The maps that we use are called figuregrounds. This type of map is commonly used in the fields of city planning, design and architecture to study density and development patterns by depicting all of the buildings in a city as opposed to the streets, parcels or transit lines. Figureground mapping is almost 250 years old and was the first time a city was technically surveyed and portrayed in the 2D, google map view that we commonly use today.

As soon as I saw these t-shirts, totes, pillows and prints – I thought why not Pittsburgh.  I wanted to see how the rivers and the parks of Pittsburgh would show up on a figureground map.  So I emailed Matt, the brains behind the Wear You Live project.  Matt kindly replied to say he would see what he could do.  They were happy that the project had been so successful.  Well, it turns out I wasn’t the only one asking about Pittsburgh.  Matt emailed me on Friday to say that Pittsburgh was on the way.  From his email:

ps, its amazing how many people from PGH have contacted us about adding their city.

Because you asked!

So a few hours ago – CityFabric added Pittsburgh to the Wear You Live series!  Check out the shout out for Pittsburgh from their map.

It all started with a t-shirt…

While these shirts aren’t printed in Pittsburgh,  I am happy to support this project. Before IheartPGH was a blog, it was a t-shirt – I <3 PGH was the first t-shirt that I learned to screenprint.  After a trip to the Warhol museum on a rainy sunday afternoon, I decided I wanted to screenprint.  The rest is history and tshirts have been an ongoing theme of this blog.  I first met Dan from Commonwealth Press because he had posted a flyer about t-shirt printing and congrats to Dan who has expanded to an even bigger facility since we last wrote about their shop in 2010 . I went on to work for Spreadshirt.com writing their blog about t-shirt printing for 3 years.  And it was an article about t-shirt and rust belt cities that landed IheartPGH a mention in the New York Times.  The article also profiled STLstyle – a St. Louis t-shirt shop and community cheerleader that has become a good friend of IheartPGH.  So local t-shirts have history of bringing people together.

Where to Get Wear You Live Pittsburgh Gear

You can now get the Pittsburgh figureground map on a t-shirt, tote, pillow, print or canvass for your wall from the Kickstarter project here.  Here are some the items you can get, more are listed on the Kickstarter pager.

• $25 = T-shirt or Tote
• $40 = Unframed Print
• $45 = 2 Totes or Tees
• $61 = Print + Tote or Tee
• $80 = 18″X18″ pillow
• $100 = 5 Totes or Tees
• $100 = 3 prints
• $101 = Pillow + Tote or Tee
• $115 = Pillow + Print
• $4900 = Matt will get a Tattoo of Raleigh, NC on his arm

Each item comes with a “pin your place” button so you can mark exactly where you live in Pittsburgh.

Check out some other local coverage of this event, like PittGirl Virginia Montanez’  interview with Jim Shearer or this article in the PittNews.

ps.  I’ll admit that right after I moved here in 2002 my roommate and I didn’t have cable but got MTV2.  So I started crushing on Jim Shearer the same time I started falling for Pittsburgh.

Image courtesy of Tree Pittsburgh

On Sunday, March 6 from 10am to 2pm at the Double Wide Grill on the South Side you get all you can eat pancakes for $10 and your donation goes directly to benefit Tree Pittsburgh – an environmental non-profit organization dedicated to enhancing the City’s vitality by restoring and protecting City trees.  Why should you attend?  Well, pancakes are delicious (and there is a vegan option), you get free coffee and potatoes as well, tunes from Big Snow Big Thaw, and street trees are a critical element for a livable urban environment.  Are you one of those people that includes a link on your Facebook page every time Pittsburgh gets voted ‘most livable city’ (possibly including the comment ‘suck it, Portland’)?  Well street trees are a huge part of reducing our City’s pollution* and there is still a long way to go in improving our air quality.  Who knows?  Your $10 just might end up helping to promote Pittsburgh to most livable city in the world!

For more information on Pittsburgh’s urban forest, info on street tree plantings in your neighborhood, and to learn about becoming an official tree tender to help care for Pittsburgh’s trees visit the Tree Pittsburgh’s website!

RSVP for breakfast on Facebook!

*Leaves filter the air we breathe by removing dust and other particulates. Leaves absorb carbon dioxide and other pollutants from the air such as ozone, carbon monoxide, and sulfur dioxide.  In exchange, trees give off vital oxygen.

Image via Wikipedia

Okay, Pittsburgh fans – we need to Pittsburgh on the Shorty Awards map.  The Shorty Awards are like the oscars of Twitter.  Each year they come up with a bunch of categories – and the winners are chosen by who gets the most votes.

This year I think we should create a Pgh category on the Shorty awards.

To nominate or vote for some one just post a tweet with the following info:

I nominate @TwitterUser for a Shorty Award in #PGH because [add reason here]

or

You can also send shorter votes like this: #shortyawards @username #PGH [add reason here].

