The Slice: The Slice: Let’s end the state of confusion now

So I give up.

The other morning I had the Weather Channel on and looked up to see a watery regional scene. The caption at the bottom of the screen said “Flooding in Idaho and Washington State.”

Right. You’d certainly want to make sure that no one got confused and thought there was flooding in Idaho and Washington, D.C.

Maybe it’s time to throw in the towel and just officially make “Washington State” the name.

Then, in the Apple Cup game, it could be Washington State University vs. the University of Washington State.

“Features section frenzy: Ruth Jackson’s cat, Mulligan, gets so excited about the Today section that sometimes he can barely manage to stay awake.

“Talking about the weather: “If Spokane is supposed to be ‘Near nature, near perfect,’ we ought to be able to complain about less than perfect weather without castigation — regardless of what we said yesterday or will say tomorrow,” wrote my friend Mike McKeehan.

OK, Mike, that’s fair enough.

But my point has always been that, despite what local media would have you believe, not everyone agrees about what constitutes perfect weather.

“The Slice helps you feel ancient: Tracy Chapman’s haunting song “Fast Car” is 20 years old.

“More dull lake names: Derek Cutlip nominated Long Lake, Round Lake and Deep Lake.

“Sense of place: Sue Lind was a Washington resident who lived on Montana Road when she got married and moved to Idaho. “We bought a house on Montana Street in Idaho,” she wrote.

“Just wondering: Have you read “And Then We Came to the End” by Joshua Ferris? What did you think?

“Sometimes it’s hard to be a woman: “When a bug flies on to your lip and sticks to your lipstick, it’s yecchhh!” wrote Deborah Chan.

“Way down below the ocean: A friend came back to his car parked in downtown Spokane and got in. He discovered what looked like a page from a child’s coloring book. It featured several smiling sea creatures and a printed message from someone who might have been quite young: “You left your sun roof open and fish got in.”

My friend wasn’t sure if this was part of an organized day-care activity or what. But it made him smile.

“Today’s Slice question: I haven’t done the math. But is there any chance that the rate of turnover in Spokane TV news departments means that eventually there will be someone in every city in America who once had an on-air job here?