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April 30, 2008
Could there be a way to make internet dating in Seattle even more anonymous? A new site, CrazyBlindDate.com, might be coming to our city to do just that. The site's creators explain, "There are no profiles, pictures, winks, or instant messages. Instead, users simply enter the basics of what they're looking for in a date (age, gender, orientation, etc.) and when they're free." Then you get an email or text message with a place...
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What was that about getting back to making the perfect latte? Starbucks announced today that they are debuting two new, non-coffee beverages. The company unveiled their plans in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. The new drinks you will be able to buy, instead of the delicious tasty disappearing breakfast sandwiches? According to the article, one of the new drinks will be a "smoothie-like drink made of fruit and whey." The new blended...
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Old School In Concrete (pre-fire), Courtesy of Flickr User Kristin Monahan Even the most studious among us probably fantasized about our schools burning to the ground during our younger years. Seattlest most certainly did! But three boys in Concrete, Wash., ages 11 and 12 actually did it, albeit unintentionally. The boys had been playing with lighters and caught an old mattress on fire near the historic Concrete school building. The building was built in the...
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Another classic shot from Seattlest Flickr Contributor pdgibson In 2006, in hopes of decreasing public drunkenness, the Seattle City Council passed a ban on certain "highly fortified" alcoholic beverages in a number of Seattle neighborhoods. The controversial bans created "Alcohol Impact Areas" (AIA) in neighborhoods including Capitol Hill, the Central Area, Lower Queen Anne, SoDo, and the University District. As specified in the original ordinance, in these neighborhoods and these neighborhoods only stores were restricted...
Continue Reading "Report Shows People Are Still Getting Drunk"April 29, 2008
"Jimi Hendrix & The Electric Lady" by Seattlest Flickr Contributor cap'n surly Vivid Entertainment, which is promoting the new Jimi Hendrix: The Sex Tape certainly hopes so. The 45-minute DVD, which has no audio, shows Hendrix engaging in a variety of sexual acts with two women. Ever the rock star, Jimi never removes his trademark headband. Starting today, you can purchase the video online (duh, site NSFW) and decide for yourself if the fellow in...
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April 29, 2008
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's controversial pastor and friend, gave a widely criticized speech yesterday on Black Liberation Theology, patriotism, and his relationship with Barack Obama. Obama gave a press conference of his own today, saying he's "outraged" at Rev. Wright's "appalling" comments. He emphasized that Rev. Wright was never his "spiritual advisor," though the pastor married the Senator and his wife and prayed with them the day Obama announced his presidential candidacy. Some...
Continue Reading "Local Hiphop Artists On Rev. Wright's "Appalling" Comments"
Seattlest came across a couple interesting stories today regarding substance use and abuse. First, the story of a Burlington, Wash., man who pulled a gun and briefly held patrons hostage, after staff at a local brew pub asked him to put out his cigarette. The 59-year-old man was leaving the Cascade Brewery on Saturday, when he lit up and was promptly asked to put out his cigarette. Obviously, this request didn't sit well with the...
Continue Reading "Today in Substance Abuse "April 28, 2008
Seattle pigeon with dart wound, courtesy of Flickr contributor jrmarkwardt In early April, alarmed Seattleites began spotting pigeons walking and flying around downtown with blow darts impaling their heads and necks. Quickly dubbed "zombie pigeons," the creepy story was closely followed by another Seattle blog. Today animal rights group PETA announced they are offering a $2,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest of the pigeon sniper. The injured pigeons have avoided capture by...
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Timothy Garon in Hospice Care with his girlfriend, Leisa Bueno - AP Photo/ElaineThompson Timothy Garon is 56 years old and dying of liver failure. Without a liver transplant, he will die in a matter of days, but the University of Washington Medical Center has decided he is not a fit candidate for a possibly life-saving transplant. The reason? Garon used physician-prescribed medical marijuana to treat the symptoms of hepatitis C, the disease that is killing...
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It's been about a year since the May elections in the Snoqualmie tribe that apparently started this whole mess. Last August, honorary Chief Enick suspended those who'd been elected, and held new elections a month later. According to a press release on behalf of the suspended members, "The Tribe's Constitution only allows for May elections and vests no power in the honorary Chief to control the government. The Chairman [Sweet] has not been lawfully...
