This morning at a meeting among Perfect Duluth Day’s owners, it was decided to change PDD’s commenting policy. Effective immediately, only PDD members may comment on posts. New commenters must join PDD and log in to make comments. This is not in response to any particular situation, but rather a change we have been contemplating for quite some time. We believe it will improve the website in the long run.
It sounds harsher and more dramatic than it actually is. For those who are currently without a PDD membership, registering is a simple, easy process. All current members will simply be prompted to log in before commenting.
Feel free to ask questions, whine like a baby, or celebrate the new policy in the comments below. After registering and/or logging in of course.
For those who are too young to remember and/or didn’t live around here at the time, 20 years ago today our area experienced one of the craziest blizzards in history. The News Tribune Attic has a great retrospective, and you should check it out for photos and a timeline of local events.
The Halloween Megastorm was part of, or at least coincided with, what became known as The Perfect Storm, “a nor’easter that absorbed Hurricane Grace and ultimately evolved into a small hurricane late in its life cycle.” (more…)
Minnesota Pronunciation Samples — Mayor Don Ness and “miner’s wife” Mildred Opacich represent Duluth. (By “represent” I mean that they are used as examples, not as the whole of the study by any means.)
Most people who live in Duluth, Minnesota know about Duluth, Georgia. Just today, however, I discovered that there is a third Duluth — Duluth, Kansas. I had no idea.
PDD appears to be infected with malware, which may harm your computer. Please leave immediately and take proper measures to cleanse your computer of our apparent filth.
We’re working on the problem, but it may take awhile for us to set things straight. Don’t check back. Keep an eye on our Twitter and Facebook accounts for further information.
I’ve always thought that if I had this job, I could go around calling myself “Mr. Duluth.” It is, from an outsider’s standpoint at least, pretty much the classic Duluth job.
Congratulations to a PDD favorite, the Chicken Spur, for opening a drive-through window. Tell your cabbie you have a stop to make on the way home. (more…)
The above video shows the mood of the United States over a two-day period as interpreted by various words used on Twitter. Green indicates a good mood, red indicates a foul mood, and pale yellow indicates the middle area. The size of the states scale up and down according to how many tweets were posted at that particular time.
As you can see, Minnesota rarely makes it out of the red. There are a few times when it sneaks into the yellow, but for the most part, we are a grumpy people, at least according to our Twitter activity and this study.
Speaking of which, here’s the official website. You’ll notice that the poster version of the data shows Minnesota tinged with a bit of green in the very early morning, indicating that on certain days, at around 6am, we apparently can drum up a tiny amount of positive spirit on the internet.
The recent post about the 1917 Ripsaw article regarding booze and filth in Superior, Wisconsin got me thinking about this quote from one of Anthony Bukoski’s short stories. I posted it here on PDD back in August of 2003, but I think enough time has passed for us to revisit it.
“The entire city of Superior, my neighborhood included, is a classroom for the study of failure. The curriculum for the Study and Analysis of Heartache comes from our citizenry’s heavy drinking. We’re Scandinavians, Slavs, and Indians of all makes and models. The curriculum is also tied to our living on the shore of the largest freshwater lake in the world. Lake Superior alters our weather for the worst, makes us ugly. Step out the door, see old newspapers blow down the streets in a lake wind, wipe dust from your eyes, go to the Palace Bar, Isle of Capri, Captain Cliff’s Night Club, Lost in the ’50s, Al’s Waterfront Tavern. Find the locals lined up for an eye-opener at eight in the morning, and that, to a sensitive former academic like me, is Hard Knocks. When you can’t find work and need to get yourself more depressed, listen in the hallway of your run-down flat for the neighbor guy to strike his wife or she him. Add gray skies. Add fog, and in winter and into late spring, throw in bitter cold, and that’s how it is in Superior, Wisconsin, at the Head of the Lakes. Every day I take a refresher course in how to be a loser.”
