Thanks to these high, high temperatures (OMFG!!1! 80 degrees?! *pantpant*), the P-I reports, the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency is close to calling a smog alert. The shame! The agency's Dave Kircher says to do everything possible to keep from driving the next few days: "Stay home, have an iced tea or whatever, and don't mow your lawn." Here we just laugh! As bicyclists, we're gonna pack extra water, but otherwise, Kircher, we'll do whatever......

The same day that the Seattle Times tells us that two south Seattle cement plants are pumping 100 pounds of mercury into the air each year, we learned from the P-I that the Bush administration doesn't think asbestos causes cancer. Chronic exposure to tiny levels of mercury in the air can give you the shakes and make you stupid, but it also accumulates in the earth and in water. We're probably close to being able......

So Kirkland's Jason Mesnick did not end up with the bachelorette, despite all the blog commenters in his corner. The P-I has an interview with Jason today on life after one of the more public rejections you can receive (what's ABC's audience share these days?)--but if you take a look in the comments, you start feeling a little better for the guy. He's appreciated. Deeply. On a soul-level. Honestly, Cupid must be fat and lazy......

"SPD Patrol Cars" by Slightlynorth, from the Seattlest Flickr Pool. Thanks! Ooooh—the Seattle P-I has launched their new crime blog, Seattle 911. It's a resting place for the flotsam and jetsam of the city's police and fire departments, where morbidly fascinated readers can take in side stories, breaking crime news, and details from daily reports. The site promises "news both fresh and forgotten," which we hope means that there will also be info about......

We were impressed by this morning's Times article about the need to increase bicycle safety on the city's streets. Writer Mike Lindblom stays away from polarizing histrionics. Instead he makes bicyclists seem like sane, good people who just want to make it to work alive:At each end of the Fremont Bridge, road signs tell car drivers to yield to bikes -- southbound motorists turning right toward Seattle Pacific University will wait for the bicyclists pedaling......