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Robert Fortner

Recent Stories

Stymied by mosquitoes and bacteria

Impatient for solutions to AIDS, tuberculosis, and infectious disease, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation put out a call for anyone who thought they had an idea — and more than 4,000 poured forth. A second request for grant applications goes out today.

For Gates, global health should drive foreign policy

Gates Foundation-funded research is putting war deaths three times higher than conventional ways of counting them. In turn, good data might drive good international politics.

In the absence of an AIDS cure, prevention gains prominence

As vaccine research retrenches, scientists seek to provide a stopgap with new approaches to HIV prevention that were first explored with help from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Space tourism is nigh, but a new space age is not

Four years after Paul Allen won the X Prize with SpaceShipOne, Virgin Galactic has unveiled WhiteKnightTwo, bringing space tourism closer to reality. But in terms of achievement and fundamental technologies, we're merely watching a glitzy remake of the 1960s with private funding.

Salmonella may be a key for a new vaccine

Gates Foundation-backed vaccine developers have found a way to send genetic text messages to the cells of the body to evoke immunity to pneumonia. It could save the lives of a million children a year, yet fluency in the language of the immune system will not come easily.

Bill Gates 2.0

Traditional methods of scientific research have not produced the medical breakthroughs he expected. Now he's going to use his money, through the Gates Foundation, to challenge old ways. The man is breathtaking.

Robert Fortner is a Seattle writer who once worked at Microsoft. He is writing a book about the research endeavors of Bill Gates and Paul Allen. You can reach him in care of editor@crosscut.com.
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Heart attack on McCain

I saw this coming. Last night after John McCain's GOP convention speech, the hall was blasted with the sounds of Seattle band Heart's rocker "Barracuda," which became the convention's theme music for Sarah "Barracuda" Palin (Barracuda was a high-school nickname). I figured an objection would be raised.

'Me' for president

Palin wouldn't be the first Northwest secessionist on a national ticket

Arts Beat »

The music you like tells a lot about your personality

"Fans of indie music, for instance, were found to have low self-esteem and little motivation, but described themselves as creative. Rap enthusiasts, on the other hand, tend to think a lot of themselves and are extremely outgoing. Those who love dance music are equally extrovert but are more likely to be unfriendly and slightly self-centered."

The rebirth of activist theater

New theft of aboriginal art from Vancouver museum

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Business / Technology » Kindle.

My word of mouth on Kindle

A veteran author and book lover gives props to Kindle, despite Amazon's lack of advertising for the electronic reading device.

27,000 Boeing workers strike

Sausage Links, Postman stops ringing edition

Politics / Government »

John Dean: Palin may not meet implied constitutional tests for vice president

The implicit qualification in constitutional history is that the person must be qualified to step into the presidency at once, which Palin clearly is not.

Heart attack on McCain

Creationism is part of the case against elites

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Recreation / Outdoors »

Mount Baker

In Washington's Cascade Mountains.

Proposed: Rename Seattle's Freeway Park for Jim Ellis, civic leader

Whassup with Wasilla

Lifestyle / Leisure » Kindle.

My word of mouth on Kindle

A veteran author and book lover gives props to Kindle, despite Amazon's lack of advertising for the electronic reading device.

The music you like tells a lot about your personality

Final episodes: Northwest Afternoon sails into the sunset

Sports »

Portland's baseball team owner wants city help to build a new stadium

Merritt Paulson wants to bring Major League Soccer to Portland. That means finding a new home for the minor-league Beavers baseball team. He's proposing $40 million in improvements for the present baseball stadium, converting it for soccer, and building a new home for the Beavers.

Now official: Oklahoma City's NBA team is the Thunder

Did Howard Schultz pull the last plug for the Sonics?

Travel »

Our Convention Center has growing pains

Seattle's Convention Center is taking a close look at expanding, perhaps at a different location. It might complicate the coming legislative session if it puts its hand in the state trough of money for tourism-related taxes. Also crowding around the trough are the Huskies, King County arts, Seattle Center, KeyArena, low-income housing, Puget Sound cleanup, and more. And the Convention Center might topple some other interesting transportation dominoes.

Mount Baker

A new wine region emerges in Colorado

Flip Side » Customer service.

In touch with the average American

That seems to be a virtue everyone can agree on this campaign season. So let's define what that means.

The funny thing about Seattle ...

'Drill their brains out!'

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