Assessing incline crash damage, c. 1901-05

Thanks to Pat Maus at the Northeast Minnesota Historical Center for scanning a ton of images and adding them to the Minnesota Digital Library collections. There are lots and lots of cool old photos like this and this.

Find the site here: http://reflections.mndigital.org/
The most recently added photos are linked by the phrase "Neigborhoods of Duluth." Or, do an advanced search and limit the collection to Northeast Minnesota Historical Center.

Posted by magus at 11:02 AM | Permalink | 8 comments, last by The Big E
Filed under Creepy Duluth Stuff | Duluth History | Photos | Web Fun

Some sweet old photos.

Posted by adam at 02:02 PM | Permalink | 4 comments, last by lydia
Filed under Photos | Web Fun

The Photobooth

Posted by boywonder at 09:50 PM | Permalink | 1 comment by Girl From the North Country
Filed under Web Fun

so i got interviewed by kuws for the geek prom. i headed over to the kuws website to see if they had the story online and low and behold i was greeted by a mess of a website. perhaps a middle school is doing pro-bono work for kuws.

www.kuws.fm

so my question is, what is your nomination for worst local website layout? other than dcb that is.

**edit** i love kuws. they are a great radio station and let me dj there in college. their reporting is top notch and they have the awards to prove it. their website however is not good. i'm playing around. joking if you will. good lord people.

Posted by enealio at 12:12 PM | Permalink | 31 comments, last by Ganginator
Filed under Web Fun

with geek prom coming up and the death of gygax i though it would be a good idea to present this. it may have been on here before, but it's always good for a laugh.

Continue reading "fear of girls" »

Posted by enealio at 07:03 AM | Permalink | 2 comments, last by Bad Cat!
Filed under Funny Stuff | Geeky | Serious Substantive Matters | Web Fun

I had two wonderful entries for the Park Point is for lovers design contest. Please vote for your favorite. The poll will close in four days.

Posted by Starfire at 08:32 AM | Permalink | 28 comments, last by Mary
Filed under Art | Duluth Scene | Web Fun

New contest. Design a shirt in one color with the words "Park Point is for Lovers" somewhere on the shirt. Art can be hand drawn or made on one of those fancy computer boxes. Winner will get an assortment of T-shirts with their art and the love of all Duluthians. Deadline is Friday so don't delay.

Any questions drop me a line.

Posted by Starfire at 12:01 PM | Permalink | 5 comments, last by clip
Filed under Art | Duluth Scene | Promotion | Web Fun

There's an article about the Gunflint Trail in the New York Times.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/02/29/travel/escapes/29gunflint.html?8dpc

Posted by rich at 09:48 PM | Permalink | 0 comments
Filed under Web Fun

Posted by clumsy at 01:34 PM | Permalink | 1 comment by purple
Filed under Art | Funny Stuff | Holiday | Web Fun

On This American Life last Saturday they had stories about tough rooms. My favorite piece was the Onions headline meeting. Basically the writers pitch 600 headlines and if they get at least two votes the headline makes it to the next round. Eventually they narrow it down to 15 headlines for the week. If you have ever read The Onion it is a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes.

So my challenge to you is to pitch some Onion style headlines. Leave them in the comments.

Here is my submission.

Local man buried under his RSS feeds

Come on people I know you can do better than me.

Posted by Starfire at 07:49 AM | Permalink | 40 comments, last by baci
Filed under Funny Stuff | Web Fun

Andrew Krueger of the DNT has started a new blog called News Tribune Attic, featuring photos of and stories about the Twin Ports from the past. There's stuff from way back of course, but I enjoy the more "recent" news items, such as the thwarted A&W drive-in on Woodland in 1998 or the Grand Avenue Holiday station in 1981.

It'll be nice to see how this progresses.

Posted by Barrett at 01:43 AM | Permalink | 17 comments, last by Cynic
Filed under Duluth History | Recommendations | Web Fun

Well, this summer Google decided to use Duluth in its beta version of Google Transit. Now we're being used as the example city in its new All News Is Local feature.