Continue Reading "Snoqualmie Tribal Woes Carry On—Eight Banished"
Has the failing economy not touched you? The housing crunch not gotten you down? Would you enjoy tourists taking photos of your home or even planning sight-seeing trips to see it? Then do we have the home for you! The South Lake Union houseboat made famous by Sleepless in Seattle, is on the market. It could be yours for just $2.5 million. If you've been lucky enough to forget the hype of the house...
Continue Reading "Sleepless in Seattle Houseboat for Sale "April 25, 2008
"Discovering Music" by Seattlest Flickr Contributor Seattle Rainscreen As part of Starbucks returning to their "It's the coffee, stupid!" business plan, they have handed over the day-to-day operations of their record label, Hear Music, to Concord Music. Regarding the change, Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz said, "Now is the appropriate time to restructure our entertainment business to better align our efforts with our overall business strategies." Now Starbucks' partner in the record industry, Concord Music,...
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Want further proof America is going to hell? The Seattle Times reports kids in Lynnwood are drinking the bong water from meth pipes to get high. According to the Times, “Worb water" is the meth-laced water that's left in a water pipe after it's been used to smoke methamphetamines.” Move over crack-pipe scrapers, there’s a new scumbag on the drug-desperation block and he’s called “worb water." Silly us thought drinking normal bong water was...
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We always knew that Tyra Banks and her train wreck of a reality TV competition, America's Next Top Model (ANTM), was an acquired taste. You either love it (and like Seattlest, you only mention that to your closest friends...and you guys), or you hate it. But a Seattle woman took that disdain for Tyra and Miss Jay's crazy glitter eyebrows a little too far, when she stabbed an acquaintance for watching ANTM too loudly....
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No police force outside of Medina has more time on its hands than Redmond’s finest. So it comes with more than a little amusement that three South End “thugs” thought they could get away with robbing folks at Redmond bus stops. The three thieves were apprehended after a teenager matching one of the descriptions ran in front of a former victim who happened to be talking to an officer. So much for leaving the...
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April 25, 2008
"Denny Triangle And First Hill" by Ryan Hadley A 13-acre, $600 million property in the Denny Triangle has been pulled back off the markets for now, thanks to an unfavorable debt economy thwarting similar development deals across the country. According to the Wall Street Journal, the development of the Clise family-owned property was meant to catapult a $7 billion project in downtown Seattle and revitalize the area over the next twenty years. Apparently, the...
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Damn, this is the kind of story that really makes our stomach churn. This morning, a skater was hit by a bus killed when he fell under a bus wheel in the U-District. The 20-year-old skater, according to the Times, "ran into the side of the bus and fell under the rear wheel...He was pronounced dead at the scene." Apparently the bus driver didn't even realize she'd run over the kid until the cops...
Continue Reading "When Buses and Skaters Collide"April 24, 2008
Even though some of us around the Seattlest newsroom like to beat up on little ol’ Starbucks whenever the opportunity arises, today’s news that Starbucks' stock dropped like a hockey puck of used espresso knocked out of a porta-filter didn’t put a spring in the steps of all us Seattlests. No. Some of us actually own stock in the company (as do, we assume, some of you considering how many people in Seattle worked for...
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Writing news for Seattlest, we spend a lot of time feeling slightly befuddled by local news headlines. Last night's perusal of headlines offered us this gem: "Semi road rage leads to big mess on I-5." We read it as a case of mild road rage, somehow causing a traffic jam. A sentence into the story, we realized our error. In reality, the driver of a semi truck suffered a case of road rage when...
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"Microsoft Live platform" by niallkennedy. Yesterday, Microsoft announced a pretty cool new online service that will take the Google Documents concept to the next level: users of Live Mesh will be able to sync content from their computers, handhelds, cell phones, and potentially even their Zunes with that of other users in the same mesh, via the internet. As we understand it, the service is like an inter-office computer network, but users can upload/download...
