Usufructuary

On the roof of the building from which I took tonight’s first photo clue stands the door photographed in tonight’s second photo clue. Inside that dark black box reside no electrical wires, but instead you’ll find today’s Object. Pull out the slip of paper inside and post the phrase in the comments below.

I don’t expect identifying the location to be difficult for anyone — that’s not where the Challenge lies. Tonight’s real Challenge requires gall and a little social engineering. There will be no climbing up the side of this building: to rooftop it here, you’ll need to maneouver past a number of personnel and technological obstacles. As such, tonight’s challenge is worth another 300 Points. Good Luck.

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Today we’ve ventured through another serene pocket of green in the urban landscape - a shrine to the man who loved his blue suede shoes. Pull out the letter from the bottle and post the quoted phrase in the comments here for 150 points.

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Today’s second Challenge (yes, it’s been a busy day — hopefully it’ll make up for a rainy day elsewhere) involves historical artifacts of spiritual importance to certain infamous groups of San Francisco radicals. We’ve collared the historical Doggie Diner heads!

Location obscurity: low-medium. Obstacles to overcome: medium-high. Time-sensitivity: medium-high. Points to be awarded: 250. Way to win: post the phrase in the comments.

The spiritual influence of the Dog Heads has only spread since being separated from their humble commercial beginnings. Bishop Joey, the High Prelate (and chief dishwasher) of The 1st Church of the Last Laugh decreed the Dog Heads official church icons in 1996. As such they make an annual visitation at the annual “St. Stupid’s Day Parade” the Churches High Holy day which falls on April 1st of each year. This year (2000) the event meets just before noon on April 1st at the Pointy Building downtown (The TransAmerica Pyramid).

These enigmatic Doggie Diner dog heads have mysterious ties to The Cacophony Society and The First Church of the Last Laugh. They are reported to have a direct affilation with PETA (People Eat’n Them Animals) and have been sighted at the annual ArtCar Fest.

Their primary function is as patron saints of the Dogminican Order (a cloistered and kenneled sect of the church). This holy trinity of ecclesiastical canines is rarely together in one place. Suppressed Vatican documents declare that if a quorum (13 of the original 25) of dogheads ever gathers, world peace will break out (putting the Catholics and other fattening creeds out of business for good!).

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Were you aware that in certain areas of the San Francisco Bay, spring tides cause the water level to vary more than eight feet over the course of seven hours?

Today’s first Challenge will award 300 Points to the first player to find the Object and post the quoted phrase here in the comments. I’d advise you to make use of a tide chart.

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Graffiti notwithstanding, this is probably my personal favorite Challenge to-date. And what’s more: with the type of traffic today’s Location tends to get, the Object is likely to remain in place until someone seeks it out.

Inside the Object focused in the last frames of today’s video is, as usual, a slip of paper. To earn 200 points, post the quoted phrase on that paper into the comments here. Make sure to register and login first — that’s how I keep track of scores.

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This is the part of the show where I hearken back to my photographic roots and kick off a challenge with a little SF graffiti. Some artists make their letters fancy, while others, like the ones featured in today’s video, just make them big. Compare the size of the ASOLT and MUSKET blockbusters to the cars on the freeway. Those are some big words!

Solving today’s Challenge will net the lucky Player another 250 Points — this one requires a little ingenuity and a little social engineering. Don’t let security scare you. They don’t bite…hard.