Seattle is certainly no stranger to what prolonged unemployment looks like. This city of shacks, nicknamed for the president held responsible for the Great Depression, was called Hooverville and their number across Canada and the United States was legion, circa 1931.Hi again from the Bastion on the Puget Sound. Another 3.3-million jobless Americans will exhaust their benefits by the end of this month if Congress does not pass federal extended unemployment benefits when it returns from Fourth of July recess tomorrow.
According to About.com Guide’s Alison Doyle, “The legislation, to date, does not include a COBRA health insurance subsidy or Tier 5 unemployment extension that would provide additional weeks of unemployment for the 99ers - the unemployed workers who have exhausted all unemployment benefits.”
In a related story, Associate Press economics writer Christopher S. Rugaber reports, “A bigger concern is the number of people who may lose benefits this month. The tally of people continuing to claim benefits plunged to 4.4 million, the department said. But that doesn't include an additional 4.6 million people who received extended benefits paid for by the federal government in the week that ended June 19. That's the latest period for which data are available.”
For more on how this impacts those in your state, how you can contact your Congressional delegation to urge passage of this legislation, and what you can do when your benefits run out, please go here.
IN OTHER NEWS
Imagine living next to a major airport like SeaTac, Victoria, O’Hare, JFK, Logan, Hartsfield, Heathrow or Dublin X and not even knowing it was there. No earsplitting takeoffs, window shaking landings, no malodorous invisible clouds of aviation exhaust fumes and virtually no danger of an accident that could turn a Boeing 747 into a crematorium with wings. That’s the future of solar powered aviation and some history was made last week when a solar powered airplane stayed aloft over Switzerland for 26 hours. For more on the flight of the Solar Impulse.
This is not going to be real good news for the male chauvinists among us. There are now more American women in the labor force than there are men. As the Recession continues, traditional gender roles are really breaking down as more males assume responsibility for running the household, often working at at-home businesses as well, while their spouses engage in more commercial income generation. That this is really causing some of my gender problems is evidenced by the number of them who are now forming support groups and seeking counseling. I personally think these transformations are good for us because it’s task-value oriented and if men didn’t know it before, more of them sure do now, that housekeeping is a full time and complicated occupation. The same is true for women on both the line and management levels who now understand the mind-numbing fatigue that so many of these jobs involve, as well as the risks and the executive decisions that turn CEOs into insomniacs or sleeping pill addicts. I found this Atlantic Monthly article entitled The End of Men to be absolutely fascinating.
If you’re not sure whether the environmental movement is really making a difference to the economy, you’ll want to read/listen to Seattle NPR station KPLU reporter Liam Moriarty’s story Report Says Climate Plan Would Help Economy. According to the Western Climate Initiative, a plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions in seven Western states and four Canadian provinces would boost Washington's economy, alone, by billions over the next ten years.
SURVIVING HARD TIMES
In a rather dramatic way reminiscent of the Homefront during World War II, Seattle-ites are making their own war on poverty by growing their own groceries not only in their yards but on other open plots they lease or rent, often with neighbors. They find ready markets for the surplus because the Emerald City has positively decided that locally grown and or produced foodstuffs are not only good for you but for the economy, as well. For more on this one.
CROSSING OVER
We join the rest of the American sports world in mourning the loss of “the voice of Yankee stadium.” For over half a century, announcer Bob Sheppard’s elegant play-by-plays brought out the dignity, the grandeur and the true sportsmanship he believed characterized this most national and homegrown of games. By both his professional and personal example, he inspired the best in fans and players alike. For more on another American legend and personal hero of mine, go here.
ON THE CANCER FRONT
We found two more things that grow naturally, taste good and which cancer cells, especially breast cancer cells, absolutely hate. On the same page as this good news is a study about how marijuana is now proving effective in stopping the spread of malignant cells as well. So if you’re a very liberal person who likes fresh fruit and berries, you’re going to totally love this one. Even if you prefer one but not the other, this is still a win-win read. For more, yep, go here.
RESOURCES AND RELATED LINKS:
American Cancer Statistics 2009
Canadian Cancer Statistics 2009
National Cancer Institute (American)
Fighting Breast Cancer: Breast Cancer Survivor Stories
Science Daily: Health & Medicine News
HEALTH NEWS
Here’s good news for those of us who enjoy green tea for breakfast and a glass of red wine for dinner. According to a study released last month in The FASEB Journal, there’s something in both of them disrupts the formation of prostate cancer cells and apparently has an attitude about those affecting the breast, the colon and the stomach. Isn’t it cool when a couple of things you’ve been indulging most of your life have also been prolonging said life? Yep, for more.
Years ago, Vitamin C was touted as a “wonder drug” and then fell out of popularity after people decided they couldn’t get too much of it. Those of us, however, who kept drinking a glass of OJ or other citrus juice a day experienced a significantly lower rate of those cardiovascular problems associated with arteriosclerosis or, as it’s perhaps more commonly known, “hardening of the arteries.” Yep, check it out here.
SEATTLE SCENES
If you’re planning to visit Seattle in the near future, you might want to check these sites out first.