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Since Seattle isn't criss-crossed with enough fault lines already, the U.S. Geological Survey's new seismic hazard maps include two new fault lines in Western Washington. One of the new faults is located between Bellingham and the Canadian border, and the other runs east of Port Angeles. The study also found that a fault located South of Whidbey Island is longer than previously thought. The new fault close to the Canadian border has been named...
Continue Reading "Two New Fault Lines—Just What We Need "April 23, 2008
Either that or they have hired the stoners they are busting to come up with operation names. "Operation Green Reaper" is underway in the Seattle area— a series of no-knock raids on indoor marijuana grow operations. So far, fourteen people and two companies have been indicted for involvement in a large-scale grow operation. The two companies caught up in the raids were garden supply stores in Auburn and Tukwila. Photo Courtesy of the AP...
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Two Federal Way women have filed a report with local police, claiming they have been sexually assaulted by ghosts in their apartment. Before reporting the incident to police, the women repeatedly called the apartment complex's maintenance man saying ghosts were raping them on weekend nights. Fed up with the bizarre calls, the maintenance man told the women to contact police. According to the police report, the women claim a "paranormal person" has been placing...
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Sports fans around the city are saying goodbye to Shaun Alexander. The former NFL MVP was released by the Seahawks following eight seasons. Now, we may be saying good-bye to Safeco Field. Liberty Mutual’s purchase of Safeco might mean a new name for the city’s baseball stadium. San Francisco’s baseball stadium opened up a few months after Safeco, and was originally named Pac Bell for the phone company Pacific Bell, a few years late...
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The death of a 49-year-old-woman Tuesday at the Frye Hotel marks the third murder at 223 Yesler Way in less than six months. Initially regarded as "the finest hotel in Seattle," the Frye has ironically degenerated into a portrait of violence and despair. The Frye, converted into low-income housing in the 1970s, accounts for a disproportionately high percentage of Seattle’s recent homicides. Compared to the 29 reported murders in 2006, the Frye alone accounts...
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April 23, 2008
Who knew synchronized swimming could be so dangerous? Four local synchronized swimmers were rushed to the hospital on Monday, after loosing consciousness and suffering respiratory distress at a Kenmore pool. Three of the girls, ages 12 to 14, had to be resuscitated on the pool deck. To add to what must have already been an incredibly chaotic scene, two parents who witnessed the event were also taken to the hospital after going into shock....
Continue Reading "Mystery Ailment Sends Four Synchronized Swimmers to Hospital"April 22, 2008
With 1,967,000 unique visitors in March, the P-I comes in twentieth, in fact, according to the Nielsen ratings of the U.S. online news field. (Oddly, that's a drop of 8% from March last year.) The Seattle Times didn't crack the top 30, so we don't know where they're at. But Village Voice Media, the alien overlords who run the Seattle Weekly, can boast a 12th-place finish, with about 2.8 million visitors to their network. This...
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One of the sadder stories we heard yesterday, from a friend who was on the Portland-Seattle train, was about the 17-year-old Kent girl who was hit and killed by a southbound Amtrak as she crossed the tracks. The Seattle Times blame-placers let you know the culprit right in the headline: "Train kills girl, 17, who was talking on phone." Amtrak, naturally, didn't want to let its passengers know that they had just run over someone,...
Continue Reading "Amtrak Fatality Makes News Everywhere But on Train"
Since having been roundly criticized for driving anywhere, anytime, ever, after having questioned the wisdom of destroying so much parking down at Seattle Center, we've been more and more attuned to the environment and trying to figure out how to decrease our "carbon footprint," all the more apropos given that today's Earth Day. But this morning, we received the following email from a friend of Seattlest who works in the environmental policy field: A curious...
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Thank the sweet lord that the Pennsylvania Primary is finally here. In the six weeks since Barack Obama won Vermont, we've been forced to deal with the worst of what American political campaigns have to offer. Seriously, you folks in Western Pennsylvania want to talk about bitterness, just get any Seahawk fan started on the Super Bowl against your Steelers. We’ll see your guns and religion, and raise you clinging to the game’s officiating....
Continue Reading "Primaries '08: Unemployed Steel Workers Have Their Say"