New York Times Columnist Nicholas Kristof Bashes Microsoft Bing
While several nice things have been written about Microsoft's new Bing search engine, including by his NYT colleague David Pogue, op-ed columnist Nicholas Kristof does not agree. In a scathing Friday blog post, Kristof accuses MSFT of tailoring Chinese-language search queries in Bing to censor sensitive topics like the Dalai Lama, Tiananmen Square, and Falun Gong.
Don't even ask about the Dalai Lama.
Kristof writes that Microsoft's explanation, a software bug, "insults my intelligence and yours." He continues, "My hunch is that Microsoft simply has decided at a top level that it will compromise what principles it must to ingratiate itself with China." And further, "Now Microsoft is sacrificing the integrity of Bing searches so as to cozy up to State Security in Beijing. In effect, it has chosen become part of the Communist Party's propaganda apparatus."
Got a response to that, Steve Ballmer?
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Comment of the Day: Furious Styles Member Didn't Expect T-Shirt Controversy
A reader who calls himself a current member of the band Furious Styles responds to Local Hardcore Band 'Furious Styles' Uses Cop-Killing to Sell T-Shirts. He says the murder of an innocent police officer isn't going to change his group's views on law enforcement.
"The past day has been a shit-storm for a shirt that wasn't even supposed to reach mainstream society. This shirt wasn't a silly publicity stunt and frankly we're supprised at the ammount of attention it's recieved. We've never wanted or expected mainstream success or attention. This shirt was meant to sell to a select few fans, not to be peddled off onto Seattle's teenagers at Hot-Topic.
Anyone who knows Furious Styles knows our stance on police and just because an officer is actually killed doesn't mean we're going to change our tune, so to speak. It wasn't a joke then and it's not a joke now.
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David Mendoza, Former Owner of Pazzo's Pizza, Weed Smuggler, Gets 14 Years in Prison
David R. Mendoza's life in summation: former Garfield High School class president. Owner of the historic Liberty Theater in Bend, Oregon, and the bro-friendly Pazzo's Pizzeria in Eastlake. Apparent friend to the entire B.C. chronic smoking nation. -thumb-200x151-thumb-200x151-thumb-200x151-thumb-200x151.jpg)
Definitely under new management
As of today, however, you can add sentenced pot smuggler to that list.
Two Very Different Opinions on the Seattle Housing Market
CNNMoney.com reports today that if you're in the market for a lifetime's worth of debt, Seattle is a great place to live. The Emerald City placed second behind only San Francisco in a list of cities most likely to see their home values increase by 2011. 
To buy or not to buy? That is the question.
According to forecasters polled by the cable-news giant, that means a 3.8% jump thanks to our "better than average" job market. A welcome softening of the 15% free fall housing values have taken since the bottom fell out. And a seriously delusional load of crap if you're to believe the lovable cranks over at real-estate blog Seattle Bubble.
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OMG! Jonas Brothers to Endorse Microsoft Xbox360!
You know what? Let Apple have its annoying Justin Long and nerdy John Hodgman for those Mac versus PC commercials. Microsoft just upped the celebrity stakes by announcing that teen rockers the Jonas Brothers will be endorsing its Xbox360 videogame console. 
The Jonas Brothers want...more brains!
The NYT and others are reporting that a new MSFT ad campaign will prominently feature the tween rockers. The spots are built around the catchphrase "It's more fun time." (Not something you could ever imagine Steve Ballmer saying.) Given that gamers are overwhelmingly male (not the brothers' fan base), it's unclear how the clean-shaven, Disney-created trio will connect with those who prefer Grand Theft Auto and first-person shooter games to bubblegum pop.
Unless, of course, a game can be developed that features the Jonas Brothers as evil, brain-eating zombies who, with the power of their their stupefying music, turn millions of preadolescent girls into their army of slaves. Oh, wait...
Local Hardcore Band 'Furious Styles' Uses Cop-Killing to Sell T-Shirts
UPDATE: Another former band member disowns the shirt. Details after the jump.
A big tip of the hat to SeattleCrime.com for what they accurately titled as today's classiest story.
A local hardcore metal group didn't have the same reaction as most Seattleites to the assassination of Officer Tim Brenton. Whereas most of the city saw the murder of a cop as a good time to remember that peace officers have a very dangerous job and we should be thankful for the work they do, the charming fivesome that is Furious Styles (that'd be those fine gentleman to your right) decided now would be a good time to make money selling t-shirts.
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Sports Guy Bill Simmons Shocked to Find Love for the Sonics Can't Get Him Out of a Speeding Ticket
Celebrities expect to be treated differently than non-celebrities. That's part of why they're famous. But it's one thing to expect favorable treatment. Bitching publicly about not getting it is quite another.
The Sports Guy is beloved by Sonics fans, less so by state troopers.
Bill Simmons is a celebrity. The ESPN.com writer known more commonly as "The Sports Guy" has parlayed his fan's-perspective style into a role as the most popular columnist in America. For proof, look no further than Amazon.com where "The Book of Basketball," Simmons' 700-page opus to the NBA, is currently the number-one bestselling sports book and 12th overall.
Simmons' stardom spans the country, as witnessed by the Disneyland-long lines during his recent book tour. But in Seattle, Simmons is more folk-hero than quip-maker. Which may explain why, while he's within the city limits, Simmons doesn't think the rules apply to him.
Hybrid Vehicles to Become Even More Annoying on Seattle Streets
As previously mentioned, our state contributed accident data to a recent federal traffic safety report that concluded that the Prius and other silent hybrid vehicles were striking a disproportionate share of pedestrians and cyclists. It seemed a cruel irony: Those eco-conscious Prius drivers might inadvertently cause harm to their fellow greenies. But now Chevy comes to the rescue. 
