Thursday Edition!
Posted by Lindy West on Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 1:28 PM
Also: Easter Edition!
I forgot to do this yesterday. But anyway, Patton Oswalt!
Sensible humans will now procure and listen to all recordings ever to spill from the mouth of Oswalt.
TV / Nerd Look Out, Whedon-Heads
Posted by Paul Constant on Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 1:25 PM
According to Bookspot Central, Dollhouse may be canceled before episode 13. Actress Felicia Day just Twittered:
Man, day getting worse and worse. Found out my Dollhouse ep, #13 isn’t gonna air. Only on DVD.
Start mailing blow-up dolls to Fox in protest, everybody!.
UPDATE: Ohnotheydidnt say that Fox is just going to air episode 12 as the season finale, include episode 13 on a boxed set to be released in July, and then wait and see on a season 2. Now, I'm not a Fox executive, but I think that's not a very healthy strategy to save a TV show.
Chow Which Jellybean Is the Best Jellybean?
Posted by Megan Seling on Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 1:03 PM
Right now the candy aisles are stocked with dozens of different kinds of jellybeans. And boy, do I love jellybeans. Everyone has their own version of the fruity sugar pellets—Brach's, Mike and Ike, Starburst, Lifesavers, Hawaiian Punch, Jolly Rancher, and the list goes on. But trust me when I tell you, not all jellybeans are made equal—some of these jellybeans are quite awful, in fact, and they make me wish sugar was never invented. Except for one. One cheap, seasonal jellybean is perfect. And to find that perfect jellybean, I sampled all the jellybeans the world (i.e. Walgreen's on Broadway) had to offer to spare your mouth from disaster.*
*Jelly Belly jellybeans were excluded from this experiment as they are a) not a seasonal jellybean like many of the others and b) obviously superior based on flavor selection alone. The following conclusions only consider your basic $2/bag jellybean. I hope that's okay.
Subject #1: Lifesaver Jellybeans; 8 flavors including peach and green apple.
Lifesaver jellybeans are not bad... but they're not good either. The hard, sugary outside is too sugary. Once you start to chew, the jellybeans melt into a pile of sticky, sandy, gross goo in your mouth. Ew. If you can get past the bad texture, the fruit flavors are okay individually (except for cherry, cherry tastes like cough syrup) but they're all so intense that they don't combine well. And only OCD weirdoes eat jellybeans one flavor at a time. Also: What's up with green being "green apple" instead of lime? Aren't green Lifesavers lime? Whatever.
Subject #2: Starburst Jellybeans; 6 flavors including strawberry and, again, green apple.
Starburst jellybeans are a lot like the Lifesaver jellybeans, boasting really intense colors and flavors but really bad texture. They look like a quality, traditional jellybean, but just like the Lifesaver brand, the too-soft gummy center can't stand up to the thick outer shell. They're a mess in your mouth. A sweet, fruity mess, but still a mess.
Subject #3: Jolly Rancher Jellybeans; 6 flavors including blue raspberry and watermelon.
If you like Jolly Rangers then you'll probably think the Jolly Rancher jellybeans are wonderful, but I think Jolly Ranchers are gross so I hated the jellybean version too. But the texture was a step up from what Starburst and Lifesavers had to offer. If only they didn't taste like orange tang mixed with bleach.
Subject #4: Hawaiian Punch Jellybeans; 6 flavors including shit like "Mango Passionfruit Squeeze" and "Berry Blue Typhoon."
Nipper ate a handful of these and said "These taste meaty."
Subject #5: Mike and Ike Jellybeans; 7 flavors including pineapple, strawberry, and lime.
Looks like the best was saved for last. Mike and Ike Jellybeans are perfect and they make all the other jellybeans look and taste cheap, ugly, and gross. The shell isn't thick or too sugary, the gummy center is smooth and chewy (but not too sticky) and the green bean is, as it should be, LIME instead of stupid green apple. The flavors are mild, so they mix well when you eat them by the handful, and the colors don't look like you're eating a chunk of melted crayon.
And now my stomach hurts.
