worldwide pablo

Dog days of August

Apropos of absolutely nothing, we note a discovery today:

Go to Google and type in "Pablo," and lo, there we are, in No. 10, or No. 11, or No. 12, or No. ?? [depending on the vagaries of the Internet.] Out of 84.3 million possibilities! [Now, exactly how did that happen?]

By the way: We have a fair idea how another search turns out, and has for several months: "gay swimsuit."

Ain't the Internet an interesting beast?

[PS: We'll be mostly on hiatus for a week or two. It's August, and we have other flies to swat. Stay cool, and enjoy the berries and nice weather.]

As July fades

There's a Pacific Northwest legend that says the last weekend in July never sees rain. Today's weather dispels that notion -- though only barely.

Still, if it makes for evenings like today, who cares? [Here was the view tonight, looking WNW from Chez Pablo.]

The Virtual Cocktail Hour

WWP amigo Lin Thompson hailed us today, right about 7 o'clock in the PM, just as we were thinking of a Friday afternoon toddy.

"Say," says LT, "what do you think of my new idea?: The Virtual Cocktail Hour?" LT expounds: Instead of sitting in a smoky or crowded bar, with friends [or not], and face the ever-vigilant DUI patrol on the way home -- why not retreat instead to the comfort of you own home, fire up the blender, and then call a friend for a "virtual" cocktail hour? Voila! No need to sit home alone whilst nursing the personal happy hour cocktail. And goodness, in this age of free or minimal long-distance charges, it's ever-affordable.

So here's Lin's idea. Why don't we all just just sit on our porch on Friday night, pour a nice one, and then call a friend?

That's exactly what WWP and LT did tonight. We quickly discovered limits: Our conversation ran longer than one drink, so a timeout was needed for replenishment. And though we were looking are pretty much the same setting sun, we realized this scheme would work only for folks in the same time zone, and probably, the same clime. ["You say it's cold there? Funny, it's ungodly hot here..."]

But we think this virtual scheme could work. Think of the gasoline saved, the traffic snarl unmet and the cigarette smoke uninhaled.

Best thing: When "happy hour" was over, it wasn't far to home.

Lookin' like the USA

Oregonians love to think that their beloved Beaver state is different from all others. Our official tourist slogan of many years even bragged as much: "Oregon. Things Look Different Here." [That gave way to the equally quixotic "We Love Dreamers."]

Oregon, after all, is the home of the bottle bill and wide-open beaches, a longtime magnet for progressive politics, home of the world's largest bookstore, a bicycle nirvana and unparalleled restaurant blissout, and [in Portland at least] a magnet for hipstertude enough to make  Susan Sarandon look like a Methodist tea lady.

But it turns out, we're actually quite typical. Seventh most typical, in fact.

Not so fast

Surprise, surprise. Turns out there won't be gay wedding bells anytime soon in our neighboring state to the north. The Washington state Supreme Court, in a narrow 5-4 vote, today affirmed the state's Defense of Marriage Act, which forbids gay marriage. Basically, the court answered the question: Does the legislature have the authority to define marriage? And the answer to that is, yes. [But what's creepy about the opinion is the rationale. Read it for yourself and then ask yourself if the court wasn't taking dictation from Jerry Falwell.]

There are some upsides: While the opinion clearly gives the legislature authority in this area, it also gives the assembly the power to change its mind. Also, nothing in the opinion would prevent the creation of gay civil unions. [Another plus might be that decision would seem to deprive the religious right of some of the red meat it thrives on for fundraising, especially for the upcoming fall election: three of the justices are seeking new terms.]

This may be a case of "be careful what you wish for." While religious conservatives may be cheering today's ban on gay marriage, they should be wondering why the court so carefully avoided making it permanent.

Gay marriage in the Evergreen state

As Metroblogging reports earlier today, the Washington state Supreme Court is expected to announce its decision tomorrow in Andersen v. King County, the gay marriage case that weighs the Evergreen state's constitutional guarantees of equal protection and immunities against what by some accounts is a drumbeat of popular opinion that deeply frowns upon such equal justice.

The consolidated case [two superior courts had tossed out the state gay marriage ban] specifically addresses Washington's Defense of Marriage Act. The opinion is expected to be divided, perhaps close. The fact that the court has announced ahead of time that there are concurrences and dissents, and that they will be available online via the Washington courts' website, suggests as much. All day, since we caught wind of this decision this morning, we've been attempting to divine the court's smoke signals. Though it's always dangerous to predict what a supreme court will do ahead of time, WWP's sources say the odds are in favor of a gay-friendly decision -- but only by a narrow margin, and only then, on the narrowest of arguments.

Our main source, The Bard of Ballard, opines:

I expect they will overturn the act on narrow grounds with lots of concurrences. They will kick the remedy over to the legislature. It will be closer than we supposed. And the backlash is going to be something awful.

He later adds:

Just from what I know of the justices, I see 6-3 on a good day or 5-4 on any other day. [A] friend ... thinks the chief will make it 7-2 to avoid being a Plessy chief justice, but he has a tough race from a well-funded property rights nut this year, so I don't see it. I think the conservatives always get po-faced because for keeping the base agitated. Losing  and being angry is always better than winning and losing a big issue.

We'll know it all tomorrow, probably earlier rather than later. Expect a decision as early as 8 a.m., here.

And then, let the fallout begin.

We wonder: To what degree, if any, will the political fallout resemble 2004's  debacle of locally and legislatively induced gay marriage in Oregon? Or not?

You know it's hot when...

Perhaps WWP admits his age too easily by confessing that he can still remember watching The Lone Ranger and the original reruns of Sky King.

We also remember that at one time nearly no one owned or operated one of these.  So when the weather got like this this today, it was little trip down memory lane to see a hot-weather surprise on the back porch.

Happy days.

Surprise, surprise

WWP is  frequently disappointed by the amateurish antics of Basic Rights Oregon, the default statewide GLBT rights organization that rarely surprises, only occasionally amuses, and more often disappoints.

Imagine tonight's headline out of BRO which actually does the opposite, on most counts: An endorsement for the right candidate, and for the right reasons. Read here.

Weather watch

It seems everyone's cluck-clucking this week about the impending hot weather that a stampede of meteorologists are predicting will visit us this weekend. Nevermind that local weather forecasters have about the same track record as Poor Richard's Almanac[k] -- hardly anyone ever seems to notice, or care, that local weather forecasters can hardly pick a nimbus from a cumulus.

Even so, before the blast furnace actually arrives [assuming that it really does], we wonder: Is this not the coolest, if not coldest, run-up to a heat streak ever? Only last night we were barbecuing hamburgers on the porch ... wearing fleece. Today, the evening breeze is so brisk in our northeast PDX abode, that the windows have been shuttered.

Something's wrong with this picture, but what?

The real cost of a cup of coffee

We always suspected as much, and a dated Washington Post article we recently ran across again only re-proves the point:  Those innocent $3 or $4 lattes ... they really add up.

... [A] five-day-a-week $3 latte habit on borrowed money can cost $4,154, when repaid over 10 years. ... The Stop Buying Expensive Coffee and Save Calculator shows that if you made your own coffee and for 30 years refrained from buying a $3 latte, you could save $55,341 [with interest].

Suddenly, the office coffee is beginning to sound pretty good.