The construction of the twin apartment towers with the wavy outlines at 1200 Stewart St in the Denny Triangle neighborhood started in May 2018.
So it will be 9 years when the 45-story towers with 927 apartments finally open in 2027—six years later than the original timeline had called for.
That’s a decommissioned United Airlines Boeing 747-400 fuselage mounted 14 feet (4.3 m) above the walkway. It will house a little office space for Westbank (the project’s developer). The fuselage was purchased from a scrapyard in Victorville, California, cut into 39 sections and trucked up to Seattle.
It’s Tesla-Tesla-Tesla in the sunset photo that I took from the Melrose Avenue overlook.
I have a few hundred of these self-adhesive Japanese stamps on that are still on paper. My usual technique of dunking them into water to get the stamps to peel off is not going to work with these.
The proper method is to spray the back of the envelope paper with isopropyl alcohol. The liquid soaks through the paper in about 30 to 60 seconds, dissolves the acrylic adhesive, and then the stamp can carefully be peeled off.
Happy Friday.
The smoke has returned here, to the west of the Cascade Mountains, but the worst of it lies at 5,000 ft or higher.
The day-time highs here in the city have been right around the average for August this week: high 70s with 80°F (27°C) today.
The setting sun turns the smoky skies pink behind Miller Playfield’s trees here on Seattle’s Capitol Hill.
The Consumer Price Index rose 0.1 percent in July from a month earlier, the Labor Department reported Wednesday, and 3.4 percent from the previous year on a seasonally adjusted basis.
Stripping out volatile food and energy prices, prices rose 2.5 percent over the year.
– Lydia DePillis writing for the New York Times
Yes, inflation overall has eased but several big items that affect everyone’s budget is way, way up year over year. How about: Gasoline (all types) +24.6%, electricity +4.2%, fruit & vegetables +5.1%, airline fares +25.5%, motor vehicle maintenance & repair +6.6%. [Headlines and graphic from The New York Times]Wage growth has fallen below inflation again, and nobody has to tell workers that commute by car that they are paying a lot more for gas. They know the pain at the pump all too well. [Graphic from The New York Times]
The first total solar eclipse in decades in Europe swept across the continent on Wednesday, turning day to dark across several countries as crowds watched from hilltops, coastlines and other open spaces.
The coincidence of Earth, the moon and the sun falling into perfect alignment — a fleeting celestial event known as totality — created a frenzy across the region. People paid exorbitant hotel rates to be in the inner part, or umbra, of the lunar shadow. Along that path, where the sky was clear, the sun became a black disk ensconced in a hazy corona, surrounded by planets and stars.
– Jason Horowitz reporting for the New York Times from Castrillo de la Reina, Spain
The sun is completely obscured by the moon. A view of the eclipse from Castrillo de la Reine in the north of Spain.The total solar eclipse was visible in parts of Siberia, Greenland, Iceland, and Spain. Some Icelanders saw the total eclipse, and other did not, because of clouds overhead. [Graphic by Adine Renner/ The New York Times]
I was at the Magus Books used book store in University Village today.
I had to ask AI who this person in the photo on the wall was. It is the English poet, artist, designer and socialist William Morris (1834-1896), famous for his leadership in the British Arts and Crafts Movement. This is an iconic 1884 portrait of him taken by photographer Frederick Hollyer. (And what was the British Arts and Crafts Movement about? It was an influential design movement that emerged in Britain around 1880 and lasted through the 1920s as a response to the Industrial Revolution. It rejected mass factory production in favor of handmade quality, original materials and traditional craftsmanship.)Among my favorite shelves in the bookstore are the ones with dictionaries, and the one with the graphic comic books in foreign languages. This beautiful and enormous old Chinese-English dictionary was $120, maybe just a little bit too expensive for an impulse buy. In the top left corner of this page, we can learn how to write ‘China’ in Chinese: 中国 (pronounce zhōng guó). The characters stand for ‘Middle Kingdom’, a term that dates back to many centuries before BCE. It reflects the belief that China was situated at the center of a vast square Earth, surrounded by the Four Seas, beyond which lay islands inhabited by barbarians.
