Authorities are forecasting 'excessive noise' events and an increase in showcases for the military industrial complex starting this morning. Be prepared for bursts of teeth rattling noise.

Thursday
9:45 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
1:15 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Friday
12:45 p.m. – 2:40 p.m.

Saturday
12:45 p.m. – 2:40 p.m.

Sunday
12:45 p.m. – 2:40 p.m.

To report an incident in your area, please contact:

• The Seafair board at (206) 728-0123
• The FAA regarding low flying aircraft at (425) 227-1389

UPDATE 1:50 PM:
Here's a look at what a lone Angel sounds like on a direct overhead pass. Below the Human Pain Threshold. Weak.

I was hoping to share a recording of my Blue Angels talk radio session from last week but there appears to be a conspiracy afoot. For some reason, KVI 570-AM hasn't posted the online archive of the broadcast yet. Very suspicious! Clearly, they are worried the impact my words might make on the general population. Stay tuned. For now, here's some lame video of the fun:

For those of you wondering how it went (thanks for reading, mom!), I have to admit it -- it's kind of fun to have people tell you how stupid you are in such an artificial setting. Basically, everybody ends up playing a character. The hosts play the dramatic attack dogs, the callers, the appalled victims and me, the liberal douchebag. I was scheduled to be on the air for one hour -- there were so many callers who wanted to tell me off, we ended up talking Blue Angels for two hours. Even I was tired of talking about it by the end.

My points:

• It's a wasteful, outdated show of military pageantry in a time of actual war and an economic downturn.
• It's dangerous...

No, not a petition to get me to stop talking about the Angels. And, yes, another petition. Here's the deal -- I figure if I'm going to go through the effort of going on the radio to talk about this crud, I might as well provide some kind of goal to progress toward.

So, sign this petition to demand the mayor and the city council to hold a hearing to discuss the Blue Angels. I'm not asking to shut them down. I'm asking for a productive forum for citizens to discuss the debate that comes up every summer. Yes, there are plenty of other problems in the world -- hey, let's talk about those too. But you'll need to get your own petition.

IMG_7003.JPG Originally uploaded by picatar

I may finally be receiving the punishment I deserve for my ongoing bitching about the Blue Angels' annual assault on Seattle.

I've been asked to play the part of liberal douchebag on KVI 570-AM's conservative cranky pants talk show The Commentators Thursday afternoon.

Unless I get bumped for somebody more douche-like, tune in around 4p to hear me serve as the progressive punching bag for angry windbags Ken Schram and John Carlson as we talk Blue Angels, Seafair and the American Way.

Any advice? Not sure who to root for tomorrow, are you?

If I haven't been obnoxious enough this week, just you wait. The Blue Angels will touch down on Tuesday. Some of you may recall my fondness for the Navy's stunt and recruiting machines. This year, though, I'll be a little more relaxed about the whole thing because I see a possible solution in the making.

At July 17th's design commission review of the project, artist Mike Ross discussed the status of the controversial jet airplane sculptures he is planning for the Capitol Hill light rail station. As a supporter of the work's artistic merit, I was disappointed to hear Ross cop to a situation some critics had warned about -- in the review, Ross said he was having trouble arranging for the jet parts he needed to complete the design. Apparently, the military has requirements for how long a jet model needs to be out of commission before its parts can be purchased. I thought the few critics who had been lobbing up the potential problem were crack-pot blow-hards going off on some fantastic tangent. Maybe they were. But...