• Another nightclub shooting. This one was at Sugar, near the Comet Tavern on Capitol Hill. Three patrons were injured. Apparently the shooter was celebrating “National Ammo Day” one or two days early.
• Mars Hill Church hasn’t opened its new Belltown branch yet, but the SeaTimes sez its five current locations, with 5,000 average total weekly attendance, make it “Seattle’s largest congregation.” And with growth has come the controversial firings of two pastors.
• Reps. Norm Dicks and Adam Smith say we’ve still really got to get the heck outta Iraq.
• Today’s online scare story comes to you from the state Attorney General, who wants us all to be deathly afraid of strangers offering Wi-Fi connections.
• Dino Rossi apparently was raising campaign funds before he officially announced he was running for Governor again.
• The bigot billboard near I-5 in Lewis County is still out there, with “Uncle Sam” spouting one cruel “joke” after another.
• Did ya know Washington State Ferries still actively uses 80-year-old boats? They are, and yeah, they’re showing their age.
• Caffe Vita is making documentary videos about the lives of coffee growers in various countries.

I’ve got tagging turned on, but not comments. This is getting more complex than I thought.

The longtime state Democratic leader was a heckuva lot more than your proverbial “pioneer woman in a hitherto male dominated field.” She proved herself fully capable of running things, and continued to prove herself for decades. Under her watch, Washington became one of the most progressive, Dem-dominant states in the union. Remember when “moderate” Republicans could get elected governor and senator from here? When an overt wingnut pol like Jack Cunningham could get elected to Congress from south Seattle and Renton? Those days haven’t been with us in a while, and Marchioro’s long service is one reason why.

…has a birthday this Friday. And this time, it’s a nice round number.

I’ll post thoughts about the occasion on Sunday or Monday. But for now, anybody who wants to get me a Mac mini, a MacBook Pro, an iPhone, a black fedora (large), a Braun shaver, or a set of half-decent computer speakers is more than free to do so.

Let’s not judge Crosscut, the new local-affairs site run by Seattle Weekly refugees, on the basis of its day-one product. Presumably, like many Web ventures, this is a “soft launch,” a live test of the systems and features before a fuller site rolls out.

Given that caveat, the thing’s pretty colorless and shallow at its debut.

The “big expose” piece, about the still-churning legal case between the Times and P-I, is a mealy-mouthed treatise whose allegations (of Times management actions to bury the P-I) are wonky and obscure. It doesn’t help that the writing itself is wonky and obscure.

Then there’s Knute Berger’s piece charging the Seattle School District with not kowtowing enough to the demands of upscale white families….

…has quickly reached a mistrial. The dispute, of course, is far from over.

“Thank You Lt. Watada”

…from the Cascade-foothills country of my Snohomish County youth, there’s a modern-day plague of “rampaging cattle.” Who do they call to solve it? The local butcher, of course.

…to all of you who attended our 20th MISCiversary last nite. More thoughts about the occasion are coming later.

…posting stuff today. For some reason, Blogger.com has “eaten” several attempted posts. If you can read this, it means the problem may or may not have been solved by now.

…for another week-long absence from these virtual pages. I’ll try to be more productive as we march toward the twentieth anniversary of this here print-and-online columnating venture.

…of Sudoku puzzles are herein explained.

I actually have been trying to post more items this week, but my words have gotten trapped somewhere between Blogger and my server. No, I don’t know why.

…the ten characteristics of a “True US Patriot.”