Zondervan, "a world leader in Christian communications," says it's just bought Mars Hill's social-networking, community-building software The City (we prefer "Christbook"), which was the brainchild of ex-Amazonian Zack Hubert. Now Zondervan will roll the software out to online churched-up types all over, hoping to recreate the Mars Hill experience: "Mars Hill launched The City earlier this year to create a dynamic, engaging interactive online community for its more than 7,000 members. Within two months of launch more than 85% of the church's members had signed up and more than 75% visit the site every single day." That daily Bible reading plan must be a doozy. more ›

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We spend a lot of time at the Seattlest newsroom talking about the problems bicycle riders in this city have and how the city should make it easier for us since we reduce congestion and emissions at the same time. Now we realize we’ve been ignoring the good our our two-wheeled motorized brethren (and sistern) on scooters. more ›

Last Friday we got a chance to poke our noses into the Northwest African American Museum before it opened, as part of a test lunch group for the St Clouds Museum Cafe. The Museum is in the historic Colman School, at 23rd and Massachusetts. It's historic now, that is -- back when we lived across the street, on 25th, it was condemned, boarded up, and left a home for pigeons, until a group of black activists arm-wrestled the city into letting them do something with it. Upstairs there are two floors of "affordable" rental units (studios are $620) for artists, historians, teachers, and anyone else with a good reason to make their home above the Museum. more ›

• Gothamist found that an explosive set off outside the Times Square army recruiting center may be similar to five past bombings in New York City.
• Seattlest worried when severed right feet and bottles of rat poison started washing up on local beaches.
• Shanghaiist was surprised by Bjork's rooting for Tibetan independence at her concert (see video), and the political fallout has only just begun.
• SFist debated the merits of new bronze plaques that will be placed in locations where San Francisco's homeless have died.
• DCist was obliged to respond to the worst Washington Post Outlook column ever published, in which conservative writer Charlotte Allen tried to make the case that women are dumb.
• LAist found Satan's ice cream truck trolling the streets, and they recorded the music.
• Some crafty Torontoist readers didn't like the dearth of ski hills in downtown Toronto, so they just built one of their own on their deck and (of course) recorded a video of them all taking turns on it.
• Bostonist knows the city's subway and bus system, the MBTA, has problems. So does this 17-year-old who submitted a report and told the MBTA brass how to fix it.
• Phillyist explored the possibility of an Ivy League prostitute, while their commenters debated the most ethical approach to proving or debunking the story.
• Londonist spent a little too much time looking at airbrushed operatic private parts, and enjoyed an enlightening comment from someone who was there. more ›

We are quite certain that we will never read such a headline again in a Pacific Northwest newspaper or website, so we're enjoying it tremendously. This is the monkey we told you about earlier this week, who went on a neighborhood-wide biting spree. Local news stations in Spokane have also been enjoying the unique story and a video of the escaped monkey has made its way onto YouTube, as of today. more ›

We here at Seattlest like to provide our readers with valuable advice when we think it’s necessary. Two blog posts we’ve seen today make us think it’s important to advise that you stay the hell away from Denver. more ›

Maybe it's the recession like it was in the early 90s, but as a city, we're recycling more than ever before. more ›

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Our neighbors across the lake, have come up with a unique way to deal with tree root systems buckling sidewalks and city streets. Starting Thursday, The City of Bellevue will begin installing rubber sidewalks in areas where tree roots have destroyed traditional concrete walkways. The first rubber sidewalks will be installed along a half block stretch of Bellevue's NE 10th St., just north of 102nd Ave. NE. The street's concrete has been damaged by American Sweet Gum trees, which have lined the road for the past decade. more ›

Looking like the everyman John Cusack would play in the movie, John Darnielle still has a teenager's reedy tenor, in contrast to his grown-man's, slow-footed cadence when apologizing for having a lyric cheat sheet for a new song. more ›

Real Change is setting up camp at City Hall, to protest the city's handling of homelessness and new policies regarding homeless encampments. The planned protest is scheduled for March 13th, with Real Change encouraging supporters to "bring a tent and a friend" down to City Hall. more ›

