Nicole
Ever gotten hassled for riding outside of the bike lane? If so, this 2011 video by a New York cyclist is for you. I also came across some helmet-cam videos pointing out tricky intersections and traffic situations in West Seattle. As a life-long bicyclist intimidated by Seattle riding, I’d love to see more of these.
Anna
Center for American Progress and Elle Magazine teamed up to survey men and women about “leaning in”—balancing work and family life, discrimination in hiring, pay, and in day to day workplace dynamics, asking for raises, paid leave, flex time, moving up the ladder, and other issues that can be lopsided by a worker’s gender.
(See also: Five shocking examples of how women have been formally and informally turned into sex objects in their workplaces.)
Alan
Will wolves reach Belgium before they reach the Olympic Peninsula? Last week, I got a rare opportunity to go look for one of Washington’s new wolf packs with a biologist who knows the pack’s habits. We showed up; the wolves didn’t. I hope to try again. It got me wondering, though. Will wolves make it to the Olympics first or Belgium? It’s not such a ridiculous question. Ten packs now live in Washington; others live in Oregon. Alaska, BC, and Idaho all host big populations. One has even traveled into California—the first wolf there in 80 years. So Cascadia is slowly returning to its natural state, wolf-wise. But making it to the peninsula, currently thick with elk and (introduced) mountain goats that might benefit from a top predator, will be hard for them for lack of travel corridors. Meanwhile wolves are repopulating Northwest Europe by the same pattern as our Northwest—migrating down from the north and the east. They have made it across Poland and Germany as far as the Netherlands now. So which will come first: Belgium or the Bogachiel?
Al Gore says we’re much closer to winning than we’re letting ourselves believe.
Eric
On the occasion of his death, it’s worth recalling Elmore Leonard’s ten rules for writing.
Speaking of posterity, Warren Buffet seems hellbent on going down in history as a villain with his purchase of a $500 million stake in a major tar sands oil company. (Buffett already has a serious problem with investing in the destructive carbon economy.)
Speaking of fossil fuels, a coal-laden bulk freighter ran aground off the coast of South Africa posing any number of environmental risks. Surely this could never happen in the Northwest.
Speaking of big boats, one of the world’s biggest personal yachts arrived in Seattle, prompting a local trade association to call for additional tax breaks for yacht owners, prompting me to wonder whether keelhauling is legal.
Speaking of crimes in Seattle, Erica C. Barnett had one of best fact-checking smackdowns of the year when she called bullshit on City Attorney Pete Holmes’ claim that he is prosecuting downtown’s chronic nuisance offenders. He’s not.
And, finally, speaking of nuisances, what zombies and babies have in common.
Serena
Often when tracking media coverage of Sightline’s work, I come upon stories of the work of other groups called “Sightline.” (What? Other Sightlines? I know.) This is hands-down the most heart-warming one I’ll ever see.
