Bloglander

Spotted at the Rosauers on 14th Avenue

HERE

Spokane high school graduation rates rise.

Wording on Washington's same-sex marriage referendum is finalized.

Mead student wins state poetry competition. In 2011, he received honorable mention. Watch the video here.

THERE

President' Obama's NCAA Tournament picks.

Sea levels are rising. This is very bad.

Pentagon investigates $92 million military recruitment fraud.

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The annual TED Conference was held in Southern California last week, and one of the presentations that's had bloggers buzzing is this one by University of Pennsylvania professor Vijay Kumar, whose team has been working on quadrotor drones — little flying bots that can work together to perform scary-difficult tasks, like playing the James Bond Theme song (see 14:45 in the video) and generally taking over the world.

But if you think that's cool, you should know that TED is coming to Spokane. Next week.

St. George's School, in north Spokane, has been working with the TED organization since September to produce a TEDx event, a separately run event that borrows the look, feel and philosophy (technology, entertainment, design, "ideas worth spreading") of the TED-produced blowouts. (This one will actually be called TEDx St. George's School, but future events could earn the TEDx Spokane moniker.)

The event, which will feature a number of national speakers (including former footballer Mike Utley and Facebook co-founder Andrew McCollum), in addition to several local ones, will be held at St. George's on Tuesday, March 20, but the deadline for entering the lottery to attend is tomorrow. 

To get in on the action, go to tedxsaintgeorgesschool.com and follow the links to the registration form. It's a pretty painless process. Name, address, plus an About Me section, three things you want to know more about, and three websites that define you.

Officials from St. George's said this afternoon that there were still a number of seats left, so you may still have a shot, but you better act fast.

Apple announced its new iPad at a company event in San Francisco a few hours ago. The new tablet doesn't come with any seriously whiz-bang new features, but it's dramatically improved its display, boosted its processors (to power that display), added 1080p video capture and provided access to LTE cell networks. 

Here's what everybody's saying about it: 

Wired: The tech mag live-blogged CEO Tim Cook's whole presentation.

Boing Boing: "More exciting to iPad-toting photographers is mobile iPhoto, which has a swipe-driven interface, photo journals, editing brushes, filters, and a tool to "beam" pictures between devices."

CNET: "Doubling the iPad's screen resolution to 2,048x1,536 pixels that exceeds any current tablet or laptop--that's a move only Apple has the scale and industry muscle to pull off. At this point, if Apple decides that the next iPad will be made from unicorn tears, I wouldn't bet against it."

Slate: "The way they presented it, it's not that there's a "tablet" market dominated by the iPad. Instead, there's a PC market in which the iPad is a major player but by no means a dominant one."

Huffington Post: Where and how to trade in your old, now-useless and embarrassingly un-hip iPad 3.  

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Rumors can get ugly, but it turns out this one's true. The Spotlight Lounge is for sale. But don’t worry your pretty fishnet stalking or dancing shoes – owner Tim Bainter says the GLTB-friendly nightclub will not be closing.

“Right now anyone can take over the space,” Bainter says. “They can do whatever they want with it as long as they take over the lease.”

Bainter says the downtown nightclub was unofficially put on the market in August after he fired the then-operating manager. The club was closed for one week in August and then reopened under Bainter’s management.

He says a string of unsuccessful managers have plagued the nightclub, and Bainter and his associates, Emperor Club Corp., are in the process of purchasing the entire building – but they don't want to operate the bar.

Bainter says he has been approached by several potential buyers but nothing has been set in stone yet.

“I know the clientele is a little nervous about new owners, but the Spotlight is doing all right,” Bainter says. “The Emperor never made any money. The Spotlight at least makes a little money.”

Bainter and Emperor Club Corp. are asking for a $15,000 down payment with a contract to take over the $4,500 monthly lease for the 9,000 square foot space. Potential buyers must sign a two- to five-year lease.

Whitworth University took home the top prize at the National Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl in Cincinnati on Friday, beating Clemson University, Wake Forest, and Weber State, among others. It's the third time in the last four years that the little university in north Spokane has placed in the top five. 

A coup, for sure, but it begs the question: What the devil is an Ethics Bowl?

We asked the team's advisor, communications professor Mike Ingram, for a wrap-up.

What exactly is the Ethics Bowl, and how does that differ from a regular debate tournament?

The Association for Practical and Professional Ethics sponsors this bowl, with regional competitions in the fall and the national bowl in the spring. In a round, two teams compete against each other in front of three judges, who are usually a combination of ethics professionals and practitioners. A round includes two different cases on diverse subjects. After the judges hear both teams present and respond on two cases, they render scores and the winner of the round is announced.

This differs from debate in that ethics bowl teams might partially agree on a course of action or the use of a particular ethics theory. It also allows for some nuance in the argumentation. 

