Perfect Duluth Day

Minnesota Flood 2012: Is that the best name we’ve come up with for it?

Paul Lundgren Jul 27, 2012 15 Comments

It seems to me the best local storm names tend to be tied to a holiday or otherwise significant date:

Leap Day Snowmageddon 2012
The Geek Prom Blizzard of 2008
The Halloween Megastorm of 1991
The Great Thanksgiving Blizzard of 1983

Following that tradition, our recent flood would be the Summer Solstice Flood of 2012. But I haven’t heard anyone call it that, and it’s been over a month.

What are you calling it? Any good ideas? Maybe if we come up with a good one there will be more federal relief money sent our way, so perhaps we should work the word “disaster” in.

Google Fiber up for registration in Kansas

nodnetni Jul 27, 2012 1 Comment

I think Duluth needs to start a pre-registration campaign to show Google we are serious and want to be next to get Google Fiber. Pre-register here.

Filling a backyard pool

jessige Jul 26, 2012 11 Comments

We just bought a backyard inflatable swimming pool. My husband insists there’s a better way to fill it with 1,000 gallons of water than the garden hose.

From what I can calculate, it’d cost us about $100 to fill it that way. Can anyone weigh in? Any better ideas?

Random Queries

No FEMA aid for individuals

-Berv Jul 26, 2012 4 Comments

What do you think about that?

FEMA rejects individual flood aid in Northland; state will appeal decision

News and Current Affairs

I’m moving to Duluth at the end of this school year (about 10 months) and I am trying to make a plan for some gardening I intend to do. My personal garden will likely be north of Duluth, in the Island Lake area. I know that the soil there isn’t great and that I will be required to haul in some of my own. I also know that Duluth would be in USDA hardiness Zone 3, so that obviously dictates what I will be able to grow.

My question is: what crops have you had success growing in the Duluth area? Any tips or tricks that might help? I’m passionate about returning to localized food production, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Recommendations Agriculture / Farming, Food, Lawn and Garden, Sustainability

Monitoring Lake Superior

jaustin Jul 25, 2012 7 Comments

Interested in conditions on and in Lake Superior? UMD operates two buoys in the far western arm of Lake Superior about 15 miles outside Duluth, one near the McQuade safe harbor and one offshore of that location. You can see the data in real time by following this link.

Random, Recommendations Lake Superior

Duluth’s Best Guitar Slingers

Shane Bauer Jul 25, 2012 15 Comments

The Chaperone Records post (congrats on that – great to see here) reminded me of a conversation at Bayfront regarding the area’s best guitarists.

IMHO, the Twin Ports Bridge Festival featured three of the area’s top ten, maybe even five. Charlie Parr, who seems to have become a master of his genre. Jimi Cooper of the Fractals, who I have seen do many styles effortlessly. Barry Pirkola, also of the Fractals, who exhibits a similar smoothness to Jimi and works the steel as well.

We’re lucky to have so many great artists right here in our community (Twin Ports area – I titled w/Duluth because this is PDD). I’m curious and would enjoy hearing who others think are the area’s top five or ten if you feel like going deeper.

Music, Recommendations

Chaperone Records … unveiled!

brautigan Jul 25, 2012 3 Comments

Chaperone Records is Duluth’s newest, true-bluest, local-centric record label!

Founded in May of 2012, Chaperone Records is devoted to the promotion and enfranchisement of northern Minnesota’s musically progressive community. In a world of cheap, plastic gadgetry, a product’s finest aesthetic can only be achieved through passion, insight and an honest commitment to quality. This is the foundation of Chaperone Records’ philosophy and the impetus behind its inception.

Art, Events, Music, Videos Chaperone Records

The Flame Nightclub, Duluth version

Paul Lundgren Jul 25, 2012 9 Comments

The new Flame Nightclub at 26 N. First Ave. W. in Downtown Duluth opens on July 29.

News and Current Affairs

I can hear the grass growing …

Harkness68 Jul 25, 2012 4 Comments

My faithful electric lawn mower of 14 years has died and they don’t make a replacement battery anymore. I am seeking a push mower that will last at least a couple more years for $75 or under. Does anyone have a mower to sell?

Random

Photo Archive

duluth_bishop Jul 25, 2012 10 Comments

I’m looking for a simple solution to “cloud type” photo storage. Currently we attempt to consolidate all our photos on one computer via thumb drive and other work arounds. My wife and I each have a smart phone, we have multiple digital cameras, and multiple computers to which photo’s end up being downloaded – so it gets to be a mess when we “organize” pictures.

It seems that it would make more sense for me to directly upload pictures to a remote site we all could access for viewing. Editing would be constrained to one computer. A nice option would be to have some sort of “syncing” tool similar to the iTunes and Google Drive solution suggested here by my earlier post.

My wife likes to edit photos and put together photo books while we are driving and therefore needs to be able to access the photos offline. So ideally, as photos were edited – these would also be reflected online post sync. There would not be a need to keep all photos locally – just the ones of interest. The syncing would only need to be with one computer; but uploads would be from various sources.

Recommendations

Experimental Cinema

Mike Scholtz Jul 24, 2012 No Comments

Lawrence Bernabo previewed my documentary Wild Bill’s Run on KUMD. Meanwhile, I had a bunch of mesmerizing raw footage left over from editing the film. I thought it might be a good idea to throw these two things together, sorta randomly, without thinking about it too much.

Videos Mike Scholtz, Wild Bill Cooper

Seeking Commerical Kitchen to Rent

Lucie Amundsen Jul 24, 2012 5 Comments

We’re looking for a commercial kitchen available to rent ASAP. Ideally, it would not be a shared space, but we’re open to all suggestions. Thanks, PDD community, we could really use your help on this.

Recommendations Queries

Trampled by Hippies

Paul Lundgren Jul 24, 2012 1 Comment

Bruce Woodman had the fanciest shirt in West Duluth this morning.

Music

Sad Summer

blondie Jul 24, 2012 23 Comments

So there we are last night, my hubby and I, enjoying the warm Summer night driving east down Superior Street. I would say it is about 9ish or so. And there I see the saddest little child, looking tired and laying his head on his dad’s (I presume) shoulder. This child was dressed only in a diaper and was about 1 year old.

So what is the big deal you ask? Because this child was in front of the Last Place on Earth. Is it just me or is this way fucked up??? I know, I know the law is being changed and there is only so much the cops can do. But my God people think about your kids for one minute and don’t expose them to what I saw standing there last night on that sidewalk.

What a dark turn this particular area of Duluth has taken. If you don’t believe me, take a drive down Superior Street some evening and see for yourself. I hope you don’t see the same tired, sad little child I did, but it wouldn’t surprise me if you did.

Random Bitching, Last Place on Earth