According to the Wall St. Journal , "Microsoft Corp., weary of being cast as a stodgy oldster by Apple Inc.’s advertising, is turning for help to Jerry Seinfeld," a stodgy oldster who appears mainly in reruns of a TV show that began 19 years ago and ended 10 years ago.

He will be paid $10 million as part of a $300 million ad campaign that promotes Windows Vista.  Story also reported in the Seattle P-I .

Excepts from an excellent article in a Seattle newspaper about neighborhood in downtown Seattle that could be absolutely wonderful. I used to live there and can say that the author is spot on about the total lameness of the situation. Hopefully articles like this one get the city’s attention.

It’s no secret – Second and Bell is an open-air drug bazaar, drawing people who use, deal or panhandle to score a high. The question is, why have Seattle officials shrugged off a problem that tourists complain about, al fresco diners dread and pedestrians see when they come across sidewalk drug deals.

This human circus is bringing Belltown down.

All while Seattle politicos are caught up in peripheral issues:

You’d think a mayor who wages war on plastic bags and nightclubs could find the political will to address this scourge in plain sight. Then again, this being Seattle, the mayor and City Council probably are preoccupied with how to free Tibet.

The open-air drug market is nothing new. About 10 years ago I was booted off a jury for a trial of an alleged drug dealer in Belltown. In questioning us prospective jurors, the public defender representing the accused asked if any of us thought we had ever witnessed a drug deal. Mine was one of only two hands raised. He pressed me for more details, challenging and trying to imply that I was imagining it.

He pressed me to give examples. I lived in Belltown at the time and had an easy time providing full descriptions and details. One example I gave was an old yellow pickup truck that dealt out of the bed of the truck using USPS priority mail envelopes. I even provided the model and make of the truck. It was amazing what I could see from my perch above the street from my apartment all while the "bad guys" thought no one was looking.

I relayed how several dealers used Microsoft bags emblazoned with tech conference logos to store their goods. Leftovers after the conference, these were nice bags I assume were donated to charitable causes to help the homeless.

Jaws dropped. The defender got stern with me then stopped and cut his losses.  One juror went on an on about the need to help those less fortunate and down on their luck.  I don’t live in la-la land and was surprised that the situation did not seem to be a problem. Please, City of Seattle, wake up before a vibrant, economically thriving community is ruined.

What will be Bush’s legacy? The economy (recession, gas prices, credit crunch, mortgage crisis), war, the attack upon civil liberties, the destruction of the environment, the age of terrorism?

Here’s one woman’s take on the lame notion that woman should feel obligated to vote for Clinton solely on the basis of gender.