For two cities basically in the same spot on earth, Portland and Seattle do have significantly different civic personalities. Think of Seattle’s Demons of Ambition. Or, in this case, Portland’s Demons of Provincialism. The differences are real. Take how the two cities dealt with Uber (and other ride sharing companies). Seattle took a long road…
Month: December 2014
Clarence Boggie’s Christmas (I’m sorry I couldn’t tell it better, Boggie)
Oregon wanted Boggie back. Instead of just opening up the prison doors for Clarence G. Boggie, the Oregon parole board wanted Washington to drive him down to the Columbia River and hand him over to Oregon authorities. Since over a decade earlier, Boggie had been serving a life sentence for a murder he didn’t commit….
Gross Happiness Index of Washington: Thurston County is only just above average happy
Happiness Indexes are pretty interesting. They try to reach back beyond sterile, single factor indices (like Gross National Product) and give you a clearer picture of the health or happiness of a place. So, obviously, I wanted to do one for Washington State. I took some indicators that I could find data on the county…
John Rambo, John Tornow and Appalachians in Cascadia
The very first Rambo movie (First Blood) is set in Washington State, in a fake town called Hope. Filmed in the actual Hope, British Columbia, the setting is descended from a fictional town in Kentucky in the original First Blood book, which in turn is based on a Pennsylvania town. Both the fictional Kentucky town…
Death of a Local Biz, frozen, lizards and a stone (Olyblogosphere for December 8, 2014)
1. Things freeze here. 2. OMG. You can enjoy Olysketcher in print. All year long. 3. Birds, Bees & Butterflies: Looking for a Salamander on Thanksgiving. 4. I like this photo, but I think it should’ve been titled “Stone in the Midst of All.” “Not All That Shimmers,” by Diablo_119 in the Olympia Pool on…
Just because Bud Blake won a county commission seat doesn’t mean an independent can win in the 22nd LD
When you think about politics in Thurston County, the 22nd legislative district is the Democratic liberal juicy middle in what is a pretty typical rural or suburban western Washington county. This is where the urban communities are, this is where the liberals are. This is a district that hasn’t elected a Republican since 1980 when…
Ebenezer Howard, 3 Magnets and the bad bad City Beautiful
Just below the surface of the best new place in Olympia, the 3 Magnets Brewpub, is a fascinating way to look at cities and communities. One of the 3 Magnets owners vaguely references the ideas of Howard here: “Three Magnets is based on a 115-year-old book called Garden Cities of To-morrow by Ebenezer Howard,” explains…