Comments

1
Re: Titanic. It is so often the case in human events, if not always, when a series of happenstance occurences conspire with systemic weaknesses and flaws and human arrogance to create enormous disasters and loss of life. It almost seems a mathematic certainty. Everything from World War II to Fukishima and every world shaking tragedy in between seems to work this way. Events+weakness+arrogance= mass destruction.
2
So are they going to pick up recycling every week to offset the fact the city isn't going to pick up garbage every week? If they aren't doing that then it's a fucking stupid idea. And Seattle will take it's first step to smelling like the third world!
3
Lottery - I don’t get that whole “I’m not sharing” mentality. She’s/they’ve won more money than they would make in their lifetimes. She’ll get more pleasure from that money by sharing it with the rightful winners than by hoarding it. What a shitty thing for her to do.
4
In Denver, garbage works like this:

Unless you have an alley or live in an apartment complex (and therefore dumpster service), you're issued a large trash barrel. It's big enough to hold 7 or 8 kitchen trash bags, the kind that are 13 gallons. This is picked up once a week by a truck with an arm that grabs and empties the barrel. There's only one person driving the truck and picking it up, and those guys can do it fast.

Once every THREE weeks, you also get overflow service - whatever doesn't fit in the barrel, or if you have lawn bags you couldn't stuff in. That stuff is picked up by an old fashioned garbage truck crew.

Every TWO weeks, your recycling is picked up. (People with dumpster service can sign up for this and get issued recyling barrels, similar to the trash barrels, and picked up the same way as the barrel service trucks do it.) The key is NOT to put your recycling in bags. Everything just goes in the barrel.

It works pretty well. Making people wait two weeks for garbage pickup won't.
5
I'm fine with breastfeeding women not wanting to get kicked out of businesses, but really? It's too much to ask them to put a blanket over their shoulder? If stores are allowed to set "no shoes no shirt no service" rules, they should definitely be allowed to ask that breastfeeding mothers step into a private area or cover up.
6
@3 Gold Fever.

The Bogart classic, "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" is a nice dramatization of the delirium massive wealth can cause.
7
Seattle has organics service picked up once a week. Virtually all putrescible waste should go into the organics cart. The primary exceptions are animal wastes and disposable diapers. If you manage your waste responsibly you will have no issues with stink. Period. The only stuff left that is not compostable or recyclable is largely packaging materials, some small amount of dirty plastic bags, and durable goods that are used up.

EOW garbage works well where it is being tried once you get past the usual knee jerk resistance to something new. Seattle's mistake was in not rolling out EOW pickup with weekly organics. That would have been easier to sell to a leery public.
8
It's a pretty short-sighted argument to say that using a body part for its biological purpose means its use in public should be uncontested.
9
Don't lottery tickets cost a dollar or something? Why would anyone need a pool of people to buy a one dollar ticket?

In any case, the lottery is just a tax on people who are bad at math and statistics.
10

The story so far:

Zimmerman stalked Martin in his car (the car is often not mentioned).

Zimmerman got out of his car, with a loaded weapon, with intent to kill a child.

Zimmerman confronted the child, who was in his parents "backyard" and at a distance.

The child plead for his life in his last few seconds of life...this is heard on multiple tapes.

Zimmerman aimed, and fired at a distance, and put a bullet into the chest of the child.

He then may have injured himself slightly to try and cover the murder. Any fan of 48 Hours knows that killers often try to shift blame to the victim by inventing a "stuggle" rather than admitting to firing in cold blood.

The serial mind of George Zimmerman will kill again...unless punished.
11
i'm ok with EOW garbage pickup (because i don't have an infant or a dog), but i'm not ok with being charged the same for it.

12
@5 Venomlash,
In most of the anti-breast-feeding encounters in the last few years, the women were covered and out of the way and still made to leave the location.

I can show more breast in a regular bra and shirt than I showed when nursing (and people seem to be pretty okay with that) but add a baby and it's inappropriate? I think we need this (well, maybe not in Seattle, but certainly as a society) to remind people that breast feeding isn’t dirty.

@8 and that shouldn’t be the argument. The argument should be about if it’s okay to eat in public. Our society is pretty lax about food consumption – unless it’s a baby.

