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Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Only In Seattle

Here we go again with some things that can only happen here, it seems.

1. Only in Seattle is our traffic so tangled and with so few alternatives to get anywhere besides I-5 or I-405, that we are beginning to have babies born in cars. Two days in a row now we have had babies born on I-5 while stuck in gridlock. I guess it is beginning to be a trend. Everyone is healthy, thankfully.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003548927_roadsidebirth31m.html

2. Only in Seattle are we having a big "discussion" about whether the state legislature should pass a law making it allowable for dogs to be in bars. We love our puppies and we hate to leave them home. Come on--this is common in France. What is the problem? My husband says it is a bad idea because all we need is for some jerk to show up at a bar with his pit bull.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/soundoff/comment.asp?articleID=301549

3. Only in Seattle are we worried about whether two of our orcas have moved to San Francisco. The orcas are a mom and her baby from our K-pod. What is it they have that we do not? Food, maybe? Come back. Come back. You belong in our Puget Sound.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003548809_orca31m0.html

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4. Only in Seattle (or at least in the Northwest) did a hunter get sick with trichinosis from eating cougar meat. I guess he ate it raw which I do not quite understand. Why would anyone eat it raw?
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/301848_cougar31.html

5. And finally, only in Seattle, do our courts side with protesters rather than the police. In the WTO "battle of Seattle" from a few years back, the protesters took the city of Seattle to court claiming our basic American rights had been violated. The court agreed at least in part. But I am proud to say that the attorney who represented the protesters used to be a colleague of mine---our offices were next to each other in the same law firm.

"The jury found our clients were falsely arrested, and the city is liable for it," lawyer Michael Withey said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/301826_wtoverdict31.html

I guess they are filming a movie about the "battle of Seattle" starring Charlize Theron. The WTO riots in 1999 were a scary time for this city and made people feel kind of sick. I hope the movie is at least accurate.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/295224_wto08.html

UPDATE:

6. Only in Seattle are strange devices with an obvious cartoon character on the outside and found in odd places NOT a big deal. Evidently, the very same objects shut down Boston yesterday and sent the city into chaos. Utility workers here found them and did not even report it to police. The headline in this morning's Seattle Times:

"TV network's gimmick spooks Boston; in Seattle, it's no big deal"
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003550583_ploy01.html