"The California Department of Housing and Community Development said Tuesday that it would focus on San Francisco for its first ever 'housing policy and practice review,' a process that will dissect...
Permalink
This picture shows the landward exterior wall of the Stephan C. Leonoudakis Ferry Terminal; this picture does not show pay phones. There used to be pay phones on that wall; they were still there a...
Permalink
Link: Open Infrastructure Map
Open Infrastructure Map: It's a map of power lines, communications towers, gas lines, and stranger infrastructure-y things. It's not complete. You may have heard of the Open StreetMap project—a...
Permalink
Book Report: The Grid (The Fraying Wires Between Americans and Our Energy Future)
In my head, an electrical company's control room looks like some Hollywood vision of NORAD: a map of the region with blinking red lights to indicate imminent-brownout warnings. But my head is wrong....
Permalink
Book Report: Walkable City
For a few decades, Americans thought that they wanted out of the inner city; bought cars, moved to newly-developed suburbs. These sparsely-developed areas weren't "walkable"—Getting anywhere in...
Permalink
Book Report: Tower Dog
For a while (a few years?), the most dangerous job in the USA was climbing cellular towers to install and/or remove phone equipment. Tower Dogs introduces you to some of the fearless folks who work t...
Permalink
Urban Morphology is Everywhere, even the Ferry Terminal
At the Stephan Leonoudakis Golden Gate Ferry Terminal the other day, I noticed that one of the two pay phones had gone away. That's not surprising; nowadays, pay phones tend to go away. But I'd based...
Permalink
Book Report: Manhattan Atmospheres
NYC's Washington Bridge Apartments were built over an expressway. This idea was brilliant: let humans use space now wasted on cars. This idea was stupid: we weren't as good at channeling fumes as we ...
Permalink
Book Report: A Burglar's Guide to the City
It's a good book with a great premise: how burglary and anti-burglary security interact with architecture and city planning. I came away with some good nuggets but also a feeling of unmet potential. ...
Permalink
Pour one out for that photography studio that was a surreal clue site for Shinteki Decathlon 10. I was just in the neighborhood and local winery The Winery SF had put up signs, were redecor...
Permalink
Sometimes the city doesn't break your puzzle. ...
Permalink
Jotting Notes on Gruen Day 2015
In this gathering of the Bay Area Infrastructure Observatory, we learned about Victor Gruen, early shopping mall developer and San Leandro's Bayfair Center in particular. I didn't take notes during t...
Permalink
Book Report: Infrastructure
If your memory is very good, you remember that a few years ago I reported on Infrastructure, a gorgeous book about the systems of industry, agriculture, transport, information, and waste that surroun...
Permalink
Puzzlehunts are Everywhere, even Austin
Once again I site-volunteered with the first DASH GC who responded to an email. This year: DASH 7 in Austin TX. This was my first time in Austin, so I took a few days to wander around and gawk a...
Permalink
"The city you love disappears But not before leaving Its mark on you" –"The City Disappears" Aaron Cometbus ...
Permalink
Urban Morphology is Everywhere, even San Francisco's Union Square Neighborhood
A lamp post is gone. That's not surprising—it was surrounded by construction for the new subway line. But that post was special, a "landmark" for a photo walk puzzle in the 2-Tone Game. That co...
Permalink
Urban Morphology is Everywhere, even San Francisco's Mission District
We built this city on rock and roll; I built puzzles on this city. Tonight I made a rare journey out to the Mission District to meet friends and listen to shoegazy music. But on the way over, I stopp...
Permalink
I updated the downloadable 2-Tone Game source code. More recent versions of the App Engine SDK weren't compatible with this four-year-old (five-year-old? something like that) code. I just wanted to u...
Permalink
Link: Sewage Treatment Plant Tour
San Franciscans: I signed up for the June 14 tour of the Oceanside Treatment Plant (the one near the zoo). As of when I signed up just now, there were still 40+ tickets available. ...
Permalink
Book Report: The Ludic City
Mostly, an academic jots down observations of people goofing around in cities' public spaces. Pedestrians waggle their arms. Buskers and street crazies accost passers-by. Bicyclists ride in perhaps-s...
