March 2017 Posts

Duluth City Council ready for first look at “Uber Ordinance”

Mar 13, 2017 1 Comment

Uber logo Lyft logo

It’s been eight months since Duluth City Councilor Noah Hobbs had his first formal meeting with City Attorney Nate LaCoursiere to begin crafting an ordinance to regulate ridesharing businesses like Uber and Lyft.

Both companies have expressed interest in operating in Duluth, and now Hobbs’ ordinance is on the city council’s March 13 agenda for a first reading. The soonest the ordinance could pass is March 27; it would then go into effect 30 days later.

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News and Current Affairs ,

Masculinity and History in Logan, in International Women’s Day, and in Munchkin

Mar 12, 2017 No Comments

Three events this week made me rethink the past, present, and future of gender roles. The movie Logan draws deep in the past of gender roles, echoing them and updating them (just a bit) for the 21st century. Debates about the wage gap on International Women’s Day make me struggle with the present of gender. Playing Munchkin with some adorable children makes me feel optimistic about the future — of gender and of a better world generally.

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Random

Minnesota All Hockey Hair Team 2017: Flowetry in Motion

Mar 12, 2017 No Comments

Austin HessJohn King is back with another roundup of the finest hair styles at the Minnesota High School Boys Hockey Tournament. Though Hermantown and Grand Rapids brought championship trophies north to the Arrowhead region, both teams landed zero players in the All Hockey Hair Team Top Ten this year. Several players and a team manager get shout outs, however.


Sports, Videos

PDD Quiz: Duluth in Popular Culture

Mar 12, 2017 No Comments

ticket to rideReferences to Duluth abound in popular culture; how many are you aware of? Take this quiz to find out! (Hint: you might have an edge if you’ve been paying attention to previous quizzes and the PDD blog.)

Our next PDD Quiz, reviewing the events of March 2017, will be published on March 26. E-mail question ideas to Alison Klawiter at [email protected] by March 23.


Random ,

Two-Thing Story

Mar 11, 2017 No Comments

Eric Chandler - Saturday EssayI sat with my kids and played “two-thing story” as I tucked them into bed. This was a game where my kid picked two nouns out of the air and I had to come up with a story that included the two things. Then we swapped and I picked the two nouns and the kid would come up with a story. It was simple. Two kids, two things, and lots of laughs.

I like to make complex things simpler. I usually view my fellow man through a simple, digital filter. Ones or zeroes. Happy Shmo or Angry Shmo. Here’s an example: “There are two kinds of people: Those who think there are two kinds of people and those who don’t.” (Aren’t I clever?)

Here are some of the filters I use.

The first is called the Dunning-Kruger effect. David Dunning and Justin Kruger conducted studies and wrote a paper called “Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One’s Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments (1999).” They published it in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. I gather we live in a post-fact world, but this is science if you still care. This is what it says in the paper’s abstract: “People tend to hold overly favorable views of their abilities in many social and intellectual domains. The authors suggest that this overestimation occurs, in part, because people who are unskilled in these domains suffer a dual burden: Not only do these people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it.”

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Art

Things that will Remain the Same, Vol. 1

Mar 10, 2017 No Comments

More video of glorious Lake Superior plate ice stacking itself on the shore and lurching like an upset stomach. This time Troy Rogers is the person behind the camera. Brace yourself for 48 minutes of nature at its finest.


Outdoors, Videos

Selective Focus: Paul LaJeunesse

Mar 10, 2017 No Comments

SF-TeaserPaul-LeJeunesse

Paul LaJeunesse was recently chosen to be the Duluth Art Institute’s first Lincoln Park Craft District Artist-in-Residence. He talks about his work and his plans for the Lincoln Park project.

P.L.: My easel paintings are tempera and oil on canvas and the mural project will be acrylic on a substrate called PolyTab. The easel painting process is one I learned from Patrick Betaudier at the Atelier Neo Medici, which is often called Technique Mixte, which is just German for Mixed Technique. It’s a description coined by Max Doerner to describe the process used by the Northern European Renaissance painters, particularly in the Van Eyck studio. It uses alternating layers of achromatic, tempera paint with color, oil glazes. This layering can be repeated any number of times to create very luminous paintings that reflect light from within the painting. The mural process is one developed by Mural Arts in Philadelphia where the painting is created on the polytab cloth in a studio and adhered to the wall using acrylic binder, as opposed to creating the painting on site.

