This is spectacular. And not because I’m trying to encourage underage drinking – I was a very wholesome child actually. I only had one or two drinks ever before starting college. But it’s awesome because it’s so simple – yet big enough to end up on The Smoking Gun.

More than half the kids at that school probably have the computer skills to replicate the school’s stationary and make the letter seem official. When I was in school we had a printed directory with every students name and address – I’m guessing now it’s online somewhere where creating a list to do a simple mail merge is also a piece of cake.

But wow – I bet the administrators and parents are in an uproar. Now, I do think that the legal drinking age should be 18 – i’s ridiculous that they can go to war and die, vote, get married, have babies… but not have a beer. So I think that makes the uproar even more hysterical.

And really, did it cause any harm? No. It was a senior prank – and a good one.
If I knew who did it, I’d buy ’em a beer… after they turn 21 of course.

Brewcaster, one of our former writers, alerted me to bike/car bike accident at OHSU about 1/2 hr ago.  I looked around the internets, but am unable to find anymore information.  Brewcaster is on the scene and reports serious injuries and police involvement.  Thanks Brewcaster.  We’ll keep you posted.

Updated 10:49: Brewcaster left comments that it was a bike accident only.  Hope the rider is ok.

I walked over the Steel bridge the other evening and came up towards the Rose Quarter and saw that this hillside overlooking the train tracks had seen some severe pruning. A bunch of small established trees had been cut down and left along with some brush. Upon closer investigation, I realized only trees that would block a perfect photo opportunity for the city of Portland were trimmed down.

I remember a story about 15 years ago about some large trees in the west hills down off I5 that were topped grossly and the only explanation was that homeowners wanted a better view of the east side. Is this the case here or is this planned pruning? Anyone know? If you are looking for a great photo opp, now you have it.

This is taken right to the east of the big peace symbol looking over the train tracks south of the Steel bridge.

DSCN8107.JPG

Originally uploaded by dieselboi

[poll=1]
(Note: you must be registered to vote. If you’re not sure about the terms, you may want to read the post before voting.)

The media landscape has changed dramatically over the last decade, with ownership concentrating in fewer corporate hands, and with declining newspaper circulation and ad revenue. Eric Alterman eulogizes the late, great big city daily in a recent New Yorker.

Our home-town daily struggles to maintain relevance with a proxy Web site, and tragi-comedically cautious style which has seen them sit on important stories (see Packwood and Goldschmidt) to protect their powerful friends, even as they pursue Pulitzers for fluffy human interest reporting.

Meanwhile, blogs have sprung up like weeds in the fertile soil once covered by paid journalists, with citizen journalists pouring forth millions of column inches daily, completely free of the stodgy old constraints of artificial objectivity. (more…)

Just got a text from my wife who is studying for finals at PCC Cascade in North Portland and the library is currently in lockdown due to an “active shooter alert” in the neighborhood.   Don’t have any more information than that.  If you do, please leave it in the comments.  No local news is reporting anything yet.

Update 5:30: There was a shooting at PCC Cascade outside of the cafeteria according to what I’m hearing and a teacher found shell casings.  According to KPTV, there was a report of a shooting and Portland Police recommended the lockdown, but there are no victims.

Yep, it is that time again to change our clocks.  Before heading to slumberville, walk around the house and move all your manual clocks one hour forward for DST.  You don’t need to do anything with your cell phone or computer or satellite receiver as they will auto change (hopefully.)   Yeah, we lose an hour of sleep, but that gives you an excuse to take a nap on Sunday afternoon.

Would you camp up on that ledge above the windows? For the right cause? Well, a few years back, our famous ECO protester Tre Arrow did and that seemed to be the beginning of his unusual stardom. Tre Arrow is back in town after a four year battle with extradition from Canada. He obviously lost. It is my understanding that he was almost free and clear up there and not on anyone’s radar when he was caught shoplifting. Wow, to end up in jail for 4 yrs and now probably more in the US for shoplifting.

I haven’t followed the whole Tre Arrow saga as I don’t have a vested interest in it. I respect people who protest and fight for our natural spaces, yet I do believe it crosses a line when property is damaged and/or people are injured. We’re not in a revolution here in America (yet), so we all need to still play by some of the rules to get things done. How is burning down luxury homes solving anything? They are luxury homes – they will be rebuilt and now they are probably on a tighter schedule, so they may cut corners and may not use the greenest materials. Just a thought.

downsized_0304081229a.jpg

Originally uploaded by dieselboii

A protest downtown has closed SW Broadway from Yamhill south. I spoke with an officer and this is being put on by PSU students. I will try and post more photos later.

 More Photos

There is some sort of Tuesday lunch action/protest going on down here in Pioneer Square. I am seeing signs for national healthcare and anti Bush and a blow up statue of liberty. Also, there is a huge piece of fabric of the Declaration of Independence that people are signing.

On Wednesday, I’m sitting at Chili’s in Lake O for lunch of some honey dipped chicken wings…(don’t ask)…. when I looked up at the TV and saw our own Greg Oden being interviews by Jim Rome on ESPN. I was intrigued because Oden hasn’t been in the news lately since he isn’t playing. One would think Brandon Roy would be in the interview chair. The sound was off, so I had to read he subtitles between chewy bites of overcooked chicken. The interview was about Oden speaking out publicly in support of Barak Obama. That’s cool. I am surprised that this is a big news story, but in the world of sports, maybe the players don’t publicly get political and this is a first.

On Thursday, I got a little confused. I was listening to OPB and they ran a story about Laura Bush’s visit to Portland. Along with causing traffic delays, Mrs. Bush was in town to support youth programs as part of an initiative W. had kicked off in 2005. One of those programs is mentoring. At one event, our Greg Oden got up on stage to introduce Laura Bush…. HUH? Yep, the day after Greg is news about supporting Obama, he is hanging with Laura. Now that is one classy fella. Seriously. I personally would have had a difficult time if put in that position. It shows we picked a winner in more ways than just basketball when we drafted Greg Oden. Way to go Greg!

Side note – look who else has a blog and wants to keep Portland weird.