Sara’s Southend Saunter

I was feeling more social than usual and did a Cascade Bike Club ride yesterday. Tom and Sara’s Southend Saunter starts at Ft. Dent park, in Tukwila, doing a 77-mile, counter-clockwise loop through West Seattle, Des Moines, Redondo Beach, Browns Point, and Kent. Over the river andthrough the woods?! Microsoft Streets and Trips failed abysmally […]

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How airplanes fly

About nine years ago I started flying as a way to blow off steam from the stresses of work. As with anything I do, once I got past the initial learning hurdles, I pursued the hobby very aggressively, eventually earning an instrument rating, a commercial certificate (land) and a private pilot certificate in seaplanes. (NB:

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The Mariners

Depending on your level of reality or fantaticism, what I’m about to say will either be incredibly obvious or local sports heresy: the Mariners aren’t very good. Let’s look at some numbers: At 7 wins and 15 losses (with one postponed game), they’re on pace to win 53 games this year. Fifty-three. Team hitting is

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Grade inflation

USA Today writes on Princeton University’s effort to curb “grade inflation” by rationing As to, you know, “preserve academic integrity.” Grade inflation “correction” is based on the theory that people will naturally fit into a bell curve, and that a C (or maybe a B) should be average. If you accept that Princeton is a

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tooth fairy

My oldest has had a loose tooth for a few months. She’s been very worked up about this, despite coaching from one of her neighborhood friends and assurances from her parents (both of whom are over 30) that she’ll survive. Last night the tooth fell out. Our daughter was picking through dinner for the soft

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Snoqualmie Pass

I woke up too late to join the paceline practice with Cascade Bicycle Club. Instead, I went on a more local ride from North Bend to Snoqualmie Pass, the lowest way to cross from west to east over the Cascades. I parked at the “Factory Outlet” mall in North Bend, noting the “Bicyclists, Skateboards and

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Hayseed Dixie

To help me get over my music “rut” the past few weeks, a fellow prankster sent me a copy of Hayseed Dixie’s A Hillbilly Tribute to AC/DC. My initial reaction to the concept of bluegrass renditions of hard rock involved spewing food at the monitor with laughter. However, once I cleaned the screen off, popped

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Low Carb Coke?

Coca Cola announced a mid-calorie cola named C2, ostensibly to compete with Pepsi “Edge” and billed as a solution to the low-carb dieters who have been marooned on the distant asteroid where Diet Coke is unavailable. The timing of this is funny because I just finished reading Max(x) Barry’s Syrup, which spoofs marketing in the

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