Duluth band Low is playing a concert in front of the caretaker’s cottage at the Minneapolis Pioneers and Soldiers Memorial Cemetery on June 9.

As previously noted on PDD, this is not the summer of the full-on army worm invasion. However, I did see a lot of the above on the end of Minnesota Point on Saturday. So there will be some level of yuck this year.

I sometimes wonder if people who have moved to Minnesota from outside the Midwest maybe eight years ago hear army worm stories and think it’s a figment of folklore, like the hoop snake. They will be in for a surprise.

The icky army worms are coming … but won’t be in full force this year.

The sinkhole above, on the Raleigh Street spur to the DWP Trail, is huuuuge. Can anyone beat it? Will we need to get out the tape measures?

I concede, of course, that though it is much larger than the sinkhole Nate Lindstrom posted about in 2010 (shown below), it doesn’t exceed that one in terms of comedy. Maybe I need a model.

Playing with my helmet cam and some tape, 1 second interval shots, Duluth to Superior 2626 frames stitched together and set to music.

You’d never know what would happen next at a Dukes of Hubbard show (circa early 2000s). On stage, they would mix Phish with Kenny Loggins, then beatbox. Or play Ween followed by a Beatles medley and other antics. Or Jane’s Addiction followed by Herbie Hancock, while trading instruments and doing shots. And with Trudy (good dog, may she rest in peace) lounging off to the side. Some nights were more of a variety show than a usual set of music.

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I haven’t seen any ticks yet, but this popped up on my Facebook wall:

I’m reposting here an open letter written to the Duluth community by Joel Kilgour, a local peace activist, and Sara Thomsen, a local musician. Basically, Duluthians are urged to stay away from the March 3 rally planned by a white supremacist group right here in the Zenith City.
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Sherwin Shayegan — the Piggyback Bandit — was spotted in Duluth Saturday night! Friday he was banned from All Minnesota High School sporting events after creeping at high school games in St. Cloud Thursday and Minneapolis on Friday. Saturday night he was at the DECC! There was a guy creeping on our group as we were saying our goodbyes after the Roller Derby bout. One guy said something to him and he dashed off. That’s when we recognized him.

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If you haven’t heard, the Duluth Art Institute will soon be starting screenings of Robert Hughes’ Shock of the New, which is a fantastic eight-part series on the rise and fall of the modern art movement. Not only will you be able to rest your eyes on the handsome and talented Robert Hughes, but you will be able to do it for free.
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Tangier 57 would like to invite you to take a little trip with us.

I ran into Marc Gartman last night, who had this item hot off Miss Zoey Cohen’s drawing pad.

Although I audibly groaned to myself at every stage of the Ween cover art controversy (starting with “Ween … and you?,” continuing with “Sex and Rock and Roll,” and finally dragging to a temporary halt with “This is what a feminist looks like”) I now personally endorse as much disagreement and debate about this as possible.

Timothy LaPara and a team of researchers at the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities, testing water pouring from a modern water treatment facility in Duluth, found genes of drug-resistant bacteria in the discharge. Most American cities do not have facilities as good as Duluth’s, but no one knows for sure how much worse the situation may be at those facilities because it has not been measured.

Inside Science News Service: The best wastewater treatment plants can’t filter out superbug fragments

Before Call of Duty and Elder Scrolls, there were these quirky little things called Text Based Adventures. Primitive on the graphic front (with NO graphics in them), these were the first dungeon crawlers and computer based rpgs like Minnesota’s own Oregon Trail. In 1982, this was super addictive stuff. Well, as I’m an active user of Goolge Docs, I came to realize that it might be possible to use their forms and spreadsheets to “crowd source” the content for a text based “pub crawler” or some text based questing game based in the PDD ethos.

Sorry, this is where my mind goes when I’m feeling ill and home alone from work for the day. So I started a test survey. It’s not perfect or definitive and really just a test so I can have a bit of crowd sourced data to try and put together in game form.  Once there’s a few entries, I’ll make a game out of it. I hope to refine the survey to better automate the process. So, take a few minutes and unleash your inner geek. BTW, This is NOT an official PDD sponsored thing and no folk bands will be hurt in the programming of this game.

From the Duluth News Tribune, 100 years ago.

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From the Duluth News Tribune, 1895.

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Join us for a zombie-themed symposium that is free and open to the public. Six UMD professors will give talks about how their work relates to zombies. Refreshments appropriate for the topic will be served. BYOB (Bring Your Own Brain).

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I will post them on HauntedDuluth.com for free! If it’s a major Halloween bash or a tiny haunted garage on Halloween night, I want to add it to my site!

Post your event info as a comment in this post, or email me from the HauntedDuluth.com contact page.

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Top Secret America Government Work Locations

Notice the red dot on the zenith city. I go to a’thinkin .. hmmmm … what!? who? Jeno? Loll? Storm Analysis Consultants? Hmmm…

Has anybody else being driven crazy by all the mosquitoes in Duluth the past week?! Seriously, it’s like Alaska out there. I can’t work in the yard without getting drained. I can’t ever remember it being this bad. Theories? (Sustained west winds? Moth spraying killed all the dragonflies? Hurricane Irene sucking them all down from northern Canada?)

Is it usual, or even legal, for a landlord to demand that all the tenants leave the apartment building while it is being inspected for licensing?  We got the written notice for an inspection in a week and then the landlord tells us face to face “don’t be here while the inspectors are here.” Weird?

Sighted, two ore boats performing a mating ritual

Not that I distrust the kids totally, but there are some youth in Duluth going door to door. They are collecting ‘points’ toward a trip and award to sell subscriptions to magazines. But along the way, the young man who came to my door asked to come in for a writing surface. When the table in the entry wasn’t enough, he asked to come in further for a counter or dining table. Then he asked for some bottled water. All of this made me increasingly uncomfortable. After he left, I called the phone number on the receipt and Googled the name of the company. Upshot is, they are tagged by the Better Business Bureau for not refunding money and not delivering product. Buyer beware.

Anyone know what the loud boom or explosion was on Saturday night at about 10:10 p.m.? We heard it out in Lakeside and thought it was a gunshot, but found out the next day that somebody also heard it out by Mcquade safe harbor, which is quite a ways from us.

Anyone know the story of what is going on in the building at 103 W. First St.? This is the building that is owned by Center City Housing, apartments on the top floors and Sammy’s Pizza on the main floor along with offices. For the past week there have been trucks parked outside doing some kind of “abatement” work. The workers have been bringing large stainless steel containers in and out of the building. I heard a rumor tonight that there was an infestation of bed bugs in the building and a company was there trying to eradicate the bugs. It was all very mysterious so just wondering about it.

Teen zombies descend on Duluth

Sorry about the little Malware problem earlier today.

I’d tell you what happened, but then I’d have to ask the tech guy and he’d have to explain it to me and, well … it’s a nice day and the problem is solved.

I know Chester Creek runs UNDER the armory. Why is water running out of this pipe? Is there a stream of water the third floor too? What is the source of this water?