This is a fun story about the Miller Seed Vault at the University of Washington. I didn’t know it was a thing, but I am glad that it exists. These types of projects are vital. And we (understandably!) don’t spend as much time on things going right as them going wrong.

Anyway, please wash your hands right now. And get vaccinated or boosted if you’re eligible.

A very fine Friday to you all. I had a lovely walk after work the other day. Not very far outside the urban core, there were several homeless encampments. Dozens of tents and 2 people sleeping on the sidewalk not sheltered by more than a sleeping bag. And I thought to myself if this is the rest of massive sweeps, why bother? Like, what does teem sweeps think it’s accomplished?Out of the tourist and business areas and into the industrial parts of the city.

Anyway, please wash your hands right now. And get vaccinated or boosted if you’re eligible.

Man. Fucking Edmonds, man. I don’t know what I can add to my last few posts about their homeless camping law. Except, fuck, now it’s the law. Fuck 5 of the City Council members. Fuck the cruelty. Fuck not building shelter, let alone enough housing. Man, and jail time if you don’t break up your family for an unsafe shelter in a different city. Keep shuffling people around like there isn’t a goddam pandemic still. Sorry, you have to choose between getting rid of your pet and going 30 miles away for one night’s shelter or rising 90 days in jail and a fine.

Anyway, please wash your hands right now. And get vaccinated or boosted if you’re eligible.

It’s filing week, Washington. Every state House and half of the state Senate are up for grabs. The only statewide race is for Secretary of State. Depending on where you live, there may be local races too.

If you aren’t satisfied with your legislator, or whatever other office, and nobody is picking up the slack, that someone can be you. We need people to run.

Anyway, please wash your hands right now. Right now. And get vaccinated or boosted if you’re eligible.

Are you excited? Free transit (h/t) this weekend. Re-register your Orca Card. Look at the card reader confused as it doesn’t work. What fun.

Seriously, if you don’t normally use transit, this could be a good weekend to try it if you live in the Puget Sound region. There are soccer and baseball games to go to. Downtown is hopping, and it’s a nice weekend to go somewhere. Please wear a mask, though.

And hey, wash your hands right now. And get vaccinated or boosted if you haven’t yet.

Good morning. I have read a few things about tires degrading it it harming salmon. But this is one of the more comprehensive articles on it. First, kudos to KUOW on finding the local peg for California is looking for alternatives. Local news is the best. Second, it’s really terrible what we’re doing. What chemicals we’re putting in the water every time we drive, and the timeline to fix it. Geez.

Anyway, wash your dang hands. And get vaccinated or boosted if you’re eligible.

Gosh, it seems like a sweeps-centered plan to get people into shelter isn’t working. Maybe of we do more sweeps, we can crack the code.

Anyway, please wash your hands right now. And get vaccinated or boosted if you’re eligible.

I don’t know what’s going on in Edmonds. Special council meeting to vote on the demand people find a shelter despite not having any shelter. Several times.

Now shelter has to be 35 miles from Edmonds City Hall. That sounds like a lot. Just eyeballing it, they’re saying if there’s shelter anywhere between Everett and Seattle, they can fine someone for sleeping on a bench and send them to jail. It’s just cruel. At least it keeps not getting a vote.

Anyway, please wash your hands right now. And get vaccinated if you haven’t and get boosted if you’re eligible.

Roe v Wade is almost certainly going to be overturned. It’s awful. It’s going to mean a lot of women, trans men nonbinary people, and other people who can get pregnant are going to have much worse life outcomes. Including, but hardly limited to, dying in childbirth and raising unwanted children. Awful.

It will probably be state by state for a while. Here in Washington abortion will still be legal for now. Of course the people who spent the last several decades talking about states rights will try to take bans national.

Anyway, please wash your hands right now. And get vaccinated or boosted if you’re eligible.

Forgot about this. Running behind, but at least there’s a thread.

I don’t claim any expertise in the Seattle Community Court. But it seems good. And I certainly don’t trust Ann Davison. So, I am pretty skeptical of her plan to send fewer people there and more to prison. Especially if they are only committing very low level misdemeanors.

Anyway, please wash your hands right now. And get vaccinated or boosted if you’re eligible.

Good morning to everyone except for the people in Edmonds trying to criminalize homelessness. Jesus, man. 5 years in prison for a second offense. And they have the temerity to call their approach “compassionate”? Get the fuck out of here.

Anyway, I am glad it didn’t pass, but I couldn’t figure out from the article when it will be heard again. So if you live in Edmonds, you may want to contact your city council members and, politely, ask them to actually be compassionate, rather than using it as a buzzword while doing the opposite.

Anyway, please wash your hands right now. And get vaccinated or boosted if you haven’t yet.

Sorry, sorry. I got the first alert that I was in proximity to someone with COVID-19 since the pandemic started. Honestly, I wasn’t sure it was working. My contact was last Monday, but honestly I don’t know when that would be. Best guess someone else in my building at work, but it’s weird that nobody else at my job got the notice. Anyway, I was working from home today, and I slept in this morning, then just dropped the ball.

But it’s out of an abundance of caution now because I have no symptoms and am testing negative. Hurray for vaccines and boosters.

It feels weird that advice reporting in the President coming to town is treated as a traffic story. I don’t know, his Earth Day speech will probably be pretty important, avoid Seward Park.

Anyway, please wash your hands right now. And get the fuck vaccinated or boosted.

I think everyone who (a) drives and (b) lives in Seattle’s urban core has taken a mistaken drive through Pike Place Market. I can remember not being able to find parking, so I took a punt on the market. Will, who used to write here, was a passenger and he was making fun of me the whole time. It’s so slow going, and you don’t really know how people are going to behave. found a spot, but it was just so miserable.

And that, more than the obvious improvement for pedestrians, has always baffled me about the debate about closing the market to cars. Honestly, it’s slow and awful. You don’t get to the other side faster than going down First Ave.

Driving in Seattle can be pretty shit at times. But Seattle can save new people from that particular mistake. And make the Market better for the people who use it.

Anyway, please wash your hands right now. And get vaccinated or boosted if you’re eligible.