A few (unedited) night shots of the I-35 construction in West Duluth. Or is it Mars? Yeah, it might be Mars.
I really wanted to shoot these on a foggy night, but the one night I had time, it was relatively clear. I’ll have to go back again soon. The way I understand it, the construction will go on for a *wee* bit longer, as will the damp weather.
These are short and sweet at present, but should grow exponentially as the week progresses. Want to be a part of the action? Tag your Flickr photos with homegrownmusicfestival2010, and your tweets with #HGMF10. (Note that the Twitter hashtag has changed due to conflicts with other events.) (more…)
Once again, Homegrown has begun, and once again, all you numbskulls will be out there flashing your fancy digicams and/or tapping at your mobile devices, cataloging all the craziness as it happens. And as always, it’s important to properly tag your stuff so that everyone else knows that it exists.
Keeping with the tradition of years past, let’s all use the following tags:
I would also recommend tagging your Flickr photos with HG10 since it’s easy to do and it doesn’t hurt to apply an additional layer of taggish re-enforcement.
I’ll post here again tomorrow with the ever-growing Flickr slideshow of everyone’s shots. Here are links to slideshows from previous years, to get you excited: 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009
Today is the third Saturday in April, which means that it’s officially Record Store Day. The way to celebrate Record Store Day is to go check out your local independent record stores, which in the Twin Ports means either the Electric Fetus or the Vinyl Cave.
From the official website:
A Record Store Day participating store is defined as a physical retailer whose product line consists of at least 50% music retail, whose company is not publicly traded and whose ownership is at least 70% located in the state of operation. (In other words, we’re dealing with real, live, physical, indie record stores—not online retailers or corporate behemoths).
Alex Chilton of Big Star and the Box Tops died last night of heart complications at the age of 59. Here’s a eulogy from Rep. Steve Cohen (D) Tennessee, which he gave today before congress.
Children by the million sing for Alex Chilton
When he comes ’round
They sing, “I’m in love. What’s that song?
I’m in love with that song.”
– The Replacements
Just a heads-up to anyone planning to attend the Cracker show that was scheduled at Grandma’s Sports Garden on Sunday night. The show has been moved to Beaner’s Central.
Don’t ask me why, because I don’t know. I just thought I’d pass along the information. And oh, yeah, the ticket price has been reduced too.
Cracker, with opener Brandy Shearer
Beaner’s Central
324 N. Central Avenue
Sunday, Feb. 21
7pm
$10
Harkening back to akjuneau’s post from when the album was first released, here’s Bob Dylan’s video single from his recent “Christmas in the Heart” album. What’s your take on the visuals as well as the audio? Will you be popping this in the rotation during your family mixer?
I just drove from the West End to the East Hillside. Here’s what I observed/experienced:
Visibility is very poor. This has improved quite a bit since I first set out, since the sun has come up. Mainly your enemies today are wind and blowing snow.
I-35 is quite clear, but slow going. I had to completely stop twice. I think the top speed was about 45, though it might have reached 50 for a moment.
Mesaba is a traffic jam. No surprise.
Second Street has a lot of snow on it. Also people are having difficulty finding their lane. There are three lanes on Second Street, and even in the best conditions it is wise to choose one. Thankfully, no one is doing that thing where you blow through the lights just as they change green. That would be stupid on a day like today.
Fourth Street is worse than Second Street.
The avenues are slippery and difficult to negotiate. As you’re spinning your wheels up them or sliding down them sideways, please take a moment to realize that this is why your house with an incredible view is affordable.
No matter how bad it gets, there’s always someone who is in a big effing hurry and thinks that tailgating will help. You will encounter that person today. Please try not to be that person today.
Please post your experiences and the road conditions for your part of the region in the comments. If you are somewhere that’s warm and doesn’t get snow, and feel the need to point that out in the comments, please realize that the rest of us are rolling our eyes and making the “jerk-off” gesture with our dominant hands