Theater The Next Show by the New Century Theater Company
Posted by Brendan Kiley on Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 12:35 PM
Last November, The Adding Machine sent a jolt through Seattle. Stark and rich, funny and tragic, The Adding Machine was the best first production by a new theater company anybody could recall, with an all-star cast and crew (including two Stranger Geniuses: Amy Thone and Jennifer Zeyl), from director John Langs to sound designer Rob Witmer (of "Awesome").
My review for the show—by the New Century Theater Company—is here. The Stranger Suggests, by Christopher Frizzelle is here:
New Century Theatre Company is a group of daring artists who are sick of theater in this town and are doing something about it. Its first production, of Elmer Rice's 1923 The Adding Machine, begins with a monologue by Stranger Genius Amy Thone—a seething, terrifying blast of bile. Under the ruthless direction of John Langs, this dark production kicks you in the face immediately and never lets you recover. There's also an unforgettable party scene; a hair-raising monologue by Paul Morgan Stetler, playing a man on trial for murder; and no intermission. Seriously: Go.
Since then, all kinds of people—including the news intern Aaron Pickus—have been asking about their next show. NCTC has been coy. Until today. Company member Paul Morgan Stetler just emailed, writing that the next show would be Orange Flower Water, a play about the unraveling of two marriages, by Craig Wright (his Pavilion was nominated for a Pulitzer and he's done some writing for Six Feet Under). The crew:
Director: Allison Narver
Actors: Hans Altwies, Betsy Schwartz, Ray Gonzalez and Jennifer Lee Taylor.
Set & Prop Design: Matt Smucker
Sound Design: Rob Witmer
Lighting Design: Geoff Korff
Costume Design: Melanie Burgess
It opens on June 23 in ACT Theater's Bullitt Cabaret (dark, spooky one downstairs, hung with purple curtains and rumored to be haunted).
Homo Another Kid...
Posted by Dan Savage on Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 12:33 PM
...bullied to death. Who knows if this 11-year-old was even gay? Not the little monsters who bullied him and called him gay, not the school officials who failed to intervene, not the haters on the "religious" right who encourage their children to see gay people as less than human and then point to suicides like this one—by an eleven-years-old—as evidence that there's something wrong with gay people. (Via Towleroad.)
Politics Susan Hutchison, Partisan Republican
Posted by Erica C. Barnett on Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 12:32 PM
Susan Hutchison—the "nonpartisan" former TV anchor who's running for King County Executive—has given thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to Republicans over the years—and not one dime to Democrats. (She was also a board member of the right-wing, creationist Discovery Institute until the end of 2007, and a supporter of Mike Huckabee in last year's presidential election, as I reported yesterday). Hutchison was one of the leading proponents of last year's Initiative 26, which allowed Republicans to hide their party affiliation in liberal King County by making all King County offices "nonpartisan."
Have a look at Hutchison's campaign contributions over the last few years:
2008
$500 to Republican Congressman Dave Reichert
$375 to Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi
$250 to Republican Congresswoman Cathy McMorris (now McMorris Rodgers)
2007
$1000 to Citizens for Accountable Elections, the group that made the King County Elections Director a nonpartisan elected position
$700 to Republican gubernatorial candidate Dino Rossi
$500 to Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee
$100 to Republican King County prosecutor Dan Satterberg
2006
$2,000 to Republican Congressman Dave Reichert
$1,000 to Republican Congresswoman Cathy McMorris (now McMorris Rodgers)
$1,000 to Republican Douglas Robert Roulstone, who ran against Democratic Congressman Rick Larsen
$250 to Republican Supreme Court candidate Stephen Johnson, a darling of the religious right
$100 to the Mainstream Republicans of Washington
2005
$1000 to ChangePAC, a BIAW-funded group that supported Republican Dino Rossi
$500 to Republican Congreeman Dave Reichert
$250 to the King County Republicans' Central Committee
$100 to Conrad Lee, a Republican who sits on the Bellevue City Council
$50 to Jeff Sax, a Republican member of the Snohomish County Council
$50 to Jane Fellner, who ran against Seattle School Board incumbent Mary Bass
2004
$3,000 to Republican George Nethercutt, who ran against Sen. Patty Murray
2003
$500 to George W. Bush
Books / Nerd Death of the Funny Book
Posted by Paul Constant on Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 12:19 PM
Robot 6 has a good interview with Peggy Burns, the very smart associate publisher at Drawn & Quarterly Press. The discussion mostly veers to the idea that the pamphlet comic book—the stapled, floppy roll-up-and-put-it-in-your-back-pocket variety that most people still think of when they think of comic books—is on the way out. The major comics distributor, Diamond, has increased the minimum sale numbers on the pamphlet comic book format to the point where many small publishers will have to stop producing them.
