• Producers of the Seattle Pride Parade have chosen a theme that isn't about gay marriage, even though gay marriage will likely be on the ballot this year. Instead, organizers have selected the theme "Many Faces of Pride." What does that mean? On the website, organizers provide an inscrutable explanation, saying the theme is about—and you cannot make this shit up—"your collective individualism on parade even as you stand in place."
• Capitol Hill's most daring theater vérité experiment takes place daily at the Dental Shoppe on East Pine Street, just east of 12th Avenue, where large sidewalk windows give accidental audience members a balcony view of root canals, fillings, and other routine dental procedures in the sub-street-level treatment rooms. But hurry up—after reading this review, the proprietors will likely put up window blinds. Which they should.
• Gaydar is real, according to a UW study. Up to 67 percent of people could tell by looking at photos of women, with their hair cropped out of the picture, whether the person was gay or straight. The study noted that "people may unwittingly accurately perceive others' sexual orientation."
• TED Conference organizers, who promote ideas about technology and politics, looked like cowards last week when they refused to post the video of a recent TED talk by Seattle venture capitalist Nick Hanauer. According to Hanauer, his talk was censored because it was "too political," declaring that the super-wealthy aren't the major job creators they claim to be. But then TED head Chris Anderson posted on his blog that the talk wasn't banned—it just wasn't good enough to be chosen—while accusing Hanauer of inflating the controversy. Hansen said the talk was "unconvincing, even to those of us who supported his overall stance." Then he posted the talk on YouTube.
• King County Superior Court judge Chris Washington is the worst judge in town, according to a survey last month of King County Bar Association lawyers. He scored lower than his 49 judicial colleagues in every single category, including legal decision making. One day before the deadline to file a reelection challenge against Washington—May 18—two attorneys filed: Suzanne Parisien and Marianne Jones. "He is at the bottom of the ratings, far below his closest colleague on the bench, and that is not acceptable," says Parisien.
• One May Day protester accused of grabbing a cop's hand was let off the hook when his attorney produced a video that apparently showed cops and prosecutors had trumped up the charges. After reviewing the video of the officer and Joshua Garland, 28, "prosecutors no longer believe they could prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt," the King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office said last week.
• King County executive Dow Constantine used his annual reelection fundraiser last Friday to do the sort of thing that almost never happens. Rather than asking people to pull out their checkbooks midway through the luncheon to donate to his campaign, Constantine asked guests to write a check to the campaign trying to uphold marriage equality this fall instead. "We got a giant pile of envelopes," says Zach Silk, the campaign manager for Washington United for Marriage, which is trying to approve Referendum 74. The total haul: $11,300.
• The Seattle Times editorial board enthusiastically endorsed building a new Sonics arena in Sodo. Back in 1990. Nowadays, they are obsessively editorializing against a new Sodo arena, citing the exact same arguments for which they ridiculed arena opponents 22 years ago. Go figure.
• Chief state senate Republican budget writer Senator Joe Zarelli (R-Ridgefield) waited until the May 18 filing deadline to announce that he would not seek reelection. His Democratic counterpart, Senator Ed Murray (D-Seattle), issued a conciliatory statement acknowledging their "good relationship," though, frankly, we thought Zarelli and his Republican colleagues were kinda dicks about a recent Republican budget coup.
• First Congressional District hopeful Darcy Burner balked at a state-party-brokered deal to keep the crowded field of Democrats out of the special election to fill the final few weeks of Jay Inslee's pre-redistricting 1st District term. State Democratic Party chair Dwight Pelz was pissed, issuing a statement last week saying he was "very disappointed" with Burner for "breaking ranks," but Burner remained unfazed: "I understand that Dwight wanted the decision to be made in a cigar-smoke-filled room—I disagree, I think voters should get to decide," Burner told KING 5. 
