I caught the bus home from downtown today at the same stop that the lady was crushed at last night, and this small memorial has popped up. There are also a few bouqets laying on the ground next to it. I imagine that they’ll be cleaned away in the next day or so.

• Hip Asians, gay dogs, sidewalk vomiters. Such is day in the life of Knute Berger. [mossblog]
• The Weekly accuses Dan Savage of jeopardizing reporters’ easy-access to city hall office with his gun-toting pot-laced adventure. [dailyweekly]
• Paradox spotting: somehow a closed tunnel results in speedier downtown transit? [friendsofseattle]
• Other ways of getting high downtown? Searching for high tea in Seattle. [seattle.lj]

Starbucks, the original local coffee legend, is celebrating its 35th anniversary and as part of the event, they’re handing out their old logo.

There was one small problem, some folks found the original logo offensive.

“This is degrading to the women of today,” a regular Starbucks customer explained.

The 1971 original logo features a twin tailed mermaid with bare breasts. A ‘siren’ as she’s called in Greek mythology, and “is being used merely for nostalgia.” says Starbucks Carol Pucik who continued that the use of the old logo isn’t meant to cause offense.

Pucik says every hot beverage cup in their Washington and Oregon company owned stores will feature the original logo over the next two months.

Before Starbucks became a worldwide name, the old logo was very well known around Seattle and it can still be seen today at the first Starbucks in Pike’s Place Market.

However, in the early 1990’s, there were growing complaints about the appropriateness of the original logo and the company gave her a ‘modest makeover’ which is the logo used widely today.

So what do you think? Is the old logo offensive, or simply a misunderstood piece of Seattle art?

This author is taking it upon himself to find a Starbucks offering up the old logos and will report back when one is located. Stay tuned!

Source: KOMO TV

Hi there. Bumbershoot takes over Seattle starting (sort of) tomorrow. It’s big and kind of scary, right? To help you better enjoy the show, your pals at Metroblogging Seattle engaged in the annual ritual of sharing our favorite advice for making the best of it. Sure, some of this advice is recycled from last year, but who can remember 2005 anyway? Later this week, we’ll let you know which items to circle on your schedule. Please share your own guidance in the comments.

Your Agenda, Should You Choose to Accept It

There are at least two schools of thought on having an agenda for your time at Bumbershoot:

• plan ahead: Look at the schedule before you go (more help on this section coming soon). Are there acts that you definitely want to see? If missing them will leave you heartbroken or just down in the dumps, expect lines at most venues and plan to show up early. When you get there, find your inner line Zen and don’t get freaked out by the size of the group waiting to see your beloved performer. Except in rare circumstances, you will probably get inside the venue. The volunteers and crowd coordinators will tell you otherwise, but they’re usually wrong. The good part about these warnings is that they chase away all but the true believers, improving your chances.
• don’t plan ahead: With that in mind, a highly enjoyable part about Bumbershoot is discovering wonderful new things almost by accident. For the most part you can just show up and wander around until you find something enjoyable. Bumbershoot is a smorgasbord and it’s most fun when you try a little bit of everything — even something you might think you don’t like.

(more…)

Today Alex Steffen at World Changing points out that this city has a density problem that no one seems to know how to solve, largely because we don’t build enough mixed-use buildings and that leads to sprawl. (One wonders if the 296 square foot condos they’re building downtown are part of the answer or a bigger problem.) A bit of rezoning in SoDo and an end to the strange prejudice against grandma flats would certainly help, says Steffen, as well as a better transportation infrastructure.

The proof that a livable high-density city is possible is, apparently, London. “London is one of the best, most dynamic, most interesting and even comfortable cities in the world.” I’ve never been to London, which is why I need your opinion. How fantastic is it? Could Seattle be the new London? Ought we even want to be?

With Tuesday’s downpour reminding us of the impending autumn, a trip to the park to take advantage of the waning hours of summer seems all the more appropriate. Today, in the Morning News, Matthew Baldwin [defectiveyeti] chronicles a brief history in Seattle parks designed by east coasters. This, from a vignette about Ravenna park seems the most quintessentially northwest gamer nerd:

Occasionally we would round a bend in the trail and find a full-scale melee in progress around the running path. Upon seeing us, one of the combatants would shout “Reality!” and everyone would lower their weapons and step aside, allowing us to pass. (The idea of shouting “Reality!” during one of our staff meetings at work has occurred to me more than once.) [tmn]

Along the way, he also manages to use the word analemmatic, a feat in and of itself.

• When Seattle gives you sand, make sandcastles. Photos from the unusually sandy Westlake Center. [mahalie]
• Dan Savage gets high, packs fake heat, and visits city hall to demonstrate that draft legislation is stupid, which sounds much more fun than his previous doorknob-licking stunt, and a little less fun than marrying a lesbian. [slog]
• A trail in Capitol Hill surprisingly devoid of cruising gays and bad music? Do tell. [ihs]
• Having trouble finding a place to feel stupid while drinking beer with your friends? Totally awesome-looking new resource QuizNight.net to the rescue; and interviewed. [seattlest]

Malt-liquor-connoisseur Josh tipped me off that Washington State may well pass regulations today banning the sale of Thunderbird, Miller High Life Ice, Colt 45 Ice and other high-alcohol beverages in certain Seattle districts.

Pioneered in Pioneer Square, these restrictions could soon be coming to the U-District, amongst other neighborhoods. No word on if early-1990s-flash-in-the-pan Zima is on the ban-list.

(Image courtesy all-around-malt-liquor-resource 40ozmaltliquor.com.)

(image [myspace])

Jonathan Coulton, known to perform in a coonskin cap and sing funny songs about mountains made of candy, will be joining the star-studded lineup for the 826 Seattle benefit on Friday night. However, an appearance in an ensemble cast is not enough for some of his most ardent fans. More than fifty of them have demanded that he hold a solo show on Saturday and are looking for a spot to hold the show [eventful].

Once you’ve listened to a few of his songs [#] online, you might find yourself among his devotees. If so, try to give him a hand in finding an unbooked venue on short notice.

update: Rendezvous/Jewelbox, 8pm, 21+, $10

(via seattle’s livejournal community [#])