Renewable energy is a breeze. Credit: VR_Studio / GETTY
Renewable energy is a breeze.
Renewable energy is a breeze. VR_Studio / GETTY

Gay conversion therapy banned in Washington: A therapist can no longer try to change a minor’s sexual orientation according to a bill passed by the legislature. Surprisingly, that wasn’t already a law. Happy 2018, conversion therapy is finally illegal.

Washington looks for coal alternatives: We don’t need to tell you this, but don’t listen to Donald Trump. Coal is bad and needs to die. Washington is trying to cut back its coal and natural gas usage in favor of cleaner alternatives. We’ve got options. Wind and solar are the hottest growth sector for renewable energy. But, the storage of that energy is crucial since it can vary hour to hour and is unpredictable. Pumped-storage hydro plants constructed in Oregon and southern Washington could provide energy for 1 million homes. A wind farm in Montana is being scouted.
More in depth discussion here.

Lawyering up gets easier: Legal technicians — Limited License Legal Technicians if you want to be exact — are legal officials licensed to give legal advice and own law firms. The program was created out of fear that the incoming generation won’t adequately replace the retiring number of Baby Boomers practicing law. The legal technician license is low barrier to obtain; it takes about three years and will cost around $12,000. Compare that to the seven years it takes to become a lawyer and the $100,000 law school costs and it sounds like a no-brainer. They’re also less expensive to hire than a lawyer.

Telecommunication a lonely convenience: Seattleites who work from home don’t have to brave early morning traffic and aren’t slaves to a bus schedule. They save time and money. This is good since King County and the state legislature want more people to telecommute to cut back on traffic congestion. But, it’s lonely. Nothing beats face-to-face interaction. Maybe that’s why just over three percent of Seattleites telecommute, according to The Seattle Times.

A deluge of avalanche deaths: Five people have died from avalanches in the Cascade Mountains just this week. To put that into perspective, Washington state averages five avalanche-related deaths every two years. Avalanche risk is high right now! If you’re going to be go out in the backcountry right now, at least Google the avalanche risk. No, seriously, that’s the official advice from the Kittitas Sheriff’s Department.

What will we christen our hockey team? They’ve ranked some possible names for the Seattle NHL expansion in this article. Most of them are terrible. The Seattle Sockeyes is alright, I guess. But, I feel like we can brainstorm some better ones right here. The Seattle Freeze is a gimme. Like, c’mon. That one has my vote. The Seattle Transplants sounds pretty metal. The Seattle Gates-Allen-Bezos has a nice ring to it. The Seattle Greys cause Grey’s Anatomy and Fifty Shades of Grey are set here. Oh, on that note! The Seattle Seasonal Depressions. The Seattle Needles: topical because space and heroin. Leave some suggestions below.

The King is back! Ladies and gentleman, Elvis is very much alive and he’s running for a congressional seat in Arkansas. As a Libertarian! Elvis D. Presley is an Elvis A. Presley impersonator and he’s throwing his blue suede shoes into the ring for the Arkansas congressional race.

Time to raise the roof: Literally.

Please, someone raise the roof:

Some Oscars highlights: It was honestly really boring and I’m sad I wasted three hours of my Sunday watching just Gary Oldman’s speech alone. A lot of people felt that way, it seems. Ratings were down and this could be an all-time low for the Oscars.

The winners of the big awards: Equip yourself for small talk this morning. Here’s the list. Wield it with caution.

Best Adapted Screenplay winner is oldest Oscar winner ever: James Ivory is 89. His script for “Call Me By Your Name” was arguably very good. They even gave him an award for it!

Jordan Peele’s Best Original Screenplay Win was historic: Peele became the first African American to win an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. He won for his film “Get Out.”

Big win for transit on Oscar night! The glitz! The glam! The LA metro!

What the fuck is an inclusion rider: Frances McDormand ended her inspiring (and a little bit terrifying) acceptance speech for Best Actress with the phrase “inclusion rider.” Not many people knew what that was. Explain it to us, Frances.

North Korea a Bitcoin millionaire: Kim Jong Un is right up there with the Winklevoss twins. The North Korea regime was playing the cryptocurrency game and may have raked in over $200 million. The anonymity and loose regulations with cryptocurrency have made it easier for the regime to support itself despite swaths of strong sanctions incurred by the United States.

City Attorney Pete Holmes’ Google ad receipts: How much did Holmes spend on Google ads for his campaign in 2017? Google says $53,000. Holmes reported $8,000. Holmes’ consulting firm reported an error and found the actual number was closer to $21,000. That’s still a big difference. There are discrepancies like these across the board between candidates’ self-reported data and the data Google provided.

White supremacist podcast hosted by middle school teacher: Dayanna Volitich is a social studies teacher in Florida. She allegedly moonlights as the host of “Unapologetic,” a podcast with racially charged messages and white nationalist views.

Nathalie Graham covers anything she finds fun, weird, or interesting. You can find a lot of that in her column, Play Date. Her work has also appeared around town in The Seattle Times, GeekWire, and the...