R.I.P. Posts

Another one bites the dust

another on bites the dust

What’s going on with celebs croaking these days?

Michael Jackson dead at 50

MichaelJacksonThrillerImage

Darkness falls across the land, the midnight hour is close at hand.

New York Times story

Farrah Fawcett loses cancer battle

FarrahFawcettPoster

1947-2009

R.I.P.

david-carradine

Kia Sucka-Palooza

I suspect there may be a resurgence of the “thumbs down” feature after this post, but I’m in a bind, and any car and/or relationship advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

I need to decide what to do with my currently inoperative car. Should I fix it and hope for a few more good years before driving it to it’s death? Or should I float it out on Lake Superior and set it alight, putting it out of it’s misery with a Viking funeral?*

kiaonfire

* This is more of a metaphor really… I wouldn’t actually shove my car into Lake Superior, as it would be horribly toxic for our water source.

The ratings experiment is over

For two weeks, Perfect Duluth Day experimented with rating systems for posts (five-star system and thumbs up/down). As you might have already noticed, the ratings have now been removed.

An initial poll showed readers either thought this was a great idea or terrible idea. (The results were pretty evenly split, but slightly leaned in favor of great idea). In practice, however, the ratings didn’t prove useful and interest in them quickly plummeted. In the end, only a handful of people bothered with them.

So now they are gone, perhaps to return another day when a better system can be figured out, or perhaps never to be considered again (except maybe in the comments to this post).

DNT & Mexico Lindo

Headline on DNT.com today:

Twins owner Pohlad dead at 93
Carl Pohlad, a billionaire banker whose Minnesota Twins won two World Series titles during nearly his nearly quarter-century as owner, died today, a baseball official said. He was 93.

Sweet…I missed this the first time he died back in January while I was on vacation.

In other news, has anyone been to Mexico Lindo and noticed that they got rid of the burrito filled with french fries and veggies, and covered in oaxaca cheese? I believe this was one of the main reasons people went there (although their other food is good, too). What gives? Would McDonalds ax the Big Mac and think people wouldn’t care?

‘Honking Tree’ on CBC Radio

The sad story of the “Honking Tree” got national media play in Canada last night on CBC Radio’s “As It Happens.” I’m not sure if the segment was included in the edited-down version of the show that airs on MPR.

The tree segment is a few minutes in; you have to wait through a couple of other segments.

Do You Remember O’Keefe?

librarycat

According to this website, the Duluth Public Library had a library cat named “O’Keefe” from 1982 to 1996.

I moved here in 1994 and have never seen nor heard anything about O’Keefe. Any of you long-timers know more? Why don’t we have a current library cat? I’d love to peruse the sci-fi section and come across a napping tabby.

(This isn’t an actual photo of O’Keefe – I just thought it was a cute pic)

Library Cats Map

No no no

OK OK OK

I am feeling bad for repeating the rumor that Two Harbors High School students cut down the “honking tree” as a senior prank.

R.I.P. Honking Tree

30tree

Poor tree. Bad Human.

The Lonesome Death of William Zantzinger

William Zantzinger, the former tobacco farmer and property fraudster who “killed poor Hattie Carroll,” as Bob Dylan famously sang, died in disgraced obscurity on Jan. 3.

New York Times: W. D. Zantzinger, Subject of Dylan Song, Dies at 69.