Over at the Big Blog, they're weighing in on the pseudo-debate over whether laptop users who camp out at coffeeshops are a rising tide with the unemployment rate that threatens to swamp coffeeshops who'd prefer their table be used by paying customers for a more reasonable amount of time. more ›

• Hella Bus has an engaging, creative, relevant (and short!) video episode about politics in Olympia--including the best fifteen seconds of political film we've seen in ages tucked in at the very end.
• Videogum wrote about 'Nightline's Great Satan Debate--apparently it was a laugh riot!
• The Daily Weekly got a hot tip about a man wearing a jacket printed all over with Asian call-girl ads. Weird.

The same day the CityClub of Seattle was holding--and tweeting--its panel discussion "The Newspaper Business: Sunset or a New Dawn?" strange things were happening. The P-I linked directly to a story on the West Seattle Blog. KIRO 7 TV started filing stories on Twitter, following KING 5's lead, though KING 5 was using its Twitter feed today to promote its new Facebook page. News is suddenly everywhere. At the panel, tears were still being shed over Craigslist stealing all those classified ad dollars back in the late '90s--right about the time that everyone in the U.S. was reading Who Moved My Cheese? Ten years later, major newspaper chains are still at the mercy of a cramped, ugly, lo-fi site started by some guy in San Francisco. Hearst thinks the P-I is a money-loser; from where we're sitting, the guys who've been losing billions are in the corporate suites, paying themselves top dollar while they redesign the buggy whip paper to make it more attractive to younger readers. more ›

As was noted after we reported on one parade's cancellation due to low turn-out, it looks like everyone headed over to the MLK Jr. rally at Garfield High School instead of going downtown--Central District News has photos to prove it. Via Rainier Valley Post's new Classifieds section, we found a link to Fresh-Picked-Seattle's list of food-related ways to volunteer on the Day of Service. The B-Town Blog re-posts a thoughtful Obama-themed MLK Jr. essay written just before the election. Most blogs were focused on tomorrow's presidential inauguration, and some--including the Big Blog and Tim Burgess' City View, were reporting from the very crowded ground in D.C. more ›

• Monica Guzman over at the P-I's Big Blog published an un-cut transcript of the story Denise Gloster told her about why she chose to get involved with her community in the Rainier Valley. The story is powerful and heart-wrenching, well worth your ten minutes to read it closely.
• Whoa, since when do elementary schools in Seattle auction off fancy Palm Springs condos and offer pine-nut crusted salmon as part of their fund-raising dinner menu? West Seattle Blog says Schmitz Park Elementary is doing just that to net money for the school's core programs.
• Shauna, the Seattle-based new mother and food writer over at Gluten Free Girl, has crafted a sensible list of must-have pantry items in response to Mark Bittman's controversial compilation on the same topic. Beans, onions, vinegar--sounds just like our pantry!

A Hitler mashup about the Apple Cup made it onto the P-I's Big Blog the other day, and Managing Editor David McCumber has ordered it taken down posthaste: "I think we goofed in this instance." Hitler isn't funny, McCumber says. more ›

• We just have a few more weeks of our favorite regular mouth-watering local blog post--the "what's new at the Columbia City's Farmers Market this week" post at the Rainier Valley Post. There are only a few more markets until it closes down for winter, and this week we think we'll have to pick up some yummy winter squashes and roasted hot peppers.
• Grab a bite to eat out in Phinney Ridge tomorrow and support Phinney Neighborhood Association soup kitchens. Few things in the world taste better than eating out for a good cause.
• Blogging Georgetown has updates on proposed parking restrictions for 12th Avenue.

• Blogging Georgetown asks a very important question: how clean is your watering hole? The answers are the county health inspection scores for Georgetown bars.
• Lights & Sirens answers the age old question, what's the quickest way to a man's heart? The answer in Tacoma? A cordless drill.
• Continuing the question and answers theme--the Big Blog wants to know what you'd name the newest parks in Seattle?