Also, it’s the norm in our society for a man to be shirtless outside of the home. We should allow women everywhere to go shirtless wherever it’s allowed for men. (Of course, relatively few women would opt for that.)
13
@ 5, don't be such a fucking baby.
14
@ 9, assuming you're not being facetious... People buy tickets in pools in order to increase chances. They don't buy one (hell, even if you're doing by yourself, you don't buy only one) - they may buy a hundred. That one in 10 million chance just became one in 100,000. (Yes, I know that's not the actual odds - I'm simplifying.)
15
Re 911 tapes: I'm deeply suspicious of these "tests." I'd want to know a lot more about how reliable they are. For example, if the cell phone that was transmitting the screams distorted sound in particular ways that differed from whatever source they used for the Zimmerman voice sample, you could easily end up with a "non-match" that would mean exactly nothing.
16
Venomlash: Another problem with a requirement to cover up is that it leaves too much to the discretion of the authority figure. Some people would insist that baby and mom be mummified. Kid's gotta breathe.

Also, newborns can be very difficult to get latched on. It takes all three of your hands, with none left over to keep the damn burp-cloth in place.
17
I wonder if I'll end up in the EOW trash pickup pilot program area? I think we'd be ready for it. I've been putting out about 3 cans of garbage per month, with a little extra diligence I could probably get that down to 2. But if I'm recycling more and throwing out less, then I'd rather have my recycling picked up weekly. Otherwise, like Cato says, it's a fucking stupid idea.
18
Venomlash, I dare you to try to tuck a blanket over an enthusiastic 3-month-old kid who's breastfeeding. My kid would (and still does) fling the Hooter Hider away from him like he was emerging onto a stage. If someone can't deal with me being a responsible parent to my child in public, they can fuck right the fuck off. I have yet to see a breastfeeding mom do all these things people think we do: fling our bare tits about, squirt bystanders, etc. When I feed my baby in public, I have one goal on my mind: shut him up and keep him healthy. It's in the best interests of everyone if I focus more on feeding him than protecting a stranger's precious fee-fees about a glimpse of my nipple.

And even though it's protected in the state, I still keep the state breastfeeding laws bookmarked on my phone's browser, because I don't trust people to not be dickbags.
19
@10: You have gotten the story wrong on several counts, many of which are admittedly circumstantial. You do not know he got out of his car for the first time with the gun, or intent to confront, you do not know if Martin "plead for his life," since a call for help does not equate to this, at least not necessarily. This is because the evidence that has been leaked to the press is nowhere near complete enough to tell such a detailed narrative. You have also conveniently cut out the two eyewitness accounts that speak of a struggle on the ground between the two people.

There is also about 30 seconds to a minute of shouting on the tape, which honestly does not really fit into either story. It suggests to me though some kind of argument or scuffle before the gun was drawn and fired.

However, one thing that can not be ignored is that the medical evidence dictates that Martin was shot in the chest as he faced his attacker from close range, not at a distance, according to the initial report. Not that this proves much of anything either, but we may at least get the hard facts right.

20
A friend of mine here in CT was harassed by someone for breastfeeding in public and the idiot even called the cops on her when she refused to stop nursing her 3 month old. the cops came and gave the guy a $250 ticket for harassment of a women who was nursing in public and calling the police for no reason. no one as ever bothered me about it but if they did, I would welcome the chance to tell them to fuck off.
21
You do not know he got out of his car for the first time with the gun, or intent to confront, you do not know if Martin "plead for his life,"


It was confirmed over the weekend, that the voice overheard on two 911 calls was Martin.

If you listen to the first part of the tape, the horror of child screaming in defense of his life is hard to overlook.

George Zimmerman killed a child.

22
I'm ok with George Zimmerman being stuffed into a compost bin, before his trial.
23
Doesn't a child have a civil right to eat?

Up here in SnoCo, they pick up recycling and "yard waste" on the alternate weeks. "Yard waste" can also include kitchen food scraps. ("Garbage" is mostly packaging, at least at my house, and not very much of that.) Even sitting up to two weeks, "yard waste" doesn't seem to create a smell problem, unless one is right next to the open container. OTOH, my neighborhood is less dense than many parts of the Seattle, and that might make a difference.
24
@15,

So I take it you're a forensic expert?

