Project Hello is something of a group art and activism project to raise awareness of the world’s growing homeless problem. They send out large “hello, my name is _____” signs to local photographers who have homeless people fill them out. A picture of the event is sent to the website, and it’s included in the online gallery and may be included in an eventual book or traveling exhibition:

We thought it would be great if the homeless started a movement, or a sort of uprising, and every street corner was occupied by people holding up a sign, demanding that they be seen as human beings.[ph]

Although the project began in Venice, California, people from all over the world are getting involved. You can, too [ph].

(via gridskipper [#])

Twice Sold Tales on Capitol Hill is protesting the smoking ban initiative with the usual sarcasm. On the window:

Get ready for you post-election blues – SMOKERS! Get your pre-emptive sign now! Ward off those long discussions with non-smokers!!!

[Sign with string to hang around your neck.]
I AM twenty-five feet from the door!
(if you don’t believe me, call 911)

Only 5 dollars!

Poor Bergen Place Park in Ballard can’t catch a break. Amidst assorted changes and modifications to the mural and overhead covering, a linguistic snafu has snarled plans to install new granite paving stones.

It’s not like these countries don’t have their weird letters:

點心 vs. Tapas: Fight!

We saw this sign on the Ave and 52nd St this evening and wondered why tapas would be a better choice than dim sum as the shorthand for small portions of Chinese food. Anyone tried this place out?

google map of the house’s address [#]

Manuel points out [#] what is probably the weirdest craigslist room for rent ad I’ve ever seen. It’s for a spot in a “Madrona Manor” with a not completely weird sounding set of roommates:

We are a cadre, of straight, 20 something, college educated or professionally minded, young women, who are not promiscuous, do not use illegal drugs, and we do not abuse alcohol. [craigslist]

Sounds normal enough, but the posting must be seen to be believed. It’s like a performance art piece that relies on twee photoshopping, out of nowhere tributes to Princess Diana, motivational speeches, details about their house staff, and more spelling errors and use of color and highlighting than your eyes can handle. Oh, all of their water is hauled to the house by a Guatemalan who fetches it from the third deepest aquifer in the United States and they’re also looking for a new live-in housekeeper.

Is this for real? An art project? Somehow porn-related? I’m completely baffled.
(via buffoonery.org)

By now, complaints about Broadway are old news [mb]. However, today brings a new culprit in the de-coolification of what apparently used to be one of Seattle’s hipper neighborhoods. While the naive among us might have blamed the street’s troubles on the increasing homeless population, one merchant is setting the record straight.

The management of Broadway Grocery (which also houses “Pizza Passion”) is shutting down one of the area’s premier hang out spots. Which beloved hip locale, you ask? Why, the intersection of Broadway and Harrison, of course! And before you blame the transients, the owner makes it clear that the problem lies among the “posers, debutantes, and the tragically hip.”

So today, let’s all have a moment of silence for the passing of this cultural landmark. Even if we had no idea what we were missing until it was too late.

Those crazy kids over at 2045 Seattle want you to download their pro-Monorail posters and plaster them all over town in preparation for the upcoming election. I saw several posted on the Denny I-5 overpass today, so someone’s paying attention.

There are ten different slogans, including the one shown in the picture. The others are:

“Because Gas Isn’t Getting Any Cheaper”
“Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes (That’s Five Times I’ve Told You Yes)”
“Less Time In Your Car, More Time In Your LIfe”
“Tell Mayor Gridlock We Really Mean It”
“Send A Message To Oil Companies”
“Bush Likes It When You Buy Gas”
“Running In Four Years (No Kidding)”
“When Leaders Fail The People Lead”

And my personal favorite:

“All Electric Systems Make Hummers Cry”

(Posters available as a PDF file. If you’re feeling really inspired, there are also instructions on how to buy lots of “Build Our Monorail” buttons.)

If the future of Seattle’s transportation system is looking grim, its past remains visible all around us. No better example than the (dwindling?) number of hand-painted street signs still in use around the city.

(more…)

I go through my days testing my boundaries. When I drive down that road that has the automatic speed detector that flashes when you go to 31 mph in a 25 mph zone, I’m doing 30 mph. And a half.

When I head out to a fast food restaurant for lunch, I want to see how many free refills I can drink before I burst. Or leave.

This article, (courtesy of the Make magazine blog) is about how when you go to Seattle library and borrow or return non-fiction books, you’re going to see the books in color-coded streams on six plasma screens. Although we’re already talking about 37000 books a day, I cannot help but be drawn to the idea of getting a huge group of people together to go down there and spend the day taking books in and out of circulation to see how we can mess with the system.

Maybe I’m just testing the limits.

Maybe it’s the anarchist in me.

Or maybe it’s Friday.

Most of the pets who go missing in my neighborhood are cats, with the occasional dog or ferret thrown in for variety’s sake. This week, however, brings us the sad story of Zoddie, the lost green parrot with a red beak. Zoddie’s owner is apparently quite distraught over losing her and has posted nice color Xerox posters all along Bellevue, offering a reward and even providing us with instructions on how to pronounce the parrot’s name.

I wonder what the chances are that a lost parrot will return to her home? I’m hoping for the best, of course, but I also can’t help imagining Zoddie flying off to join a clan of liberated parrots — much like the the Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill.