There's a kind of folktale Polish wedding tradition that Seattlest has always thought was cool. It says that when your daughter is born you fire up the still and produce a barrel of vodka which you then bury somewhere on your farm. Twelve years later when that daughter is getting married you dig up the barrel and drink it at the wedding, the vodka having been infused with the flavors, and, more ephemerally, the spirit of the land. more ›

Ever since Mayor Greg Nickels sent out a letter back in mid-February about Viaduct replacement financing, everyone who pays attention has been trying to figure out the math. We're all used to spin from City Hall, but there was a huge, crucial problem. In the letter, Nickels claimed that, "Today, with $3.2 billion already committed to the project, we have the resources needed to start building the tunnel." more ›

-We felt really bad for that guy who fell down an elevator shaft in Bellevue a while back, and it's not like it's any less tragic now...but he did get the elevator to stop between floors in the first place by jumping up and down in it. more ›

Seattlest read the book "Zodiac" by sci-fi author Neil Stephenson recently. The story is a sort of eco-thriller about an activist/scientist/environmentalist- type who goes around finding and plugging little pipes that drain toxic materials into the bay in Boston. Intrigue ensues and it's a decent book which you should read. That's fiction, though, right? Well, we bring it up because it was reported today that Swedish Medical Center has been discharging sewage into Lake Union since 1998. more ›

Attention! Attention everyone! Seattlest would like to call to your attention the fact that Seattle Public Utilities is launching an initiative called Wasteless in Seattle, with the visionary goal of "zero waste." (Yes, the quotation marks make us nervous, too.) more ›

It's hot today and it's going to continue through the weekend, but think twice about cranking open a fire hydrant NYC style. Despite assurances from the Seattle Times, all is not well with our region's water supply after the extremely dry winter. Typically we count on mountain snow to melt throughout the summer and provide our rivers and streams with a constant supply of fresh water. This year what snow there was is already gone. more ›

Seattlest once had a choice between Saturday and Sunday Mets games, and we chose Saturday because the schedule read "Free Mets Jersey Day." We thought to ourselves, "Score!" It will likely surprise no reader that the "jersey" in question was a thin t-shirt with jersey styling (v-neck, buttons down the front) printed on it. We laughed and laughed. And we still wear the shirt. more ›

Seattlest hearts recycling. We do it; we make fun of people who don't do it. But is anyone else out there kinda grossed out that the city wants to start recycling food scraps...by allowing said food scraps to be added to the 96-gallon yard-waste containers that are collected every two weeks? more ›