August 2011
48 posts
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In Philadelphia, a Garden Grows Wild →
New York Times story about award-winning landscape designer Margie Ruddick, who is letting her own lawn grow (mostly) unmown. Also, Minneapolis is legalizing overgrown lawns.
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“Honestly, I have been reminded more than once in the last few months of those...”
– “Tom”, in a comment at Washington Monthly. The full comment is very long, and attempts to situate Obama in the context of African-American political history. It’s worth reading.
Here’s hoping Tom’s right.
(via ziatroyano)
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I’m having one of those days when I keep flashing back to moments in Los Angeles. Nothing notable, nothing you’d be interested to read about, more just the way the light is there, the colors things are. I’ve never spent much time in LA but it holds more than one special place in my heart. Missing it today.
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Fruits of the City →
“Fruits of the City aims to capture fresh fruit that would otherwise go to waste and redistribute it to those in need. In 2010, we partnered with Second Harvest Heartland to glean over 23,000 pounds of fruit. Our goal for this year is to harvest 36,000 pounds of fruit.”
They currently have more trees ready to harvest than their volunteer gleaners can handle. If you’d like to...
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“If only you will find out the thing God intends you to do, and will do it, you...”
– The Sermon on the Mount by Emmet Fox, p. 159.
I’m sure neither Jesus nor Erica meant it this way (no idea about Fox), but out of context, this reads like a glib way to justify the status quo. Why do some people have money and success? Because God wanted them to be investment bankers and...
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Detroit is the New Detroit →
suchisthecity:
“In Detroit, the term “blank slate” is often used in relation to all of [the city’s] problems. It is both a nod to the physical landscape (barren, abandoned, waiting to be turned into farmland in the opinion of some) and the social landscape; the sense is that things here have gotten so bad that the city has turned into a tabula rasa. Detroit —in this blank slate mentality—is a...
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Do Somalis want to participate with other local... →
tcdailyplanet:
I read and hear a lot about how the Somali community is not interested in getting involved with the other communities in Minnesota. I don’t know where this is coming from. Let me tell you something, we love our neighbors. Really.
For example, …
I love this column.
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Dylan Williams Needs Your Help →
Portland comics publisher Dylan Williams is facing some serious medical expenses (and some serious medical problems). If you like comics, maybe you’d like some from him. I just ordered Inkweed, Department of Art, and The Shortest Interval.
(via Minneapolis Indie Xpo)
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“I am this future you keep taking about — the future you keep talking about...”
– UMD student Fiona O’Halloran-Johnson, questioning Chip Cravaack (R-MN/NH) [Duluth News Tribune, via ThinkProgress]
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We’ve been told, over and over, by politicians in both parties, that in order...”
– Sarah Jaffe, “Longer Weekends and Higher Wages? 5 Surprising Ways That Would Help Improve the Economy”
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What Michele Bachmann would do about high gas... →
minnpost:
The critics are wrong. A president of the United States can drive gasoline prices down, and the promise to do so is not new.
Don Shelby breaks down the potential avenues that Bachmann could, hypothetically, explore to lower gasoline costs — and digs into the real consequences of her campaign promises.
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IP joins anti-gay marriage amendment coalition →
I’m still pretty new here and I don’t really understand the Independence Party, but, good for them! (via outfront.mn)
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Musing on Muses →
ericaaaaa:
Hey careful readers, remember last summer when there was this site where you could copy and paste your writing and it would magically spit out what famous author you write like?
Hey, I remember that! This time I tried it out. I haven’t written anything substantive for a while, so I fed it posts from good old LiveJournal. Here’s who I write like:
Cory Doctorow, I...
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Triassic Extinction Caused by Methane Gas From... →
Sindya N. Banhoo: “Two hundred million years ago, at the end of the Triassic period, a mass extinction, often attributed to major volcanic activity, wiped out half of all marine life on Earth. But new research published in the journal Science suggests that the extinction was more likely to have been caused by the release of at least 12,000 gigatons of methane from the seafloor into the...
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Farmer's Markets →
east-lake:
mplsfarmersmarket:
As Farmers’ Markets Boom, Some See a Glut in the Making - NYTimes.com
I’d be interested in hearing how suburban farmer’s markets are doing, as well as the bigger ones in downtown Minneapolis and St. Paul, now that more and more neighborhoods are getting in on it….
This isn’t exactly an insider’s view, but the Mill City Farmers Market was...
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Illegal voting is not voter fraud →
People have voted illegally in Minnesota, but the photo ID amendment wouldn’t have stopped them. Better communication with convicted criminals about their (lack of) rights and better maintenance of the voter roles would have.
The photo ID amendment would prevent far more legitimate votes than illegitimate ones.
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allminneapolis:
Tumblr meetup this Friday.
Who’s going?
I don’t know a single person who’s RSVPd for this, which leads me to suspect I know some people who haven’t heard about it….
