A good sign is self-explanatory. Alas, this came to me with no photo credit.
Still no credit, but I found it on Imgur.
Shake of the old scrub brush to Ellie!
Squirrels: No dice!
January 23, 2015
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Humor, Signs, Wildlife | Tagged: Humor, Signs, Signs of Life, Wildlife | 
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Posted by Ed Darrell
Stay back from this truck
December 19, 2014You know those mudflaps with Yosemite Sam holding two six-shooters, and the caption “Back Off!?”
Shouldn’t this truck have those mudflaps? Or would that be redundant?
Photo of a California-based “honey wagon.” Via Dave Taylor and George Takei.
Tip of the old scrub brush to Dave Taylor and George Takei.
Leave a Comment » | Humor, Signs, Travel | Tagged: Humor, Signs, Travel | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Signs of life and humor: Private sign
December 12, 2014
Where is this sign? Who took the photo? Todd Wilbur posted it on Facebook.
Posting this on Facebook, a fellow named Todd Wilbur said it’s a “private post.”
Not sure if this rises to a sign of intelligent life in the universe.
(If you’ve got details, put ’em in comments. Thank you.)
More:
- Same sign at The Flying Tortoise in 2012. No identifiers there, either.
- Similar sign, at Dr. Heckle, in 2012. No identifiers.
- Similar sign at Ivman’s Blague, 2011. No identifiers
3 Comments | Humor, Signs | Tagged: Humor, Signs, Todd Wilbur | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Signs of life: No dogs
October 10, 2014
From Neatorama. I’m guessing the sign is in South Africa.
Humor in signage, especially with the kitty on top!
Where does this photo come from?
I’m not certain, but I think it’s from South Africa. It showed up in Memebase from “unknown.” A couple of links I found for other photos of similar signs showed they were in South Africa.
Anyone know for sure?
Leave a Comment » | Humor, Signs | Tagged: Humor, Signs, Travel | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Every polling station should have this sign
September 18, 2014
Polling station, in unnamed location in Scotland (?) posted on Twitter during the referendum on Scotland independence, but around since at least April 2014. From @standrewsradio
“Please do not sit on the fence.”
It would work in Texas elections this year, too. 97% of eligible Scot voters registered to vote; as I write this, it looks like about 90% of those people voted in the election.
Ain’t democracy grand?
“Vote: It’s what citizens do.”
Update: Seems to be at the Plaistow Youth Center, in England.
From BBC:
BBC caption: After four weeks of campaigning the polls are closed, we now await the result of the general election. Quentin Gadd spotted these signs at a polling station, he says, “Is this proof positive that the organisers of the Plaistow Youth Centre are taking a stand against those who choose to abstain?”
The photo may be from 2010, from this site, which identifies the photo location further, with a different photo: “Sign at the polling station in Plaistow, West Sussex, on Local Council Polling Day.”
Leave a Comment » | Citizenship, Humor, Signs, Voting | Tagged: Citizenship, GOTV, Humor, Scotland, Signs, Signs of Life, voting | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Warning signs in Texas
September 7, 2014On several Texas rivers one may rent a large tire inner tube, to float down the river on a good day.
Safety instructions sometimes are minimal, but effective.
Safety rules at a river float rental company, location unknown. Photo via Cathy Ordemann
Tip of the old scrub brush to Cathy Ordemann.
2 Comments | Outdoor Recreation, Rivers, Safety, Signs, Texas | Tagged: Outdoor Recreation, Rivers, Safety, Signs, Texas, Y'all | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
If great scientists had logos . . .
August 11, 2014
Logos for great scientists; from Twitter, https://twitter.com/aneyeofsky/status/495615741912416257/photo/1
These are quite creative. I wonder who invented them?
Other possibilities?
Maybe:
Edison’s logo?
3 Comments | History, Humor, Science, Signs | Tagged: History, Humor, Science, Signs | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
“Earth’s not warming; it’s dying”
August 8, 2014From the same designer who brought us I♥NY; would this graphic design symbol get people more properly concerned?
Designer Milton Glaser suggests a logo for discussions on global warming . . .
Designer Milton Glaser created this logo; he’s serious, according to Salon, today.
Milton Glaser is famous for uniting New Yorkers under the simple, iconic “I Heart New York” logo. (He also designed the label for Brooklyn Brewery and, as I learned on a recent tour, had the good sense to emphasize the beer’s borough of origin back before it was cool.) Now, at age 85, he’s out to rebrand the climate movement. The pitch: a hazy black circle with just a small band of green (read: Earth), which people can purchase and wear as a button. In a poster hung on the exterior of the New York School of Visual Arts‘ East 23rd Street building, the logo is accompanied by the slogan “It’s not warming, it’s dying.”