A powerful earthquake struck western Colombia on Monday morning, rattling much of the country, killing more than 100 people and sending residents fleeing from swaying and crumbling buildings in multiple major cities. As rescuers searched the rubble of damaged buildings and officials warned of possible aftershocks, the death toll appeared likely to rise.
The 7.4 magnitude earthquake occurred at 7:34 a.m. local time, according to the United States Geological Survey and Colombia’s geological service, with the epicenter roughly three miles east of San José del Palmar, a town of some 5,000 people in a rural part of the Chocó region, where officials reported significant damage. Videos showed collapsed and partially collapsed buildings in the major cities of Pereira, Manizales and Cali.
– Genevieve Glatsky and Julie Turkewitz reporting for the New York Times from Bogotá, Colombia
This one in Colombia occurred seven weeks after the devastating 7.5 magnitude earthquake in Venezuela, and does not appear to be related to it.
The epicenters are some 800 miles (1,200 km) apart and on different plates.
There are 15 to 20 earthquakes of this magnitude or greater every year around the world.
A constellation of cities in the foothills of the Andes sustained heavy damage from a major earthquake that struck western Colombia on Monday morning, photos and videos show. Residents of Colombia’s largest cities, Bogotá and Medellín, reported intense shaking, but both appear to have been spared the worst of the damage. [Reporting and map from the New York Times]
Watch out, insects.
This little backyard spider is going to snare you in its web.
(I see the new “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” movie is breaking box office records, but I don’t think I am up for seeing it in the theater.)
One would think everything is at a standstill in Ukraine because of the war, but no— my purchase of Japanese stamps from an Ebay seller in Kyiv arrived in the mail today, courtesy of Ukrposhta (Ukraine’s postal service).
These stamps were on the outside envelope.
2017 Definitive Series – Coats of Arms Issued Jun. 13, 2017 Perf. 14 x 13½ | Design: Natalia Andreichenko | Offset Litho. | No watermark 1656 BFO Domestic Postal Rate H | Multicolored | Coat of Arms of Marynyn Notes: The Ukrainian trident (tryzub) appears in a small shield at the top left Marynyn (Маринин) is a village located in Rivine Oblast (Рівненська обл.), as noted in the small text near the bottom [Sources: stampworld.com, Claude AI]2011 Household Items – One of a set of 4 stamps Issued Jun. 7, 2011 Perf. 13¾ | Design: Ekaterina Shtanko | Offset Litho. | No watermark 1191 ANW ₴ 6.00 | Multicolored | Bandura (Бандура) Notes: The Ukranian monetary unit is the hryvnia (symbol ₴). A bandura is a pear-shaped, multi-stringed plucked instrument unique to Ukrainian folk music. The image shows the instrument’s rounded wooden body, long fretted neck, elaborately carved scroll/ pegbox, and the many strings (both the neck strings and the shorter sympathetic strings stretched across the soundboard) that give the bandura its distinctive harp-like sound. A decorative rosette surrounds the sound hole. [Sources: stampworld.com, Claude AI]2023 Definitive Series – Pysanky Decorated Easter Eggs Issued Apr. 21, 2023 Perf. 13 | Design: Natalia Andriichenko | Engraving: Integrated Printing Plant Ukraina For Securities | Offset Litho. | No watermark 2096 BWQ Domestic Postal Rate T | Multicolored | Pysanky Decorated Egg from the Hutsul ethnocultural region Notes: About pysanky: These eggs are decorated using a wax-resist (“batik”) method, where designs are drawn in hot wax before dyeing in successive colors, with the wax removed at the end to reveal the multicolor pattern. Each region of Ukraine has traditionally developed its own distinct motifs and color palettes, and Hutsul pysanky are especially prized for their intricate geometric symbolism. Region label: “ГУЦУЛЬЩИНА” (Hutsulshchyna) in small text at the top — indicating this pysanka pattern comes from the Hutsul ethnocultural region, an area in the Carpathian Mountains (spanning parts of Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi, and Zakarpattia oblasts) renowned for its distinctive folk art Design: An elaborately patterned egg rendered in the traditional pysanka wax-resist dyeing technique, featuring a black background with a central stylized fish motif (a common Christian symbol) in green, yellow, and white, surrounded by geometric bands of triangles, stars, and wave/comb patterns in yellow, green, black, and white — colors and motifs characteristic of Hutsul pysanky [Sources: stampworld.com, Claude AI]
Happy Friday.
