For lunch have corned beef and cabbage. (Not shown: a rich broth, mustard, etc.)

For dinner: take-away from that new neighborhood Mexican place, El Rinconsito.

—Alex

Lam’s in the International District resembles a market you’d see in the Global South more than a sterile American place, especially in the Seafood section. Their much larger new space on MLK will probably look more like their store in Tukwila.

Since Viet-Wah closed my go-to neighborhood place for fresh herbs and vegetables has been Mekong Rainier, but they recently stopped selling fresh meat and shrimp. This multi-generational family business is an importer and distributor too so I’m not gonna feel bad when Lam’s becomes my new spot and they lose my business.

—Alex

I found this picture of her late dog Chichi recently while looking through some old files. I thought it was lost but no - Chichi now lives on forever in the digital ether.

—Alex

The first two ingredients in Good Crisp Company’s Outback BBQ potato crisps are dried potato flakes and palm oil.

These are inspired by Pringles, another processed potato snack product served in a tube that would not exist without marketing. Nobody asked for it and if they stopped advertising it it would go away.

Condiment of the year (of the horse)

Laoganma spicy chili crisp is the best version of chili crisp you can buy in a jar. It goes well on almost everything, especially ice cream.

Dried fermented black beans, an ingredient not always found in chili crisp, make this version into an incredible umami bomb.

—Alex

As usual, the game was boring, the commercials were offensive and the halftime show was spectacular. An added bonus: this year the halftime performance became a big fuck you to senile racist criminal pervert Donald Trump and his dumbass group of murderous losers.

I teach our children to not have regrets, but I must admit I am constantly regretting not going all-in on the domain name business. In the 90s I ended up making a small fortune by accident by selling top level .com domains, but if I had raised even ten thousand dollars in 1995 when I first started buying names for my own projects and just used the cash to pick off valuable domains at twelve bucks apiece … sigh.

—Alex

See also:
AI.com domain name sold for record-breaking $70 million

Well no more!

Recently the much-maligned US Foods restaurant supply store offered up 50 pound sacks of pristine russet earth apples for ten dollars, none of which ended up weighing less than a pound.

Also picked up a sack of onions for the same price. Obviously, our family will not be able to use all these before they start to turn, so the plan is to donate some to the food banks.

—Alex

See also:
Del Christensen and Sons
”Grown in the warm, sandy soil of the Columbia River Basin in Washington, these potatoes and onions develop under a long growing season with pure water from the Columbia River.”

Two articles from this issue are available online:

THE SEATTLE RESTAURANT WAGE AND TIP THEFT HALL OF FAME

FIRLAND SANATORIUM’S FINAL SOLUTION FOR SEATTLE’S WHITE PLAGUE

—Alex

—Alex

Barn Sour is a comics newspaper about mutual aid.

Underground comics. Indie publishing on newsprint. Mutual aid. A trifecta of things I have been interested in for half a century.

Had to look up the phrase Barn Sour and yeah that’s equine terminology for a horse that refuses to leave the barn because they’re too comfortable and cozy in there.

Barn Sour

—Alex

Spies Like Us

Gothamist reports that Wegman’s supermarkets in New York City are collecting and storing biometric data from their customers. “Eyes, voices and faces.”

Sherman’s March to Oblivion

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published their last print issue on December 31, 2025. Atlanta is now the only major city in the United States that does not have a daily printed newspaper.

Nemo Malus Felix

“Peace visits not the guilty mind.” A reminder that American military aggression since World War II is nothing new. If you are shocked by our recent shenanigans in Venezuela, read a history book.

A looser translation of “Nemo Malus Felix” would be “no rest for the wicked.” As in - in a better world, a whole bunch of people in the American corporate and government spheres would end up in jail.

—Alex

Budget for this was $42, or $1.68 per 28 ounce serving. Comfort food.

Beacon Hill Mutual Aid meets and distributes food every Saturday.

