"My Neighbor" by Eric Reynolds Nevermind the stuff from high school civics class. Neighbors are what this country's really about. They're good, bad, crazy, entertaining, insane, helpful, noisy, private, crotchety, and beneficent—always good for a story. All in all, neighbors exhibit the excess and abundance that make the world simultaneously loathe, envy, and emulate us. Happy Birthday, America. additional photos (l-r) by Chris Blakeley, Renah, Jim, and Mary.......

No, Seattlest is not just a fan of alliteration and 80's slang, as the headline might suggest. Burying the beef, is the current plan of the Seattle Public School District to rid itself of 230 cases of possibly contaminated beef. The beef, provided to school districts through a USDA lunch program, came from a California slaughterhouse in the center of the largest beef recall in USDA history. Nearly two-thirds of the school districts in......

This fall we are combining our love of the football and our dream of learning to cook. On Sunday morning, following a trip to a local farmer's market/major supermarket chain, we will be preparing a meal from the city of the Seahawks opponent. Then at halftime we will throw our badly burned hands in the air and make hot dogs. On Wednesday we took our special touch friend to see The Kite Runner. She spent......

After the lukewarm show on Friday night, Seattlest wasn't sure we were up for any more unsure bets on local hiphop shows. However, we bundled up, put on a brave face and ventured back to Chop Suey last night for the Parker Brothaz/GMK show. What we came away with: GMK is incredibly tight and infectiously energetic, the "L" in "put your L's UP!" stands for Lucciauno (as in "Free Fatal!"), and we want DJ......

Back in June we posted about the bee colony collapse thingamajig, the upshot of which was that no one knew what the hell was killing 23% of the commercial honey bee force dead. (50% to 90% of the U.S. commercial bee population was affected.) Today (via MSNBC) the journal Science is reporting (though it doesn't look like it's up on the site yet) that a major factor could be: Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus, or IAPV......

This week the Washington State Senate is deciding whether to make Washington to the first state in the nation to ban the fire retardant deca-BDE [ESHB 1024]. (The House, where Jamie Pedersen was a sponsor, passed the bill this February.) [UPDATE: Rep. Ross Hunter writes to point out that he's the bill's primary sponsor -- there are over 50 "We're with ya, Ross" sponsors, including Pedersen and some guy named Upthegrove. In Ross's honor,......

A good rule of thumb for playing trivia: When in doubt, go with your first answer. It saves arguing and cuts right through potentially endless cycles of self-doubt. Unfortunately, Tuesday night at the Hopvine, that rule of thumb failed us. Twice. And left our team, I Am Anna Nicole's Babydaddy, in second place. "What philosopher is associated with deconstructionism?" Our gut answered quickly: Baudrillard. Wait a second, said our brain, I think it's Derrida. Our......

There's a whole wide world out there, and here's the proof: DCist revels in The University of Maryland's basketball triumphs, marvels at Metro's security strategy, and applauds DC local Katie Couric's new gig. Phillyist is all about the Philadelphia Film Festival. OK, not all about -- they still have time for loitering, underage sex, and random wacky news. LAist would have to send a camera around the world to get shots as bizarre as Katie's......

The Sonics said goodbye to three-point-shooting forward Dale Ellis Vladimir Radmanovic today. The fifth-year Sonic is headed to the Clippers. In return, the Sonics get Chris Wilcox, a fourth-year center out of Maryland. "In Chris, we get a great rebounder who can run the floor," says Sonics GM Rick Sund. InsideHoops.com likes the deal. Wilcox will rebound and play some interior defense...though we wonder what exactly it is Wilcox does that Reggie Evans, who has......

The game isn't good enough anymore. It's not good enough that on Sunday, in Maryland, 90 of the best athletes on the planet, guys who were the best player in the history of their high school, guys who if you tried to tackle them would run through you like you were a notion, guys who can run faster and jump higher and lift more than anyone you've ever known, will recklessly bash into each other......