Do you see this new policy as being the final nail in the coffin for the alt-comic or was it already dead and this is just the death certificate?No, I definitely do not see it as the final nail in the alt-comic. The pamphlet, maybe. But people said that with vinyl, and look at vinyl making a comeback. Perhaps we’ll see floppies come back in a few years. Bottom-line is, with this thing called the Internet, people will find a way to get their comics known.
The superhero pamphlet is still going strong, of course—well, as strong as it has over the last few years, which is to say, not very strong at all, but it's been consistently mining a very loyal fan base. I think the next ten years will see the demise of the majority of staple-bound comics. They'll be as rare as video tapes, soda fountains, and variety shows. The industry's been heading for the book format for a very long time, but the major publishers have been fighting it every step of the way. The smart ones are starting, finally, to switch to an all-publishing model.
Science / Enviro Yet Another Reason to Dislike CFLs: Horrible Power Factors
Posted by Jonathan Golob on Thu, Apr 9, 2009 at 12:18 PM
Many of you already know of my skepticism of compact fluorescent lightbulbs. Now utilities are joining in the hate: CFLs use about twice as much energy than previously claimed.
Lightbulbs, TVs, ovens, baseboard heaters—whatever—draw energy from alternating current with varying degrees of efficiency, due to the funkiness of alternating current.
Allow me to explain, by taking us all bowling. Kinda.
We want to pump up a tire with a foot bicycle pump down on the far end of the bowling lane. We screw the pump down on its side, and aim with our bowling ball. We hit it, and it shatters into pieces. No good. Marbles would be safe for the pump, but getting them all the way down the alley is next to impossible. They slow down and stop due to friction almost immediately, where the heavy bowling balls have enough momentum to make it all the way to the end. Now what?
We get a clever idea: Let's line up a whole bunch of bowling balls in the gutter, placing the last one on the handle of the pump. On our side of the lane, we put a spring on the end of the line of bowling balls. We pull back our spring, a little bit, with the first ball and then let it go. The energy is transferred to the far end through each ball. The last ball at the end of the line presses down on the handle. Some of the energy transferred goes to pump up our tire; the rest goes to compress the pump's spring. Eventually, the pump spring gives back most of this stored energy, sending the bowling balls back to our spring. Since some of the energy was used up, we pull our spring back a bit more, and release it again. We now have waves of energy successfully transmitting from our end of the lane to the pump's end: Alternating current.
(If this doesn't make sense to you, you should feel really thankful for Nikola Tesla. Without his genius, you would be cold and hungry right now.)
What the power company is doing is constantly adding energy back into the spring at their end of the chain of bowling balls (electrons, unpacking our metaphor). A/C devices with a perfect power factor of 1.0 act as perfect springs: all of the leftover energy delivered is returned in phase back to the power plant. Compact fluorescent lightbulbs mess up the line of bowling balls like an obnoxious kid. When the wave is outgoing, they push in on the chain a little bit; when incoming, they push outward. CFLs make a portion of the alternating current go out of phase. The bowling ball waves still work, but it takes the power company more effort to keep each wave going.
About half the energy used up by a CFL goes to this naughty out of phase game. While there are ways of designing well-behaved CFLs, most companies making them (typically in China, with factory workers twisting hot glass filled with mercury powder by hand) don't exactly seem interested. As per Better Off Ted, the corporate motto is, "Money before people. It's engraved right there in the lobby floor. It just looks more heroic in Latin."
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