Yes! A summer bus route from Ballard to Golden Gardens

#NonDriver #KingCountyMetro #GoldenGardens 

RantWoman has once or twice walked from Golden Gardens south to Ballard. Not in a few years.

RantWoman is THRILLED to read this summer bus. RantWoman will check to see whether her ORCA Card and bus pass work to pay the fare, but RantWoman is THRILLED. 

Stay tuned for more raves.

Kenyan court orders halt to construction of Ebola isolation facility that would serve only people from the US

 #Kenya #Ebola

This whole controversy is classic President #StableGenius

--pull out of international bodies

--try to manipulate individual leaders into expressing "appreciation" for all the US has done in the past.

--Bring a horrific disease into a country where it is not present and then make only promises about safeguarding the local population.

RantWoman is horrified by the US approach and hopes the Kenyan courts NEVER let it go forward.

Elon Musk proudly trampling environmental standards in TWO states with help fro governors and the DoJ

#DataCenter #MSpol #TNpol 

US Hosting?

 #FIFAWorldCup 

RantWoman is not capable of just calming down and watching some #FIFA rah-rah mainstream coverage.

RantWoman appreciates high quality ranting.

Hang in there until about minute 32 for very pointed observations about Somali referee Omar Artan.

Waymo anecdotally, and in the news

 First a Waymo news item, posted without further comment.

Next, one of RantWoman's best friends from high school visited Seattle over the weekend. This friend is now a doctor based in LA. She and another best friend recently had a somewhat harrowing experience involving hills in San Francisco. RantWoman does not recall all the details. Sigh.

Doctor friend noted a frequent problem reported to her: the Waymo just arrives and announces that it is around a corner, down a block, too far away for someone with a walker to reach at all or within the time Waymo allows. Let us not forget need to cross a busy street. There is also the same issue blind people report with Uber: how to find the Uber or Waymo

RantWoman knows there is software in the world that helps a driver get near someone with a cellphone. RantWoman has NO idea why implementing that should not be automatic. RantWoman also has no opinion about how blind people can identify a place it is safe to wait.

Doctor friend noted that there are many reasons that people might need extra time to get into or out of the vehicle. RantWoman wonders whether there could be some options either to configure a setting or to adjust for each different passenger.

RantWoman did learn that there are now Waymo vans. This sounds promising for people who use wheelchairs, but RantWoman has yet to see any information about securing one's mobility device once one gets inside.

But Onward!

Flamingos and Disinformation: Making a formerly Communist country safe for megayachts

 #Albania  #EUAccession #Lebanon

Reporting by a US journalist based in Albania

No, making a military base does not make sense.

No, the prime minister's house did not get set ablaze. That is an old image of former dictator Enver Hoxha

Also

Albanian Protesters Storm Construction Site Amid Fury Over Jared Kushner's Project | AC1G

How Ivanka Trump’s plans for a lux resort sparked The Flamingo Revolution

FLAMINGO FURY Sweeps ALBANIA; Kushner-Ivanka Project Sparks 'RAMA OUT' FURY

Jared Kushner's Island Is Part of Something Much Bigger

energy geopolitics #Israel

Ivanka met by violent mob.. it’s BAD

WTBBL to re-open to the Public June 22, 2026!

The WA Talking Book and Braille wtbbl.org will reopen to the public on Monday June 22, 2026!

 

Anyone with a print, physical, or reading disability can now call the WTBBL main number and a staff member will fill out an application for service, and they will be instantly certified for all services by the person taking the application. It is not necessary to have a doctor or someone else sign off for you any more. This seriously lowers the barriers to access to Braille and digital talking books. The National Library Service is working on an online form to simplify this process as well.

 

In other news: There are 40 episodes available in their Literary Notes podcast, and transcripts are being added.

Due to the Marrakesh treaty, people from many other countries are downloading Washington produced books, and we now have access to tens of thousands of books recorded by other services from all over the world.

The assistive technology specialist at the library Dusty will be on leave till sometime in August, but many resources are available to fill that gap.

700 books are currently in production in the audio department, and over 200 in the Braile department.

If you have digital players and aren’t using them, please return them  to the library so that others may enjoy them.

And state librarian Sarah Jones is retiring. She will continue as a volunteer to advocate with the legislature for stable state funding for our library system.

Friends of WTBBL and the All Foundation are fud raising sources for the library if people want to get more involved.

For more information on any of these topics, call WTBBL: (206) 615-0400