1. Isn't it weird that ... NIMBYs don't like small apartments (aPodments) because they say aPodments will change the character of neighhborhoods by providing housing for low-income tenants, but they don't like tall developments (like those proposed in SLU) because they say tall buildings will change the character of neighborhoods with yuppie housing that prices out low-income tenants?

2. Isn't it weird that ... Democrats such as Gov. Jay Inlsee and avid greens, such as state Sen. Kevin Ranker (D-40, Orcas Island), are busy hailing bipartisanship today after the Republicans voted for Inslee's climate change bill, while the Republicans are simultaneously blocking a bill that would actually do something tangible about global warming?

Inslee's bill (sponsored by Sen. Ranker) sets up a committee to make recommendations to meet greenhouse gas reduction goals that Gov. Chris Gregoire already signed into law in 2008; and in order to even get GOP signoff, the Democrats had to agree to strip out language about the causes and effects of global warming—you know, science stuff.

The Democrats sent out gleeful press releases today about the success of the bill. Ranker said:

The passage of [this bill] allows us to set up a process that moves us beyond the question of whether or not climate change is a real issue, but instead allows us to discuss the specific actions needed to combat climate change.

Okay. Meanwhile, a bill that would actually have an immediate effect on resources, a bill that the Democratic house passed 59-38 in early March, is going nowhere, still waiting for action in the senate environmental committee where it hasn't even gotten a hearing yet. The bill sets water conservation standards for showerheads, toilets, and faucets and sets energy efficiency standards for batteries.

The Washington Realtors Association were the only ones who testified against the bill in the house.

The senate environment committee is chaired by Sen. Doug Ericksen (R-42, Ferndale), the same committee chair who's being praised by Democrats today for passing Inslee's climate bill.

(Footnote: Inslee does get some serious enviro props today, though. Check out the letter he sent to the feds about the coal train proposal.)

If we can just get the bookers at the Royal Room to add some death metal to their brainy assortment of jazz and diaspora jams, I want people to stop telling me how hip Brooklyn is.

3. Isn't it Weird that ... the most adventurous music calendar in the city right now isn't at a Capitol Hill club, but at a club in Columbia City, the Royal Room?

If we can just get the bookers and programmers at the Royal Room (including Wayne Horvitz of OK Hotel fame) to add some death metal to their brainy assortment of jazz and diaspora jams, I want people to stop telling me how hip Brooklyn is.

4. Isn't it weird that ... The biggest contingent to show up at today's Seattle City Council meeting was from Kittitas County? A dozen-plus speakers showed up to protest the city's plans to truck its food and yard waste over the Snoqualmie Pass to Cle Elum.

"Frankly, I'm embarrassed to be sending you materials you do not want," council member Sally Bagshaw said; council member Tom Rasmussen, meanwhile, compared the move to other cities that "send their waste to Africa, or India."