February 20, 2010
2-4 p.m.
Incline Station, Duluth MN
$8 per child
$10 per adult

Tickets include: 2 hours of bowling, shoes and automatic scoring.  Food and beverages available for purchase. All proceeds benefit the Autism Association of Northern MN.

www.autismassociationofnorthernmn.org

I thought that the “1000 foot shitters” was great but she may have topped it with “I am still stuck on the beaver!”

Good luck in Haiti. Miss you on the news!!

Laskiainen Finnish Sliding Festival
Feb. 6 & 7 (Sat.Sun.) at the Loon Lake Community Center in Palo MN

Celebrating the ethnic heritage of customs, crafts, music, sports,
marketplace, foods and of course sliding! Free and super family-friendly. Featuring the infamous vipukelkka or whipsled! An excellent opportunity to generate your own exclamation points!

http://www.ironrange.org

816 Highway 100 Palo
Aurora, MN 55705

Laskiainen

I’m looking for two seasonal foods:

1. Any stores with Mountain Dew Throwback still in stock… a gas station, a grocer — anything. This is number 1 priority.

2. Pepsi Throwback. Same deal. The no-HFCs is attractive to me.

3. I’m looking for “poonchskis” or “paczki” — a donut common among Polish folks. A pączek is a deep-fried piece of dough shaped into a flattened sphere and filled with confiture or other sweet filling. Pączki are usually covered with powdered sugar, icing or bits of dried orange zest. A small amount of grain alcohol (traditionally, Spiritus) is added to the dough before cooking; as it evaporates, it prevents the absorption of oil deep into the dough.[2]
Although they look like bismarcks or jelly doughnuts, pączki are made from especially rich dough containing eggs, fats, sugar and sometimes milk. They feature a variety of fruit and creme fillings and can be glazed, or covered with granulated or powdered sugar. Powidła (stewed plum jam) and wild rose hip jam[2][3] are traditional fillings, but many others are used as well, including strawberry, Bavarian cream, blueberry, custard, raspberry and apple.[4]

Don’t forget to watch one of the Northland’s most amazing tributes to our cultural heritage (in my opinion, at least): The John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon!

The “Meet the Mushers” event starts at noon, the race starts at 1:00. It is really a majestic sight. If you’ve never seen a sled dog race, I’d put it at the top of your to-do list for tomorrow!

Lake Park Soccer Complex
Race Start: 1 p.m.
Jean Duluth Road & Riley Road
Duluth, MN

www.beargrease.com

Today my boyfriend and I had our own sled dog adventure on the Munger Trail! Makes the winter more tolerable, that’s for sure.

The news this morning of a major wind company considering Duluth, Superior, and the Iron Range is something we should really go after. There are four states in the running. If you like this type of development, contact your congressman. I’m sure they know about this but I think it would be really important to go do this. This could be huge for Duluth. This opportunity will not come every day. Thanks to those folks who were out front on this and got it to this stage. Anything I can do to help, ask.

Congrats to Mr. Lundgren for winning this thing.

I like the part where Enger seems to think Goggleye is a made up character.

well…

Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States and many other books died this week.

Here are references I found to Duluth and Minnesota in “A People’s History of the United States” (more…)

Not that my photo (from Tuesday) is special at all, but the moon has been kind of impressive this week, hasn’t it? Must be how clear the skies have been. Full moon action is tomorrow. Get your werewolf on.

Jitterbug Julie Pearce is leaving the Northland’s NewsCenter. She says this will be her last weekend anchoring the newscasts.

Hello all, yes, the rumors are true… this weekend will be my last weekend as a news anchor for the NewsCenter. This has been a hard decision for me. I’ve been with the NewsCenter now for about 4 years. I work with some amazing people and have truly enjoyed my time there. The big bright studio lights, the cameras, and… deep connection to our community have been extremely rewarding and exciting.

from her facebook page.

After a couple of weeks doing nursing and helping people in Belize she came back and bought a one-way ticket to Haiti to do medical support for people there who have been devastated. (more…)

This Saturday night, the 30th of January, UMD’s Late Night Kirby will be hosting a night of wonderful Minnesota music!

Jeremy Messersmith and Duluth’s own Dave Mehling will be playing at the Rafters on the third floor of the Kirby Student center at UMD. This event will be FREE for all UMD students and $5 to the public.

Please come by and enjoy the infectious sounds of one of Minneapolis’s favorite singer/songwriters and the musical stylings of UMD alum Dave Mehling!

The College of St. Scholastica is hosting a benefit concert for Haitian relief on Wednesday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m in the Mitchell Auditorium on campus.  Doors open at 6:15 p.m.  Seating is limited, so please arrive early.  The event is free but a goodwill donation is requested.   A silent auction begins at 6 p.m. in Mitchell’s upper and lower lobbies.  T-shirts, books, CDs, etc. will also be for sale.

Performers include “Bonga and the Drums of Haiti,” Echoes of Peace Choir, First Lutheran Church Choir, CSS Hand Drum Ensemble, storyteller Elizabeth Nordell and a slide show accompanied by music from violinist Rudy Perrault.  Michelle Lee from KBJR-TV will emcee.

Proceeds will benefit the American Red Cross, Catholic Relief Services and Partners in Health.  For more information see haiti.css.edu.

