July 2011
59 posts
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The Case Against Bachmann →
A conservative argues that Bachmann is “disturbing” and “unforgivable” because she used to work for the IRS and doesn’t acknowledge that this is akin to armed robbery. Nuremberg is also mentioned.
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Bike Plan Passes the Council →
Good news from the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition: “After years of effort on the part of City staff and bicycle advocates, the Bicycle Master Plan passed the full City Council) [Friday] morning.” They’re particularly excited about four corridors that were almost left out, but added back in by advocacy: Lyndale Ave N, Johnson St NE, Washington in downtown, and 38th St.
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“Netflix is one of the most well-run companies in the world, and they make...”
– “The Professor is dead. Long live Netflix!”
In conclusion, I need to go to Filmzilla more.
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reinventionoftheprintingpress, responding to my last post:
I think it is necessary to note that those of us who have health issues at a time in our lives when it is assumed we should be at the peak of “health” are impacted by the prevailing notions of ability more severely than others. Yes, it should be a universal fight. But as society exists today we are unfairly impacted by the voracity of...
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“The few own the many because they possess the means of livelihood of all … The...”
– — Helen Keller, 1911
It really frustrates the hell out of me that the only public mention of Hellen Keller in any modern context is to poke fun at her disabilities. Keller helped to found the modern day American Civil Liberties Union, wrote extensively on the exploitation of the working poor...
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Sometimes people ask me how I’m liking Minneapolis. There’s no simple answer to that - the city has its pros and cons, and the move has had its ups and downs. But here’s a piece of an answer. The other day, in the span of about three minutes:
I dropped by a radical bookstore named after uncomfortable bicycles, where I saw
a flyer for Kate’s sister’s puppet troupe,...
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“Boehner’s plan is clear after that speech. He wants to convince Americans that...”
– Jeff Rosenberg, “John Boehner: King of the pessimists”
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Study Shows Racial Wealth Gap Grows Wider →
Pam Fessler: “The average wealth of a white family in 2009 was 20 times greater than that of the average black family, and 18 times greater than the average Hispanic family. In other words, the average white family had $113,149 in net worth, compared to $6,325 for Hispanics and $5,677 for blacks.
“That’s the largest gap since the government began collecting the data a quarter...
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Arts Orbit: What U2's songs would be titled if U2... →
Compelling evidence that if U2 were from Minnesota, not even Minnesotans would listen to them.
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“There are more talented designers in the world right now than there have ever...”
– Mike Davidson’s answer to “Why is there such a stunningly short supply of designers in Silicon Valley right now?” on Quora.
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Alabama pushes health reforms →
Sarah Kliff says Alabama - “a deep red, Deep South state” - is moving to set up a health exchange (although it doesn’t want to be required to), and is “the only Southern state to cover children up to 300 percent of the federal poverty line and one of just 10 states to do so.”
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Senate legislation may slow, but quorums continue →
“It’s not even gridlock. It’s worse than that,” said Allan Lichtman, a history professor at American University who once ran for the Senate himself as a Democrat. He said “gridlock” implies that somebody was at least trying to get legislation passed.
Instead, he said, this year “they’re not even trying to get something done.”
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fireworks
citizenkerry:
I really don’t like fireworks. (Or firecrackers, which, I just learned, are not the same thing.) I get that they look beautiful when they’re in the sky, but my gripe is that they sound like bombs, which is perhaps an insult to anyone who has lived through war. It’s hard to relax and enjoy the sparkle when you’re waiting for an explosion.
Read More
I’ve never been a big...
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Twin Cities Daily Planet: Ask a Somali: What's the... →
tcdailyplanet:
What’s the deal with the pirates? This one requires a two-part answer. First, why piracy exists around Somalia, and second, how it started.
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Wal-Mart works with unions abroad, but not at home →
Ylan Q. Mui:
Retailing giant Wal-Mart faced an unusual request when it sought government approval recently to buy a chain of stores in South Africa.
Labor groups there first asked for traditional protections, such as job security and a commitment from the new managers to buy merchandise from local suppliers. Then they called on Wal-Mart to end its long-running battle with unions thousands...
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“A key ingredient of the economic engine of medical progress has been the endless...”
– Daniel Callahan and Sherwin B. Nuland on the limits of medicine and what to do about them.
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What does it feel like to be rich? →
swirlspice:
erikostrom:
This is, by far, the most interesting page I’ve seen on Quora.
The strikes me as the sort of thing Quora is really good for. Definitely a few levels above “What should I do at SXSW?”
I have a feeling a lot of the best answers on Quora come out of this process: Somebody posts a general, I-wonder question; the exact person who should answer that question isn’t...
