Please, forgive me, but I’m going to blow off some steam and use my "article of the day" to expose some regionally biased news.
And, yes, it’s Seattle, so get ready for a little peppering of depression too. But hey, it’s not raining; no, it’s snowing buckets instead.
So I open up the Seattle P-I this morning, only to read, you guessed it, a fine piece of national news, cogently presented by a local reporter. Well, tears could follow, but then I’d be a sap.
As many of you might know, Hearst has decided to dump the Seattle P.I., after being in business since 1893, the P-I that is. As you might also know, Hearst is now dumping (if no buyer is found) the San Francisco Chronicle.
This is becoming an epidemic, which must be stopped!!!
Well, it turns out that at the same time we’re losing our ability to read the Seattle Post Intelligencer, the nation, yes I said nation, is also losing its chance to see "Lucy", ever, yes, ever, again. Where are all the philanthropists and glittery celebrities when we need them to bail out these couple of "good" losers???
Watch out---we, the people, are coming after you next! (I know, an empty threat.)
Anyway, here are extended snippets of the "Lucy" article. Yeah, the snippets might exceed the quote "fair use" limit thing, or whatever, but you know what, I don’t care! Let Hearst sue little ole me and then explain, really explain, why they can’t keep the P-I running, and no, not just on the Internet, but in print for all to read:
Students may be last in U.S. to see Lucy
Time waits for no (wo)man -- ancient evolutionary ancestor or not
By TOM PAULSON
P-I REPORTER
When the gang of sixth-graders in Kelly Frederick's class at Chief Moses Middle School heard that Lucy was not doing well, they decided to raise a fuss and do something about it . . .
"We got money even from people who said they disagreed that Lucy is related to humans," Frederick said. As a science teacher, she has to walk that tightrope -- teaching about evolution while allowing for the fact that some families have serious disagreements with this central tenet of modern biology. "Everyone just wanted to support the students' interest in this."
...
"It's pretty cool to get to really see her," said Cloninger, standing next to the glass box containing the bones. "She walked on two legs like us."
...
Due to the poor showing in Seattle (which is normally considered a good place for science exhibits), the Chicago Field Museum canceled its plan to take the exhibit. The fossils are soon to return to the Houston Museum of Natural Science, which arranged for the exhibit working with the Ethiopian government, but no other museums have stepped up to take part in what had been expected to be a six-year, 10-city tour.
...
"This is apparently the last time anyone is going to see her in the States," said Donald Johanson, the American paleoanthropologist at Arizona State University who, with his colleagues, discovered the fossil in 1974 near the northern Ethiopian community of Hadar. "It can be a very emotional experience. I'm glad these kids understood what a great opportunity this was and took the initiative upon themselves to come see her."
P-I reporter Tom Paulson can be reached at 206-448-8318 or tompaulson@seattlepi.com
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/...
If you really want to save "Lucy" or the P-I, or both, come to Seattle and spend some dough!!!!!!!
For more information about "Lucy" or about the P-I or Seattle, please go read the whole NEWSPAPER. Read the Seattle Times too. They have two articles, by local reporters, about Northwest clout in the Obama admistration: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/... and
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/...
Yeah, it makes no sense; we’re losing one, probably both of our papers, meanwhile we have important things to cover, even in the other Washington, like King County Executive Ron Sims acting as deputy director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske as the new drug czar and, of course, former Governor Gary Locke is the new Commerce Secretary.
If you live in Washington State, please go buy the P-I and Seattle Times, pretty please, just for one day? Besides, if you read the online versions, you'll have to see/read the nasty comments from scan-artists.
Come on, what else is there to do today? Drive on dangerous roads? Just call in "stranded" and read. After you’ve had your fill of reading, make a little time and go see "Lucy" at the Pacific Science Center!
Then e-mail, mail letters to and call Hearst and tell them to stop shutting down our newspapers, whatever it takes. After you’ve done that e-mail, mail and call your local science museums and tell them you want to see "Lucy" too. Anybody can do this! It’s important.
Thanks; sorry for the rant, but I like my newspaper(s) in the morning. My next fight will be to save the Seattle P-I ball, which is the most amazing neon sign in Seattle, a blue and green globe (mapped Earth) with a proud eagle on top and the whole thing rotates!!
If that goes, I go.
My {{{{{{{PRESIDENT OBAMA}}}}}}} break. I bet he reads a couple papers too!