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“From the outside, it’s difficult to discern the difference between the...”
– “BigHank53,” in a comment on Roy Edroso’s eulogy for/apology to Amy Winehouse.
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“
3. “I know what it’s like to face racist oppression; I face oppression too.”
...”
– One of Five Things White Activists Should Never Say, by freelark
I’ve been thinking about this lately, or, to be clear, I’ve been thinking about things that are analagous but not the same.
(via People of Color Organize!)
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Runaway With Asperger’s Syndrome Spent 11 Days on... →
I missed this story when it happened (late 2009). “After getting in trouble in class in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, and fearing another scolding at home, he had sought refuge in the subway system. He removed the battery from his cellphone. ‘I didn’t want anyone to scream at me,’ he said.”
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Citizen Science: Climatology for Everyone →
A collection of scientific projects that non-scientists can help out with.
Virtually anyone, including kids, can get involved in these projects and know they are making a real difference. Many feature some kind of participation-based points system for fun and to encourage some friendly competition. And they can also be a great way to meet people—whether your passion lies in developing clean...
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“The growing disposition to tax more and more heavily large estates left at death...”
– Andrew Carnegie (via azspot)
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WatchMinnesota Artists for Equality is looking for artist volunteers (and actors, carpenters, musicians, stage managers, web developers, etc.) to help bring about marriage equality - starting by defeating next year’s marriage amendment.
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Minnesota Fringe Festival 2011 Schedule
Fringe has a great web site with a schedule of all the shows, which is all you need if all you plan on doing for the next week is going to Fringe shows. But I do other things, too, and I wanted to be able to see the Fringe schedule alongside my other commitments and opportunities. So I wrote a program to convert the schedule into an iCalendar file I could import into iCal on my Mac.
It turns out...
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“I gotta say, even though she’s a little unusual, ‘Born this Way’ has got some...”
– Tim Pawlenty on Lady Gaga
I’m not sure, but isn’t being unusual kind of the whole point of that song? And not setting it aside or excusing it, but celebrating it? Well, no hard feelings. Aside from his wrong opinions and record of bad governance, I think Pawlenty would make a good...
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I have a problem with Monet’s water lilies →
meghanagain:
During this trip something happened to my camera, this secondhand Sony digital point and shoot that I was using: a black spot started to appear in the upper right-hand corner of every picture that I took. I couldn’t figure it out. I wiped the lens with my sleeve, with the sheets, with everything soft I had. When that didn’t work, I tried to deny it. I stood outside on blue-sky days...
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ALEX BACA TUMBLOG: Gonna be in Minneapolis this... →
swirlspice:
alexbaca:
Talk to me, Minneapolis people. You did such a bang-up job with your blog recommendations that I just know you can answer all of my questions and impart additional knowledge upon me.
Good coffee: There are tons of options, and I’m not an expert, but if you can get down to Peace Coffee on Minnehaha Ave & 33rd St, that’s worth a look.
I recommend most of the...
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“Why was it so terrifying, almost like death, one morning of a hundred, to walk...”
– Joshua Ferris, Then We Came to The End (via thedependentclause)
This book has one of my all-time favorite endings.
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Watch“I Like Bikes”, a 1978 film produced for General Motors. (Spoiler: GM doesn’t really like bikes.)
(via Twin City Sidewalks)
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“The fundamental thing about the Constitution is that it allows the United States...”
– Jacob Needleman, interviewed on Being
I listened to this today. There are episodes of Being where I nearly decide to skip them… “The Inward Work of Democracy?” Yawn. And then I listen and am proven wrong. Every single time.
(via isopod)
Just listened to this. Here’s another...
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Voter suppression in Wisconsin →
mnpublius:
Politico has a disturbing report on efforts by the Koch brothers-backed “Americans for Prosperity” to suppress Democratic-leaning votes:
Americans for Prosperity is sending absentee ballots to Democrats in at least two Wisconsin state Senate recall districts with instructions to return the paperwork after the election date.
The fliers, obtained by POLITICO, ask...
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HappyCow →
swirlspice:
HappyCow’s vegetarian restaurant guide is a global, searchable vegetarian dining guide and directory of natural health food stores. This include nutrition & health tips, vegan recipes, raw foods, travel, veganism and other vegetarian topics.
Another good resource along these lines is VegGuide.org. It’s international in scope but was created by a local organization and has...
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Best part of the Eastside Bike Summit at the Ritz Theater today: the strong consensus among residents for something (bike lanes, or at least an extension of the downtown “green lanes”) on the Hennepin/First Avenue bridge. From the public (at least, those of us who were there) there was clear frustration with the status quo, and general agreement on what should be done. From city...
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“[R]espondents were asked whether they had “ever used a government social...”
– Suzanne Mettler, “20,000 Leagues Under the State”
“The submerged design of tax benefits appears to mistakenly convey to people that they have gained whatever measure of economic security or opportunity they have strictly through their own merits, unaided by government...