Permalink
Puzzle Hunts are Everywhere and Sometimes Well-Defended
Back in the Justice Unlimited game, we stepped off the end of a pier to retrieve a puzzle atop some pilings. But you wouldn't pull that stunt nowadays, of course, it's too dangerous. Those pilings ar...
Permalink
Who is Max Alper Astroturfing For?
Max Alper tried to fool San Francisco yesterday. He posed as a Google employee and screamed condescending crap at people protesting high San Francisco rents. Apparently, the folks staging the protest...
Permalink
This isn't Even my Final Form
In last week's SnoutCast, DeeAnn mused on the recent "save the date" announcement for the Octothorpean Order Opening Day (November 16!): "It's going to be very interesting to see it in its—I ...
Permalink
Of course the main thing that will strike you about this mural photograph is the total lack of octothorpes: For a while, this wall had an Octothorpe and an Octothorpean puzzle. The excellent Bonel...
Permalink
Urban Morphology is Everywhere, Even Truckee
Dave writes: "I wanted to make a puzzle using the parking meters but they changed while I was developing the puzzle and the new look has much less information." That gets a sympathetic chuckle from ...
Permalink
Like @TheUriah says, "If you want to destroy part of the urban landscape, base a game on it." Yesterday, on my way back home from the Fendels', I changed trains at the Embarcadero. I checked up on t...
Permalink
Another San Francisco Octothorpean Puzzle Ahead of Opening Day
[Update: Don't play this puzzle; playtesting reveals that it wasn't actually fun.] I'm revealing another San Francisco puzzle from the Octothorpean Order online puzzlehunt: Bunny. No, the Octothorpe...
Permalink
Post about Post-Post Situation
Part of a 2-Tone Game puzzle used to be something like, "Look south-by-southwest for an easily recognizable post; on the sidewalk beneath it is a quote; the letters on the corners of the quote form a...
Permalink
One San Francisco Octothorpean Puzzle Ahead of Opening Day
I'm not a super-duper expert about location-based puzzles. I don't know exactly when the world is going to change and thusly mess up a puzzle. But I know that it happens. This weekend, I found a nice...
Permalink
Before watching the CNY parade, I kibbitzed a bit at the CNYTH. And before that, I swung by the Ferry Building to check on a 2-Tone Game puzzle, make sure its environmental data was still there. But ...
Permalink
Book Report: Low Life
Many quick snippets about New York's criminals and underclass. It was kinda fun, but a few days after reading it, I remember almost nothing. I could say that was a metaphor for New York itself, alway...
Permalink
Everything is the Same There
The Tektronix business park is in Silicon Forest, not Silicon Valley. But. But they named a street after Terman nonetheless. ...
Permalink
Book Report: West of the West
A newspaper reporter does some journalizing about whatever he likes. Since he likes California, especially the San Joaquin Valley and Fresno, the results are some pretty interesting stories... uhm, t...
Permalink
Puzzle Hunts are Everywhere, even the new Online Journalism
Sweet article by Sara Faith Alterman in the Bold Italic with awesome illustrations by juan leguizamon about the local puzzle hunt scene. No wonder a bunch of people suddenly showed up at the 2-Tone G...
Permalink
There's a van parked across the street from my apartment labeled Digital Concrete. That sounded about as useful as Online Haircuts. But when I visited the Digital Concrete website, it was pretty inte...
Permalink
Some Dude named Danny asked on the BANG mailing list: has anyone played the 2-Tone Game lately? Anyone sure it's still working? After all, it's based on stuff in San Francisco, and is bound to corrod...
Permalink
PhotoCity Pervasive Capture-the-Flag Photo Game Part II
PhotoCity is this game where you "capture" areas of a city by photographing them. But you can't play in just any neighborhood. The game only works if you start in a place that they've "seeded". I h...
Permalink
Book Report: Kraken
I guess this book's genre is horror. Or urban fantasy. In modern-day London, some normal folks are drawn into conflicts between wizards, armageddons, and objects of worship. So there's a secret Lo...
Permalink
Puzzle Hunts are Everywhere, albeit one less place
Corby sent me mail yesterday: some of the environmental data for the 2-Tone Game went away. I was already planning to take today as a vacation day, so now I had a morning activity. Confirm that the...
