Tweets-By-Beat

From the NYT:

“The Seattle Police Department, which presides over one of the nation’s more tech-savvy — if not saturated — cities, is diving in to find out, in a project that began last week with 51 hyper-local neighborhood Twitter accounts providing moment-to-moment crime reports.

The project, called Tweets-by-beat, is the most ambitious effort of its kind in the nation, authorities in law enforcement and social media say, transforming the pen and ink of the old police blotter into the bits and bytes of the digital age. It allows residents — including, presumably, criminals — to know in almost real time about many of the large and small transgressions, crises, emergencies and downright weirdness in their neighborhoods.”

Queen Underwood’s first round starts now! – UPDATE: With loss, Queen is out

For those of you following Queen Underwood’s journey to the Olympics, her first round starts now.  You can track the bouts and results, and find a link to watch the match live here:  http://www.nbcolympics.com/boxing/event/women-light-60kg/mat .  It looks like, in this round of 16, she fights a southpaw from Liverpool, England, named Natasha Jonas.  If she wins this fight, she is matched with Katie Taylor of Bray, Ireland, said to be the best lb-for-lb woman boxer in the world.  A steep start for Queen… cheer her on!

EDITOR’S UPDATE: Queen Underwood’s long road to London ended in four rounds early Sunday. She lost to Great Britain’s home-crowd-pleasing Natasha Jones 13-21.

If you have cable or satellite TV, you can watch a replay of the match online (starts at 1:08:30):

Teenager in serious condition after water rescue on Lake Washington – UPDATED

Anyone know what happened?  Beginning about 20 minutes ago, racing police cars, racing police boat and helicopter overhead.  Reminding me of the Clemmons event.

EDITOR’S UPDATE: According to Seattle Fire, a teenager is in serious condition after nearly drowning:

We responded to the pier at 102 Lakeside Avenue for reports of a child in the water who could not swim. Engine 6 arrived to find citizens had pulled the teenage male out of the water and began CPR efforts. Firefighters found the patient had a pulse but was unconscious and unresponsive. Paramedics transported the patient to Harborview Medical Center with life threatening injuries.

UPDATE 5/17: The 15-year-old is in stable condition, police say. They credit a witness with saving the boy’s life by jumping in, pulling him out of the water and beginning CPR:

Officers were dispatched to a report of a child in the water in the 100 Block of Lakeside Avenue South at approximately 3:30 pm on May 15th.  The first arriving Seattle Police officers got to the scene just as a civilian witness was bringing the boy up out of the water.  The boy, 15, had no pulse and did not appear to be breathing.  According to witnesses, they believed that the boy had been underwater for as long as 10 minutes.  CPR was initiated by the first arriving officers and the witness.    Three East Precinct officers performed CPR on the victim until the Seattle Fire Department arrived and took over.  The victim was revived. Medics then transported the victim to Harborview Medical Center.  At last report, the victim was in stable condition.  The actions of the civilian witness who pulled the boy from the water and CPR performed by the officers most likely saved this young man’s life.

KIRO reports that the hero was BluWater Bistro owner Bart Evans:

One of the kids jumped in and hunted around by feel to see if he could find anyone, but came up empty.

Bart Evans, who owns BluWater, jumped in and headed straight for the bottom, Horcher reported. He felt a boy’s foot and pulled him up. Bystanders were able to help Evans get the boy onto the dock, where they performed CPR.

“I pulled him up by his foot,” Evans said, recalling the rescue. “I was first able to come out of the water and surface, and got his foot above, and then I got up above water, and then somehow we got him over to the pier and got up up, and did CPR and mouth-to-mouth on him.”

A fabulous, moving piece on Queen Underwood in the NYT

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/12/sports/quanitta-underwood-

EDITOR’S UPDATE: The NYTimes published a heart-wrenching feature on Queen Underwood, delving into her history as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. With the US Olympic boxing trials beginning today in Spokane, Underwood is largely considered the nation’s best chance to win gold in women’s boxing. The story shows Queen evolve from an abuse survivor to a dominant force in the ring.

From the New York Times:

THE TWO SISTERS shared a bed, and each night, with their hearts hammering, they would listen for the turn of the knob and the push of the door.

Quanitta Underwood was 10, her sister Hazzauna, 12. The walls of the house were thin, and the girls could hear every move their father made. Hear him sit up, hear him get out of bed, hear him walking their way.

Quanitta pinched her eyes shut when her father entered the room, but she could imagine the presence of his familiar silhouette. She felt his weight sink into the bed while his hands traveled beneath the covers. As Quanitta feigned sleep, her father groped her sister and often rolled on top.

Azzad Underwood was a forceful man, not so much in size as in manner. He was a welder by trade but gave way to few men in self-importance. He could be charming. He had been president of the parents association at the girls’ school and was among the most active members at a local Church of God in Christ.

Both girls loved him and trusted him, but young as they were, they realized their father was doing something on the wrong side of normal, far from Jesus.

Read more…

Combating the Barrage of Catalogs

Tired of holiday catalogs clogging your mailbox and recycling bin?  Remember that Catalog Choice, the non-profit service for removing your name from Yellow Pages delivery, also helps you get your name off catalog and other promotional mailing lists. It takes a little effort to enter the mailing information for each catalog, but It’s easy and really works!   A little up-front work for the long-term benefits of combating waste, pollution and commercialism, and saving trees and your time.  https://seattle.catalogchoice.org .