Condos of the future, here in Seattle.

[elfs]

Seattle is such a skiffy town sometimes. There's a new condominium going up near where I work, and it's name is Carbon56. This led a friend of mine to say, "Man, that's one unstable atom. It might last all of a picosecond!"

Element 56 is, after all, Barium, a substance used in rat poison and diagnostic enemas. And carbon-- isn't carbon considered a bad thing these days? "Carbon footprints," "carbon emissions," why would anyone want to be associated with these things?

Carbon 56's web page is one huge flash app with really annoying background music that sounds like Barry White is about to come over.

Dr. Who?

Equally skiffy, but much cooler, is Site 17, a condominium complex along Western Avenue. The bottom floor is mostly parking and shops, and the grilles over the parking lot venting system are gorgeous abstract sculptures suggesting maps to fabulous places. I was walking past it when I noticed that the support columns all have these little placards on them with pithy quotes. At least, I thought they were pithy until I spotted this one. Dr. Who? They're quoting Dr. Who? I'm not even sure what the quote means, but by gods, they're quoting Dr. Who.