If you were waiting to open an umbrella store, nows the time
If you were waiting to open an umbrella store, now's the time 400TMAX/GETTYIMAGES.COM
Keep your galoshes close. More wet weather is forecast for today through the middle of next week — but less wind, so at least there’s that. (Also, here’s the deal with that tornado forecast warning earlier this week.)

That seems like progress. The city is boasting of success in Pioneer Square, where 31 of 38 unhoused people were moved into shelters thanks to a team called JustCARE (soon to be renamed Purpose Dignity Action). The organization is only funded through 2022, and their work is limited to only a few neighborhoods; Seattle City Councilmember Andrew Lewis wants it to expand. And hey, probably worth keeping an eye on those 31 people moved into shelters to see how they fare.

A train-tease in Redmond. Sound Transit trains are now running to Redmond! But you can’t ride them. They’re just testing them out, running very very slowly to make sure the controls and safety mechanisms work. The line won’t open until 2023, so if you have any pressing business on the east side (lol, can you imagine) it’ll have to wait.

More exasperating news from the Washington State Department of Transportation. No crosswalk paint for the repaved Lake City Way this year! Try again in 2022. Meanwhile:

How did it … ? I was admiring these very dramatic photos of a utility pole that smashed through a window on East Madison Street during the windstorm on Tuesday, and the more I look at it the more confused I get. For the life of me I cannot figure out how it wound up in that predicament, because it appears to have gone backwards into the window from the base??? If that makes sense???

Great news for Ghosts. Have you been watching that new sitcom on CBS about a haunted mansion? Yes, you probably have, because it’s currently the most-watched comedy of the fall season. I’m a few episodes in and … honestly? I think it’s, you know, fine. To be honest I find it too upbeat, which is odd considering the morbid subject matter. But I’ll tell you what’s fucking fantastic, and that’s the much darker original British series on which it is based. Just as with The Office, the British version’s comedy is far bleaker and, I think, braver.

What a grifter. Remember how Elon Musk asked his Twitter followers if he should sell some of his Tesla stock a few days ago? Turns out, he’d already committed to doing so (in order to avoid paying taxes).

Coming soon to a West Seattle Bridge near you: Repair crews will swarm the bridge in the coming days, assembling work platforms (though most of the work will be conducted inside the bridge, a harrowing prospect). Work is on track to be completed mid-2022-ish.

But what about the neIGhBorHooD chARaCtEr? New four-way stop signs are going up around nightlife hotspots! I can’t believe the city was allowed to do this without conducting a four-year study into potential shadows cast by the new signs, and also investigating whether any nearby parking signage should be designated a historic landmark.

Bon voyage, Polar Star. An ice-cutting vessel departs Seattle this weekend, headed south on a mission to resupply scientific outposts in Antarctica. Seattle seems an oddly northern place to keep it stationed in the off-months, but what do I know about coast guardery? Anyway, bring me back a penguin, please.

Portugal just made it illegal for your boss to text you when you’re not at work. Companies will be fined for bothering employees outside of work hours, cannot monitor workers in their homes, and will be required to contribute to your home office expenses like utilities. (But what if your boss just wants to say hi?)

Yeah, imagine that. At this point, the outrage cycle has mostly moved on from Dennis Prager saying “can you imagine if gay men and intravenous drug users … had they been pariahs the way the non-vaccinated are?” But I think it’s important to note that Dennis has a long history of not just denigrating gays and drug users himself, but also complaining that they haven’t been denigrated enough: