Good morning.

Has your commute been thrown a monkey wrench with this traffic? Have you been forced to bike through somewhat chilly conditions? Have you had to sit in a somewhat more cramped bus? Have you experienced the horror of telecommuting? Are you in Southern or Eastern Washington and not seeing the fuss?

Personally, my commute is fine, but it’s a bit weird anyway.

Hey everyone, please learn to stand.

In an open thread last week, I mentioned that people on public transportation who stand in front of open seats are the way. But Seattle has a problem with people standing in all sorts of wrong places. In doorways. At the counter after they pay. On the curb cut when the walk sign is on.

I don’t poop at Starbucks enough to know if it’s common, but the restroom in the one in Capitol Hill has a sharps container. This seems correct for harm reduction. If people were shooting up before, it’s better than used needles going in the trash, or being reused.

For the traffic mess some people are going to experience when the Viaduct shuts down, it might be a chance to take public transportation. I recommend it. But! You should probably know what the hell you are doing. So here are some tips to make sure that you don’t mess with other people’s commute.

Load your Orca Card now. Or if you don’t have one, know how much your trip will cost and have it ready before you fumble around at the bus door, or wherever you pay.

Figure out your route ahead of time. The driver (ar least Metro) will help you out, but if it’s super crowded, there might be a lot. They will talk to you at the door, but if you cause them to stay at the stop through a light, everyone on the bus will hate you. One Bus Away is great, and all the transit agency websites have tools to help you out.

Standing in front of open seats doesn’t help anyone. Jesus, man. Just have a seat. Or if you’re worried about getting off soon, move away from it so someone else can sit down.

If it’s crowded, move toward the back, and away from doors. Exit from the rear doors of buses. Don’t crowd the platform on the train.

So, it’s probably too early, but 2020 primary elections for President and possibly governor are sooner than we might want. I am going to try to stay neutral. There are people I like more than others, but there’s no need to pick at this point. Hopefully we can get to issues at some point.

I am excited about the US House of Representatives and the Washington State Legislature. Like, I actually expect great things from the state. A less regressive tax code and maybe steps toward pre Kindergarten education at the state level. At the Federal level, finally, finally, finally some accountability.

Oh right, I post open threads here sometimes. Anyway!

Over Christmas break, I listened to the Pitchfork Economics episode about trickle down economics, and how it’s the conventional wisdom. It made me think about the great chain of being. We can look back and see how silly it was. But if you were living in a time when it was professed by everyone around you, and presumed to be from God, it’s easy to understand why people kept using it as a way to understand the world.

What a creep. Senator Ranker should stop being such a creep. Don’t be a creep, you creepy creep. I hope that the investigation is thorough. I hope that we as citizens get the full picture. And that he’s punished appropriately. But for now, we know that he is a creep.

I took the Sounder train for the first time, even though I have lived in the region since before there was a Sound Transit. I suppose it’s different for people on a packed train, but Tacoma to Seattle was rather pleasant in the afternoon, even with a delay. I don’t really know how much of my car tabs went to it over the years, but I am glad that it was there.

Sometimes when a predator gets metooed, certain segments of the Internet lament the loss of art from those assholes. Oh no, what will we do without another season of Louie, or with a Kevin Spacey free House Of Cards?????!? Obviously that is pretty gross.

But man, keeping those fuckers around is losing a lot of great art. If you make the argument you are also OK losing art from the harrassed people. I mean Cybill Shepherd. Cybill Goddmn Shepherd.

Even if you ignore that it’s gross, siding with predators isn’t a fair trade art for art.

I was listening to a podcast set in medieval France, and it quoted one of the sources saying that donkeys would fly before a siege was lifted. I don’t remember having heard of any land animals other than pigs flying. I took French in high school, and I don’t remember that coming up. Is there a zoo of flying animals in other languages?

Is Lisa Brown running for Congress again? I only see her on Twitter. So maybe I am missing something. Still, her Tweets are very much against McMorris Rodgers. I don’t know the district well enough to know if there’s someone else who might run next time, but I like Lisa.

Right now Twitter is all atwitter about a typo in a tweet of President Trump’s. I think it’s definitely one I could make, so I have refrained from joining the pile up.

I mean it has only been a few days since the whole Individual-1 thing. So much crime. So, so much.

I had to be at work early, and I didn’t prepare anything yesterday. Sorry.

It’s cold y’all. I am regretting not wearing a hat this morning. I also am disappointed with the Internet that fedoras have become not just unfashionable, but looked down on. They’re more useful than a cap, but less silly than like a ski hat.