The obvious problem, right off the bat, is that Earth is warming: It’s done so rapidly over the 20th century, and is expected to continue at an even faster rate over the next 100 years. The world’s governments agreed that we should try to limit warming to below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels to try to avoid the worst consequences of that warming, yet we’re on track to blow right past that limit. While Glaser obviously agrees that this is a problem, the slogan obscures that point. And as someone attuned to the world of climate deniers, I can’t help thinking that getting the hashtag #itsnotwarming to go viral might not have the intended effect.
(Also, as Fast Co.Exist points out, it’s not the planet that’s at risk of dying — it’s us.)
But those are technicalities. Glaser told WNYC’s Brain Lehrer that his problem with the word “warming” is that it “sounds reassuring and comforting.” So if your complaint is that the slogan sounds overly pessimistic, well, that’s kind of the point. “Either Earth is dying or it’s beginning to grow again,” Glaser explained. “My preference would be that it was beginning to grow again, but for the moment I have no evidence of that.”
More at Salon.
What do you think? A good idea? Better indicator of a more appropriate message?
(Yes, Fast Co.Exist is right — remember this cartoon?)
44 Comments | Environmental protection, Global warming, Politics, Signs | Tagged: Environmental protection, Global warming, Graphic Design, Milton Glaser, Persuasion, Political Action, Signs | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
What ARE these Christians advertising?
August 4, 2014
Not your usual bon mot from a church sign; probably from College Avenue Presbyterian Church in Oakland, California
Found this on Twitter, from an @DocBobLA. I believe the sign is from College Avenue Presbyterian Church in Oakland, California. An enlightened bunch of Christians — they even have a Twitter account, @CAPCOakland.
Some Christians take the Gospels seriously, even in those scriptures not exactly found in the New Testament, it would appear. Would that others follow.
Update: I see @CAPCOakland tweeted this sign earlier.
4 Comments | Immigration, Refugees, Religion, Signs | Tagged: CAPCOakland, churches, Immigration, Refugees, Religion, Signs | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Signs of life: GPS not advised
May 14, 2014From space, from the satellites, the route may look shorter.
But on the ground, it may not work.
State Highway Signage, US 11 and VA 56; near Steele’s Tavern, Virginia. “GPS Routing Not Advised” Photo by Linda Walcroft
At the View from Squirrel Ridge, comments suggest that Virginia has several places like this, where the GPS favoring the shortest route may include inclines and turns that trucks cannot make. It’s hell to back up a big truck for several miles of twisty, narrow roads.
More:
- A commenter called our attention to a recent Utah case, which reminded me of this post from long ago: “In the Utah desert, a GPS is no substitute for common sense“
2 Comments | Signs, Technology, Travel | Tagged: GPS, Signs, Travel, Virginia | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
“Go fly a kite!” Um, but not here.
May 14, 2014I do not believe I have ever seen such a sign before:
Odd sign, until you realize it’s difficult to fly a kite in a canyon and avoid the power lines. Photo from Poky Tom’s Flickr files, Thousand Springs, Idaho.
About 1982 I bought a couple of kites and string and kept them in my office on Capitol Hill. I hoped someone would some day tell me to “go fly a kite,” whereupon I would announce that’s exactly the thing to do, grab the kites and rush to the Washington Mall to fly them. (Do they allow that stuff, there, anymore?)
Alas, none of our pitched battles over policy and press release phrasing got to that point. The kites got lost in the move from Maryland.
I came up on this photo, and the explanation tickled. You may see why. Poky Tom wrote:
Today, the first day of World Wide Kite Aerial Photography (KAP) Week 2011, I was excited to finally end my 3-year jinx of getting skunked during WWKW. The weather was good with reasonable wind. We knew the Thousand Springs area would be great for photography. We pulled into the parking lot, which is shared by the Thousand Springs State Park and the Idaho Power hydro power facility. I got out of the car and was immediately confronted by this sign. Curses! Move on.
I’ve never heard of kite aerial photography as something almost organized. Poky Tom has some wonderful shots from a kite, though. He also uses a 30 foot pole to get great results.
But, no, you can’t fly a kite there.
