Barrett Chase Posts

Duluth needs a monster of its own

Earlier today I was reading about the Red Dwarf of Detroit, a harbinger of doom that’s been haunting the Detroit area for hundreds of years. It’s described as “a small child-like creature with red or black fur boots” that has “blazing red eyes and rotten teeth.”

Other communities have monsters that are unique to their location. Point Pleasant, WV has the Mothman. Southern New Jersey has the Jersey Devil. Botetourt County, VA and Mattoon, IL have the Mad Gasser, who was more of a serial killer really but I’m still including it here.

Mayor Ness wants to get the population back up to 90,000. Maybe some good old-fashioned mass hysteria is what we need to put this town back on the map.

If Duluth had a monster of its own, what would it be like? When would would it appear? Where would it appear? What would it be called?

Where in Duluth?

I’ll start things off with a clue: This is not in a restroom.

New Comment Policy

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.

“Brenda” by the Philip Traum Quartet

Duluth’s Halloween Megastorm of 1991

For those who are too young to remember and/or didn’t live around here 20 years ago, Duluth experienced one of the craziest blizzards in history in 1991. 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.”

Dialects

Map of American English Dialects

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.)

[via/via]

Duluth, Kansas

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.

Where in Duluth?

West Duluth Graffiti Art

P1000420 quarrymap Cleanin' the Place Up P1000415 Nice! P1000404 P1000405 P1000418 P1000419

PDD, Infected. Leave immediately!

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.

And may God have mercy on our souls.

Low – “Try to Sleep” featuring John Stamos

[Previously on PDD: Low and Uncle Jesse?]

Get Low’s New Album, C’mon, on the Cheap

A heads-up for frugal Duluthians, Low’s new album, C’mon, is Amazon’s MP3 Daily Deal today. You can download the whole album for only $3.99, or you can download track one, “Try to Sleep,” for absolutely free.

Now Here’s a Duluth Job Opportunity

Once again, the City of Duluth has posted a job opening for the position of Aerial Lift Bridge Operator.

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.

Chicken Spur Update

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.

Minnesotans are ill-tempered tweeters

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.

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!