Beautifying Redmond with sock art!

I LOVE Suzanne Tidwell’s “yarn bomb” that she did in Occidental Park last summer and was so excited to see it has come to  Redmond’s Anderson Park! I was driving by today on my way back from sushi at Whole Foods (I have to get my salmon sushi fix there at least once a week) and saw Suzanne on a ladder up a tree!  I asked if I could grab her picture "knitting" around the tree and she was happy to oblidge.  I love this.  I love art.  I love art meeting up with nature and with our everyday lives, which is something the Seattle area is so well known for.  It's definitely brightened up that park and brightened up Redmond!  Yeah!

Museum of Flight Welcomes Charles Simonyi's Soyuz TMA-14 Spacecraft



Today, The Museum of Flight in Seattle welcomed an exciting new space artifact, as Charles Simonyi and representatives from the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, delivered the Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft. This historic craft will be on permanent loan to the museum from Simonyi and immediately on display in the Charles Simonyi Space Gallery.

“Today’s exciting arrival of the Soyuz TMA-14 is a tremendous step toward the completion of the Charles Simonyi Space Gallery, which is now open to the public,” said Museum of Flight President and CEO Doug King. “Having the Soyuz TMA-14 as well as NASA’s Full Fuselage Trainer on display later this year, makes the Charles Simonyi Space Gallery one of the premier aerospace exhibits in the world.”



Soyuz TMA-14 arriving to the Charles Simonyi Space Gallery

Simonyi, a high-tech pioneer and philanthropist as well as renowned space traveler, trained in the Soyuz TMA-14 during his preparatory time at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. He then traveled to the International Space Station on board Soyuz TMA-14, on March 26, 2009. The module stayed at the International Space Station (ISS) for the duration of Expedition 20, the 20^th long-duration flight to the ISS and the first time a six-member crew inhabited the station. Simonyi returned to Earth in the Soyuz TMA-13 on April 8, 2009 and the TMA-14 remained at the ISS until Oct. 11, 2009 when it safely returned home.

“It is my pleasure to share the Soyuz TMA-14 spacecraft with The Museum of Flight and the thousands of people who will visit the Space Gallery each year,” said Simonyi. “I am grateful to have had the privilege to travel into space aboard this capsule and hope that the exhibit will inspire the next generation of space explorers.”

The 15,500-sq.-ft. Charles Simonyi Space Gallery will be home to the Soyuz TMA-14 and NASA’s Full Fuselage Trainer as well as other various rare space artifacts and interactive exhibits showcasing space travel from the earliest days of the space shuttle program to the future of commercial space. The Full Fuselage Trainer, in which every space shuttle astronaut has trained, will arrive at Boeing Field aboard the NASA Super Guppy aircraft. Due to the trainer’s size, it will be delivered in several different stages beginning in May.

Charles Simonyi with the Soyuz TMA-14 Spacecraft

About The Museum of Flight

The independent, non-profit Museum of Flight is one of the largest air and space museums in the world, attracting more than 400,000 visitors annually. The museum’s collection includes more than 150 historically significant air- and spacecraft, as well as the Red Barn®—the original manufacturing facility of The Boeing Co. The museum’s aviation and space library and archives are the largest on the West Coast. More than 100,000 individuals are served annually by the museum’s on-site and outreach educational programs. The Museum of Flight is accredited by the American Associations of Museums, and is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution. For more information on The Museum of Flight, visit www.museumofflight.org.

About Charles Simonyi
Charles Simonyi is a high-tech pioneer and philanthropist as well as a space traveler. He was the architect of Microsoft Word, Excel and other widely-used application programs. He left Microsoft to found Intentional Software, which aims to develop and market computer software for knowledge processing. His passion for science and for space has led him to travel into space twice aboard Soyuz spacecraft, becoming the fifth space tourist and the first ever tourist to fly twice.

Tacoma News Tribune Editorial

On Monday morning, Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor, Magaret Shield from Take Back Your Meds, and Dr. Anthony Chen of the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department sat down at the Tacoma News Tribune with the editorial board. They came up with this great editorial. Check it out here.

Prescription Drug Take Back Coverage

Phuong Le did a story for the Associated Press on the state-wide prescription drug take back bill (SB 5234). The story can be found in the following places:

The Seattle Times
The Tacoma News Tribune
Seattle PI
Tri-City Herald
MSNBC
KOMO News
KIRO TV
KEPR TV
The Bellingham Herald

Take Back Your Meds coverage

There was a lot of great coverage over the weekend regarding the state-wide secure medicine return bill (SB 5234) that is alive in the Senate. It will be decided by Feb. 14th if it passes through the Rules Committee and makes it to the Senate floor.

Everett Herald on the prevention of drug abuse and accidental poisoning

The Columbian health reporter on why pharmaceutical companies are opposing this much-needed bill

The Olympian featuring an op-ed on the critical legislation for disposing unused and unwanted meds

King 5 covered a couple pushing for a drug takeback program in Washington after losing their son

Health district supports second drug take back bill

The Central Kitsap Reporter published an article yesterday regarding the need for a safe prescription medication disposal system in Washington state, and Kitsap County in particular. County law enforcement says its resources are "strained" by the collection and disposal of prescription drugs. The Kitsap Public Health District believes that pharmaceutical companies should take on the cost burden.

The passing of Senate Bill 5234 would establish a safe drug collection and disposal program funded by the drug manufacturers themselves, and the health district's board of directors and the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office give their full support to this bill.

Scott Daniels, deputy director for Kitsap Public Health District explained that unused prescription medications around the home are responsible for 32 percent of child poisoning deaths in the state. Prescription medications left in homes contribute to teenage drug abuse and street sales as well as home burglaries, according to deputy Scott Wilson, spokesman for the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office.

The session closes in two weeks, and Kitsap County officials are still trying to get more support for the bill.

For more information see the Central Kitsap Reporter article here.

Son's death prompts parents to fight for new Rx drug law

A Granite Falls couple, who lost their son to a drug overdose, is crusading for a law which would require pharmacies to take back unused prescription drugs. KOMO News covered their story today.

Because they're relatively easy to obtain from home medicine cabinets, authorities say more and more young people are experimenting with prescription drugs.

There are currently drug take-back programs in 17 of Washington's 39 counties, but they are voluntary and only police departments can take back narcotics.

The bill is still alive in the Senate and will be closing in two weeks. For more information, visit the Take Back Your Meds website