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JetBlue agrees to bike vs. plane Carmageddon race →
… from Burbank to Long Beach, this weekend while the 405 is closed. A spokesperson for the airline added, “If they’re too tired to ride back home, bikes fly free with us for the month of July in celebration of Tour de France.” Nice.
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“All they got was to protect millionaires. That’s now all they stand for.”
– Jeff Rosenberg on the budget deal
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Georgia Mom Convicted of Vehicular Homicide For... →
Via Kendra Arnold: The drunk driver whose car killed Raquel Nelson’s four-year-old child will serve six months for hit and run, but Nelson’s the one who was convicted of vehicular manslaughter… for crossing the street with her kids.
Here’s the opposite of yesterday’s “making cities annoying for drivers” post: make roads impassable on foot, kill your...
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Europe Stifles Drivers in Favor of Mass Transit... →
The headlines on this are interesting - the one on the page says “Across Europe, Irking Drivers Is Urban Policy.” But here’s the thing: The goal of these policies isn’t annoyed drivers; it’s fewer drivers. And it’s working!
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GQ says St. Paul citizens dress like crap | City... →
ericaaaaa:
Yeah, let’s all keep on quoting the first part of this summary (the rest goes on to point out that GQ doesn’t really like the way anybody dresses, including notoriously hip cities like San Francisco, Austin, and Seattle (because they liked flannel in the 90s)) of this really terrible list (can someone point out a list like this that isn’t some shade of terrible?) because making fun of...
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Lessons learned from the Boston Python Workshop,... →
This makes me want to have a Ruby workshop here in MN. But, you know, not enough to actually instigate it.
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What does it feel like to be rich? →
This is, by far, the most interesting page I’ve seen on Quora.
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Let's talk about Minnesota. →
pantslessprogressive:
On July 1, after Governor Mark Dayton and the Republican-controlled legislature failed to reach a budget agreement, the state government shut down. Here’s a quick roundup on how the shutdown happened.
The shutdown is now entering its second week. This is the longest state government shutdown in almost a decade, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures....
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The Intelligencer: What the f**k does compromise... →
millcity:
When I’m talking to my five-year-old about compromise, a near daily ritual, I don’t talk about the shutdown in Minnesota. The one time I tried, he just blurted: “Those people sound stupid.” It’s a sophisticated argument that I found difficult to defeat.
… and more.
(I’ve posted a bunch of things from Jeff Severns Guntzel at MinnPost; didn’t realize until today...
“Look at the tar roofs covering millions of American buildings. They absorb huge...”
– One of “14 Ways to Put America Back to Work” from Bill Clinton. I’m not smart enough to follow all of them, but I get this.
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Quantified Self Ignite talks, part two →
Important to know: “it turns out that hunger is a dark rust color.”
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Cake Eater Bakery says goodbye →
east-lake:
artsorbit:
To thank customers and the community, there will be an open house, featuring free snacks, coffee, and iced tea on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Cake Eater is located at 2929 E. 25th Street.
- Bruce Johansen
Great write-up from the Twin Cities Daily Planet, on the closing of the Cake Eater Bakery in Seward. Unfortunately, I only went there once, enjoyed my biscuits...
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Once in a while I see someone say something like:
Actually I welcome the shutdown.
Not that I want the working poor to suffer, God I hope it doesn’t cause massive
personal crisis’ in their lives.
But I want the public servants of this state to actually feel what private
sector employees have been enduring for the last several years.
And then I’m just too...
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“If I look around I feel like all of the people I see in power are old men.”
– Madeline Frick, 21, of Grand Rapids
From “In Grand Rapids, community, gender — and a desire to see a good band”
(via ruralmn)
Good interview. I’ve been thinking lately about my hometown, and subsequent sojourns in the wide world and the big city. Don’t have much to say yet, but...
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Arts Orbit: "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World" vs.... →
Roger Ebert has a good maxim: the best way to critique a movie is to make a better movie.
This is a good maxim, but it should be attributed, as it is when Ebert cites it, to Jean-Luc Godard. Who, not coincidentally, was a film critic who went on to make better movies than he was critiquing. Ebert is an excellent film critic who wrote the screenplay for “Beyond the Valley of the...
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Cowboys and Pit Crews →
Atul Gatawande: “The core structure of medicine—how health care is organized and practiced—emerged in an era when doctors could hold all the key information patients needed in their heads and manage everything required themselves. One needed only an ethic of hard work, a prescription pad, a secretary, and a hospital willing to serve as one’s workshop, loaning a bed and nurses for a patient’s...
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Jeremy Zoss, in the Formerly Downtown Journal: “There is a burger for everyone at Rachel’s.”
Everyone except, as far as I can tell, any vegetarian.
Restaurant wants to stick to meat, that’s fine, that’s a business decision. But Minneapolis has enough vegetarians, enough vegetarian-friendly restaurants, and enough delicious housemade veggie burgers that “a burger...