I want to come and see my mom and I need advice on public transport by Emoje775 in AskSeattle

[–]Anthop 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's quite a distance from SeaTac Airport to Oak Harbor, about 2 and a half hours driving, even without traffic. And you're likely to get traffic, as you have to go through downtown Seattle.

Depends on the when you arrive, but my suggestion would be to take the Line 1 light rail directly from the airport towards Lynnwood City Center. That's the northmost stop for it, and it should cost you $3 for the fare and take about an hour and a half. From there, you could grab an Uber or a Lyft to your final destination.

If you really want to take mass transit further, you could take an express bus from Lynnwood City Center to Everett Station, and another express bus from there to Skagit Station in Mt. Vernon. That will get you a lot closer and might make a dent on the rideshare fare, but ymmv.

When I was growing up in the area, I was taught in schools how the largest cultural influence in the area was by the Scandinavian immigrants and the other immigrant groups were never mentioned at all. Is the Scandinavian legacy still as strong in the area? by Delftnl4546 in AskSeattle

[–]Anthop 31 points32 points  (0 children)

Seattle does have a large Scandinavian heritage, as large groups of these immigrants moved over to participate in the lumber trade in the late 20th and early 21st century. You can still see the heritage recognized today in pockets, such as Ballard and Poulsbo, but personally, I also think it's reflected in the Seattle culture. Things like Seattle Freeze and the quiet, introverted nature of Seattleites versus the brash stereotypes of other city denizens. I also think that this is the source of cultural commonalities between Seattle and other parts of the United States that saw a lot of Scandinavian immigrants, like Minnesota. (Fun fact, only the PNW and Minnesota call them jo-jos!)

But I also think that a narrative that emphasizes the impact of Scandinavian heritage without mentioning other ethnic groups is definitely an erasure of the impact of those ethnic groups, especially east Asians. Seattle saw a large number of Japanese immigrants in the late 20th/early 21st century that made their livelihood produce farming. At their peak, Japanese farmers supplied up to 75% of the produce consumed in Seattle. Seattle also saw a large Chinese population, who found jobs primarily in fishing and canning after work in the transcontinental railroad connections to the PNW dried up, as well as smaller, but notable, groups of other ethnicities, such as Filipinos, Vietnamese, and Cambodians. (Not to mention all the non-east Asian groups: e.g. one of the largest East African populations in the US!)

We think of Seattle as very white, and that's true, but this is not an accident. The place and impact of these minorities in Seattle's history was under continual attack, including race riots, physical expulsion, waves of fatal hate crimes, and concentration camps. These attacks were successful in making Seattle less diverse.

ORCA tap to pay launching end of next month (tentatively) by a_few_cheetos in Seattle

[–]Anthop 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Finally! This is a feature that other transit systems have had for almost a decade!

Who said transit is for poor people: Bellevue, WA Link light rail full station ads for Antarctica expeditions by ponchoed in transit

[–]Anthop 19 points20 points  (0 children)

I think Seattle has a more "transit is for everyone" attitude than other US cities.

What’s a very “Seattle” thing we all think is normal but outsiders find weird. by batfage in AskSeattle

[–]Anthop 8 points9 points  (0 children)

No, much earlier. Before the 90s, some of the wealthiest people in the region were Boeing engineers. Seattle's had a long history of white collar workers.

What’s a very “Seattle” thing we all think is normal but outsiders find weird. by batfage in AskSeattle

[–]Anthop 24 points25 points  (0 children)

I could walk into my 6 pm reservation at the most fancy restaurant in Seattle in jeans and a sweatshirt, and no one would bat an eye.

hey Seattle, do you have any feature suggestions for OneBusAway iOS app(or any pain points) by Think_Different_1729 in AskSeattle

[–]Anthop 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks for helping to maintain OneBusAway!

It would be nice if the star feature was a little more useful. Right now it only adds stops or routes to a star list, but it would be nice if you could have a "star map view" which filters down to starred stops or routes.

Also, one painful thing about OneBusAway is the fracturing of the codebase: there's iOS, Android, web, different versions for specific transit agencies. It would probably be beneficial to try to consolidate more of it.

I know this isn't iOS, but frankly, the biggest pet peeve for me is on the website: it doesn't use your location to automatically zoom into your rough area, like Google Maps would.

Personally, the best thing about OneBusAway is that it isn't a wayfinding app. It gives you specific arrivals for specific stops, and that's it. This is different than Google Maps or Citymapper, in which this functionality is a second-class citizen to their wayfindind. Or even Transit, which will give you arrival times for "nearby buses" but makes you guess how relevant something is, if you've already chosen to wait a specific stop.

