Lovely. King County crews mistakenly divert 8 million gallons of sewage into Ravenna Creek and out into Lake Union. Yuck!

King County is asking for this illegal tree house to be removed. The photo show of the treehouse is amazing.

Spam King arrested at the Harbor Steps here in Seattle. Yay!

Quoted: One expert estimated that the man agents dubbed the "Spam King" when they arrested him Wednesday sent billions, perhaps even tens of billions, of e-mails a day.

A new wilderness area has been approved at the House level. The new region is called Wild Sky and it encompasses 167 square miles out by Sultan. Yeehaw!

Quoted: The bill, introduced by Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Wash., would designate 167 square miles in the Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest north of Sultan, Wash., as wilderness, the government's highest level of protection.

Quoted: "Wild Sky will protect more low-elevation acres than any other wilderness area in the state, bringing wilderness closer to our communities and benefiting Washington families and businesses for generations to come," Larsen said.

Young adult literature is apparently experiencing a "Golden Age" according this Seattle P-I article today. This is great news. When I was teenager, there was a huge gap between "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and adult-oriented fiction.

As a pretty avid young reader, my family friends used to buy me adult sci-fi novel, sometimes with horrifying consequences (not for me, for my parents). I remember being 11 or 12 and showing my dad the crazy oral sex passages I had marked in the latest book (which I had been given as a gift) I was reading. He was not enthused.

Thanks to Derek for the heads-up on this great article.

Quoted: "There has been an increase in the age of the protagonist, the complexity of the plotting and the content -- the gravity of the content," Koelling said. "I think it may be a reflection of a more sophisticated teenage population."

Happy Monday!

Apparently enough people are committing suicide by jumping off of the Aurora bridge (4 a year) that they've made it a priority to do something about it.

Too bad their only short term plan is to add signs and phones rather than a net. If I were suicidal, I bet the signs and phones would piss me off more than they'd help.

After watching DC United vs. Real Madrid last night I am intrigued to see what the quality of play is like at a Seattle Sounders game. There's one tomorrow night (August 11th) - anyone interested in trying it out? Tickets are $12-17. There are only 4 more games this season...

Whoops. I like how they mention that it was felt in the submarine. Don't you think it would also be felt in the tugboat and barge?

Quoted: A Trident submarine was damaged after snagging a tow line in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the Coast Guard is investigating, Navy officials said.