Seattle's Big Blog

Covering Seattle news, weather, arts and conversation, along with a grab bag of stuff that's just plain interesting
Dec 03, 2012

Seattle third-smartest in North America

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Seattle is the third-smartest city in North America, according to a new ranking.

Fast Company’s Co.Exist looked at “six key components of smart cities and three key drivers for each component.” More on that here.

Seattle scored in the top three in four of the six components, including to top spot in “smart governance.”

Co.Exist wrote: “Seattle has been a North American pioneer developing its first e-government strategy in 2004, and more recently using both RFIDs to track waste and Twitter to communicate about stolen vehicles.”

The site also noted Seattle’s longstanding dedication to environmental issues and smart economy, writing: “Seattle had the highest economic performance rank of U.S. cities in this ranking.”

Still, Boston and San Francisco topped us. At least we finished (just) ahead of Vancouver.

Noting the Smart Governance ranking, The Stranger’s Dominic Holden (who gets a hat tip for this post) quipped: “Needless to say Co.Exist isn’t based in Seattle.”

Posted by Aubrey Cohen on December 3, 2012 at 5:00 pm | Permalink |
Categories: Seattle on the list
Dec 02, 2012

32 things we miss in Belltown

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Good news, barflys. The venerable Belltown bar Lava Lounge isn’t closing after all. Turns out the ownership merely changed hands last weekend.

“It’s staying the Lava Lounge,” said Marcus Johnson, who also owns nearby Rabbit Hole and Bathtub Gin with Jessica Gifford. “It’s divey. It’s gritty. It’s a really fun place to hang out.”

But just the possibility that Lava might close after 18 years was enough to send Belltown drinkers into a panic. It made us miss many things about Belltown, which has seen bars come and go and a restaurant scene grow and flee. Here’s our list:

And lest you think we’re drowning in nostalgia, here’s a bunch of things we love in Belltown, which still crackles with great food and bars.

This post is part of a series of historical Seattle, including:

Visit seattlepi.com’s home page for more Seattle news and follow us on Facebook. Vanessa Ho can be reached at vanessaho@seattlepi.com or 206-448-8003 and on Twitter as @vanessaho.

Posted by Vanessa Ho on December 2, 2012 at 5:28 pm | Permalink |
Categories: Fun, History, Local News
Nov 30, 2012

Amanda Knox’s book — no smiles here

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Amanda Knox’s story is a tough one: college student convicted of murder in a foreign country, sent to prison, then freed and acquitted by an appeals court.

Then comes the returning-home part and trying to resume a normal life after you have become a celebrity.

So you can’t blame the Seattle woman for her intense photo on the cover of her book, “Waiting to Be Heard,” which comes out April 30. The date was changed from March, when prosecutors in Italy will argue against her acquittal.

Still, she ought to have some reason to be happy: Her book deal with HarperCollins was reported to be worth $4 million.

The publisher said at the time it announced the deal:

Knox will give a full and unflinching account of the events that led to her arrest in Perugia and her struggles with the complexities of the Italian judicial system. Aided by journals she kept during her imprisonment, Knox will talk about her harrowing experience at the hands of the Italian police and later prison guards and inmates.

Posted by Scott Sunde on November 30, 2012 at 12:36 pm | Permalink |
Categories: Uncategorized

Courtney Stodden’s mom thinks porn is icky, but Playboy …

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Take care when you walk by your neighborhood magazine rack.

Courtney Stodden, child bride, semi-quasi-crypo celebrity and Ocean Shores’ favorite daughter, thinks posing for Playboy wouldn’t be that bad.

Stodden as an unsolicited mermiad. (Photo from video)

Well, at least she says posing for black and white photos and doing something naked that one naturally does naked would be OK. All right then: No gardening, no cooking, no operating heavy equipment.

And her mom, Krista, says while she would not be thrilled about her daughter’s getting naked, some classy, gorgeous women have done so for Playboy.

But porn is icky. And Mom is saying no to that.

Ah, the weird, weird word of Courtney Stodden, where your Twitter page can include photos of you in the bathtub and earnest posts quoting Bible verses.

This latest revelation came on the final episode of “Couples Therapy,” on which Stodden, 18, and her husband, semi-quasi-crypo-famous actor Doug Hutchison, 52, appeared.

Courtney and mother/manager talked to therapist-to-the-stars Jenn Berman.

Continue reading →

Posted by Scott Sunde on November 30, 2012 at 10:08 am | Permalink |
Categories: Uncategorized
Nov 29, 2012

Seattle rapper’s song gets teacher suspended

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Seattle is pretty dang great. We’ve got home-grown, hip-hop guy Macklemore and his popular gay-rights anthem, “Same Love.”

And we’re not South Lyon, Mich., where a middle school teacher was suspended after playing Macklemore’s song for her eighth graders. The song addresses homophobia and supports gay marriage.

“This is one of the things in my school that we’re trying to practice and we’re trying to instill in our students is tolerance to diversity,” a FOX affiliate quoted teacher Susan Johnson as saying. But she was given a three-day suspension after playing the song, for which the district said she had failed to “follow protocol.”

Continue reading →

Posted by Vanessa Ho on November 29, 2012 at 4:35 pm | Permalink |
Categories: Local News, Music
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