We're in the International District, walking down the street, past the whole roasted ducks displayed in windows, sniffing fried Chinese food and fragrant pho broth, searching for the one thing that seems not to exist in the ID--coffee. We see the bright neon sign of Gossip Espresso and Tea and cross the street. A hand-written sign on the door says, "Closing at 6pm today." It's 5:55 and we sprint up to the counter and......

Hey, Seattlest! I'd like to start a sex advice column, but there's a catch-22. I'm not a columnist yet, so no one's sent me any questions, but unless I answer questions I don't have a column. Can I just pick a question Dan Savage answered in "Savage Love" and answer it myself? If anyone asks, I'll claim I "solicited questions from friends." I read his column every week -- I must be a friend, right?......

Seattlest wishes it was at a coffee shop on Saturday, when the snow was falling in swift, wet flakes. We imagine sipping a delicious doppio espresso, protected from the cold and watching the snow fall. Instead, we are braving the pouring rain and have ended up here, in Fremont, at Cafe Ladro. We're wet, cold and crabby. Ladro is bustling with the young professionals crowd. An entire table of six is covered in laptops, another......

There's a classic science fiction short story called The Country of the Kind by Damon Knight that was published in 1955. The narrator of the story walks around a utopia acting like a huge asshole, disrupting lives and smashing up properties. He thinks of himself as the king of the world because everyone around him is too nice--like enlightened and tolerant and kind--to stand up to him. It's a humane and permissive society, completely free......

The Mariners' player payroll will top $100 million in 2007. $111 million, to be more precise, an $18 million increase over last year. That's a lotta hot dogs. And, based on what this job applicant went through yesterday at Mariners HQ, the M's have instituted some severe cost-cutting measures. We pick up his story, reported on the Blue Moon's blog, after the receptionist handed him a job application."Can I borrow a pen?" I ask. "No,"......

Hat tip to the Slog, since we cancelled our P-I subscription last week--Robert Jamieson wrote a column about how some ads on Craig's List are...hold on to your hat...from PROSTITUTES!!! Yes, apparently people have learned how to use the Internet to sell sex. Does Robert Jamieson live with his parents or something? Anyway, it reminded us of this classic Monty Python sketch: A shabby man is running an evil eye down the adverts, puzzling, looking......

Hey, Seattlest, this whole "Capitol Hill massacre" has really made me depressed, and I'd like to do something. Can I donate money to the survivors? Yes. Jesiah, one of the house residents, posted this on Northwest Tekno: if you are interested in donating to help pay for the expenses that have occured because of this, go to http://www.paypal.com and make your donation to 2112relief@gmail.com thank you so so very much in advance. all moneys go......

Obviously you know that Starbucks has been very very successfull at selling coffee. Someday, and you're going to hate this but that won't stop it, we're probably going to call any kind of espresso drink a "starbucks" like people from Georgia call any carbonated beverage a "coke." ("What kind of coke you want? We got Spriiite, root beer, diet, cherry ") They've pretty much got the espresso thing nailed down. Caribou, Dunkin Donuts, independant cafes......