Lauren Hall-Stigerts
@hallstigerts.bsky.social
Mom, musician (clarinet/sax/guitar), tea enthusiast (aka TeaVoyeur), and advocate working to make life good for EVERYONE. 📍Kirkland, WA. She/her. 🩷💜💙
Washington state’s proposed wealth tax is a must-needed solution to addressing our regressive tax structure. Proud of the innovators who are speaking in support of the legislation and our communities.
Brian Fioca@bfioca.bsky.social · 5mo agoThe people will leave the state argument undervalues our home and community. www.geekwire.com/2026/opinion...
I’m glad I’m not the only one who reads all written content on the internet with a dose of A.I. paranoia; author Sam Kriss hits the nail on the head here. (Gift link below.) www.nytimes.com/2025/12/03/m...
Why Does A.I. Write Like … That?
nytimes.com
Lauren Hall-Stigerts@hallstigerts.bsky.social · 10mo agoI wonder how much content I read over the internet (email newsletters, product descriptions, podcast summaries, corporate website copy, etc.) is mostly A.I. authored now. I can easily spot some of it, and other copy is less obvious—I only know because it isn’t in their typical voice.
Old life lets go, & in doing so feeds new life — may what is breaking in me now nourish the me I am becoming in all this rain. #mushroom #shroomscrolling #autumn #lettinggo #poem #poetry
Who says local politics are boring? Kirkland City Council’s races flipped over the weekend from 3/4 seats going to NIMBY candidates to now just 1/4! It will be wonderful to maintain a majority that cares about the future of Kirkland for everyone, even those whose voices aren’t “in the room”.
Same with two of the Kirkland City Council races against NIMBY opponents! The pro-housing candidates are behind but just by fractions. We’re only 22% into the vote count for the city and pro-housing folks return their ballots later in the election cycle. 🤞
Vote Ron Davis@ronpdavis.bsky.social · 9mo agoAnd if the if the vote shifts a normal amount, she will win. This was always likely to be close. Keep calm and prepare to cure ballots if needed!
Next week's council elections in Kirkland really do deserve more regional attention. An anti-growth advocacy group is promoting a full slate of candidates who are pledging to "protect neighborhoods." The outcome could tip the city in a very reactionary direction. www.theurbanist.org/2025/10/28/k...
Kirkland Council Elections Could Tip City in Reactionary Direction » The Urbanist
# In four different races, Kirkland voters face a choice between pro-growth candidates interested in fostering additional types of housing throughout the city, and candidates looking for the city to b...
theurbanist.org
I wonder how much content I read over the internet (email newsletters, product descriptions, podcast summaries, corporate website copy, etc.) is mostly A.I. authored now. I can easily spot some of it, and other copy is less obvious—I only know because it isn’t in their typical voice.
@aoc at the rally for Mamdani Sunday in NYC. “This city was built by the Irish escaping famine, Italians fleeing fascism, Black Americans fleeing slavery and Jim Crow, Latinos seeking a better life, Native people standing for themselves, Asian Americans coming together…” So good!! 🔥
Seattle: Our tea house will begin accepting donations on 10/29. We will make weekly dropoffs with Northwest Harvest, but if you are in our area and in need, you are welcome to take directly from the donations bin for yourself as well. We won’t be policing your need.
Reuters@reuters.com · 10mo agoUS Department of Agriculture says no food aid benefits will be issued next month reut.rs/3WohHMk
Cascadia Tea Festival Autumn Virtual Steep 'n Sip is coming on Nov 1! Free tickets on our website: www.cascadiatea.org/event-detail... Autumn tea boxes with a tea pet and fall teas to go with the event are $17. Financial hardship discount available.
2025 Cascadia Autumn Steep 'n Sip | Cascadia Tea Fest
Join us online on November 1st to share tea! We'll enjoy a cozy fall vibe as we drink tea, chat with special guests, and enjoy being part of the tea community.
cascadiatea.org
I know everyone is probably tired of hearing this, but Japan’s streets/transportation/land use is pretty great. Every street that is not an arterial is a shared street, where folks ride and walk in the middle and make way for the occasional car.