Once again I thank the tireless eye of my pal Fuzzy for noticing this, even though he lives in Chicago. I think he has serious Duluth envy.

Posted by ironic1 at 10:41 AM | Permalink | 3 comments, last by laurie
Filed under Web Fun

CHESTERTON, IN: Single-digit temperatures brought a scene right out of the movie "A Christmas Story" to two students at Jackson Elementary School on Friday morning.

The two fourth-grade boys, who served flag duty to raise and lower the flag for the school, stuck their tongues to the flagpole and spent the rest of the day in pain and embarrassment.

"The nurse called us and said the boys' tongues were bleeding," said Billie Dempsey, mother of Gavin Dempsey, who celebrated his 10th birthday Friday.

"The nurse asked them, 'OK, who double-dog dared who?' But they weren't admitting to what they did and said they just bit their tongues. When she told me there were a couple of layers taken off, I thought, 'Oh no, he's on flagpole duty,'" Dempsey said.

When she arrived at the school, her son admitted to what he did.

"My tongue still sort of hurts from what I did. I decided to try it because I thought all of the TV shows were lies, but turns out I was wrong," Gavin Dempsey said.

Karen Alexander, mother of James Alexander, laughs when asked about the event.

"I thought it was pretty silly of him. I asked him where he got the idea, and he said 'The Christmas Story.' I can't believe he did it, but they learned their lesson," she said.

James said he plans on eating a lot of ice cream to help nurse his wound.

"When you're young, you're just messing around," he said.

Billie Dempsey said the school nurse could not recall having an injury like this at the school.

"You don't think your own kid would do something like this," she said with a laugh.

Posted by tamara at 09:35 PM | Permalink | 10 comments, last by jamie
Filed under Web Fun

Only 10 minutes left in my shift, but I had time to skim through this useful site: GovernmentAttic.org.
Lots of government documents, including the often hillarious FCC complaints - check out this gem someone called in on the Simpsons.

Posted by Bad Cat! at 10:53 PM | Permalink | 8 comments, last by Lucie B.
Filed under Funny Stuff | Web Fun | Weird Stuff

"Knowledge is free. We are Anonymous. We are legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us."

--Anonymous [08.01.21]

It's nice to see those wacky guys at the CDC and their friends are still keeping up the good fight.

Posted by adam at 03:57 PM | Permalink | 7 comments, last by tamara
Filed under Web Fun

Speaking of old school, remember when scaners were cool? This guy has done the leg work if this is your bag. Now let's start spying on the neighbor.

Posted by Kitty Brand at 10:27 AM | Permalink | 6 comments, last by tamara
Filed under Creepy Duluth Stuff | Geeky | Web Fun

Bucket of Nerds in Chicago not only made an album cover, using the very popular album cover meme, but they recorded a sample track and made a video for it!

I think we've been served. Okay, Duluth, let's rise to the occasion!

Posted by ironic1 at 04:20 PM | Permalink | 4 comments, last by tamara
Filed under Web Fun

Here's my entry, with a sample track called "charisma rising." this was way too much fun and led to a lovely bit of time-wasting. Thanks!

PS--Sorry for the pixelation on the text--working on learning this process.

Posted by michaelmockorange at 03:04 PM | Permalink | 5 comments, last by michaelmockorange
Filed under Web Fun

I think I got the worst band name ever, but I like the album title and photo.

Posted by Beverly at 01:13 AM | Permalink | 3 comments, last by tamara
Filed under Web Fun

Continue reading "New CD..." »

Posted by ironic1 at 08:46 PM | Permalink | 20 comments, last by ironic1
Filed under Web Fun

i'm a die hard rem fan and am the first to admit that their last few offerings have been less than impressive (i think their last great album was new adventures in hi-fi. in fact, it was one of their best albums ever.) well they have a new one coming out on april 1st called accelerate. i'm half excited for it but i'm very impressed with their teaser site called ninetynights.com. it features a short video clip every day until the release of the album. rem and/or video buffs might want to check it out.