Permalink
Puzzle Hunts are Everywhere, Decaying
You remember how I wrote that Blood and Bones behaved particularly classily on a spaceship-sized climbing structure? That climbing structure is gone now, it's just a big sandpit at the bottom of som...
Permalink
Puzzle Hunts are Everywhere, Even Places that are Gone
This is another spoiler-free (I think) post about the 2-Tone Game. Things change. Cities are things. Therefore, cities change. Last weekend, I was in the neighborhood of a puzzle site, a puzzle f...
Permalink
Link: PhotoCity Pervasive Capture-the-Flag Photo Game
Just watched a video of a recent talk by a University of Washington professor named Popovic. His schtick is crowd-sourcing difficult tasks by turning those tasks into games. (Have you heard of Rosett...
Permalink
Book Report: The Berkeley Pit
Cousin Eric was in town this weekend. There was some sight-seeing. One place of interest was Berkeley. My parents pointed out some places of interest for the Free Speech Movement: here was the pla...
Permalink
Book Report: The City & The City
It is a new book by China Miéville. It has a creepy premise, and is very paranoid. There are two cities which occupy the same geographic space. How do they coexist? Citizens of each city ha...
Permalink
Comic Report: Ex Machina (the first several collections)
When I first heard about the comic book "Ex Machina", I stopped paying attention too soon. I heard that the protagonist is a superhero who can talk to machines. And those do what he says instead of...
Permalink
Book Report: Un Lun Dun
Before I launch into a complain-y whine about a book, I want to remind myself that there are good things in life. Yesterday was a good day. (I didn't even have to use my A.K.) There were good comic...
Permalink
Book Report: Engineering the City
This book, Engineering the City showed up as an Amazon.com-recommended book, probably because I liked Brian Hayes' book Infrastructure so much. I kinda wish I'd paid more attention to the details of...
Permalink
Book Report: A Far Country
Scouting game locations for a puzzle hunt, e.g. BANG 19, is time-consuming but fun. It's a good excuse to go out on a tour of not-in-front-of-your-computer. Plus, since you're trying to find places...
Permalink
Site: New Photos for the Lyon St Page
Last week, a few folks headed over to Pete's place to watch the movie "Appleseed Ex Machina", which was pretty good. Pete lives in the Marina district. Thus, this was a chance for me to once again ...
Permalink
Book Report: Invisible Cities
I am back from Los Angeles. I have seen more art museums recently than... than is perhaps healthy. The stench of artsy-fartsiness clings to me still. I'm digging out from underneath a backlog of e...
Permalink
Book Report: Infrastructure
Wow, Infrastructure is a great book. You should acquire it and read it. (Here, by "read" I mean "look at the photos". But you can read it, too, if you like.) It is photographs of "infrastructure"...
Permalink
Book Report: Planet of Slums
Seriously? They used Erlang? On purpose? What's that you say? The mic is on? We're rolling? We're on the air? Oh! Ahem. It's time for a Book Report. This book by Mike "City of Quartz" Davis ...
Permalink
Book Report: Invisible Man
Yesterday, I went to a game party at work. I won a couple of games, which was more than my share. You might think that means I'm a brilliant strategist, until you find out what games I won (and how...
Permalink
Book Report: Poor George
Apparently Bernd Becher, industrial site photographer, died last week. Dammit. I would prefer that tragedies be restricted to fiction, please. Poor George is bleak. Nobody knows why they do the th...
Permalink
Book Report: Garbage Land
Yesterday was all errands, errands, errands. Except that one of those errands was "Return Garbage Land to the library." and since that library was in Berkeley, I made a couple of fun side trips. I ...
Permalink
Link: We have Metonymy and They Are Ours
The Brain Fist webcomic is often funny.Labels: comic, explosions, urban morphology...
Permalink
Book Report: Shadow Cities
This book, by Robert Neuwirth, changed the way I think about the world. It's about slums, squatter cities, shanty towns, favelas. It's about people who build on land they don't own. It's about peo...
Permalink
Book Report: Metropolis
I am sick today. I lost my voice. So it's a bad day for conversation. But a good day for napping, blogging, and reading. Out of sympathy for my plight, I think you should read Metropolis. Go read...
Permalink