See also:
A South End Guide to Mutual Aid Groups in Seattle
-South Seattle Emerald

dfdfbdbfdbndf

Top some broccolini with a liberal sprinkling of furikake and broil it. Then add rice vinegar and sesame oil. Or, add the same toppings to some freshly sliced cucumbers. Delightful!

—Alex

Avoid the trap of cars, commuting and corporations

In December of 1990 I was on the highway driving back to Seattle from a temporary office job in a god-forsaken suburb. It was pitch black dark at 5 PM.

At that moment I realized that I was going to go out of my way to not waste even one more second of my life commuting in a gas-guzzling vehicle to a situation that was not accessible by public transportation or bike.

Mission accomplished. For example, I can count the number of times that I have been to the soulless corporate Seattle suburb of Bellevue on two hands. I spent ten years without a car. I survived by hustling for freelance work (thank you Apple Inc.! and your magical work-from-home devices) and gigging in restaurants while avoiding the temptation of selling out to evil entities who wanted potential wage slaves like me to toil in their cubicle prisons. Today I commute to work by bike and soon that job will become a mostly work from home situation.

As a person of privilege gifted with a mind able to see above the trap of the rat race, I was able to avoid wasting my days in a slog of fossil fuel consumption, constant driving and existential office drudgery. So many of us are not so lucky.

—Alex

See also:

Bartleby, The Scrivener
A STORY OF WALL-STREET.
by Herman Melville

Bedbugs and bad air quality. But also a stocked pantry down the hall and a hot meal every night from the soup kitchen downstairs.

Towards the end he was not allowed into the dining area because of some behavioral transgressions. His tray had to be given to him outside so he could take it back to his room.

I remember him complaining that none of the people that came to help him were “white girls.” Medical and social workers are trained to deal with the racism that patients with dementia (or who are just plain racist) might exhibit, but it doesn’t make their jobs any easier. The people in charge of taking care of him did the very best they could with limited resources. Given his bad habits and difficult personality it’s a miracle that he lived as long as he did.

I logged some quality time with Shadow. Helped him carry in his groceries a few times. Conversed with him while he smoked outside. Marlboros. Two packs a day.

The end years of his life were not great. He survived into old age though - a victory many of us will never be able to celebrate.

—Alex

Yesterday I hung up a couple of shirts outside the grocery store. It was cold out - as cold as Seattle gets.

—Alex

I hung a shirt up next to the supermarket the other day knowing that someone would take it. A quality item. No longer fits me. They say giving away things that you don’t need is not actually gifting, but I disagree. If the thing is still useful it’s a microdonation, not trash disposal.

Homelessness for Some. Gourmet Salmon for Others.

Scored a sweet piece of wild-caught coho salmon and broiled it.

AI Slop is Infiltrating Our Brains

Part of my new job in what is left of the newspaper industry involves dealing with/coping with AI-generated words and images. Adobe Photoshop (I’ve been been using Photoshop to create “photo illustrations” since 1993) now has a “generate image” feature where you can “create” an image by entering a text prompt. The scary part of all this AI bullshit is that what are now obviously fake AI articles and images and videos will soon be indistinguishable from “real” content.

Sadly, you can no longer trust the reality of anything you see on TV or on the Internet. Face to face communication with real people at real events is all we have left.

Printed matter is still a thing. Nobody can alter, modify or censor a legitimate piece of journalism after it has been published on physical paper.

—Alex

I idolize Bruce Lee but must confess that my favorite Quentin Tarantino movie - Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, has a hilarious scene in which Bruce Lee is depicted as an incredibly arrogant psycho who loses a fight to a character played by Brad Pitt.

PIZZA TIME!

Quarter pound portions of pizza dough, proofed and ready to be rolled. I find that a dry dough is easier to work with.

