The Hitchhikers Guide had this to say about Seattle:

Landing in Seattle is troublesome. There are many landmarks visible from the sky that signify safe landing. These are all a ruse, there is no safe place to land in Seattle, should you find yourself flying overhead, please do not land at Safeco field no matter how much the pilot insists that they are opening their landing bay doors, this is a trap set up by the earthlings. Once landed in Safeco field it is common to be assaulted by two dozen large angry locals in full battle gear. This is actually a sport to the earthling, known to the residents as football. The best suggestion would be to land south of Seattle and either procure your own transportation or continue to hitchhike to Seattle proper.
Coming in from the north of Seattle is impossible, as there is actually nothing north of Seattle. However, there are vague references of a country up there. In truth, there is a wormhole anomaly that connects to Montana heading east. Do not mention this however as the denizens of earth are yet to realize this.
Coming from California is a long trip made easier due to the liquor available in the stores. The price of liquor is a lot cheaper in this area as well, which comes in handy when hitchhiking in this area. On earth, the liquor is usually sold in liquor stores. These stores are usually in the most out of the way areas. In California, the liquor is sold in the same stores that they sell their groceries, which can make it extremely convenient to procure liquor as the need arises (or the funds allow).
Once you hit Oregon, you will feel a bit uncomfortable. Do not be alarmed this is the detoxification of all the liquor you drank, as well as the last remnants of chemicals known as smog, from the larger cities in California.
Places of interest through Oregon are Eugene and Portland. Every intra-galaxy traveler should make a point to hit Salem, as it is a little known fact that half the residents in Salem Oregon are also visitors from another galaxy. The city makes a point of giving these visitors a room in one of their many state funded boarding houses depending on your perspective. The locals refer to the State funded boarding houses as Asylums.
There are many motels in the area of Seattle. For those who have not found a way to access substantial monetary units may want check out the variety of lodgings in the northeastern part of the city. In an area known as ‘highway 99’ though these lodgings are in disarray and may seem from the outside to be utterly derelict and abandoned, they are indeed decent places to store your towel and useful if you require sleep.
If you are hungry, the place to go is Pike Place Market, the vendors in this bazaar seem to give away more food then they sell. At one point I had been stuck at a single vendor, being force fed every flavor of jam ever conceived of. Leaving the stall I went to the next where I was offered a variety of prepared meats, this process went on until I could no longer differentiate between the flavors of garlic and coffee.
If you are claustrophobic, this may not be the best way to lighten your hunger, as the crowds are all encompassing. This is very much like being stuck in high tide on Aquticus delta where the seas almost smother you. At one point, it seems the tides of people were going to sweep me into the bay of the city.
In 1962 two beings from Gooblnik heard of the worlds fair in Seattle confusing worlds for worlds’ they assumed that they should go show their greatest masterpiece space ship, the Thrustmaster 8000b. (The Thrustmaster 8000a was stolen when a very trusting Gooblnikian left the hatch unlocked in front of the HGG headquarters.) Upon arriving in downtown Seattle, the Gooblnikians saw that a large landing structure had been erected in their honor. Quietly landing upon the structure they disembarked, and went off admiring all that earth had to offer. They quickly realized their error when one Gooblnikian asked where he could hire a bistro mathematician. Both Gooblnikians currently reside in Salem where they are quite comfortable and have made great advances in the fields of bistro mathematics. Gooblnik no longer exports ships.
The residents of Seattle cannot travel to their closest neighbor. They cannot even travel regularly to their own moon. They have however, seemed to not only stumble upon the concept of interstellar travel but have documented knowledge of the Babel Fish, time travel, and aliens though none seem to be using any of these. Many such artifacts seem to be stored in a museum known as the Science Fiction museum. My understanding of the word must be skewed as I have translated this to mean non-factual science; I assume that this museum was founded in response to President Beeblebrox’s creation of the improbability drive.
The “must see” of Seattle is the University District. Here sentient beings and not so sentient beings gather from all over the galaxy. The party started sometime in the late 1960’s and has lasted till today. Upon entering into this area is similar to going back in time to 1969 with hippies and revolutionaries around every corner. You can smell the drugs and alcohol on every single resident. Though the revolutionaries have long since lost their drive to actually revolutionize anything they still talk big. The hippies are still willing to share all they possess but be expected to return this favor in turn. One spot of interest is an Irish Pub north of 45th St. on University Way aptly named “Irish Pub” where it is not uncommon to see first run movies on the day of their premier for nothing more then the price of a pint. Though if you directly inquire of the movie playing they patrons tend to be very tightlipped about the whole affair.
The primary export of Seattle is nothing. There is not anything exported from Seattle except computer programs. One of the most powerful corporations on earth is located in Seattle. One very notable resident of Seattle is Bill Gates. He is one of the galaxies famous alien residents in Seattle. Known previously for his work for the Sirius Corporation, which of quickly terminated. Bill gates programmed The Marvin android series, as well as the “swishing” doors. The Sirius Corporation was quick to pull these products off the market after a sudden unexplainable rash of suicides. Makes you wonder how Seattle will survive when computers gain sentience.
Edited guide entry:
Seattle is a nice place to live but I would not want to visit there.