SUMMER GUIDE
Let us steer you to the best beaches, festivals and fun.
JULY EVENTS
JULY 5 – 30: Seattle Chamber Music Society Summer FestivalBenaroya Hall - Downtown Seattle. The Seattle Chamber Music Society presents its 27th Summer Festival, held July 5th - July 30th. The main Summer Season consists of Twelve Concerts each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings... beginning at 8:00 PM.
JULY 16 – 18: Bite of Seattle Seattle Center - Downtown Seattle. First introduced to the Seattle area in 1982 at Greenlake with 26 Restaurants and 1 Entertainment Stage, the ` Bite of Seattle ' has grown into one of Seattle's largest Summer Festivals, with more than 50 of Seattle's finest Restaurants... 30 Food Product Companies... 5 Beer Gardens... live Entertainment... a Comedy Club... Piano Bar... Wine Tasting... and more!. Festival Hours: Friday & Saturday 11 AM - 9 PM; Sunday 11 AM - 8 PM. Nearby Hotels: Red Lion Hotel on 5th Avenue - Executive Pacific Plaza Hotel
JULY 16: Torchlight Parade at SeafairSeattle Center - Downtown Seattle. Come celebrate the Northwest's largest lighted parade in Downtown Seattle! The famous Torchlight Parade at Seafair is one of Seattle's biggest nights for family tradition, so you won't want to miss the Macy's-style helium balloons, local bands, drill teams, beautifully illuminated floats, and naturally the Seafair Clowns and Pirates. The parade begins at 7:30 PM at Seattle Center, and continues south down Fourth Ave. to Second Ave. and King Street. Over 300,000 people lined the parade route last year... so we suggest you get here early for the best viewing spots.
PART OF SEATTLE HAD TO BE REBUILT because the tides made toilets, which we didn’t have when our pioneering antecedents first got here, back up. The Pioneer Square Underground Tour tells most of us all we know about what lies underneath Seattle our fair city. It's a touristy exploration of the city's oldest basements, a jokey excursion through an urban underbelly filled with commentary about the foibles, and drinking habits of the city's lusty pioneers. It's the closest many of us come to seeing firsthand the archaeology of the city. Yep, for more on this one:
PART OF SEATTLE HAD TO BE REBUILT because the tides made toilets, which we didn’t have when our pioneering antecedents first got here, back up. The Pioneer Square Underground Tour tells most of us all we know about what lies underneath Seattle our fair city. It's a touristy exploration of the city's oldest basements, a jokey excursion through an urban underbelly filled with commentary about the foibles, and drinking habits of the city's lusty pioneers. It's the closest many of us come to seeing firsthand the archaeology of the city. Yep, for more on this one:
SEATTLE FACTS AND FIGURES
Seattle Rainfall in Comparison To Other US Cities
Seattle Geography & Climate
For more information about Seattle
For live cameras on Seattle, the Puget Sound and Washington State
CRITTER STUFF
Particularly in view of record breaking temperatures in the United States and Canada, we felt it was a real good idea to pass on University of Washington biologist Ray Huey’s information on how animals stay cool in the wild and how you can help your pets beat the heat. This one comes with 17 tips on how humans can as well. Yep, for more.
A reader of ours on the Gulf Coast who works for a local animal rescue group in Louisiana wanted me to pass along this means of helping oil-soaked wildlife, even though you can’t fly there to help out personally. It’s a link to donate to the National Wildlife Federation, the International Bird Rescue Research Center, and Tri-State Bird Rescue and Research. There are also links on this site to heart-grabbing (and successful) survival stories. What Jean Claude particularly appreciated about this site is that they don’t overdo it. It assumes you care, that you’ve seen suffering animals, that you’re there to see how you can help and to see other people doing what you’d be doing if you could fly down there. Yep, check out How to help wildlife affected by Gulf oil spill
Recommended Related Links:
BBC’s wildlife finder
National Geographic Daily News - Animals
YOU GUYS (STILL OCCASIONALLY) THINK I MAKE THIS STUFF UP
People in this pub at which I take my TGIF pint pride themselves on both their honesty and their talent for telling tales that are just outrageous enough to possibly be true. There’s this one guy who’s from someplace with lots of dairy farms, Wisconsin or Minnesota, I think. Where they celebrate cheese and talk like they’re either from Canada or Sweden. He instructs on some exotic kind of agriculture at the University of Washington but he still looks like he came to town on a hay wagon. Anyway, he was telling us that they’ve found a way that 10,000 cows can power a computer center. And I’m thinking, right. Like you’re going to teach one to run a PC when most of them can’t operate an abacus. Good luck with that one. It turns out, however, that Dr. Farmer was not engaging in extreme hyperbole. I just took him a little too literarily. Yep, for how 10,000 cows are going to power a computer center, go here.
Well, that’s it for now. Thanks for the ear. Before you leave, if you’re in a shopping mood and into some interesting choices? We’ve got a “reader stocked” General Store that you might want to check out. If you’d like to sell something with us or know someone who does, email us at minstrel312@aol.com and we’ll see what we can do.
Rusty
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