Nobody Cares When You Are Dead

Took one of the children to Comet Lodge Cemetery, which is on the West side of Beacon Hill off of South Graham Street. Met a guy there who was an anthropologist who told us the story of how the area was neglected, then bulldozed and vandalized by a person who showed up in court with (his own) severed foot in a plastic bag. True? I name-dropped father of anthropology Franz Boas — some college knowledge stored in the back of my brain — and he was very impressed. We’re gonna follow up with him for an article. He said he has face blindness and that when we find him at his stall at Pike Place Market we need to remind him that we met him in the graveyard.

Nirvana WOK Freeway Hall Food Event

Dropped off a donation of random food at the New Freeway Hall in Columbia City. We’re negotiating with them to use their commercial kitchen for a food donation event where we cook for 100 people on site and then have volunteers deliver to needy neighbors. They accept donations Monday - Friday from 12-6. As a long-time domain name investor I’m very impressed that the Freedom Socialist Party scored the top level dotcom domain “socialism.com.”

Here Comes 1929

I have been warning people vested in the wildly overvalued casino for rich people known as the stock market to prepare to lose 50-90 percent of their money in the coming years. One bright spot in the bubble - Apple has (wisely) been hesitant to pour money into the AI Ponzi scheme.

Goodbye Bruce (Harrell)

As we post this it looks like Socialist Katie Wilson will be defeating Democrat/Capitalist/real estate industry stooge Bruce Harrell to become the next Mayor of Seattle. Happy to report that one of Bruce’s stunning lakefront mansions is only a few blocks away from Nirvana WOK world headquarters.

—Alex

Bruce (Harrell) now that you are retired why don’t you fuckin’ kick up some cash for Nirvana WOK?

Venmo • Donorbox

Go ahead - throw your money away by giving it to charity: Venmo • Donorbox

Nirvana WOK Online: nirvanawok.com

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The food and supermarket industries are heavily subsidized by this government aid - 12% of all sales.

Stay tuned: Nirvana WOK is going to be doing a special meal event out of a commercial kitchen in Seattle’s Columbia City neighborhood in November.

—Alex

In light of these developments, the bags of dried meat endorsed by Joe Rogan have become even more repulsive:

If you are not rich, throw your money away by going here: https://carnivoresnax.com/

Know Joe Rogan? Ask that evil bald weirdo to DONATE!: Venmo • Donorbox

Nirvana WOK Online: nirvanawok.com • Gmail

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One benefit of artificial turf is that it takes tens of thousands of scrap tires to make the crumb rubber for just one football field - which saves those tires from the landfill. Temporarily. The average artificial turf field lasts only ten years before it has to go … to the landfill.

This world could use less plastic and more greenery, but is crumb rubber a health hazard? Multiple peer-reviewed studies say no. An extensive EPA study found that although chemicals are found in crumb rubber, exposures are “likely limited.” The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission says that “no specific chemical hazards from recycled tires in playground surfacing are known by the CPSC at this time.” They do recommend some (obvious) precautions when in a crumb rubber situation including avoiding mouth contact with materials and avoiding drinking or eating beverages while on field or playground surfaces.

It seems that AstroTurf — invented by the Monsanto chemical corporation in 1965 — is everywhere and along with it crumb rubber. In a better world all these thousands of playfields and playgrounds would have natural turf. The natural turf industry would agree, which is why they operate several websites promoting their cause, including Safer Fields for All. Their claim about cancer is false: “As members of Washington state and local communities, we are encouraging the public to say NO to the installation of synthetic turf playing fields. Not only are synthetic turf playing fields an environmental injustice, but they also can be traced to detrimental health effects, including cancer.” Safer Fields for All is sponsored by the Washington Turfgrass Seed Commission, an industry group based in Kennewick, Washington. Safer Fields for All and associated websites do not list the names of any organization employees or officers.

Astroturfing is when a lobbying group or political organization creates messaging disguised as a “grass roots” effort from citizens. That kind of makes Safer Fields for All an anti-AstroTurf astroturfing operation.

—Alex R. Mayer