Skip to main content

Seattle’s zoning restrictions are no match for Minecraft Earth

caption: A scene from Minecraft.
Enlarge Icon
A scene from Minecraft.

If you build it in AR, they will come. How smoky will August be, and what is Seattle doing to help you get through it? It’s been 50 years since we first went to the moon. Should we really go back? And how – and why – to talk about suicide.

Listen to the full show by clicking the play button above, or check out one of the show’s segments below. You can also subscribe to The Record on your favorite podcast app.

Minecraft Earth

2016 was the summer of Brexit, a divisive presidential campaign, and… Pokemon Go. Now Microsoft is trying to get in on the live-action gaming crazy with a beta version of Minecraft Earth that’s available in Seattle and London. Ars Technica’s tech culture editor Sam Machkovich has already given it a try.

Seattle clean air shelters

With another smoky August potentially around the corner, the city of Seattle is taking offensive measures. It’s opening five clean air shelters around the city; the mayor’s senior policy advisor Julia Reed explains how they work.

Fire season predictions

How smoky will August be, in the end? We’re not sure. But it’s George Geissler’s job to hazard an informed guess. He’s the Washington State Forester and Deputy Supervisor for Wildfire.

Salish Sea Anti-Space Symposium

Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of man’s mission to the moon. But the folks behind the Salish Sea Anti-Space Symposium feel that half a century later, the wealthy are treating space as the solution to problems that should be dealt with closer to home.

Now Matters Now

Ursula Whiteside is a University of Washington psychologist who advocates talking about suicide directly as a form of prevention. Her website is http://www.nowmattersnow.org. If you are thinking about suicide, you can call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at 1-800-273-8255, or text HOME to 741741 from any US mobile phone.

Why you can trust KUOW