As reported by Jalopnik, the Chevy Volt hybrid now comes equipped with a chirping warning signal drivers can flick to alert those who don't hear the car coming. Certainly this is better than having a motorist honk at you, which can be so startling to a cyclist to cause, not prevent, an accident. But to be serenaded with a gently scolding "Ping ping ping" sound every time a hybrid breezes by? That would be even more annoying than the redundant old Obama bumper stickers they refuse to take off. (Dude, we know how you voted.) So here's a tip to Toyota: Let Prius drivers download custom warning tones for bikers and peds. Or let them hook up their iPods. So when we hear the music of Yanni, we'll know they're coming.
Tim Lincecum Wins Cy Young, Proves Voters Don't Mind Less Victories or Pot Arrests
Former University of Washington pitcher and current San Francisco Giant Tim Lincecum won his second-straight National League Cy Young award yesterday.
This guy likes to get stoned? Impossible.
The hardware comes a couple days after Zach Greinke took home the same honor in the American League. Combined, Lincecum and Greinke's victories constitute a trend: The slow devaluation of the win as the primary measure of a pitcher, a fancy way of saying that voters are getting smarter as baseball stats get more accurate.
More interesting, however, is the fact that two weeks ago Lincecum, a dead ringer for Mitch from "Dazed and Confused," was busted for pot possession while speeding down a highway in Southwest Washington. So which is more progressive: Voters overlooking Lincecum's low win total (he had three less than his closest rival, Adam Wainwright) or his hot-boxed Mercedes?
Reardon Watch: Reardon to the Rescue!
Last weekend a carload of twenty-somethings took a 35 mph corner going 70 to 80. The car slid off the road, hit a tree, and killed two of the guys in the car. According to the Everett Herald, a third is on life support at Harborview Medical Center. The tragedy led to outcry from residents along the sidewalk-less road near the new Lynnwood High School.
Thomas James Hurst/Seattle Times As you can see in this photo from the Seattle Times, Aaron Readon can flex some serious muscle.
The North Road, as it's known, is owned by Snohomish County. And the wreck stirred Aaron Reardon and the rest of the county government to flex some political muscle.
New Documents, Complexity, Likely to Delay Trial of Bellevue Man, Peter Egner, as a Nazi War Criminal
Whether or not Peter Egner of Belleuve is a war criminal will not be decided this year or next, it appears. Federal prosecutors and his attorneys this week asked the federal court to delay his planned May 18, 2010 trial to Jan. 12, 2011, saying they can't meet the earlier deadline because the case, already more than a year old, is too complex, and that hundreds of newly discovered historical documents regarding Egner's alleged participation in death camp activities have turned up in Serbia. 
Both sides also agree they are unlikely to settle the case early. In a joint brief filed Monday here in U.S. District Court, they say the case "is not amenable to settlement or mediation." Egner, a naturalized immigrant since the 1960s, is accused of direct involvement in what the Justice Department says was the mass murder of more than 17,000 Serbian Jews, Gypsies, and political dissidents by the Nazis' Security Police and Security Service (SPSS) during Egner's service in the German Army from 1941 to 1943.
Pontiac Silverdome Sold for $583,000: Here's the House the New Owners Could Have Bought
At an auction on Monday, the Pontiac Silverdome, the former home of the NFL's Detroit Lions, was sold to a Canadian developer for $583,000. Roughly half of what a New Jersey couple recently paid for the one-bedroom bungalow where Bruce Springsteen wrote "Born to Run" and a 99% discount on the $55 million it cost to build the stadium 35 years ago.
If only they'd thrown in the football team too they might have made it a cool million.
The Silverdome's new owners say they plan to use it as a home for a professional soccer team. But assuming they were just in the market for any old house, just what could their money have gotten them here in Seattle?
Teenage Drunk Driver Calls the Cops...on Herself
It's not often you can say that a teenager who drank and got behind the wheel of a car made a smart move. But one 19-year-old Auburn teen may be the exception.
The young lady's night began at a party where she claimed her friends were feeding her booze without her knowledge. Whether she's telling the truth or not we'll never know. But by the time 5 A.M. rolled around she found herself sitting in a parked car on the side of the road, badly schnookered and in need of assistance.
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In The Race to Mouse-Click Their Way to a Charitable Payout, Eastside Moms Are Destroying Amputees
Clicks are the new currency in an Internet economy. We all know that. But it's never been more true than in the case of a charitable promotion being run by Seattle Metropolitan Credit Union—one that comes to an exciting climax today.
No, not that clicking.
Seattle Metropolitan is going to give away $5,000 to a worthy non-profit organization—depending on which of seven finalists receives the most votes on the credit union's Web site. The potential winners include, for example, a group that prepares meals for the homeless and a scrappy theater company (Wing-It Productions).
There are no limits to voting. No registering or providing email addresses. You can just keep refreshing the page and voting again and again. It's all about passion and dogged determination.
So it may not be too much of a surprise which of the seven groups has managed to take a commanding lead.
Comment of the Day: Decriminalizing Pot May Be Bad for Seattle Smokers, But it's Good for the State
Reader Alison Holcomb responds to With Pete Holmes in Office, Decriminalizing Pot Could Actually Be a Drag for Seattle Smokers. The Drug Policy Director of the ACLU of Washington says that while Seattle may yell the loudest about pot arrests, the rest of the state gets busted a lot more.
Warning: Spliffs best enjoyed outside city limits.
"Pete Holmes is to be applauded for taking a public stance that treating adult marijuana use as a crime is bad policy. But this is a statewide issue. Of the 11,733 marijuana possession arrests reported to the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs for 2008, only 80 - or less than 1 percent - were made by Seattle police officers. Senate Bill 5615 addresses what's happening with the other 99+ percent.