@7,

My apartment building has nine units, and we have exactly ONE compost bin for the entire building, which gets completely full anytime the landlord sends someone to do a little yard work. How are we, exactly, supposed to dispose of any of our compostables?
25
@5
Yes it is too much to ask that a woman cover the baby up. Babies don't like to be covered up while they are eating. It's too fucking hot. Would you want a towel on your head while you're eating?
26
venomlash does not like titties.
27
Kesh, not only is he not a forensic expert, but he's long ago proven himself to be a complete imbecile. If he says "turn left," you have a better-than-even chance that "right" is the correct direction.
28
#24 - I do not believe that multi family buildings are part of the pilot and would probably not be seriously considered anytime soon. SPU treats multi family buildings very differently than single family.

Residential curbside organics service is very inexpensive. Your landlord could very cheaply increase the service level. There are a lot of outreach materials available for tenants. Visit the SPU website at http://seattle.gov/util/ for more info. You may have drill down a bit but it's there...
29
Hey 5280?

The others have an excuse. A really bad one that doesn't work, but an excuse. They're ignorant and stupid about the law. You're supposedly a lawyer so you don't.

You weren't there. All of the other babblers weren't there. You just don't know what happened or didn't to end a young mans life that night. At minimum Zimmerman acted like an asshole, and maybe he did murder this kid. But the first isn't criminal or Savage would be serving a lifesentence, and the second is to be determined by police investigation, criminal indictment, trial and conviction. We don't try crimes in this country by a lot of ignorant opinionated morons on the internet and in the press. Failing all else Zimmerman should have a pretty good case against at least one Florida legislator and a slew of idiot radio talk shows for calling him a racist and murderer.

Zimmerman or you or I or any of these other fuckwits deserve a fair trial with an unbiased jury if we're accused of a crime. And all the misinformation and lies and halftruths various defenders of Zimmerman or Martin are spreading with the gleeful help of the press mean he just can't get that.

If that's how you practice law, I'm grateful you're in Denver.

Oh, breastfeeding moms? Cover your breasts while feeding your kid, or go to your car or the bathroom. I don't urinate in the dining room of a restaurant. I don't want to see you breastfeed your kid. Both are perfectly natural, but neither are things others want to watch you doing. Geez, ever hear of modesty?
30
Hope the breastfeeding law passes. Then we can move on to making breast milk pumping a protected right in the workplace.
31
@21: Perhaps I have not heard the tape you reference, but the one I heard was basically just unintellgible, unattributable yelling, followed by a couple "Helps!" which is most likely Martin, right before the gun shot. My point is that you can not contruct a full narrative with just that audio. If you already have a narrative constructed that you want to believe however, it is quite easy.

Anyone who wants Zimmerman arrested or executed without any due process or need for compelling evidence is doing so for personal or political reasons.

You are right, he likely did murder a child, but since you can't prove anything, leave it to the police and the justice system. The constitution matters even when you want to subvert it to serve your personal guilt or bloodthirst.
32
Oy god, @29, I cannot believe you pulled out the pissing/breastfeeding false equivalence. Please tell me you didn't get those things confused when your kids were little.

Also, fuck right off.
33
Once upon a time breast feeding could be witnessed on T.V. Fascinating how things change. You see more of a woman's breast on a Victoria Secret commercial than you do in either of these clips.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFNwbc0X7…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-L-Fg7lW…

Breasts okay for titillation and coorporate profit, but not for feeding. We've returned to 1917's pearl clutching outrage over the exposed right breast on the US Standing Liberty Quarter. One step forward, two steps...
34
@ 32, hide unregistered comments. The ratio of trolling to serious (never mind insightful) comments is 100:1, so there's very little of worth you'll miss.
35
Oh Matt, then where would I find my escape from the profound happiness that surrounds me?
36
@28,

My landlord is a lazy, cheapskate asshole. I won't be holding my breath. Or maybe I will, thanks to the stench.
37
Here in Portland, we recently went to garbage EOW, recycling & compost every week. It works for us, but we're a couple of women with two cats (oh, the stereotypes!). Larger families may have a different take on how well it works.
38
Anyone still bitching about breastfeeding needs to grow the fuck up.
39
Maybe Trayvon was calling 'help' to his homies to help in the beat down he was giving Zimmerman?
40
The first time we went out to a restaurant after our youngest was born, we went to try out a new branch of one of Todd English's restaurants. Beautiful place, packed with people. The majority of the place was dimly lit, except the center table that almost had a spotlight over it. Guess where we got seated...

If it doesn't bother my wife, then it doesn't bother me. Babies a couple of weeks old need to be with their Mom, and surprisingly enough we all came to eat. I think I was more concerned with hot food dropping on the baby than anything else.

Peace.

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