Mossback

Electing a black president has caused a rise in hate crimes, but no one is less popular than Godless blowhards.

Seattle's misguided gun ban

Posted Mon, Nov 17, 6 a.m.

Mayor Greg Nickels plans to defy state law with a gun ban that is worse than an empty gesture: It puts law-abiding citizens at greater risk.

The Bag Tax Rebellion

Posted Sat, Nov 15, midnight

There are risks in thinking small while trying to make a greener city.

Joe the Bigfoot Hunter

Posted Mon, Nov 10, 6:46 p.m.

The campaign symbol that got away. Plus: tales of ravenous locusts, obese bears, Bigfoot's B.C. invasion, and more animal news.

Anger over the right to die

Posted Fri, Oct 24, midnight

If God wants to join the political debate over assisted suicide, he should expect a bloody nose.

Pike Place 'Shopping Center'

Posted Wed, Oct 22, midnight

Critics of Seattle's Pike Place Market ballot measure think the Market should be ruled by the market.

A successful nuclear reaction!

Posted Sun, Oct 19, 4:51 p.m.

Over objections from the University of Washington, the Nuclear Reactor Building was added to the state's heritage list and was approved for National Register consideration.

The 'crazy pills' election

Posted Fri, Oct 17, midnight

How democracy expresses its irrationality, from McCain and Palin to Dinocrats to Obama's audacity of hope.

Indiana Jones, meth addict

Posted Sun, Oct 12, 4:09 p.m.

The strange link between looting Indian artifacts and methamphetamine users.

Circular behavior

Posted Sat, Oct 11, midnight

The tragic, unintended consequences of Seattle's best intentions.

Seattle: Coming back to earth

Posted Thu, Oct 9, 4 a.m.

Some good news about right-sizing the city, and saving money, too.

Government workers caught knapping

Posted Wed, Oct 8, 3 a.m.

Mossback attends archeology training and becomes steeped in historical context. He learns how to knap, tries his hand at raft-weaving, and finds out that "discovery" is not always a good thing. Part 2

(Historical) context is everything

Posted Tue, Oct 7, 3 a.m.

Making arrowheads, tossing spears, wandering old homesteads, and studying petroglyphs: All are part of a Washington state program designed to ensure that material progress doesn't completely obliterate the past. Part 1

Mossback TV

Posted Sun, Sep 28, 3 p.m.

A Crosscut columnist is "exposed" on YouTube.

A city of memory

Posted Fri, Sep 26, 4 a.m.

Seattle has undergone stunning changes. But what is sometimes more remarkable is what hasn't changed.

Populism is back, but will it work?

Posted Tue, Sep 23, 3 a.m.

The pitfalls of appealing to rage and fear are biggest for Obama. For McCain, his newfound populism presents an absurdity, but also an opportunity.

Spokane: what Seattle used to be

Posted Fri, Sep 19, 4 a.m.

Mossback becomes enamored with a city he once regarded with disdain and considers what it would be like to move there. It reminds him of pre-1970s Seattle, before the yuppies ruined it.

What would William O. Douglas do?

Posted Tue, Sep 16, 11 p.m.

Here's how the late Supreme Court justice and Washington native approached the challenge of fostering integrity in government.

Pit bulls, bears, and lipstick: more attacks involving animals

Posted Tue, Sep 16, 4 a.m.

Lessons learned from the places where people, animals, and politics collide.

Chop, chop

Posted Tue, Sep 9, 11 p.m.

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER

As Mayor Greg Nickels moves to close a tree-cutting "loophole," it's time for a complete rethink of Seattle's rules and regulations regarding trees. And we better act fast.

Duwumps

An early name for Seattle was Duwumps, which reminds us of a time before civic pretension, "world-class" ambitions, and over-priced coffee. In that spirit, this news is collected as an antidote to Seattle hype. If you see stories that aid the cause of Lesser Seattle — or more positively, Greater Duwumps — send them to Mossback.

Classical music: frozen in its format A short history of how classical music concerts went from pretty raucous to way too reverential. Alex Ross writes: "this clockwork routine–reassuringly dependable or drearily predictable, depending on whom you ask–is of recent origin, and before 1900 concerts assumed a quite different form."

NEW YORKER

Sundance, the USA's most influential film festival, opens Thursday As usual, Sundance is an unstable compound of independent films and celebrity swag. Here's a list of this year's picks.

LOS ANGELES TIMES

Seattle's median home price: $500,000 "A worker would have to earn $57 an hour – about $119,000 a year – to afford that Seattle home, according to the Seattle chapter of the Urban Land Institute."

SEATTLE TIMES

The Manhattanizing of Seattle "The uproar years back was that part of Pike Place Market was being handed over to New York investors. Now it's the whole town."

SEATTLE WEEKLY

Mossbackism: It runs in the family Joni's husband Tim Egan weighs in: "We are said to be rootless in the Pacific Northwest, transient, not tied to place, with no accent or defining characteristics. To a degree, yes. But that doesn't mean we can't follow the advice of the poet Gary Snyder. He said: Find your place. Dig in. Defend it."

Search Our Great Selection and Find the Best Deals!

Blog posts

Is Northwest nature worship neurological?

Posted Thu, Nov 20, 6:30 a.m.

Our religious impulses toward the wilderness could be boosted by the way our brains work.

The real Scoop Jackson, you betcha

Posted Tue, Nov 18, 11:02 p.m.

Some of the secrets of Norwegian Seattle revealed.

Washington Hall and Nuke Building updates

Posted Tue, Nov 18, 10:53 p.m.

There's progress to report on efforts to save two Seattle landmarks.

Development that's pro-density and pro-history

Posted Mon, Nov 17, 8:30 p.m.

A Rust Belt city offers a look at historic preservation, egalitarianism and the wrecking ball.

Rich jerk watch

Posted Wed, Nov 5, 1:59 p.m.

Seattle's high-tech buffalo hunter pleads to a felony.

Mossback the vote!

Posted Tue, Nov 4, 8:51 a.m.

An early report from a poll where real, live people vote in person.

A drinking historical society

Posted Thu, Oct 16, 6 a.m.

Walt Crowley's drinking buddies make The New York Times.

Saving old Oregon

Posted Wed, Oct 15, 6 a.m.

Restoring ancient habitat in the Willamette Valley.

Happy Genocidal Maniac Day!

Posted Mon, Oct 13, 9:09 a.m.

How you can help resolve historical ambivalence by remaking history yourself.

When the Northwest was red

Posted Thu, Oct 9, 4 a.m.