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Pray for my phone, as it hovers near death
So I’m wading through the water of our undeveloped lakeshore removing weeds with my awesome new AWE (Aquatic Weed Extractor) this afternoon and realize that I had left my cell phone in my (now underwater) shorts pockets. The phone is drying on the kitchen counter. I heard somewhere if you dry these things out completely…
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Check out my tundra pals!
So, do you have friends who live closer to Russia than they do to a McDonalds? I do. Linda Hanson from the Duluth News-Tribune wrote a feature story about my Range-native Alaska friends, the Rudstroms, today. C.O. and AnnMarie live with their 1 1/2 year old son Harold in Brevig Mission, Alaska, an Inuit village…
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Rock the grid with your home turbine
I think the real opportunities for wind produced energy will not be from large scale wind farms except perhaps in really windy places within a reasonable distance of the customer. (For instance, I’m a fan of large wind turbine farms here on the Iron Range because they can serve big customers like the mines without…
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All’s well in the potica biz
I have to share this Beth Bily story about Andrej’s European Pastry from today’s Business North. I (and probably every writer who has ever worked at the Hibbing Daily Tribune) did a story about them in the past. Anyone who has talked to Jan Gadzo about his business and his escape from Communist Czechoslovakia knows…
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OKC Thunder? Not OK
My campaign for plural sports team nicknames suffered a blow this weekend after it was revealed that NBA franchise formerly known as the Seattle Supersonics will become the Oklahoma City Thunder. What will their logo look like? A radar screen? Why does a team playing a fast sport name itself after something that comes 1-8…
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Al Gore and the way it’s gonna be
The best way to start a Friday is to angry up my coal and oil loving friends. Al Gore gave a speech yesterday. That sentence alone may send some running to the exits, but I happen to think Gore is enjoying the most important phase of his career. He correctly points out that with rising…
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All pucked up
Have you seen Norm Coleman’s new ad? He plays up how he brought hockey back to Minnesota back when he was Mayor of St. Paul. How bad is it when an incumbent’s best ad highlights something he did before he was elected to his current office the first time? Isn’t that kind of like when…
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‘One crisis begets another’
I mentioned the major power outage in Itasca County yesterday. In talking to a friend in the area afterward, we realized that we (and probably everyone else in the woods) eventually got bored in our 18th century conditions and drove 15-30 miles to town, collectively spending thousands of dollars on gas. As my friend put…
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Grand Rapids L and M to move into old Wal-Mart
From the Grand Rapids Herald-Review: homegrown farm, fleet and hardware chain L&M to relocate into former Wal-Mart location on Pokegema Avenue. Related posts: No related posts.
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Star Trib: Core cities grow, outer suburbs slow
From today’s Star Tribune: Growth trends show more people choosing to live in urban cores instead of suburbs. This means less transportation cost and urban sprawl and a realistic chance of revitalizing aging city infrastructure. The same kind of model would make sense for small and mid-sized towns all over the state. I think gas…
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These bills!
Take a gander at this report from the U.S. Dept. of Energy. What? You don’t look at links like that? You’re busy. You need to check your Hotmail account to see if that guy/girl who likes you as a friend left any subtle clues that he/she is in love with you? Damn you people. Your…
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The pet owner vote
We live in a stupid world. Here is a headline from today’s MSNBC news ticker on my blog: “Poll: Pet owners prefer McCain” What’s next? “Poll: Pets prefer food, water” Related posts: No related posts.
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10 in a row; go, Twins, go!
Oh yeah. Related posts: No related posts.
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My Meerkat Moment
So tonight I’m watching ABC World News and their cutesy tag story at the end is about the cult obsession with this Animal Planet show called “Meerkat Manor.” It’s a reality show about a community of meerkats. I’ve got to admit, I’ve never seen it before. Never even heard of it. But the news shows…
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Change to survive: growth in the 21st century
Rolf Westgard, who comments occasionally here at MinnesotaBrown, poses an interesting commentary in today’s Duluth News-Tribune, connecting human population growth, the use of natural resources and northern Minnesota’s economy. He even gets in a plug for high speed rail, which makes my recommendation even easier to give. An honors graduate in mathematics from Cambridge, [Thomas…