More:
5 Comments | Signs, Travel | Tagged: Idaho, Kites, Poky Tom, Signs, Travel | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Signs of life: Endangered squirrels
May 13, 2014
From jbendery (Jennifer Bendery) — I learned today that there are endangered squirrels, and apparently they have ginormous tails. (h/t @kate_sheppard) pic.twitter.com/Uu4QxiDa5M
A lot of punchlines possible, e.g., ‘if the squirrels weren’t slow, maybe they wouldn’t be endangered.’
Still a rather unique sign, no?
I wonder where it is? This sign marks habitat in the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge in Maryland for the Delmarva fox squirrel.
Update: Well, maybe not wholly unique; World Wildlife Fund has this one — again, without a note about location.
© Michael Mallet
2 Comments | endangered species, Humor, Signs | Tagged: endangered species, Humor, Signs, Wildlife | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
George Takei’s Mothers Day decal find, “Eat Local”
May 12, 2014Shouldn’t be controversial in your neighborhood, should it?
Decal for your car, to support breast feeding among new mothers. Available at Amazon.com, from Red Clay Designs. Thanks to George Takei.
More:
- Disaster strikes the stick family on the mini-van next door, Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub
- Your stick family was delicious, Rex says
1 Comment | Health care, Signs | Tagged: Breastfeeding, Car Decals, Eat Local, Infant Health, Signs | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Signs of life: “Support Boy Scouts, buy a brat!”
April 1, 2014Peel your eyes, you can find signs in real life better than any punchline you could dream up for one of those fake sign sites.
Comes this story from Minnesota Prairie Roots (with more details there): Harriet Traxler of Carver, Minnesota, drove U.S. Highway 212 between Chaska and Cologne, Minnesota, coming on a sign at a garden store, selling food for a Boy Scout fundraiser — we guess.
Minnesota, in the summer, you don’t sell just hot dogs. You sell brätwurst. Bräts. Or, if you don’t have the letter with the diacritical markings over the top in your sign kit, “brats.”
Oh, you see where this is going, don’t you?
“Here’s the sign Harriet spotted several years ago in front of a garden store along U.S. Highway 212 between Chaska and Cologne, Minnesota.” Caption from Minnesota Prairie Roots. Photo by Harriet Traxler
Ms. Traxler notes the sign was gone the next day. Sold out?
We hope they hit their fundraising goals, but we might worry about just what it was they were really selling.
Punctuation and diacritical markings! They can prevent horrible misunderstandings!
1 Comment | Boy Scouts of America, Humor, Signs | Tagged: Boy Scouts of America, Humor, Signs | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Signs: “Check caching”
October 21, 2013Utah has a Cache County, which includes most of the Cache Valley. In 7th grade Utah history, if not before, Utah kids learn that the name came from the old Mountain Men, French-descended fur trappers who plied the area well before the Mormon pioneers and even John C. Fremont.
A trapper could collect a half-ton of beaver pelts in a season, to sell to a large corporation to export to Europe to be made into felt. He wouldn’t want to carry that weight around with him. So trappers would make a place to hide their furs until trading time — a “cache” in fractured French, from the word “cacher,” which means “to hide,” in this case. (See also Colorado’s Cache la Poudre River.)
Utah’s Cache Valley at least one year hosted the grand rendezvous of fur trappers and their hosting corporate suppliers and buyers, and for much of a decade or longer was a place where fur trappers hid their furs awaiting the rendezvous — great American explorers and pioneers like Jedediah Smith, Jim Bridger, James Beckwourth, Peter Skene Ogden and Thomas Fitzpatrick.
Maybe the people who made this sign didn’t know that history. I found it in Alvarado, Texas, after all.
There is a world of difference between “cashing a check” and “caching a check,” though. Surely there is an Abbott and Costello-style comedy routine in this sign:
Check caching in Alvarado, Texas?
Six words on that sign. Three of them are misspelled, 50%.
I imagine someone entering the store to cash a check, handing it to the clerk who promptly drops it into a slot in a mysterious box and says, “All cached.” “Where’s my check?” the customer demands. Abbott and Costello enter from the back room.
Then I got stuck with an ugly earworm for the next few miles, with Tommy James infecting my brain. But for the want of an “e” it could have been the Beatles or Pink Floyd.
I hope the merchant got a heckuva discount from the sign maker. At least 50% off.
Cache Valley, Utah, in the late 19th or early 20th century; camp near the head of Cache Valley – NARA – 516657 via Wikipedia
Cache Valley, Utah, today, after an infusion of cash. Jim Bridger wouldn’t recognize the place. Wikipedia image
2 Comments | History, Humor, Signs, Travel | Tagged: History, Humor, Signs, Travel | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