It was a warm-ish day (83°F/ 28°C) here in the city, but there was a breeze around this morning and tonight.
The smoky air has cleared somewhat.
A hazy sunset with the warm colors washing out the blues in the cloudless sky. Sunset is now at 8.34 pm. The Space Needle hoisted a commemorative flag honoring the YMCA’s 150th anniversary today.
In 1995— as part of a series commemorating the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II— the postal service designed a stamp with a painting of a mushroom cloud captioned “Atomic bombs hasten war’s end, August 1945.”
Perhaps not surprisingly, the Japanese government, peace activists, and many others were offended by a stamp that appeared to celebrate a terrifying weapon that multiple countries now possessed and occasionally threatened to use.
After the intervention of then-President Bill Clinton, postal officials reconsidered the matter and the stamp was never released (although a prototype for it, showing “00” where the stamp’s denomination would have appeared, is easily found online).
In its place, the post office substituted an image of President Harry Truman announcing Japan’s surrender on August 14, 1945. (The stamp in the middle at the bottom of the souvenir sheet below).
– From a discussion of the most controversial stamps in the history of the United States on history.com
1995 World War II Souvenir Sheet Fifth and last souvenir sheet issued to commemorate the 50th anniversary of World War II Includes 10 stamps plus a world map Stamp Category: Commemorative Series: World War II Value: 32¢ (Denomination of each individual stamp) First Day of Issue: September 2, 1995 First Day City: Honolulu, Hawaii Quantity Issued (if known): 100,000,000 Printed by: Bureau of Engraving and Printing Printing Method: Offset, Intaglio Format: Sheetlets of 10 (arranged in 2 strips of 5, one across the top and one across the bottom of the sheetlet, with world map in between) Perforations: 11.1 (Eureka off-line perforator) Tagging: Overall, large block covering stamps and part of selvage Why the stamp was issued: This souvenir sheet was issued to commemorate the 50th anniversary of World War II. It was the last in a series of five that were issued over the course of five years. [Source: mysticstamp.com]
My Ebay purchase of stamps from Germany arrived today, sent by the seller from Backnang in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Let’s take a closer look at the stamps that he put on the envelope.
2021 World of Letters (two stamps from a series of 18 stamps) Issued Dec. 2, 2021 Perf. 12 Die Cut | Self-adhesive | Design: Bettina Walter | Engraving: Bundesdruckerei| Photolithography | 2D barcode panel | No watermark 3266 DQN €0.05 | Multicolored | Letter-and-pencil water lily 3267 DQO €0.85 | Multicolored | Letter-folded-into-swan origami [Sources: stampworld.com]2001 The 300th Anniversary of the Kingdom of Prussia Issued Jan. 11, 2001 Perf. 14 | Design: Aretz | Photolithography | No watermark 2037 BVK 110 Pfg/ €0.56 | Cream, brown-olive, gray & black | Coat of arms of Kingdom of Prussia (1701-1871) The Kingdom of Prussia was a powerful European state that existed from 1701 to 1918, ruled by the House of Hohenzollern. It was centered in Berlin and Brandenburg, and it led the 1871 unification of Germany. [Sources: stampworld.com, Wikipedia.com]2005 The 200th Anniversary of the Birth of Hans Christian Andersen, 1805-1875 Issued Apr. 7, 2005 Perf. 14 | Design: Blume-Zander & Zander | Engraving: Stampatore: Bundesdruckerei | Photolithography | No watermark 2311 CFZ €1.44 | Brown orange & black | Plaque and characters from the fairy tales of Hans Christian Anderson Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875) was a celebrated Danish author, renowned for his literary fairy tales. He is also the author of plays, novels, poems, travel books, and several autobiographies.
