Maybe this isn’t really a local enough topic for PDD, but given the earlier post on whether we’re vulnerable here to earthquakes, a Yahoo news story today seems interesting and relevant. The Chile quake apparently may have shifted earth’s axis, and made earth days slightly shorter. And this has happened before with big quakes, too.

Reminds me, too, of a Harper’s article from 2000 about dam building. There’s a quotation in that article that says: “The planet accommodates 40,000 large dams–dams more than four stories high–and some 800,000 small ones. They have shifted so much weight that geophysicists believe they have slightly altered the speed of the earth’s rotation, the tilt of its axis, and the shape of its gravitational field. Together they blot out a terrain bigger than California.”

So, any thoughts–think we’re headed towards shorter Perfect Duluth Days due to earthquakes and dam building?

Referring back to an earlier PDD post on Supreme Court decision related to “Corporate Free Speech.”

So, they say they’re doing it ironically, but a liberal PR corporation is now running for Congress. Here’s a NY Times brief news, and funny-scary first campaign video. How long before a corporation actually does run for Congress? Any Duluth bookies making odds on that?

Thanks, mevdev, for sending me this one.

So, I tried several times to comment in the “restaurants” discussion thread in response to people talking about Trader Joe’s, cheap wine and such, and my comment didn’t go through for some reason.  Guess it was the “anti-threadjack” filter PDD has now! (Wouldn’t that be nice!)

My thoughts were these:

A 17-year old woman died from heat exhaustion about a year ago while working in a vineyard that supplies grapes for 2-buck-chuck. Trader Joe’s dodged the responsibility by saying it was a “contractors” problem. That seems slippery ethics to me.

Here’s Food First’s Action Alert on this.

And another blog article.

The United Farm Workers is suing the state of California (partially prompted by this case), to get the state to protect workers from hazardous field conditions.

The reality seems to be that if you get to buy it cheap, someone (workers) or something (the environment) is getting exploited.

So, my question, do we and/or should we think about these kinds of things when we’re looking for a buzz to accompany our dinner?

Anyone have experience with fuel oil companies in the Twin Ports? We’ve been using a company for the last several years, and when we had our chimney cleaned recently, the guy who did the cleaning pointed out there was a huge build-up of sulfuric acid in the pipe and even inside the furnace. He attributed this to the quality of the fuel oil we have been getting from the company we have been using (a company he says he has heard/noticed other such problems with).

So, my question–anyone have advice on a local company that delivers as clean a fuel oil product as possible?

Thanks

What’s the most interesting story you can tell about eating “something local”?

I might be the only person you’ve ever heard of who actually hunted a grouse with a house. About seven years ago I lived on Morris Thomas Road. One day my daughter (then 7) and I were sitting and reading a book together when we heard a tremendous bang against the large plate glass window on the front of the house. When we looked outside we found a grouse dead on the lawn. My daughter, ever responsible and serious at the time, said we shouldn’t let the animal go to waste.

I’ve never been a hunter, so I called the DNR and asked the very nice man who answered the phone if there was any reason (legal or health-related) that I couldn’t eat that bird, and he proceeded not only to reassure me it was alright, but also to carefully explain how to skin the bird and prepare it. We ate it for dinner and my daughter and wife both declared it was the best winged creature they’d ever eaten.

What’s the oddest local food story (either acquiring, preparing or any other) you have?

Local bands Trampled By Turtles, Bended Oak and Tangier 57 will play at the Rex on Friday, March 13 in a “Benefit for the Lake.” Proceeds from the concert will support Duluth’s McCabe Chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America in its effort to protect Lake Superior from invasive species.

Details:

The Rex Bar, Early Bird Drink Specials 8-10 p.m.

Donation: $8 Before 9 p.m., $10 after

Tangier 57: 8 p.m.

Bended Oak: 10 p.m.

Trampled By Turtles: Midnight

Duluth’s Izaak Walton League is taking on the federal government (National Coast Guard and the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) to prompt federal protection of our shared resource (visit www.duluthikes.org for more information about this effort). Minnesota and Wisconsin, have already begun taking steps to clean up ballast water, but varying regulations from state to state are likely to create headaches and confusion among the shipping industry. The current effort calls for a unified solution for this national problem. Come listen to some good music and help protect our Lake.

As an Alien Anthropologist I think it’s worth pointing out that the original “cliffdwellers” were actually really advanced, built really amazing houses, and had some fairly sophisticated technologies and social structures. The term “cliffdwellers” doesn’t really work as an insult–it’s like saying “you advanced people who know how to build really cool houses, make great pots and baskets, feed yourselves using your own knowledge, and know how to keep mice outta the corn bin.”

Here’s some info:
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/northamerica/anasazi.html

A friend of mine has reserved the community shelter on Park Point for early Aug. for a family reunion. He’s got a lot of older rural Minnesota relatives who have fond memories of spending their honeymoons in Duluth (yes, this is what Garrison Keilor did a skit about a few years ago–going to Duluth becoming a codeword for doing the goatdance).

Anyway–this friend would like to help his entire family to have a great time by hiring a polka band (or at least a polka accordianist) to play for the gathering. He’s not employed locally, so doesn’t have a lot of money to spend.

Anybody got tips on a likely band or individual who could play two hours of good polka tunes to tug at some nostalgic heart strings?

Thanks!

Looks different–I’m sure there’s all kinds of new functionality here. Looking forward to more of the same madness and even some new kinds. Thanks for all the energy you’re putting into new kinds of community. This forum is one of the things I look enjoy repeatedly checking in with on an almost daily basis.