Monday, March 11, 2019

Good morning, Portland, you’ve GOT this!

It sure is dark, considering that it’s Daylight Time. But that’s the way it is, on Monday, March 11, 2019. Sunrise isn’t til 7:31 AM, when our star pops out of our mountain, but then the light blue lingers way past sunset at 7:11 PM. Portland’s weather–after a bright and beautiful weekend–will likely be a mix of sun and clouds, with highs running up to 52. So we’re actually cracking 50, but it’s still below normal, continuing a string of 37 consecutive days of subpar temps at PDX. When will be the first 60? Best guess: St. Patrick’s Day!

I have thought of neither work nor news since last we met, but I’ve done some catching up so let’s plunge in:

A young guy pulled an air pistol, which looks exactly like a no-kidding gun, on a Lloyd Center store employee. Might have been Zumiez, or however you spell it. Cops responded in full gear, and he gave up in a kneeling surrender. Apparently someone in the mall yelled “Shooter!” Folks reacted as you might imagine, and the whole mall was locked down until things were straightened out. Lloyd Center does not need this.

Police would like us to be on the lookout for Virginia Bach, 84, who left her home in Beaverton on foot last night around 9:30 and didn’t return. She might have been heading to Lake Oswego.

A home at SE 87th and Division was burned in a fire that neighbors say was caused by a cigarette butt. Two dogs ran from the home and, to my knowledge, haven’t been found. One’s a black lab mix, the other’s a black and white collie. No collars, no microchips.

A gentleman is getting lots of good feelings from the internet for posting that he and his dog “went out to my favorite water hole, High Rocks, and spent a few hours cleaning up trash”–with a photo of him sitting on four or five giant bags of garbage. He’s being called Ridiculously Photogenic Trash Collector Guy. Which reminds me that SOLVE’s Spring Oregon Beach Cleanup is less than two weeks away.

Bridgeport Brewpub, Oregon’s original craft brewery, filled its last growler last night.

Stay tuned for new developments today on the C.W. Parker Carousel, which delighted Portlanders for decades at Jantzen Beach, and will soon be making a comeback.

Early this morning a flatback truck will haul a big huge crane up Broadway Drive and Greenway Avenue all the way up to Council Crest Park, where it’ll help replace the roof of that tall green Council Crest Water Tank, a job that will take well into summer.

The Oregon Ducks fell to Stanford 64-57 in the championship game of the Pac 12 women’s basketball tournament. Brackets for the national tournament will be selected a week from today, and we’ll see Oregon and Oregon State there as well. (Brackets for the mens’ edition of March Madness will be announced next Sunday).

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Several airlines and the government of China have grounded their new Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft, after one operated by Ethiopian Airlines crashed on takeoff from Addis Adaba. The same model crashed off the coast of Indonesia in five months ago. The cause is unknown. The Max has bigger and more fuel-efficient engines than earlier 737s, and they shift the center of gravity forward, which increases the tendency for the nose to pitch up after take-off. So to counteract that, Boeing invented sensors to point the nose of the plane down if it has pitched too high and could be in danger of stalling.

A woman in her thirties climbed over a barrier to take a selfie with a jaguar at the Wildlife World Zoo in Arizona. She’s lucky to be hospitalized with only a wound on the arm.

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Today is the 8th anniversary of that terrifying day in Japan when a 9-point subduction zone earthquake, just like those that have re-engineered the Oregon coast over history, triggered a tsunami that killed at least 10,000 people. It also caused the second-worst nuclear accident in history, and pushed waves that rattled docks as far away as the Oregon coast, while following up with debris that’s arrived here ever since.

It’s the 15th anniversary of the 2004 Madrid train bombings, after which Portland-area lawyer Brandon Mayfield was wrongly accused, the result of a fingerprint mixup and the fact that he was a convert to Islam who had previously represented a Portland cell of Taliban wannabes. It all ended in an apology from the government and a $2 million settlement.

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Let’s see what we can post in the Smile File today!

–“Son tweets about Dad’s new doughnut shop being empty. Store sells out next day.”

–“A taste of coexistence: How a Palestinian and an Israeli found friendship through food”

–“Steph Curry releases sneaker co-designed by girl who asked why only boys sizes existed”

–“Dallas Library Offers Free Prom Dresses to Teens”

–“Man Who Stood on Street Corner with Sign to Reunite Dog with Owner Now Getting Date Requests”

Details in the Daily Drip Coffee Cup!

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Let’s everybody be patient with our fellow sleepy people; adjusting to the time change will take a few days. Just pretend you’re back from vacation on some distant sunny shore, and you’re experiencing some well-earned jet lag!