There’s a lot of sex worker stuff in the news lately, isn’t there?So yes, I’ve been reading about the busts at the tanning salon/brothels on Aurora Ave. I have some sympathy for the female manager who got arrested, seeing as how I once managed a “sensual touch” business myself. And just because you read something in the paper doesn’t make it true. However, if she and the owner really were running women in and out ...

tags: appointment fee, aurora ave, running women, management works, paper doesn, sensual touch, sex worker, club management, coffee table, sex work, those women, strip clubs, brothels, tanning salon, busts, vibrator, small group, peers, sympathy, lawyer

digg_url = 'http://digg.com/television/America_s_Next_Top_Model_11_Finale'; After 10 weeks and 14 models, America’s Next Top Model: Cycle 11 finally came down to the Top Three. Which lady eventually found herself with an Elite Model Management contract, a Seventeen spread/cover and a $100,000 CoverGirl contract? Was it McKey (the boxer who evolved into a woman), Analeigh (the skater who figured out how to use her body) or Samantha (the girl who once offended a designer but turned things ...

tags: elite model management, television america, model cycle, digg, management contract, america s next top model, next top model, skater, finale, boxer, models

from the motion picture Hollywood Hotel (1937) here's the Benny Goodman Orchestra doing "Sing, Sing, Sing" featuring Gene Krupa and Lionel Hampton. A classic of the swing era.

tags: sing sing sing benny goodman, sing sing sing, benny goodman orchestra, gene krupa, lionel hampton, hollywood hotel, motion picture, hollywood, swing

Daily Kos: State of the Nation: "According to data just released by the Minnesota Secretary of State, Al Franken has gained a net of 43 votes on the first day of that state's recount process. Norm Coleman had a lead of 215 voters over Franken in Minnesota's certified, pre-recount tally; that margin is now 172 votes.Minnesota reports that it has thus far re-counted 15.49 percent of its ballots. If the first day's results are indicative ...

tags: minnesota secretary of state, norm coleman, democratic stronghold, al franken, narrow victory, initial count, state of the nation, future trends, ballots, duluth, election day, aggregate, secretary of state, tally, minneapolis, pace

Daily Kos: State of the Nation: "More than three decades after he first appeared before the panel as a 27-year-old Vietnam veteran-turned-antiwar protester, Senator John F. Kerry is widely expected to be named the new chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, a position that will give him enormous influence over international relations.The pending announcement by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, which congressional aides said could come as early as today, would elevate Kerry to ...

tags: senate majority leader harry reid, senate majority leader, foreign relations committee, senate foreign relations committee, senator john f kerry, senate foreign relations, barack obama, joe biden, congressional aides, vietnam veteran, john f kerry, policy priorities, chairman of the senate foreign relations committee, president elect, senate majority leader harry, policy establishment, outgoing chairman, congressional session, us senate, enormous influence

With a commenter name like "ratman," you would probably expect a lulz onslaught. But whoever is commenting on this site with that username (here, here, and here) is my favorite commenter in the world. They are such non sequiturs that at first I thought they were spam, but now I see it's some sort of crazy genius. I hope they all come together to form a story.

tags: non sequiturs, crazy genius, onslaught, ratman

Is this something new? A chef who cooks, a spouse who writes. ("He tastes, she types." Or should that be "He cooks, she composes"?) Earlier this fall, Karen Pager and Andrew Dornenburg came through town with their new jointly written tome, The Flavor Bible. In Seattle today (for KING TV's morning show, lunch at Sorrentino, book-signing and dinner at Tavolata) are Andrew Carmellini and his wife, Gwen Hyman. Carmellini (another chef whose opinions grace ...

tags: wife gwen, chef award, chef de cuisine, james beard, andrew dornenburg, king tv, sorrentino, book signing, hyman, andrew carmellini, morning show, cooks, bookshelf, six years, bible, lunch, seattle

Since the passage of California's Prop. 8, which reversed a State Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage, a potentially poisonous debate has sprung up over whether the California African-American community, who turned out in record numbers to vote for Obama, bears special responsibility for passing the measure. For perspective, we turned to Chad Goller-Sojourner, a local writer, poet, and performance artist whose work has explored his own struggles growing up black and gay. A guest post ...

tags: legalizing gay marriage, same sex marriage, political pundits, common denominator, supreme court decision, new math, frame show, striking evidence, goller, proposition 22, local writer, state supreme court, sojourner, legal protections, performance artist, pollsters, record numbers, silver lining, historical context, winds of change

Last night we were trying to watch House, M.D., and one of those terrible Microsoft "Mojave" commercials came on, which implied that the reason Vista hasn't sold well isn't because it sucks but because consumers don't know you can make panoramic photos with it. That's a feature on everyone's must-have list for a new OS, isn't it? So then we were like, Great, this is what intracranial bleeding feels like. Anyway that reminded us of ...

tags: microsoft shareholder, new coke, michael mcdonald, panoramic photos, professional manager, principal owner, guest editorial, ballmer, mojave, ad campaign, axe, shareholders, gates, 21st century, commercials, hasn, ceo, horror, consumers, testimonials

Just two weeks before Amanda Knox is set to go to trial on murder charges, a new witness has come forward, putting the former UW student's alibi in doubt. The new witness claims to have seen Knox in the household supplies section of a store near her home three hours earlier than Knox had said she was there. If the witness is credible (and you have to wonder, seeing as the person waited a year ...

tags: amanda knox, kercher, murder charges, alibi, meredith, witness, household, doubt

A new report released yesterday named Washington as one of five top states leading the way in reshaping the United States economy and encouraging entrepreneurship. Gee, isn't that something Dino Rossi claimed we were failing at?Five states -- Massachusetts, Washington, Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey -- are leading the United States' transformation into a global, entrepreneurial and knowledge and innovation-based New Economy, according to "The 2008 State New Economy Index," released today by the Ewing ...

tags: ewing marion kauffman foundation, ewing marion kauffman, marion kauffman foundation, barack obama, economy index, united states economy, global entrepreneurship, quality police, federal investment, al gore, new economy, common wealth, blue states, john kerry, public investment, business groups, recreation centers, leading the way, prime example, innovation and creativity

Ouch. From The Spokesman-Review: Washington’s state government – which pays for schools, prisons, colleges, last-resort medical coverage for the poor and hundreds of other things — now faces a $4.6 billion budget shortfall over the next two year, state officials say. 1.4 billion from what was expected just two months ago. Now that we’re facing nearly unprecedented economic woes in this country, and with consumer spending in the tank, it’s utterly predictable that a system of taxation that ...

tags: spokesman review, ouch