What kind of competition did Whitworth face this year? Who were the toughest opponents?

Whitworth defeated Eckerd College of Florida, Loyola University of Chicago and the U of California-Santa Cruz in the three preliminary rounds. Then we defeated Weber State U and Wake Forest U before defeating Clemson U in the finals. Clemson is a past national champion and perennial power. Since the Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl was founded in 1994, Whitworth is the first small university to win the bowl. Last year we were in the semifinals, and it was great to get in the final round this year and win.

What sorts of questions did Whitworth have to tackle, and how did the final round play out?

Whitworth's team analyzed 15 ethically complex cases pertaining to topics such as multi-user online role-playing game players who engage in virtual romantic and sexual relationships and then want to continue them in the real world; a Mississippi governor who required a jailed sister to donate a kidney to her jailed sister as a condition of prison release, both in the final round. Other cases included the federal government using graphic pictures as warning labels on cigarette packing; assessing the moral obligations of France and Italy to Tunisian refugees seeking asylum; states selling state-run lottery operations to private corporations; proposed limitations on whistleblowers in the meat industry; and weighing the benefits of destroying levees to save small towns at the expense of farmland.

Considering they can now rightfully call themselves the most ethical college students in the country, don't the members of the team deserve, say, a one-day ethical holiday?

They took a day to sleep after traveling across three time zones on early-morning airplane flights going to and from Ohio. That seemed the most ethical thing to do.

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Beyonce Blaque with Le Gurlz drag queens at Hollyrock.

The times they are a-changin’ for Spokane’s drag queens. Dempsey’s, the popular downtown nightclub, closed its doors on Nov. 4 and displaced the GLTB community and its nightlife performers. (Read our story about it here.)

Now Hollyrock, the GLBT-friendly bar that opened in November in the wake of Dempsy’s closure is also closed.

Hollyrock manager Robin Tuttle announced the news on their Facebook page on Feb. 4, claiming that the building’s owner, Scott Lanes, revoked the use of his liquor license, effectively closing the nightclub. Tuttle and her employees say the news came as a complete shock. They are nevertheless, looking for a new location.

In the meantime, you can catch drag shows every Friday and Saturday at 10 pm and midnight at The Spotlight Lounge and every Wednesday at 10 pm and midnight at Irv’s.

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OK, so don't actually get your gun, but do have your questions ready because The Wyatt family, owners of Gunsmoke Guns outside of Denver, Colorado and stars of Discovery Channel's "American Guns," will hold a meet and greet tomorrow at the Red Lion Inn at the Park, located at 303 North River Drive.

The meet and greet, which will be from 3:30-5 pm, is before the annual Friends of the NRA banquet, which raises money to promote gun safety, education programs and scholarships. Tickets can be purchased at Sharp Shooting, White Elephant, Wholesale Sports or Mountain Shadow Arms.

If you've never watched "American Guns," then you're missing out on seeing the behind the scenes of one of the premiere firearms facilities in the world. Rich Wyatt and his wife Renee, along with their children, Paige and Kurt, run Gunsmoke, known for its wide variety of guns and out-there custom made orders. In the past, customers have requested hand cannons, a pink semi-automatic handgun and a cannon that shoots bowling balls.

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The Flying Irish Running Club have a lot to celebrate. Tonight, they'll kick off their seventh season of running roughly three miles around Spokane. They'll also be celebrating their new partner, Red Lion Hotels, and the inaugural run from their new home, Ripples Riverside Grill, at the Red Lion River Grill.

The Flying Irish Running Club runs every Thursday from the first of March to Thanksgiving, meeting at 5:45 pm and running at 6 pm. Participants who show up six times will be awarded the "world-famous" Flying Irish Running Club shirt in a shirting ceremony. This shirt is good for food and drink specials after the run and discounts at other locations. And besides, it's a sweet shirt!

Runs average over 350 people each week and walkers are always welcome. The Red Lion River Inn is located at 700 N. Division. Visit flyingirish.org for more information.

For a taste of what the Flying Irish are all about, check them out in this old Lunches & Punches episode:

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Robert Pinsky, former U.S. Poet Laureate from 1997-2000, will speak tonight at Gonzaga University. As Poet Laureate, Pinsky founded the Favorite Poem Project. The project allowed thousands of Americans of varying ages and backgrounds to share favorite poems. Read them here.

Pinsky’s work as a poet, essayist, literary critic and translator has earned praise for its wild musical energy and ambitious range. The esteemed poet will read from his latest volume of poetry Selected Poems and the acclaimed volume The Figure Wheel: New and Collected Poems.

Listen to the reading tonight at 7:30 pm in the Cataldo Globe Room. Pinsky will also read during the annual Wire Harp/Lit Live! on Feb. 29 at 11:30 am at Spokane Falls Community College sn-w’ey’-mn auditorium.