INBOX

Dog Tags

Love the concept of QR tags working for me, not an advertising company (“Byte Marks,” December 2011). Amazing what the ordinary smartphones can do today. It’s a brave new world…
M.D.
Bellevue

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Best-Dressed Teacher

Ms. Musser (Style Counsel, December 2011) is my math teacher and reading adviser. I love coming to school and looking at all her creative outfits. Love you, Tamara Musser!
Shelby Whitson
via seattlemet.com

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Feather Report

I understand your comments about down comforters (“A Note from the Editor,” October 2011) as tied to Bruce Barcott’s “Putting the Eddie Back in Eddie Bauer.” (Barcott’s The Measure of a Mountain remains close at hand. Love his writing.)

The real deal is Feathered Friends. They know down. Elite climbers from around the world—no less—choose them for jackets, parkas, etc. They also make comforters and pillows for us “regular” folks. They are toasty warm…the best I’ve ever owned.
Lansing Ross
Bellevue

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Snowman

A unique and varied life…a dream come true (“The Man Who Invented Winter,” December 2011)! We must all keep pursuing our dreams and perfecting our talents. How very fortunate he has been. Thank you for the inspiring article on ski filmmaker Warren Miller.
Peggy Swayne
Bellevue

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Beers for Your Health

What senator Ed Murray doesn’t seem to understand is that by heaping taxes on products he deems not “life necessities,” he is making it harder for the working class to survive (“Would It Work Here? A Tax on Unhealthy Food,” December 2011). Who does he think makes these products and brings them to market? Unemployed brain surgeons? People work in plants that produce these products, truck drivers transport them, small stores employ students to stock the shelves, waitresses serve the product (and depend on the tips from customers). More redistribution of income, that’s right, Ed, and we will all be relying on a government check every month that comes with a token for a beer, if the government determines we are within the required health parameters.
Tracy Dunham
Fox Island, Washington

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Junk Food Justice

Taxes are an effective way of altering consumer behavior (“Would It Work Here? A Tax on Unhealthy Food,” December 2011). Examples include taxes on tobacco to reduce use, and taxes on gasoline to encourage public transit alternatives.
L.M.
via seattlemet.com

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Lard Have Mercy

First, go to the food banks and see what they give to the people who need food (“Would It Work Here? A Tax on Unhealthy Food,” December 2011). Not all food banks get good food. A lot of it is old, sugary baked goods, rotten produce, fatty foodstuffs, and a ton of canned corn. So don’t blame those who are in need of food and may have weight issues. Good food is expensive, so they are forced to buy cheap foods that contain a lot of fats.
Lacy
via seattlemet.com

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Booze Ballot

I have tasted and voted (“Still Life,” December 2011). Both the Pacifique Absinthe and the Voyager Gin are of superior quality. Well done, Marc.
Lise Masselotte
via seattlemet.com

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V for Vodka

Project V rocks (“Still Life," December 2011). Best vodka I’ve had, bar none. The distillery is a must visit, and the vodka is a must purchase.
Eric McDowell
Bellevue

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Policy Question

My husband and I read with much interest about the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center (“The Most Treacherous Terrain,” December 2011). One thing in David Laskin’s article that stuck out was the Do Not Resuscitate order for King County mentioned when Riley McCarthy was out cold. I can’t for the life of me imagine how a blanket policy of DNR could be applied in any situation. Can the author please clarify what the EMS dispatcher meant by this remark?
Jenny and Nick Luhr
Wedgwood

David Laskin replies:
The references to the King County DNR policy in my article both occur in quotes from other people—the first from the ski patrol who found Riley McCarthy’s group, the second from his friend Stuart Beckman. The essence of the county policy is: CPR is withheld or discontinued when it is deemed medically futile. Since Riley had no pulse and had not been responding to CPR for a prolonged period, the decision was made to discontinue it and make no attempt to resuscitate him.

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Cover Girl

I cannot express how many times I have read and flipped through your June 2011 “Local’s Guide to the Pike Place Market.” It has sat on my bed, my coffee table, the bathroom magazine rack, the front seat of my car; in fact, it still lives in my boyfriend’s bedroom in Ballard. How is it possible that I only noticed six months later that I was the girl reaching for fruit on the cover? And how is it possible that none of my other subscribing friends noticed to tell me?!

Needless to say, as a Seattle local and frequent marketgoer, I am so excited. It would be so amazing to frame a cover for my parents in West Virginia—they just redecorated and are looking for kitchen artwork.
Annie McGhee
Queen Anne

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Corrections

In the January 2012 issue (“Mudroom: Northwest Bookshelf”), we wrote that The Map of My Dead Pilots was Colleen Mondor’s memoir of working as a cargo pilot. In fact, Mondor was the lead dispatcher for a bush airline and never served as a professional pilot. In January’s Top Dentists feature, Ty Etheridge should have been listed as a cosmetic rather than general dentist.

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