In the Central area of Seattle, the possible loss of a large, neon “Wonder Bread” sign on an old bakery building caused enough concern last year when the property was purchased for development that the New York Times took note. Many assumed the sign was a goner, headed for splitsville and neon collectors. Well, it’s coming back. The new apartment building that has taken the place of the home of Twinkies and white bread will have the 11 6-foot-tall letters on top again. The groundbreaking ceremony today will include a display of how the sign will look on its new home.

When a show’s set includes “two mobile pools, a 6-foot-high treadmill and a 20-foot flying curtain” you can understand why the technical director says one of his next productions, setting up the Republican National Convention, will be “a breeze” in comparison. The N.Y. Times looks into the ins-and-outs of the floating swimming pool and the other moving parts of “Fuerzabruta.”

Making 2,000 pounds of tofu each day is hard work. At Chuminh Tofu in Seattle owner Thanh Nga Nguyen calls the process and result “beautiful.” Dried soybeans are soaked for 6-8 hours, cleaned multiple times, ground and put in a centrifuge. The resulting soymilk is boiled and coagulated into curds. The curds are pressed into molds and the finished blocks of tofu are then cut and packaged for sale. It may not be glamorous work, but Nguyen considers it an art.

In June, violinist David Juritz left London with no money and a mission to earn his expenses and much extra for Musequality, a fund that brings music education to children in poor areas of the world. He’s been performing Bach’s Partitas and Sonatas on streets everywhere, busking his way around the globe. To date he’s raised $13,000 from his street performances, and made additional funds from private concerts and other donations, bringing the total to $50,000. He’s on his last stop in New York and then he returns to London and his professional musician gigs.

There’s a toothbrush war brewing, at least in court. Proctor & Gamble, owners of the Oral-B brand, sued newcomer Ultreo for false advertising. They also sued Philips-Sonicare. P&G; is disputing whether the ultrasound technology, which is the differentiator for the Ultreo brush, is actually as effective at cleaning teeth as Ultreo claims. Their separate tests have shown different results, and now Ultreo is countersuing P&G; for disparaging their product. I don’t suppose anyone wants to say that they are just as good, and maybe not necessarily better than their competitors. You always have to appear to be the best.

DeBeers, savvy marketer of sparkly dreams, has been working their sales magic in mainland China since 1993. Starting from no foothold in a culture where jade and pure, soft gold dominate the jewelry landscape, the conglomerate is now placing diamond rings on the fingers of 40% of the brides. The average size and price per piece of diamond jewelry is also going up. You can be sure DeBeers won’t stop until everyone in the world has a diamond on every appendage, and then they will probably fund experiments that will allow us to grow extra fingers.

Boeing’s Surplus Store is closing on December 21st and the community of regular shoppers isn’t willing to let it go. Boeing has told Bruce Lane that they plan to sell surplus in bulk to large buyers in auctions and may sell smaller stuff on eBay.

A revival of Godspell is headed for Broadway in 2008.

In observation of Serious Eats’ National Meatloaf Appreciation Day (October 18th), girlhacker and dadhacker bring you our celebrated Buffy Loaf recipe. Created a few years ago for a season premiere of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, this is a buffalo meatloaf from a basic recipe. We used to try to catch the somewhat regular buffalo sale at Fred Meyer and freeze a few pounds. Then we found frozen ground buffalo at Trader Joe’s but they stopped carrying it. Now we buy it at QFC and Whole Foods where they always have it in stock, sometimes on sale. It’s not cheap ($6-7/lb), but it’s healthier than beef, in fact its nutritional content is better than many other meats. That is why we top off our buffalo meatloaf with lots of bacon. Nice, fatty, salty bacon, usually the good stuff from Niman Ranch (available at Trader Joe’s). We’ve also modified the recipe for our son’s allergies, so it has no common allergens other than gluten (experienced gluten-free cooks should have no trouble modifying the recipe). Enjoy! Photo on flickr.

Retailer Target continues to rope in outside designers to keep up a trendy image. Keanan Duffty’s new men’s line for Target brings one of his role models, David Bowie, into the lower-price chain store. Duffty’s men’s collection debuts this weekend and includes a tuxedo, vest and pants inspired by the Thin White Duke persona, dress shirts and a trench coat inspired by “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” and a button-down shirt imprinted with the lyrics to “Let’s Dance.” A $4.99 CD compilation of old and remastered Bowie songs will be sold alongside the clothing. (via Pitchfork)