This extrovert is going to have serious withdrawals when the election is over and I can’t canvass for another year or two. It’s been a wonderful, positive experience. Sign me up for next year! 🩷
The hardest part of being involved in politics is discovering how low people you once respected will stoop to try to gain the upper hand. It’s disappointing and heartbreaking.
More Myst birthday week fun: Now until Oct 1st, get 10% off Myst Collection merch in the Cyan Store! Plus, our Riven Animal Sigils Stained Glass Coasters are BACK IN STOCK (and also 10% off!) Myst Collection: https://store.cyan.com/s/myst32soc Riven Coasters: https://store.cyan.com/s/sigressoc
Great. Yet another American entertainment property I need to boycott now that Saudi Arabia (and Jared Kushner!) bought it up. They ruined pro golf for me. Now they’re ruining the video game industry. Invest in indie companies: play indie games. www.reuters.com/business/med...
"Battlefield" maker Electronic Arts inks $55 billion go-private deal with PIF, Silver Lake
Videogame publisher Electronic Arts said on Monday it has agreed to be taken private by a consortium in a $55 billion deal, marking one of the biggest acquisitions in the sector.
reuters.com
The Northwest Tea Festival was wonderful! I saw so many friends I lost touch with over the last several years. I bought too much tea and teaware but no regrets. Folks seemed to enjoy my two tea bar sessions. I’ll post some more about it later. I’m recovering today with Old Ways Tea Osmanthus Black.
autumn raw Puer being made by hand. the tea is cooked in a wood-fired cast iron wok by hand for about half an hour. the next step is hand rolling and then this commission of ours will be ready in a day after being dried in the sun
Listen, I’m not against using A.I. to assist in the writing process. But please please please, I beg of writers to do the work so their copy doesn’t read like A.I. wrote it. Please have a heavier hand in the editorial process and make it your / your company’s own voice. (Continued)
It’s Northwest Tea Festival weekend! 🥳 I’m hosting the tea bar today at 11am (come learn about the six types of Chinese tea!) and tomorrow at 2pm (come taste at least three different Longjing varietals with me!): nwteafestival.org/tea-bar (My session descriptions don’t reflect what I’m brewing.)
Tea Bar | Northwest Tea Festival
nwteafestival.org
I just want to know where I can get my kid’s ADORABLE shirt in an adult size. 😍👻💕
AOC: We should be clear about who Charlie Kirk was. A man who believed that the civil rights act that granted black Americans the right to vote was a mistake… His rhetoric and beliefs were ignorant, uneducated, and sought to disenfranchise millions of Americans.
This is precisely the kind of government coercion that the First Amendment was designed to prevent — and media companies need to start standing up rather than capitulating to it.
Washington Post Columnist Says She Was Fired for Posts After Charlie Kirk Shooting
nytimes.com
Vladimir Putin sent armed guards in 2000 to shut down the puppet show Kukly for mocking him. Russia never got free media back. Donald Trump used his FCC to pressure ABC into suspending Jimmy Kimmel. If a president can silence comedians, our freedoms may never return.
Join me in cancelling your Disney+ subscription today to send a message that capitulating to anti-First Amendment demands comes with consequences.
I leafed up hard on this one—9g in my largest gaiwan ~140ml—because it was the bottom of the bag. Wish me luck! 🤪 #teasky
This graph says it all. Induced demand is real, and the reverse is also true: if we don't expand highway capacity, people make choices other than sitting in worsening traffic jams. $10B for transit instead, please.
City Observatory@cityobservatory.bsky.social · 11mo agoDenial and declining traffic on the I-5 bridges https://cityobservatory.org/denial-and-declining-traffic-on-the-i-5-bridges/