2005 Definitive Series of Flowers (one stamp from a series of 28 stamps) Issued Jan. 2, 2010 Perf. 14 | Design: Stefan Klein et Olaf Neumann | Engraving: Stampatore: Bundesdruckerei | Photolithography | No watermark 2584 CQI €4.10 | Multicolored | Lady’s-slipper orchid (Cypripedium calceolus) The lady’s slipper (Cypripedium) is a fascinating terrestrial orchid distinguished by its striking, shoe-shaped flower lip. In the wild—such as the strictly protected yellow lady’s slipper (Cypripedium calceolus) in Central Europe—it grows in open deciduous and pine forests on calcareous soils. [Sources: stampworld.com, Brittanica.com, Bund Naturschutz]
The Blue Angels did fly today, to close out the Seafair Festival weekend.
I had my big digital camera at the ready to take a few pictures from the bedroom upstairs.
The last picture shows all six aircraft in the squad, with the numbers on their tail fins.
The U.S. Navy Blue Angels air show was cancelled today, due to dangerous wind conditions. (Wind speeds on Saturday afternoon were about 17-23 mph, with frequent gusts of 28-31 mph.)
The organizers are confident that there will be a show on Sunday and will Saturday tickets for Sunday.
Headlines and photos from the Saturday print edition of the Seattle Times.
Blistering heat was expected to spread across a vast portion of the Western United States on Friday and through the weekend, with temperatures soaring into the 90s and even to over 120 degrees from the deserts of Arizona and California to the rolling plains of Montana.
The forecast showed the heat peaking in many places on Saturday and Sunday, when afternoon temperatures could rise as high as 103 (39.5°C) in Sacramento, 105 (40.5°C) in Salt Lake City, 115 (46°C) in Las Vegas and 117 (47 °C) in Palm Springs, according to the National Weather Service.
-Amy Graff writing for the New York Times
We’ve been lucky in Western Washington even though it has been a warm July. There were two highs of 91 (33°C) on July 20 and 21, and I count 6 days in the 80s, looking at the National Weather Service data. We have not had wildfire smoke here in the city of Seattle so far. We should not be fooled by that. National Public Radio reports that ‘Fire season in the Pacific Northwest is off to a roaring start, with fire officials predicting explosive growth of eastern Washington wildfires in the days ahead’. The winter snowpacks were 50% of the normal levels and vegetation is dry as tinder due to years of drought conditions. [Headlines and graphic from The New York Times]
The U.S. Navy Blue Angels roared overhead today as they rehearsed their maneuvers for the annual Seafair Weekend Festival. (The aircraft are F/A-18E Super Hornets.)
I ran outside, or to the window, a few times when I heard them, and took these pictures.
These two pictures are from my after-dinner walk tonight.
Looking out to the west with an hour of daylight left. (Sunset now at 8.47pm.) The Stars and Stripes on the Space Needle is flying at half-staff in remembrance of the victims of the deadly mass shooting that occurred at the Seattle Center during the Bite of Seattle food festival on Sunday. The tragic shooting broke out near the Armory, leaving three people dead and four others wounded.
This elephant seal found itself stranded on a farm near Mossel Bay in South Africa two weeks ago, on July 15. (There were heavy rains and flooding in the area. The seal had lounged around in the shallow waters near the coastline for too long.)
It is estimated to be about 8 years old and to weigh about 900 kg (2,000 pounds).
The beast is somewhat emaciated and should have more blubber on its bones, but it was given shots against rabies and a bacterial infection by a veterinarian from he Stranded Marine Animal Rescue Team. It seems to be doing better now.
These photos were posted on Facebook by the Stranded Marine Animal Rescue Team. S.M.A.R.T. was established in 2015 as a non-profit company. It is run by volunteers who are passionate about the safety, survival, and care of stranded marine animals.
Elephant seals are deep-diving carnivores whose diet primarily consists of squid and fish, alongside opportunistic prey like rays, sharks, and octopuses. They spend about nine months of the year at sea hunting, diving into the dark depths of the ocean where they can consume hundreds of small fish daily. [Source: NOAA]