You can always vote from ShortyAwards.com too.  Some things to keep in mind…

• you must include a reason for your vote
• you can only vote for one person/twitter user in a category – yes that means you will have to choose between Sally Wiggin Hair @sallywigginhair and Fake Julie Bologna @fakejulie and any of the other awesome Pittsburgh twitter users.

If we get enough votes on the Shorty Awards for category PGH – it could become an official category – if not maybe we can just plan our own PGHShortyAwards ceremony right here in Pittsburgh.

Also – while you are voting – we think you should cast a few votes for these Pittsburgh twitter users in the official categories

• The Mattress Factory for Cultural Institution [I nominate @MattressFactory for a Shorty Award in #culturalinstitution because...]
• Should I Drink That for Food [I nominate @SIDT for a Shorty Award in #food because...]
• Pittsburgh Transit on Twitter [I nominate @pghtransit for a Shorty Award in #customerservice because...]

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Envirobowl 2011 – PennFuture is competing against Clean Wisconsin in Enviro Bowl 2011. The challenge is to see which environmental group can raise the most donations by Noon CST on Super Bowl Sunday. The stakes are high: “The losing organization must change its Facebook page to reflect support of the winning organization’s home team during the Super Bowl, and that organization’s leader must video tape a message to the other’s supporters, while dressed in the other’s team swag.”   Click here to donate.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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CokeCheers – upload a photo of you with a Coke and Coke will donate $1 to the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.  When Pittsburgh hits 10,000 “cheers” – Coke will donate an extra $25,000 to Boys & Girls Clubs of America.  It is easy – just upload a photo at CokeCheers.com

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The Regenerative Medicine Super Bowl Fan Challenge – Pitt vs. U of Wisconsin – well here is a unique and about as niche as it gets for a Super Bowl challenge the Pitt/UMPC McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine has challenged the University of Wisconsin Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Research Center to a Facebook fan battle.  Which every research center gets the most new fans by kickoff gets to post a picture of the other Institute’s director decked out in opposing teams colors! So just be a fan of the McGowan Institute here to make sure that Wisconsin doesn’t win this one.

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And finally, this challenge really only benefits your waist line and possibly your living room if you can eat enough burritos.

The Burrito Bowl – Pittsburgh vs. Green Bay Burrito Eating Contest.  On Saturday, February 5, 2011 4pm @ the South Side Qdoba on Carson Street.  You must preregister by stopping by the South Side Qdoba and paying a $5 registration fee.   The contest is only open to the first 50 registrants.

Here is a video from the Pittsburgh franchisee about the challenge

Click here to view the embedded video.

From the East End Brewing email – I could summarize for you but then you would miss the beer puns – so I will just paste in their works…

It seems that during a recent visit to Wisconsin, The Whitehouse placed a beer order from fellow Craft Brewer, Hinterland Brewing Company in Wisconsin, so that they could have some Green Bay beer on hand for the Superbowl. Simple enough, but maybe you can already see that this act by itself, is not exactly a “beer-partisan” move. Since Friday of last week, we’re working to help correct that.

So help send some Pittsburgh beer – brewed right here in the city limits – to the White House.  Join the East End to DC Facebook page here - http://www.facebook.com/EastEndtoDC

You can also help to spread the word on twitter – use the hash tag #EastEndtoDC

Some related blog posts on the White House, super bowl and beer…

• How not to botch your big Super Bowl party on Sunday (cleveland.com)
• Green Your Superbowl Party: Eco-Beer (sierraclub.typepad.com)
• Packers star needles Obama on Super Bowl (thehill.com)

We are still collecting all of the details about this – but it looks like the folks at McKinney - an advertising firm in Durham, NC – have built a twitter powered terrible towel.  Everytime some one posts a tweet with the hashtag #steelersnation – the motorized hand twirls the terrible towel.   They have hacked an old fan motor and hooked it up to a computer to bring the steelernation – what I imagine is the first ever – Twitter powered terrible towel.

Even better you can watch the Twerrible Towel live on Ustream – http://www.ustream.tv/twerribletowel – as of this blog post there have been 1132 twirls of the twerrible towel.

Free video streaming by Ustream

You can follow along on Twitter – @TwerribleTowel and online at www.TwerribleTowel.com

Image via Wikipedia

Pittsburgh was featured on NPR last week - From Steel To Tech, Pittsburgh Transforms Itself : NPR.

The story talks about Pittsburgh transformation from steel making to technology and includes an interview with Pittsburgh startup NoWait – which I have heard really good things about - definitely worth a look.

Looks like there is that there is room in the restaurant market to compete with OpenTable.  Do you use OpenTable for reservations? I rarely make reservations – and one of the great things about Pittsburgh is that you rarely need reservations – so I am not sure how popular online reservation services are.