Larry Hosken: New

Outside Lands is still two weeks away, but the temporary cell towers are already up and their diesel generators are in full roar. Meanwhile, at 20th and Irving, there's a new-to-me Kal Zakzouk sidewalk chalk piece:

sidewalk chalk art: someone sits in lotus position among clouds. they are surrounded by a looooong dog and other animal pals. There's a bottle in front of them

sidewalk chalk art: zooming in on the head of the loooong dog

sidewalk chalk art: zooming in on the sitter's face

sidewalk chalk art: zooming in on the... imp? cat? hmm

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2026-07-25T21:36:03.673040

How to finish an #SFPursuit challenge in ~~minutes~~ years:

Attend elementary school a half block away. Get to know the neighborhood.

Write (the first draft of) The 2-Tone Game, one of whose puzzles covered the relevant territory.

If you're failing to discern something through glare-y glass: give up, stand back, and consider what nearby establishments the Hours & Access notes might describe. Enter the first one you thought of. It's correct. Now you can figure out what you failed to see through glare-y glass.

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2026-07-24T23:15:40.946537

Some mighty nice sidewalk chalk art at Presidio Wall Park today, celebrating Phillip's birthday. I dunno know who did it; it's unsigned. Maybe, like, Phillip's grandma or something?

patch of sidewalk covered with little chalk drawings. Kind of an optimistic cartoony line art look, idk i'm not an art expert

sidewalk-chalk art: face of a smiling cat

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2026-07-19T20:32:41.410581

On my way home from the grocery store, I saw some Flower Power sidewalk chalk art on Irving St at 8th Ave. "I 🌼 SF" #SanFrancisco (In related news, I have replenished my supply of celebratory bubbly and am repeatedly refreshing the news page.)

kinda dusty shelf with chili garlic sauce, pasta sauce, and featuring a bottle of sparkling apple cider kept on hand in case of sudden celebration occasion

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2026-07-13T15:16:17.293886

At Kezar Stadium, figure I have a few months to workshop some equine/vine wordplay.

view through fence of a garden decoration, a wire-frame donkey(? or mule?) with flowering vines just starting to crawl around it

But, first an another such project urgently emerged. Uh, "Elegy for L.G.: Burn in Hell, G."

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2026-07-12T14:43:36.266324

It's happening again. Anyhow, I got a selfie. #SFPursuit.

fisheye camera view of seemingly-suburban-but-actually-just-urban street. A tall person kneels on the sidewalk holding a phone up to the camera. His head is out of frame. A ways back on the sidewalk, another figure stands, hands in pockets, also head out of frame. Behind him is a street. Behind that is a grassy plaza. Barely sticking up behind my arm is a little sticky-out thing. That's the gnomon of a big sundial

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2026-07-11T20:28:44.140321

Suddenly had a good guess at who made those Mario-themed drain covers on Page St when I saw this DraINvader cover on Baker St. #SanFrancisco #StreetArt

sewer drain cover made of 3D-printed plastic. bright yellow background. pixel art with Space Invader under a rainbow over spectrum-colored dots by signature draINvader

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2026-07-10T15:12:41.507259

Sidewalk chalk art at 22nd and Irving St in #SanFrancisco in front of Uncle Benny's donuts, where, miraculously,* there was no line this morning.

Maybe(?) it's supposed to suggest a bagua? I'd expect more, uh, mid-octant U-turns where there are straightaways to really get something bagua-like. ~~Maybe I'm just jumping to a culturally-insensitive conclusion based on the presence of Chinese characters at the bottom which I can't even read.~~ That would go well with the "Laozi" in Chinese characters at the bottom, legendary author of the Tao Te Ching. (Many thanks to Paul Masson for translating those characters.) I suppose that Pac-Man on top would be handy for harrying evil spirits a la one of those feng shui mirrors or something.

Maybe(?) by Kal Zakzouk who I vaguely remember making some Pac-Man mazes when he was drawing on Judah sidewalks but hoo boy not sure how well I trust my memory back that far.

sidewalk chalk art: overall, it's a labyrinth shaped like an octogon. on top is Pac-Man

sidewalk chalk art: zooming in on the Pac-Man on top of the octagon

*Maybe miraculously or maybe a large fraction of the Uncle Benny's regulars weren't sure whether it'd be open on Independence Day.

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2026-07-04T22:24:20.159953

I saw some things on my walk in the #SanFrancisco Upper Haight this morning.

Page Street, across from the International School of SF: Sewer covers decorated with Mario things. [Update Jul 10]: I bet these are the work of DrainVader
A block west, near 1260 Page: Sidewalk carp. Jeremy Novy trying a new color scheme? Eclair Bandersnatch going ichthyic? I dunno, I just snap pics.
Haight Street: Infinite love! sidewalk chalk.

patch of sidewalk with some sewer covers. they're usually made of metal and often stolen. a couple of metal ones have been replaced by ?plastic? decorated to look like a Mario Goomba and question mark

patch of pavement painted in orange and blue with carp, bubbles, and seaweed(?)

sidewalk chalk art: two hearts placed point-to-point to suggest a ∞ infinity lemniscate symbol. Within one heart is written Infinite; in the other, Love

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2026-07-10T14:57:59.356217

We sometimes forget to pass along the classics. I posted this old word puzzle on a discord today and it got more of a reaction than I expected; I guess the kids today don't know:

a few letters in a strange layout. There's a big letter G. Inside the G are 3 letters: ST together, and then under that an M.

I think I first saw it back in the 1980s. Maybe clued with something like "caused more conflict than anything else in history"?

Games Magazine published puzzles like this called "Wacky Wordies." @Algot@mastodon.art occasionally posts them, calling them "Wicked Wonderful Wordies."

Here are rot13'd clues and solution in case you're stuck:

Ubj jbhyq lbh qrfpevor Z'f cbfvgvba eryngvir gb gur bgure cvrprf?

Gur nafjre vf bar jbeq.

Gur jbeq raqf va vat. Nf va: gur Z vf "va t".

Gur nafjre vf z vf haqre fg naq va t.

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2026-06-28T15:31:50.170654