Jeff Renner gone haywire? No, KING5 is reporting (about the forecast for this fall and winter, note account likely needed) and tells us to expect a wetter, windier, warmer winter. Dr. Seuss would be proud of that forecast.

KING 5 meteorologist Meeghan Black says last year was considered normal for the area. The [January snow]storm was no surprise.
“We normally do get snow in Seattle,” she said. “It’s not unusual.”
This year, she said, expect a wetter, windier fall and a warmer, windier winter.
While the current warming indicates the early stages of an El Nino, the conditions have not spread oceanwide. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration agency will continue to monitor the situation in the tropical Pacific.

I wouldn’t mind if we end up not having snow like last winter, but as long as the “wetter” they’re predicting doesn’t mean more of that stormy, California-style rain. Remember the crazy day in October when we got FIVE inches in one day? C’mon, this isn’t hurricane alley…

Before this morning, I don’t think that I’d noticed that the eastern wall of the Metro bus tunnel stop in the International District was decorated with giant oragami variations. I would’ve loved to see the giant machines used to fold the sheet metal!

of course there are special signs to point out the location of espresso vendors in the seattle-tacoma airport.

On the way back into town I noticed that we have signage in the airport to direct travelers to espresso signs. I guess we wouldn’t want anyone to get lost on their way to Starbucks.

In honor of the cover story/interview in the Stranger [#], a snapshot of another Cold K ghost above I-5, invisible to oncoming traffic.
I don’t even want to think about how he gets up there.

In case you missed it, this article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer is pretty neat:

University of Washington scientists plan to infect monkeys with a killer flu virus grown from tissue exhumed from victims of the 1918 epidemic. They hope the insight they gain will unravel the mystery of why tens of millions of people worldwide died from the virulent flu strain and lead to development of better vaccines and drugs that may save lives in the future. [p-i]

Lots of cool science details, as well as the somewhat strange revelation that there might soon be a Level 3 lab in a nondescript primate research building in Belltown.
With the viruses from dead bodies and urban monkeys, it sounds kind of like a setup for a 28 Days Later sequel.

Competing for your entertainment attentions this weekend is another music festival (of the indoor variety — I guess it’s that time of year when the city loses its collective obligation to take over a neighborhood each weekend for something outdoor and infested with greasy foods) taking over local venues. The first annual Decibel Northwest Electronic Music festival runs from Thursday to Sunday and includes performances, films, and clinics.
See/hear/experience it all for $50 (if you buy before the 22nd), or pick and choose with individual tickets [info, schedule (pdf)].
With all that’s going on this weekend, you have no excuse to have non-ringing eardrums by Monday morning.

Clear your calendars and open your wallets, Seattle music lovers and current administration haters! This Thursday marks the beginning of the No Vote Left Behind festival at venues around town. Check out the festival schedules [music, film] and you’re bound to find something of interest.
On top of that, there will be opportunities to buy some amazing rock show poster art, which will be on display at the Crocodile and the Showbox during the festival (23rd to 26th September).

Reminder: Seattle author Neal Stephenson will be at the University Bookstore on Tuesday 21st at 7:30, and Borders in Redmond on Wednesday at 7:00 to discuss and sign his new book The System of the World: Volume Three of the Baroque Cycle. Since the university bookstore seems to be charging $5 if you don’t buy anything, that might make the Redmond Borders a better deal. On the other hand, if you can pre-order a ticket (they’ve been selling since Sep 1), it means you’re definitely assured of being allowed in, thus making the trip worthwhile.
Neal Stephenson also writes as Stephen Bury, by the way, so here might be your chance to get two different signatures out of the same guy.

Tonight I wasn’t sure what to do about dinner, and in a moment’s insanity, decided to head over to the new kid on the block, Taj Palace, and get some take-out. Taj Palace is not extremely new — they’ve been there for months, and I’ve been eyeing them warily from the safety of Wibbleys across the parking lot.
I have two complaints about Indian food. One is the price. It’s possible that I’m being unreasonable here, after all, Indian food is covered in expensive spices, and I’m sure it takes a long time to cook. The other complaint is the saltiness of the food. Most Indian curry that I’ve eaten tastes like eating a big bowl of salt. Salt should not count as a spice.
Anyway, I drove over to Taj Palace to try the place out for myself (after trying and failing to find more than a couple of blogger reviews on the place). I found the takeout menu as soon as I walked in the door, and perched on the sofa to check it out. A sweet young waitress walked over to greet me, and offered to bring me some water while I was deciding what to order.
I looked for my standby dish, aloo gobi — it’s pretty hard to mess up a cauliflower and potato curry — and although it’s listed on a lot of menus, it wasn’t listed on this one. I fell back to my other usual dish, the chicken tikka masala, and ordered up a beef curry for the husband. Then, for kicks, I asked for an order of samosa (they only list vegetable samosas, no meat), some naan bread, and a gulab jamun for dessert. After a 15-minute wait, the food came out and I was on my way, minus about 34 dollars.
Upon my arrival back home, I found a set of takeout cartons, carefully wrapped in gladwrap. How novel. So if your food turns upside down in your car, it can’t come out and attack your upholstery. I also found they had neglected to give me my naan bread. How… novel. I haven’t had to double-check a takeout order since I stopped going to McDonalds. Remember when McDonalds used to put those stickers on the takeout bags saying that they had double-checked your order? So I called up the restaurant and told them I was coming back to get them (and my naan bread, too). The manager made sure I got a double order of naan and threw in a Kheer Badami (rice pudding) so that I wouldn’t smile my patented Smile Of Death on them.
I ate my Galub Jamun dessert first. Althought it’s traditionally served warm, I found that mine was… refrigerator-cold. I have mixed feelings about take-out that isn’t at the correct temperature. It’s not that much trouble to nuke it, but what if you’re having a picnic in the park, or you’re in a hotel room without a microwave? Other than that, my dessert was quite nice.
The samosas were good as well. The crispy outer skin was shell-thin. But the tamarind chutney was thin. In fact, it was thinner than most beer. By the time I got to the curries I was half full. I noticed first that they did not skimp on the rice. Turning my attention to the main dishes, I found out what they did skimp on. A small handful of beef chunks were drowning in a pool of curry sauce. There must have been all of… 6 ounces of beef, maybe? It looked like there was a small teacup of beef sitting in two cups of curry. There was maybe two-thirds as much beef as there was chicken. That’s right. If you’re looking for sheer protein volume, step away from the beef. Order up some chicken instead. It’s a bit dry, but there’s definitely more of it.
What about that troublesome naan bread? It probably wasn’t worth the extra drive back. I like my naan bread toothsome (so it can soak up the sauce), and these were sort of uneven. However, there was a double helping of them, so I tore off all the toothsome parts which left me with a pile of unabsorbent cardboardy parts.
Final verdict? It’s a lukewarm review, I know, but here it is: Taj Palace does not suck. But in the past, I’ve had Indian food so good it made me cry. It makes me try, and try again, and then complain all the more.