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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

The Slice

MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2012





Just wondering

We all know that people around here have wildly varied ideas about what constitutes "back East." But here's my question. Has anyone over on the West Side ever referred the Inland Northwest that way?

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SUNDAY, MARCH 4, 2012

Meet Joe Black 

One summer day back in the mid-1960s, my older brother and I were at a baseball game in Cincinnati, in a ballpark that no longer exists. My mother had driven the three of us so that I could see Willie Mays play. I had a…

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When others want to choose for you 

There were a fair number of people out walking, jogging and riding bikes this morning. Here's hoping everyone looked both ways and paid attention to lingering slick spots and potholes. But, for a few of us, there was another issue. There was a young border…

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SATURDAY, MARCH 3, 2012



Do tellers hear it all?

I've long wondered if bank tellers at drive-through locations overhear interesting tidbits of conversation when people out in their cars forget that they aren't really alone. But what the tellers hear probably isn't all that exciting. If other people's cell phone coversations are any guide,…

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Just wondering

It's not a hard and fast routine. But Saturday mornings are when I usually wrangle with bills. I wonder how many others also tackle that chore at this time. I can see thinking this would get the weekend off to an iffy start. But I…

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FRIDAY, MARCH 2, 2012





Have you noticed pronunciation trend? 

Maybe it's my imagination. But it seems like people saying "Spokane" on national broadcasts are getting it right more often than in the past. Coverage of the recent women's boxing competition and the Washington GOP caucuses nudged me toward this conclusion. So I guess writing…

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"Hey kid, whattaya think you're doing?"

www.ebay.com In the mid-1960s, Coca-Cola bottlers around the country ran a promotion featuring the images of pro athletes inside bottle caps. The idea was, you collected complete sets of NFL players or whatever. Then you could redeem them for various modest prizes. I'm sure the…

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Maybe this will spur a memory or two  

I've been wondering about something, and perhaps you can help me. If you are old enough to remember being a little kid who clomped around in small cowboy boots, you might also remember toy spurs. I guess the idea was that a 6-year-old saddle tramp…

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THURSDAY, MARCH 1, 2012

Just wondering  

Is this seating arrangement generational, socio-political or purely a matter of couples dynamics? www.flintstonesgaleria.blogspot.com And if it is a comfort thing, surely Wilma and Betty had longer legs than Barney.

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When the grocery receipt is a mystery

You know how item descriptions on grocery store receipts sometimes get cut off in the middle of a word? Sure. If the line says "BELL PEPPERS & FIRE ROA" you can be reasonably sure that the last word was supposed to be "ROASTED." But once…

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Name game

I'm interested in names. And sometimes I ask my correspondents if there is a story behind theirs. After hearing from Moses Lake's Vaughn Blethen, I first inquired if she was related to the newspaper publishing family. She is, if you go way back. But that's…

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The Slice

The online home for Paul Turner's musings and interactions with disciples of The Slice.