The car moved west, directly, as it were, into the open furnace of the late-afternoon sky. It continued west for two blocks, till it reached Madison Avenue, and then it right-angled sharply north. I felt as though we were all being saved from being caught up by the sun’s terrible flue only by the anonymous driver’s enormous alertness and skill.

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Renegade Theater Company

A New Year, A New Name, A New Look

Renegade Comedy Theatre is proud to announce that we are changing our name to Renegade Theater Company. Please join us to celebrate! We’re having a party and silent auction fundraiser to coincide with the opening of our first show of our 2010 season, “The Sparrow,” on Thursday, February 4th.

The party is from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm and “The Sparrow” begins at 8pm. Both the party and the production will be held at the Teatro Zuccone, 222 East Superior Street in downtown Duluth.

Featuring food from the Zeitgeist Arts Café and great silent auction items from dozens of businesses and organizations in the Northland, the evening will be a celebration of Renegade’s past and a welcoming of its future. We hope you will join us!

(more…)

How about the iDon’t care.

I heard that Japanese tourists visit Enger Park to view the “Bridge to Heaven,” as Park Point resembles a famous pine-tree covered sand bar in Japan. Both are viewed upside down, by bending over and looking between your legs. Here

This was interesting to me. On the Plane Conversations blog, author Alan Howell reviews a 2001 book by Atlantic contributor James Fallows called “Free Flight: From Airline Hell to a New Age of Travel.” In the book, according to Howell, Fallows says that the Klapmeier brothers of Duluth’s own Cirrus Design created the first of three major innovations that would change the way people travel. How did the prediction stack up?

In the last nine years, how did James Fallows’ case studies fare?

To date, Cirrus has manufactured and sold more than 5000 aircraft and has been the number one, best selling aircraft in the past decade – not bad for a start-up company with a non-conventional design. Like other aviation companies, Cirrus has been severely impacted by the economy but will survive in some form. The aircraft has been too successful and the market will continue to demand new models with improved technology.

Read the whole article here: Free Flight: What has happened since James Fallows wrote the book

Twins sign Jim Thome to a 1 year deal, 1.5 million.  Great move.

The College of St. Scholastica’s Warner Reading Series presents:

Andrew Hudgins
Friday, Feb. 5, 7:30 p.m. – Free
Somers Lounge, College of St. Scholastica

Author of six collections of poetry, including the National Book Award finalist The Never Ending: New Poems and the Pulitzer Prize nominated Saints and Strangers, Andrew Hudgins is an indispensable voice in contemporary American letters. His awards and honors include the Witter Bynner Award for Poetry, the Hanes Poetry Prize, fellowships from the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Ingram Merrill Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Hudgins holds an M.F.A. from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop and teaches at Ohio State University.

Funding made possible by the Lee and Rose Warner Foundation.

U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals says prisoners can no longer play Dungeons & Dragons in prison, because it “promotes gang-related activity“.
The only thing hazardous about D&D are possibly the 4-sided dice if you happen to step on them! I think activities like this are harmless, and could provide an alternative to prison gang culture (and it uses math!). Some of my coworkers think that if you’re in prison, you shouldn’t be allowed to game. I think everyone can agree that despite what Jack Chick tells you, D&D is not a gang. Thoughts?

I’m happy to announce that my new album “All But My Soul” is now available on my website ryanvanslooten.com It will also be available on itunes in the next week or so, and down at the Fetus sometime next week. To hear a few tracks from the album, please visit my myspace site.

The CD release show will be this Saturday at Luce with Cars and Trucks also on the bill. I will have a backing band with me for the first time so it should be a good night.

Finally, tune into 91.3KUWS on Thursday night, 10:00 p.m., for Walt Dizzo’s weekly radio show. I’ll be performing tracks from the album live, in-studio, as well as playing tracks from the new album.

Hope to see you all this weekend!

Saturday, Jan. 30 at Norm’s Beer and Brats, 10 p.m.

Turbo Rathvon (indie rock)
with Twin Cities bands Unexpected Guests (pop punk) and Not Like This (good ol’ rock ‘n roll)

There will be a Ladies Night of Indulgence at Lake Superior Chiropractic this Thursday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. The event is free to all ladies 21 and older. This is a time for pampering and checking out some local women vendors. Please RSVP by calling 715-398-6679. Don’t miss out on the fun!

Tuesday, 7pm

Beaner’s Tuesday Film Night will feature “Urban Explorers” this week. The documentary, by Melody Gilbert, gives us a glimpse into an international subculture of fearless thrill-seekers who lurk beneath city streets and venture into long-abandoned buildings, defiantly searching for unseen treasures of modern civilization.

Get out of the house and join us for a free movie in a relaxing environment!

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Watch CBS News Videos Online

CBS News’ Bill Geist travels to Embarrass, Minnesota.

Free ticket! This Thursday, Jan. 28 only!

Mention this Super Secret Email and get TWO tickets for the price of ONE!

Cracked Egg Improv, a tiny wing of Rubber Chicken Theater, is back to making it up as they go along this Thursday at 7pm at Dubh Linn Comedy Pub, 109 W. Superior St. in downtown Duluth.

Five dollars gets you TWO tickets to this week’s shows. Plus, hold onto that ticket stub for a half price drink after the show.

See both you, and your friend, there!