Governance

“One of the major problems with governing people is that of whom you get to do it; or rather who manages to get people to let them do it to them“(Adams). In other words a good leader not only has to be a leader of men but also someone that the men he or she should lead will want to be led by such a man. The definition of what a good ruler is and is it possible to have a ruler that is not there for his personal gain.
“Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men”. (Loa Tzu) These words seem to be analogous with what Douglas Adams was trying to say. A good leader of people is someone that puts others before himself, today this is not the practice of rulers and looking through history at even the greatest rulers of all times you can see that they too put themselves first. Anyone that put others before themselves usually ended up martyred. A perfect example of this would be what we historically know about Jesus Christ, Joan of Arc, Spartacus, and many, more.
In the United States we have a democracy but many countries go about “choosing” who will rule them is vastly different from ours. In china for instance the leader is elected similar to ours however their right to vote is much more lenient the our own, for instance many criminals are allowed to vote and the laws of china in regards to voting are federal and not state unlike our own, where the right to vote is determined by each state independently.
Many countries leaders come to power through military coupe, or through a monarchist system. The ways we choose are leaders are nearly infinite. Up to now I have not heard of a perfect electoral system, I certainly do not believe one would come into existence in my lifetime.
Is it possible to find a “good” leader? A democratic approach does not seem to be the optimal means or the most efficient way to elect a leader. In ancient china the “cabinet” was chosen by scholarship, though the leader’s were blood relatives in dynasties the advisers to the leaders were scholars, there were many tests done to see who was most qualified in the country. This maybe an approach that may truly show the most qualified. With modern research in psychology and sociology advancing as it has this form of leader appointment may be the way of the future or at least the best way of picking a qualified leader. Things to look at would be how to get everyone to test for it and how to get the most qualified leaders to lead after being chosen.
Today in the United States we have a president that spent 4 years leading the country with a lower then 50% approval rating but when his term was up the majority of the United States citizens re-elected him by 2%. Though in our country a president can be elected with less then a 48% majority, our current president was able to actually get a true majority and in our Democracy that is considered a landslide, but how could someone with less the 50% popularity be elected? (CNN during election) There was no better candidate; I base this off of the numbers and not my own opinion. Currently if a president is elected with only 2% more then half of the citizens in the United States there is something wrong with our system. There needs to be a way to find leaders of our country that more people can approve of. Not more then half but rather a true majority.
Unfortunately without military coupe or some other ghastly approach to reform, it will be a slow process and more people will have to take action with their votes and voices. The individual approach people take when voting and their actions in politics seem to show that they may not believe that there voices or actions are heard. This view point must change.
Though there are hundreds of millions of people in the United States most elections between to mediocre candidates still pulls many people to the polls. Yet the elections are often very close and require many recounts, this shows that a few hundred people who do not think they make a difference can thorouly tilt the balance from one side to another. For instance in 2004 in Washington State the total difference of votes for the two candidates for governor was very slight, so slight in fact that the counting had to be several times and took months to tally after the election was over. Had a thousand of the people that chose not to vote in that particular election shown up at the polls the election could have taken a drastic turn one way or the other.
I do not believe that such things and total reform and revolution will come about in my life time, I believe as the human society evolves and globalizes, we will be creating new and better governments and election processes and though not in my lifetime a true government for the people of the people will be seen in our not so distant future.

Found this and wanted to share

Revolution is not an AOL Keyword*
You will not be able to stay home, dear Netizen. You will not be able to plug in, log on and opt out. You will not be able to lose yourself in Final Fantasy, Or hold your Kazaa download queues, Because revolution is not an AOL Keyword.
Revolution is not an AOL Keyword. Revolution will not be brought to you on Hi-Def TV Encrypted with a warning from the FBI. Revolution will not have a jpeg slideshow of Dubya Calling the cattle and leading the incursion by Secretary Rumsfeld, General Ashcroft and Dick Cheney Riding nuclear warheads on their way to Iraq, Or North Korea, or Iran.
Revolution is not an AOL Keyword. Revolution will not be powered by Microsoft on The Next-Generation Secure Computing BaseAnd will not star Pamela Anderson and Tommy LeeOr Larry Lessig and Martha Stewart.
Revolution will not promise penile enlargement. Revolution will not get rid of spam. Revolution will not earn you up to $5000 a monthWorking from home, because revolution is not An AOL Keyword, Brother.
There will be no screen grabs of you and Jeeves the Butler one-click shopping at My Yahoo, Or outbidding a shady grandma on eBay for That refurbished iPod 20-gig. MSNBC.com will not predict election results in FloridaOr fact-check the Drudge Report. Revolution is not an AOL Keyword.
There will be no webcast of Wil Wheaton boxingBarney the Dinosaur on the dancefloor at DNA. There will be no mob- or wiki- blog of Richard StallmanStrolling through Redmond in a medieval robe and halo As St. iGNUcious of the Church of Emacs That he has been saving For just the proper occasion.
Survivor, The Osbournes, and Joe Millionaire Will no longer be so damned relevant, and People will not care if Carrie hooks up again with Mr. Big on Sex and the City because InformationWants To Be Free even while Knowledge Is Power. Revolution is not an AOL Keyword.
There will be no final pictures from inside the World Trade Center in the instant replay. There will be no final pictures from inside the World Trade Center in the instant replay.
There will be no RealVideo of 2600-reading, Linux-booting white hat hacktivists And Mickey Mouse in the public domain. The theme song will not be written by Jack Valenti or Hilary Rosen, nor sung by Metallica, Dr. Dre, Christina Aguilera, Matchbox 20, or Blink-182. Revolution is not an AOL Keyword.
Revolution will not be right back after Pop-up ads about eCommerce, eTailers, or eContent. You will not have to worry about a Cookie in your browser, a bug in your email, or a Worm in your recycling bin. Revolution will not run faster with Intel inside. Revolution, dude, is not getting a Dell.Revolution will increase your Google rank.
Revolution is not an AOL Keyword, is not an AOL Keyword, Is not an AOL Keyword, is not an AOL Keyword. Revolution will be no stream or download, dear Netizen; Revolution must still be live.

origionally found at
http://journalism.berkeley.edu/projects/biplog/archive/000748.html