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Art ,

Public input sought on Duluth Traverse mini-master plan

Mar 10, 2017 No Comments

Duluth-Traverse-Trail

The city of Duluth is compiling comments for the draft Duluth Traverse Trail Management and Mini-Master Plan and is seeking input on expanded mountain bike trail offerings with a goal of 100 miles of trails, bike skills park construction sites and improved/expanded neighborhood trail access and facilities such as expanded parking, showers and signage.

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Outdoors , ,

Missing Child in West Duluth: Darren Torcotte

Mar 09, 2017 No Comments

Darren TorcotteUpdate: Darren Torcotte has been found.

The Duluth Police Department is seeking the public’s assistance in locating missing child Darren John Torcotte. Darren is a 13-year-old white male, 5-foot 8-inches tall, 118 lbs., has brown hair and brown eyes. Darren was last seen wearing a baby blue jacket and light-colored gloves. He was last seen this morning leaving his home in the area of the 300 block of 59th Avenue West. The Duluth Police Department needs the public’s assistance in locating Darren to ensure he returns home safely. Anyone who sees or knows of Darren’s whereabouts is asked to call 911.


News and Current Affairs

Ian Alexy – “High as a Plane”

Mar 08, 2017 No Comments

Music, Videos

Haley Bonar is now simply Haley

Mar 08, 2017 2 Comments

HaleyTwin Cities musician Haley Bonar, whose career took off during her years living in Duluth, announced today she is changing her surname from her paternal birth name, Bonar, to her maternal family name, McCallum. As a performer, however, she’s shortening it up to simply “Haley.”

Below is the statement from Haley’s Facebook page.

Her European tour begins March 25 with a sold out show in Glasgow, Scotland.

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Music

Hoff and Giuliani selected to develop waterfront parcel

Mar 08, 2017 1 Comment

Lot-D-for-Duluth-746x598The Duluth Economic Development Authority announced today the recommendation of Sandy Hoff and Alessandro Giuliani to develop Lot D, a 12-acre waterfront parcel that sits between the recently opened Pier B Resort Hotel and Compass Minerals.

The parcel has 12 acres of developable land with 1,500 feet of lake frontage and is zoned as mixed-use waterfront. The preferred concept proposal includes a mixture of commercial use, retail, some housing, and is “meant to be a waterfront destination venue with family friendly attractions,” according to a news release from the city of Duluth.

DEDA issued a request for proposals in spring 2016. A review committee felt the Hoff-Giuliani team best represented the objectives laid out in the RFP.

DEDA Commissioners will be presented with an option agreement at their March 22 meeting for review and approval. The agreement lists milestones and enables temporary property access for the development team to conduct its due diligence over the next year and explore geotechnical issues, site opportunities and challenges to ensure financial feasibility of elements in the proposal. Following this phase, the developer could return to DEDA and pursue a development agreement to officially purchase the property, assuming conditions are met.


Random

Ticonderoga teaser

Mar 08, 2017 No Comments

A (very tiny) peek at the third Reflectivore visual installment. Past pieces at vimeo.com.


Art, Music, Videos ,

SS America, 1925

Mar 08, 2017 No Comments

America

The America was a passenger and delivery ship that operated between Duluth and Port Arthur from 1902 to 1928, servicing outposts along the way such as Isle Royale and Split Rock Lighthouse.

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History, Photos , ,

Cars out of control on slippery Lake Avenue

Mar 07, 2017 1 Comment

Cars were sliding out of control down an icy Lake Avenue in Duluth this morning. Perfect Duluth Day obtained permission to use some cell phone footage of two different car crashes at Lake and First Street, which originally appeared in this post. Permission to use the footage was later rescinded, so that’s why it’s no longer here. The original clip is shared on Perfect Duluth Day’s Facebook page.


News and Current Affairs
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