Forbes Magazine has released its list of the 400 Wealthiest Americans. No less than nine of them are Washingtonians. Naturally, Bill Gates leads the pack–not only is he the wealthiest person in Washington but, indeed, in the whole USA. The remaning eight are:

• Paul Allen #5 (Microsoft, investments)
• Steve Ballmer #15 (Microsoft)
• Jeff Bezos #70 (Amazon)
• Craig McCaw #153 (McCaw Cellular)
• James Jannard #278 (Oakley)
• John Edson #354 (leisure craft
• Howard Schultz #354 (Starbucks)
• Charles Simonyi #374 (Microsoft)

News arrived today that Starbucks will raise prices on its beverages an average of 2% in early October. Ground/whole bean coffee will be going up a whole $.50 as well — luckily I got my Anniversary Blend order in under the bar. No word on whether Tully’s and Peet’s will retaliate and start a chain-coffee price war.

• Congratulations to Metroblogging Seattle alumna Shauna James who just announced her book deal! Look for Life Beyond Wonder Bread next fall. [glutenfreegirl]
• Four of GQ‘s 100 favorite stores [#] for men are in Seattle (Blackbird, Goods, Ian, & Kuhlman). One of them (Ian) is having a big sale starting today. [helloblackbird]
• “size-friendly” dating advocates recommend that big beautiful women avoid going Down Under. [weekly]

Today while I was taking my daily walk at lunch I heard chanting from the Westin Hotel and went over to check it out. Westin Workers were out picketing, demanding that the hotel share its profits with them. According to the handout picketers passed out, they have been in negotiations with management since August 10th. It was an orderly protest that was loud enough to draw attention but didn’t inhibit anyone else from sharing sidewalk space with them–in fact, when I walk past, workers politely formed a hole in their line so I didn’t have to wait for them to pass me. Good luck with the action, Westin workers.

• There goes your title as undefeated pub quiz champion. Multi-millionaire Jeopardy! titan Ken Jennings is leaving Salt Lake City behind for the charms of our fair village. Tonight he shows local smartypantses that there’s a new trivia master in town. Watch the spectacle tonight for $15, no daily doubles. [townhall]
• Warm up your couch — new episodes of your favorite shows are rolling out just as the rainy season rolls in. Find out what will happen now that Pam and Jim have made kissy-faces on the Office and whether Dr. Grey goes for McDempsey or O’Donnell on Grey’s Anatomy. The promotional billboards might just cointain a spoiler.

This morning on my way into the office I noticed that the row of big blue recycling bins that sit where Eastlake and Fairview meet had been…exploded. They were broken into pieces and strewn around a parking lot, their contents pasted to the sidewalk by the rain. My first thought was crazy urban raccoons, which I like to blame everything on these days. (Seriously. Late to work? Raccoons. Keep falling down? Raccooons. All of it.) This was bad. If the raccoons can rip apart great big trash cans it’s really only a matter of time until they’re breaking into my apartment and stealing the liquor.

But then I noticed a bent parking sign up near the building fronted by the parking lot and realized that someone had probably gone careening off the road and hit the recycling bins. And it looks like they then backed over them again, and maybe got out of their car and threw some of the pieces around, just for fun.

So either the raccoons have started driving cars or someone was making a great big mess in my neighborhood last night.

This week in the Stranger, Christopher Frizzelle tries to read a book in a bar and finds the experience lacking [#]. If only he’d read this classic Kathleen Wilson rant about the difficulties of reading at the Cha Cha [#]!

The great thing about these two columns is the sense of continuity across the passage of time. Sure, some things have changed — in 2003 people were smoking in bars, Elliott Smith was still alive, Purr was the Bad Juju, and the Vells weren’t breaking up — but the confusion and annoying behavior of drinkers when encountering an alt-weekly writers reading and drinking in public remains the same.

Hey, look! The number of votes counted in the 43 District’s congressional race add up to a pretty number: 12345.
Jamie Pedersen and Jim Street are still separated by only a couple hundred votes (2784 to 2597, respectively) and Bill Sherman is holding onto the number three spot (2001 votes). Meanwhile, Hugh Foskett has taught us that there are at least 894 Republicans in the district.

That make-a-wish total won’t last forever with mailbags of absentee ballots yet to be counted. I’m not sure how many voters are expected to have participated in this mid-term primary (unopposed Ed Murray got over twenty thousand votes in the 2004 version) and there are lots of theories about which way the late voters will swing; so maybe it’s still a competitive nailbiter of a race.

Watch the numbers for yourself by obsessively reloading the online results courtesy of the Secretary of State [vote.wa.gov]

• The University Bookstore presents a reading by Barbara Ehrenreich at Kane Hall. She’ll tell you about how all of your middle class aspirations of climbing the corporate latter are something of a pipe dream. To have your delusions crushed, you’ll need to shell out $3 or buy a paperback. [bookstore]
• You’ve had “Chasing Cars” stuck in your head ever since Grey’s Anatomy left you hanging off a cliff to find out whether the heroine would choose a vet over a brain surgeon. Snow Patrol seem to have found their way onto the more popular indie soundtracks, and after a couple of cancelled shows this summer, they’ve finally made it to Seattle. Marked up tickets can be scrounged on craigslist, or stand in the mist and hope that someone’s date cancelled at the last minute. [moore]

I was perusing the new Alki News Bulletin today and came across an interesting bit of snark called “Mythbusting on Alki!” [alkinews] “I love Mythbusters,” I thought, “perhaps Savage and Hyneman will bring us all together!” But then I read the article and, yeah, probably not so much.

So, what I found most interesting was right there on top:

Myth #1: The Alki Community Council represents the entire Alki Community.
Fact: The Alki Community Council only represents its dues-paying members. An average of 50-60 members and visitors attend each meeting and meetings are open to everyone. You must be a member to vote, however.

I have two questions. First, if the ACC doesn’t represent the entire Alki community, why does it present itself as the face of the Alki resident when dealing with government entities and the press? Secondly, doesn’t that “Fact” statement sound a little weird? Sort of like, if you want to be heard, you have to pay us money and then maybe we’ll pretend that you matter. Don’t get me wrong, I could see this point of view if they were a business, but they aren’t. At least I don’t think they are. Perhaps that will be one of the myths they “bust” in the next bulletin. Please discuss.

In the meantime, I kindly remind all interested parties that the September ACC meeting is tomorrow (9/21) at 7 p.m. at the Alki Community Center. A little birdie told me to be sure not to be late, as the doors will be closed precisely on time. Oh and if you are planning on attending and want to vote, you can pay to play by signing up for a membership online. [acc] The deadline for that is 4 p.m. today.