Posted by enealio at 09:08 AM | Permalink | 5 comments, last by Danny
Filed under Art | Music | Web Fun

We're 21,608th... we're 21,608th... PDD... PDD...

Yea - internet!

(Caution!: This link leads to a really big web page with a statistical breakdown of weblog interactivity, or some such nonsense. Also, PDD is 21,608th in alphabetical order.)

Posted by JJLee at 12:31 PM | Permalink | 1 comment by -Berv
Filed under Geeky | Web Fun

Mayday, you reminded me of this site that the Professor pointed out to me back in June. It randomly pairs a Family Circus panel with a quote from Friedrich Nietzsche. Of course, hilarity ensues.

Not all of the pairings are great. Some are just creepy. But you can always refresh the page to get a new comic.

Posted by ironic1 at 08:58 AM | Permalink | 11 comments, last by Ben
Filed under Funny Stuff | Web Fun

Continue reading "the first rule..." »

Posted by mayday at 04:43 AM | Permalink | 0 comments
Filed under Web Fun

i was just given access to the beta of hulu.com and i must say it rocks. fox, nbc, sci-fi and others have their tv shows on it plus a few movies. all free. including BATTLESTAR GALACTICA!!!! i don't know if this means they'll put up the new episodes of BSG when they come out, but that's months away. they have all the new eps of the good nbc shows though (office, 30 rock) and new eps of simpsons and family guy. hundreds of snl clips too

quality is pretty good. it's a flash player like youtube, but at a higher resolution. you can even embed. this is worse than having netflix's watch instantly feature.

snl just doesn't push the envelope like it used to.

Posted by enealio at 11:08 AM | Permalink | 6 comments, last by ironic1
Filed under Found Stuff | Geeky | Web Fun

Continue reading "Compared to choking on your own vomit...." »

Posted by MaryB at 08:45 PM | Permalink | 11 comments, last by Bad Cat!
Filed under Web Fun

Posted by Starfire at 07:34 AM | Permalink | 16 comments, last by BubbaNorthland
Filed under Web Fun

Thank you all for participating in the first ever PDD Holiday T-shirt design contest. It was a very close race, so close that I have decided to print the top three designs. So without further ado the winners are (in no particular order.)

The Abominable Snowman goes shopping.

Snowflake

Smoking Reindeer

The shirts will be available next week at my shop and I will have them for sale at the Buy Local gift fare at the Peace Church on December 1rst.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Posted by Starfire at 09:49 AM | Permalink | 18 comments, last by tm
Filed under Art | Current Events | For Sale | Promotion | Web Fun

Below are the most excellent entries in the 2007 PDD Holiday T-shirt Design Contest. Now it is your turn to vote. Send me an email with your favorite 3 designs. I am participating in the Get It Local gift buying event at the Peace Church on December 1rst so I may be making more than one of the designs.

Thanks to all that submitted I wish we could make em all.

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7

#8

#9

#10

#11

#12

Posted by Starfire at 09:23 AM | Permalink | 5 comments, last by Bill
Filed under Art | For Sale | Promotion | Web Fun

Does she spin clockwise, counter-clockwise, or both? An explanation can be found here.

Continue reading "You Spin Me Round." »

Posted by Starfire at 05:30 PM | Permalink | 11 comments, last by Girl From the North Country
Filed under Geeky | Web Fun

OK. I know the deadline for the contest was yesterday but only one of you have submitted a design so I am extending the deadline till Saturday at 5PM. That should give you folks who were working on something that little extra time you needed.

See you at the Parade!

Posted by Starfire at 10:17 AM | Permalink | 3 comments, last by Beverly
Filed under Serious Substantive Matters | Web Fun

Today's humorous product description at woot.com (where I recently purchased my Roomba known as Dirtbot 3000) mentions our friendly frozen city.

