Microsoft's dad has had it up to HERE with all these designer babies. Credit: JACK TAYLOR/GETTY IMAGES
Microsofts dad has had it up to HERE with all these designer babies.
Microsoft’s dad has had it up to HERE with all these designer babies. JACK TAYLOR/GETTY IMAGES

Capitol Hill staple listed for sale at $6.9 million: Pour one out for Neighbours, the Broadway gay dance club famous for its decently-sized dance floor and all-ages nights. The Capitol Hill Seattle Blog reported today that the spot was listed as “for sale.” Everything has a price, it seems.

Bill Gates is worried about Gattaca becoming a real thing: Wake up, world! The billionaire Microsoft founder is worried about gene editing leading to even more inequality! Gene editing is not as sexy as Jude Law in 1997’s Gattaca, it turns out. Though, I guess the point of that movie was that gene editing was bad. So, maybe Gattaca had a point. I just wanted to say Jude Law was sexy. Sue me. Anyway, Bill Gates doesn’t think gene editing is sexy (jury’s out on his opinion on Jude Law, though). In fact, he thinks it’s very unsexy and would like more people to realize that it’s a very real thing that the general public should be talking more about.

Chase Burns will be live-blogging the President’s address on Slog tonight:

Oh, did you think we meant Donald Trump’s address? Tune in for a fold-by-fold analysis.

Kroger and Microsoft are gamifying grocery shopping: To incentivize you to go brick and mortar grocery shopping—you know, like a normal person—Kroger and Microsoft are starting their own techy grocery experience. The startup at a QFC in Redmond features a handheld device (not your phone!!!) that you get at the store that logs into your shopper rewards account and then guides you from item to item to expedite your shopping experience. This is a line from the Seattle Times article about it: “On aisle end caps, or displays set up at the end of an aisle, for example, facial-recognition sensors will detect nearby customers’ age and gender and broadcast demographically targeted ads.” This is a nightmare! Full of judgment based on my food selection! However, I would love to see what my demographically targeted ads will be, as a 22-year-old white girl.

Bruce Harrell won’t seek re-election: Three terms is enough for Seattle City Council President Bruce Harrell. He won’t seek re-election. He’s the third City Council incumbent to do so. Harrell served briefly as mayor after disgraced Mayor Ed Murray stepped down. Here’s his biggest regret:

Boeing has a lot of planes: Blah, blah, blah Boeing delivered a record number of planes last year (806) despite setbacks (like a 737 delivery backup and also that plane crash) blah, blah, blah. This story is whatever. What is most important is that the president of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Kevin McAllister, has the same name as the kid from Home Alone and no one is talking about it! Unless I’m just behind the times. I would like to ask Mr. McAllister many things, especially regarding planes and if his family has ever left him behind on one or whether he’s gotten on a different flight from them due to a pre-9/11 boarding pass mishap.

Hold onto your hats! Please, they are vulnerable.

Meanwhile, an actual weather report:

Did you hear about the badass midwife I met? No? What are you doing! Read up on Simon Adriane Ellis. He’s trying to make midwifery, a historically female profession, more inclusive.

Lawsuit thrown out against cops who killed Charleena Lyles: Lyles, a pregnant mother, called the police about a burglary in 2017. When police showed up to her apartment, Lyles brandished a knife. The Seattle Police Department knew that Lyles had a history of mental illness. Still, the police officers responded with deadly force. Lyles was killed. Today, a King County Superior Court judge dismissed the lawsuit brought against the officers by Lyles’s family.

This is why we can’t have nice things: National Parks all over the country are closing during the government shutdown. Mount Rainier National Park announced it was closing today. Joshua Tree National Park in California is also closing. That’s because, without rangers, visitors are running amok, forming their own paths, damaging the namesake Joshua Trees, and just generally being messy miscreants. Joshua Tree will remain closed for likely the entirety of the shut down.

The new trend is just deleting your email account: Email is so Meg Ryan in 1998. Fuck achieving Inbox Zero, achieve Inbox Infinity and let email die. That’s what Taylor Lorenz, the tech writer at The Atlantic is proposing in 2019. What’s your take? Inbox Zero is a myth in my honest opinion, but I think I might still need email to survive. What would I do—talk on the phone to people?* Psh.

Paul Manafort is an idiot: He lost out on a plea deal in the Mueller investigation because he kept lying to prosecutors. It’s come to light that Manafort shared 2016 campaign polling data with a guy who had ties to Russian intelligence. His defense attorneys are saying he didn’t lie intentionally but he has a bad memory and his illnesses, such as gout, depression and anxiety, caused him to make mistakes. Ah, yes, the common gout side effect of lying to federal investigators.

Here’s a car chase:

* This is a joke. I love phone conversations and I don’t get anxiety over them At All stop asking.

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...