The Weekend Wrap is All About the Numbers

"Some people will protest anything," says our Flickr pool's Slightlynorth.

Washington unemployment was "down" to 8.9 percent in June, a "drop" of 3/10s of a percent, which if that wasn't understating real unemployment by a full 100 percent, might actually be good news. The news that the state has 17,000 fewer jobs since last June isn't claiming headlines, but maybe people know that already: A new Rasmussen poll shows Patty Murray behind to both Dino Rossi and Clint Didier (or just tied, if you look at the margin of error, but that's still not good news for an incumbent).

Also this week, Maria Cantwell introduced legislation to protect our coasts from oil industry cost-cutting, by requiring companies to use the latest technologies in their oil spill response plans.

A local kid was arrested, and it made all the newspapers. Surfrider goofed on whether our water has shit in it, and it didn't make the news. Paul Allen made the Huffington Post by saying he'll give his billions to charity. (Peer pressure! It's the worst.) Boeing admitted the 787 Dreamliner is going to be just a teensy bit later than the incredibly late it is already. A Microsoft exec was trippin'.

A Queen Anne man suddenly took up climbing. Over in Ballard they're celebrating a millennium of rapine and pillage--no, Goldman Sachs isn't that old, it's Viking Days this weekend. CHS went bedbuggy. Magnolia has raccoons. The zoo raised $1.7 million with a single party.

The song is "hot for teacher," not the other way 'round. WSDOT is working, noisily, on the I-5 ship canal bridge the next two weekends. Rainier Valley is not loving new Police Chief Diaz so far. Don't go anywhere near the U District on Saturday morning, unless you're biking to Portland. Don't go anywhere near Green Lake if you want support for a homeless shelter.