Continue reading "Duluth has been WOOTED" »

Posted by enealio at 12:21 PM | Permalink | 6 comments, last by RevAaron
Filed under Duluth News | Geeky | Web Fun

John Holden has the featured video.
Titled "You, Me, & Problems With the World".

Posted by Ca-chee at 05:44 PM | Permalink | 3 comments, last by Ca-chee
Filed under Web Fun

They say to write what you know, so for tonight's Out of the Hat my script features a blog off between DCB and PDD. I'm afraid I make merciless fun of both blogs. No offense, but let's face it, we are a silly lot.

You can come see the show tonight at 7pm and/or read the script on ironic1.com.

Posted by ironic1 at 11:20 AM | Permalink | 22 comments, last by Scribbler
Filed under Duluth Scene | Funny Stuff | Promotion | Web Fun

It's contest time again. Design a holiday themed T-shirt for PDD and you could win! The deadline for submissions is November 14th at 5pm. The voting will begin shortly after that and the shirts will be ready to purchase on Black Friday (November 23.)

Design rules after the jump.

Continue reading "PDD Holiday T" »

Posted by Starfire at 10:32 AM | Permalink | 3 comments, last by adam
Filed under Art | Duluth Scene | Promotion | Web Fun

Pass me the Quisp and milk please.

Posted by Kitty Brand at 04:10 PM | Permalink | 1 comment by Bad Cat!
Filed under R.I.P. | Web Fun

Posted by Starfire at 08:31 AM | Permalink | 39 comments, last by anarchy
Filed under Funny Stuff | Web Fun

Just thought you'd like to know that Sven Sundgaard's Penis has a blog. I for one am speechless.

Posted by Barrett at 11:44 PM | Permalink | 13 comments, last by adam
Filed under Web Fun

Some stuff I found just dinging around on YouTube:

Chester Creek Slacklining

Chester Creek Water Skipping

Posted by Barrett at 09:23 PM | Permalink | 3 comments, last by Dan
Filed under Web Fun

In the past we have talked about AllMP3 which more or less has been hobbled, not by governments directly but by the all mighty VISA credit card monopoly. Anyhow, There is now a new alternative, not as cheap, but entirely legit and DRM free (which was my major Itunes avoidance reason), songs are mostly encoded at 256 variable kbps, and where not it is at 256 constant kpbs, and run about .89 - .99 per song. I've long said that I'd be willing to shop online MP3s if there where in that price range and DRM free, so I guess I get to put my money where my mouth is. The provider? Amazon.com. My small prediction is that now that a major player is directly competing against them DRM free Itunes is going to have to follow suit PDQ. My major reason for use will be all those import albums that cost an arm and a leg to get physically are going to be so much cheaper and faster to obtain.

Posted by edgeways at 08:56 PM | Permalink | 7 comments, last by edgeways
Filed under Geeky | Music | Recommendations | Web Fun

Videoblogger John Holden's site is currently down for upgrades, but still, the error page with animations by Luke Holden is mesmerizingly fun!

Posted by Barrett at 01:27 AM | Permalink | 3 comments, last by ractalfece
Filed under Web Fun

The deadline has passed, the entries are in and now it is your chance to vote. There are six entries in the NELS CLINE GAVE ME THE CHICKEN POX T-shirt design contest. Voting will take place by email [starfire at gmail dot com]. Send me the number of your favorite design and whether or not you might actually like to buy one. There is no obligation to purchase one but I just want to get an idea of how many to print. They will be printed in Mens and Womens sizes most likely on American Apparel T's. More details will emerge when a winner is selected. I will accept votes until Wednesday August 29th at 5PM CST.

Thanks for all the entries and good voting!

Posted by Starfire at 12:12 PM | Permalink | 5 comments, last by waveview
Filed under Art | Duluth Scene | Funny Stuff | Promotion | Web Fun