The suspense is over, Ballard's mysterious black metal time capsule was pried open on Sunday at the Leif Erikson Hall, revealing the contents from nearly 60 years ago. My Ballard reported the capsule,s contents--the first item was a copy of the Seattle Daily Times from December 29, 1950, with the headline "GM Closes 5 Assembly Plants in One Week." (The more things change, no?) The box mainly contained newspapers and historical documents from the 1950s, including a letter from the Daughters of Norway, several programs from the Norwegian Male Chorus of Seattle, and a program from the dedication of the Norway Center. more ›

• The Aurora Bridge "suicide" fence is going up whether Queen Anne likes it or not. The Seattle Landmarks and Preservation Board gave it the go ahead, hoping the $8.1 million project will help stop the suicide jumpers.
• Record-loving music geeks will be saddened to hear that the U-District's Cellophane Square has been forced to close their doors for good at the end of the month. Stupid rent hikes.

• West Seattle Blog and CHS documented yesterday especially carefully. To celebrate the anniversary of the first Denny Party landing on Alki forever ago, the Southwest Seattle Historical Society is putting together a time capsule that will include print-outs of Thursday's blog entries, among other various and sundry detritus.
• For every headline about county budget cuts, there are hundreds of people who will have their day-to-day lives affected by the loss of the eliminated programs. Rainier Valley Post asked Public Health spokesman James Apa about the projected impacts on their specific community.
• Aarwenn's CHS post about catching a glimpse into others' private lives, both beautiful and thought-provoking, breathes new life into the idea that one neighborhood could be the heart of a city. Even if you don't live in Capitol Hill (and we know many of you don't), this one's worth the read for poetic value alone.