Good old Chairman Schultz. I like you, I like the coffee you make, and even though I really dislike franchises/chain restaurants, I do frequest Starbucks - often.
I don't really care for professional sports since it has left so much of the "sports" behind and only turned in to big business or potentially (for a few), entertainment. Although I did not really care, I think it was stupid to sell of the Sonics to some rogue buffoon from Oklahoma.
And while I do appreciate your efforts to now block the move of the team to that far away dusty town in the middle of nowhere, by various degrees of legal wrangling, I think at the end it is all a little bit of cheap PR/publicity for you to save face.
This in light of Starbucks' lowered earnings and lackluster (financial) performance over the last year. If you dump a few hundred big ones into the legal mess, you'll get it back many times over by "looking good" to the Seattleites who desperately wants to keep their beloved basketball team. I just don't buy it, but your efforts are never the less appreciated!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Friday, April 18, 2008
The two dumbeZt...
This week, the prize for the two dumbest in the Pacific Northwest goes to....
This week, we have had two incidents - both ended luckily w/o any major injury to humans or animals, but they still only proves that we are still surrounded by some pretty stupid people.
Man falls into crater
Last Saturday, someone decided to snowmobile up to the crater rim on Mount S:t Helens. Remember the volcano that "blew up" a number of years ago, and that until recently been off limits due to increased pressure inside the mountain (=fear of another massive eruption). Hiking to the rim make for a wonderful trek, a true Northwest classic. But some fat ass decided to instead take his sled into the area, and drive/ride all the way up to the rim. Up there he crawled out to the edge, which turned out to be a corniche (snowy overhang). The corniche collapsed under him and the guy tumbled some 1,500 feet into the crater. His son would have gone down with him as well, had a fellow sledder not just barely been able to hold onto the sons foot. The guy who fell did survice the fall, w/o any major injuries but had to be airlifted out of the crater later in the evening with a helicopter.
Story in Seattle Times.
I sort of would have understood it if he'd hiked up, but he rode up inside an area that should be closed off to snowmobiles. Hikers/climbers fall all the time, many times the falls are deadly, but it is different when you try to "conquer" a mountain under your own muscle power, compared to when you just ride up on your fat ass.
If you make it to the top climbing, hiking, running, you have actually "accomplished" something.
No, I don't dislike snowmobiles, they are great fun, but they really should not be allowed inside pristine recreation areas where nature, wildlife, and views are truly unique. It is enough with the noise from just ONE sled to ruin the entire day in areas like that.
Driver follows GPS - blindly
Than a few days later, a local tour buss full with teenage students rammed into an old concrete bridge inside the Washington Arboretum and ripped a large part of the roof off the bus. The bridge is almost 100 years old, and hence has been there "forever". The driver, not injured in the accident claimed that he "just followed his GPS". What happened to basic map skills and direction finding abilities? One can not just follow the directions of a GPS. One actually have to look up - literally - and drive the bus as well. Not just "follow" the GPS' instructions. It should be something that any driver should be aware of, but even moreso of a professional, like a tour bus driver hauling kids around.
See more in Settle Times and a few days later.
Seattle is easy. We have ridges that go north south. Each of the have water on East and West side. Bridges crosses the water (Lake Washington) East-West. The entire area is a built up on a grid system. As long as you know what "quadrant" (SE, NE, NW, SW) you're in, the rest should sort of follow.
No, time for drivers in general to "shape up" and start driving - instead of chatting on phones, putting on make-up, reading (yes, I see it every morning), or more focusing on everything ELSE than driving.
This week, we have had two incidents - both ended luckily w/o any major injury to humans or animals, but they still only proves that we are still surrounded by some pretty stupid people.
Man falls into crater
Last Saturday, someone decided to snowmobile up to the crater rim on Mount S:t Helens. Remember the volcano that "blew up" a number of years ago, and that until recently been off limits due to increased pressure inside the mountain (=fear of another massive eruption). Hiking to the rim make for a wonderful trek, a true Northwest classic. But some fat ass decided to instead take his sled into the area, and drive/ride all the way up to the rim. Up there he crawled out to the edge, which turned out to be a corniche (snowy overhang). The corniche collapsed under him and the guy tumbled some 1,500 feet into the crater. His son would have gone down with him as well, had a fellow sledder not just barely been able to hold onto the sons foot. The guy who fell did survice the fall, w/o any major injuries but had to be airlifted out of the crater later in the evening with a helicopter.
Story in Seattle Times.
I sort of would have understood it if he'd hiked up, but he rode up inside an area that should be closed off to snowmobiles. Hikers/climbers fall all the time, many times the falls are deadly, but it is different when you try to "conquer" a mountain under your own muscle power, compared to when you just ride up on your fat ass.
If you make it to the top climbing, hiking, running, you have actually "accomplished" something.
No, I don't dislike snowmobiles, they are great fun, but they really should not be allowed inside pristine recreation areas where nature, wildlife, and views are truly unique. It is enough with the noise from just ONE sled to ruin the entire day in areas like that.
Driver follows GPS - blindly
Than a few days later, a local tour buss full with teenage students rammed into an old concrete bridge inside the Washington Arboretum and ripped a large part of the roof off the bus. The bridge is almost 100 years old, and hence has been there "forever". The driver, not injured in the accident claimed that he "just followed his GPS". What happened to basic map skills and direction finding abilities? One can not just follow the directions of a GPS. One actually have to look up - literally - and drive the bus as well. Not just "follow" the GPS' instructions. It should be something that any driver should be aware of, but even moreso of a professional, like a tour bus driver hauling kids around.
See more in Settle Times and a few days later.
Seattle is easy. We have ridges that go north south. Each of the have water on East and West side. Bridges crosses the water (Lake Washington) East-West. The entire area is a built up on a grid system. As long as you know what "quadrant" (SE, NE, NW, SW) you're in, the rest should sort of follow.
No, time for drivers in general to "shape up" and start driving - instead of chatting on phones, putting on make-up, reading (yes, I see it every morning), or more focusing on everything ELSE than driving.
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