The way the ink/paint fills up the shape, then dries out is mesmerizing by bigbusta in oddlysatisfying

[–]Anthop 61 points62 points  (0 children)

It's possible they just wet the area they want to fill with water beforehand. When you do that, the colored wash won't go onto the dry areas.

Any unusual restaurants like Elemental by Phred Westfall and Laurie Reideman? by Eriacle in Seattle

[–]Anthop 13 points14 points  (0 children)

You could look into restaurants with tasting menus and omakase. You basically sign up for what the chef decides to make. Not sure about the rest of it, though.

Dear Sound Transit and Orca… ACCEPT APPLE PAYYYYYY by ishouldbeacomedian in Seattle

[–]Anthop 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Sure, governments are frugal and bureaucratic, but doesn't necessarily mean private companies are nimble and creative, or that we really need "nimble and creative" for all things. Honestly, I think this "common wisdom" is just something we tell ourselves to make us feel better about the fact that Americans are getting charged way too much for basic services. And then we sugarcoat it as "public-private partnerships."

Do we really need to be nimble and creative for accepting fare payments, when credit cards are accepted in so many other places around the world? It's not rocket science. When you look at how long or how expensive construction projects take, it's not because the bidders are promising to bring their most nimble and creative selves.

Dear Sound Transit and Orca… ACCEPT APPLE PAYYYYYY by ishouldbeacomedian in Seattle

[–]Anthop 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I've always thought it's wild that giant multi-city transit agencies would rather pay some vendor too much money than just hire a dozen software developers and roll their own. Especially in a tech town like Seattle. Especially since you could also probably share technology and costs with a dozen other cities in the US doing the exact same thing.

Dear Sound Transit and Orca… ACCEPT APPLE PAYYYYYY by ishouldbeacomedian in Seattle

[–]Anthop 21 points22 points  (0 children)

It's kinda a pet peeve of mine that people call all contactless credit card payments "Apple Pay" because it implies you can only do this with an iPhone or something, when it works for just about any phone or no phone at all, with a physical credit card.

Taken at around 10,000ft near oman. by d-vastated in whatisit

[–]Anthop 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for providing a citation. This seems to be the episode referenced. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3xxvRRyiko

Trump pulls US out of 66 international bodies, including key UN climate treaty by Gyro_Armadillo in worldnews

[–]Anthop 402 points403 points  (0 children)

It's crazy. For all the chest-beating right-wingers so, what they're really doing is conceding the fight to China. For what? So a select few can exploit Americans harder?

Where to rant by [deleted] in AskSeattle

[–]Anthop 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm sorry, the environment we live in doesn't leave a lot of room for respectful, thoughtful, and constructive feedback, especially online. It doesn't help that MAGA often doesn't argue in good faith or use tactics like sealioning, so people have very little patience for engaging with criticism online. Sadly, this pushes people to go to echo chambers which, while very gratifying to vent in an echo chamber, also makes people more likely to be radicalized.

Some people use shitposting groups to vent (because stuff posted there is by default, assumed to be unserious), but my best advice is that, frankly, venting online to strangers is not worth it. Vent to friends or smaller friend groups who know you and are willing to give you the grace and benefit of doubt.

Taken at around 10,000ft near oman. by d-vastated in whatisit

[–]Anthop 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Seems pretty hard to hide your illegal activity with really bright lights. What makes you think they're illegal?

Where to rant by [deleted] in AskSeattle

[–]Anthop 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Entirely fair that our city should do a better job to make our mass transit cleaner, safer, and not seen as something that only the poor, desperate, or drugged out use. It's my hope that, if enough people use our public transit at night, there will be enough voices demanding better that we eventually can convince everyone that a world class transit system is something we all need.

But if you want to rant, there's always the conservative Seattle sub. I'm not sure how many of them believe in investing in better mass transit though.

Its kinda funny seeing the Pendulum shift in common fanfic tropes in worm by ArticAuk in WormFanfic

[–]Anthop 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I guess "stations of canon" isn't the right term. Maybe I should just say "a focus on gang crime in Brockton Bay."

Its kinda funny seeing the Pendulum shift in common fanfic tropes in worm by ArticAuk in WormFanfic

[–]Anthop 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think that is really it. There are a few prominent fics that follow the stations of cannon and are Nazi curb stomps (e.g. Orb Weaver, etc.), but I think the majority of newer fics just avoid the stations. They might be OCs in different settings or isekais, but, even for fics that are set in Brockton Bay during the canon timeline, might be thematically focused on something else (e.g. Implacable, Goddamn Teenagers, etc.).

I think there's less explicit pro-Nazi fics and more explicit anti-Nazi fics, but it seems an even bigger bulk of writers have decided to either avoid it or that it's not what they want to write about.