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Seattle's City Markets hand-drawn advertisements have made national blogs and newspapers. Using the celebrity of the moment or the latest scandal, they entice you to come on in and get a great deal. Previous targets have included Lindsay Lohan, Jamie Lynn Spears, Trent Lott, and Ben Affleck. more ›

Downtown's Southern-esque restaurant Sazerac had the misfortune to open in 1997, which meant its decor ten years on -- velvet drapes and cushy banquettes -- looked as dated as a Google-cached snapshot of your homepage. In its review, the Stranger sharpened its claws on the surroundings: "There is some evidence in the tea-dark interior that the decorator was going for a New Orleans-inspired elegance, but somewhere along the way he or she got waylaid at Mervyn's. Light fixtures from Kandinsky's notorious 'game board' period shed wan light on the open dining room." more ›

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Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels either loves condos or he hates renters. The Mayor's Office has indefinitely frozen a $350,000 fund created to compensate Seattle area renters who'd been forced out of housing due to condo-conversions. Mayor Nickels wants to wait and see if the legislature passes a statewide bail-out funded by developers this winter. Because it makes perfect sense to rely on the people who are profiting most off of Seattle renter's misery. more ›

href="http://torontoist.com/2008/02/phototo_snowbal.php">photographing a big, organized snowball fight.

The UK's Guardian Unlimited spoke to Seattle's Fleet Foxes (thanks, CHS) ("a group whose unique sound is hymnal and baroque, with mandolins and banjos and extraordinary vocal harmonies") and got the scoop on Seattle's development opportunity. more ›

The study, as approved by the committee, would estimate construction costs per mile and yearly operation and maintenance costs for the six lines. Among other issues, it would identify detailed street corridors, issues with construction and utility location, how the lines would fit into Metro's bus routes, estimate the number of riders and provide ways to finance the lines, which are costlier than buses. more ›

We were impressed by this morning's Times article about the need to increase bicycle safety on the city's streets. more ›

One of the oldest jokes in the book is at the expense of the Sixth Amendment: how can twelve people who couldn't get out of jury duty be counted as your peers? Juries, after all, are populated by the unemployed and retirees--people who don't have to actually for a living. more ›

There's no danger--they are in contact with the outside world and if they need supplies, City Light will helicopter some it. But they'll probably first finish what they've got. more ›

Seattle’s first new strip club in nearly 20 years is set to open sometime this summer in the basement of Fantasy Unlimited, ironically right on the S.L.U.T. line. With a nod to freedom of speech, the newest addition to the Déjà Vu family marks the end of the city’s 17 year moratorium on such establishments and is considered a huge victory for First Amendment activists and dirty old men alike. more ›

For those who don't know, the city of Shoreline lies just beyond the northern city limits of Seattle. Incorporated in 1995, Shoreline has an approximate population of 54,000 -- just shy of Cheyenne, Wyoming's 55,000. more ›

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Following the announcement that Seattle's crime rate is the lowest it's been in 40 years, Seattle Times columnist Nicole Brodeur has an article about how it doesn't feel that way, given the the shooting at the party downtown, the shooting of DéChé Morrison, the stabbing of Shannon Harps, the schoolteacher who got beat into the pavement on East Pine, and the woman hit in the head with a hammer.

I was glad to hear about the strides police have made on the streets of Seattle. But really, all it did was remind me there have been no arrests in the three recent murders, or in the two attacks. Police have a "person of interest" in the Harps case, but to be honest, the police sketch looked like every other 30-something white guy in Seattle: wool cap, beard, earring. I think I dated him last summer.

Around the Seattlest newsroom, this contributor's distrust of : more ›

There's a nice little piece over at Crosscut this morning about Georgetown's Rainier Cold Storage Stock House (and the demise of), but just like the neighborhood opposition to the building's demolition, it's too little too late. To be fair, the building's owners broke their way through many walls (a much beloved building that defines a neighborhood, an official Seattle Landmark) with the wrecking ball of public safety: it's going to collapse onto Airport Way, they said. Demolish away, they were told. Demolish away they did and not enough people knew or cared beforehand to do much of anything to stop it. more ›

The Seattle Times' Jim Brunner points out a head-exploding irony in the Sonics' legal case to escape their Key Arena lease. more ›