|
SEATTLE SPIN Weekly Email Newsletter |
||||
| Seattle Spin is irreverent, non-commercial and unrestrained fun. You won't find a more connected, entertaining or succinct lowdown on What's Happening in Seattle! To stay informed on Seattle events, culture and media, sign up for Seattle Spin by sending an email to: subscribe@seattlespin.net. |
||||
| Week of December 25 to December 31, 2006 |
||||
| |
||||
| New Year's Eve : Depending upon how you look at it, it's either the biggest party night of the year or amateur's night out. There's too many events for our usual pithy description, so here's the quick run-down of some events:
Outdoors: There's a bunch of outdoor activities from the week of Christmas till New Year's. The Cascade Orienteering Club has park exploration, navigating to checkpoints marked on a map, Dec 30th, $5 for first-timers. * Also, St. Mathew's Lutheran Church in Redmond has a Park Clam Lights Walk, about 3 miles, Dec 30th, free. For giggles, ask 'em how the Pope is doing. * Also, Eastshore Singles, for those eastsiders north of 45, have a walk around Coulon Beach Park, Dec 30th. * Also, Schmitz Park has a New Year's Nighttime Owl Prowl, $8. Bring a flashlight and see those big glowing eyes in the dark. Learning: Fantastic Fishtival, Dec 26th - Jan 1st, at the Seattle Aquarium, free with admission. Going here makes a fellow want to stroll down to Ivar's afterwards for fish 'n chips. Anyway, it's a hands-on event about fishies and marine life for the tykes with hands-on activities and kid-friendly talks. * Also, the Museum of Flight has Blackbird: Tip to Tail tours, free with admission, Dec 26th - Jan 5th. Still a screamer of a jet and imposing on display, they break this bird down into components and stories. Alternative: The Maitreya Education Foundation hosts a Psychic and Alternative Health Event on Dec 30th, of readings from professional psychics, as opposed to-like-those amateur psychics. * Also, Trends, Coincidences, Patterns, and You, Dec 27th, free. Tempted to connect the dots from the events in your life and extract a greater principle, instead of, well, just thinking them as coincidences? Well, you'll find help and a friendly crowd here. Reading: Charlie Cross reads from his books at the Covington Library on Dec 28th, free. This is the dude who wrote the biographies of Jimi Hendrix and Kurt Cobain; he talks about his work and Northwest musicians. Trains: Model Train Festival, starting Dec 26th, free with admission. How can a guy go to this and not feel like a seven-year-old kid again? The bad thing is, you're going to this after Christmas when you've already bought all of the presents. Pub: Anti-Christmas, Dec 25th at the Central Salon, good for the humbug crowd or those just not in a jolly mood. |
Overblown in 2006: Here's what made too much news this year: Blogs: From the continual cascade of news on how blogs are impacting journalism and popular culture, it's forgivable if one starts to get the impression that blogs are supposedly remaking participation in society. Consider: 1) There's now a zillion blogs out there, so only a few can rise to the top and gain widespread appeal. The vast majority of blogs are read by fewer than fifteen people; 2) A lot of blogs are written by noodle-heads about their boring-ass lives and other non-important viewpoints; and 3) Many blogs lack the balance, facts, investigation, and writing quality of professional news sources, and therefore have limited utility. CNN isn't in danger. Breast Cancer: Oh man, this is gonna have the pink-ribboners writing letters. According to a recent Prevention Magazine article, breast cancer was the number one fear of women, yet the 8th leading threat to women's health. This isn't to say that breast cancer isn't an important issue that impacts people's lives in profound ways. However, from a purely risk assessment point of view, there's more to gain in women's public health by getting more women to quit smoking, buckle up, reduce their intake of cholesterol and fatty foods, and exercise more (which is good advice for the men as well) thereby reducing heart disease, diabetes, and other more prevalent threats to women's health. From an advocacy standpoint, breast cancer seems to be very marketable for commercial cause-based programs, so it's easy to speculate that with information and admonishments about breast cancer seemingly everywhere, it has an over-inflated impact. Online Predators: According to a recent survey, this is another over-hyped threat. This is the sort of story with a great media hook, such as Dateline parading a bunch of would-be pervies ready to defile some teenager. Anyway, it turns out that teens are pretty savvy with their Internet usage, that more solicitations originate from other teenagers and people in their peer group rather than adults, and that many "solicitations" originate from the ordinary banter between teenagers with their hormones. Do teach kids reasonable safety precautions, but don't ban them from social networking sites, and don't fret too much.
|
|||
| Our Other Email Publications:
Copyright 2008, Seattle Spin To be taken off, follow
this or reply to this email with "stop" in the subject
line.
|
||||
