The Slice: It’s the same old West Side story

It never fails.

Friends or family members move to the Seattle area and then become instant experts on how Spokane could improve itself. Happens every time.

OK, let’s move on.

“This might be a record: Owen Berio was in a doctor’s waiting room. He took a National Geographic from the rack and started reading.

“After several moments, it dawned on me that something was not quite right,” he wrote.

So he looked at the cover and discovered that the magazine was dated April 1967.

“Movies that nobody has ever heard of that you recommend: Mary Clarke, secretary at Skyway Elementary School in Coeur d’Alene, named a 2005 film called “Kinky Boots.” (It’s rated PG-13, by the way.)

Roberta Garner, associate registrar at Whitworth University, passed along her husband Bruce’s recommendation: 1990’s “Cold Dog Soup” featuring Randy Quaid.

“Slice answer: Best fall colors? “It is actually a pair of trees on the corner of Sixth and Union in the Spokane Valley,” wrote Meg Kreiner. “…They look like they are on fire.”

“Just wondering: What percentage of elderly people simply hang up if they call a business and encounter an automated phone menu? How many hear a recorded answer and start speaking, assuming a real person is on the line?

“Test your knowledge: Which of the following are not elementary schools in the Spokane Public Schools system? There are five.

Adams, Arlington, Audubon, Balboa, Bemiss, Browne, Cooper, Finch, Foley, Franklin, Garfield, Grant, Hamblen, Harding, Holmes, Hutton, Indian Trail, Jefferson, Landry, Lidgerwood, Lincoln Heights, Linwood, Logan, Longfellow, Madison, Moran Prairie, Mullan Road, Regal, Ridgeview, Roosevelt, Sheridan, Springfield, Stevens, Walter, Westview, Whitman, Willard, Wilson, Woodridge.

Be the first to answer correctly and win a coveted reporter’s notebook.

“In case you were wondering: The reporter/editor relationship depicted on the new NBC series, “Journeyman,” is not especially realistic.

“Today’s Slice question: We all know this area has a four-seasons climate. But there is disagreement about what percentage of the year each of the seasons consumes. Few seem to think each takes up exactly 25 percent.

So if you were to draw a four-slice pie chart showing our seasonal breakdown, what would it look like?