Sometimes, we're happy to let the folks from Wisconsin have the upper hand. Case in point: The Men's Health rankings of America's Drunkest Cities. The ranking is based on booze-related car crash body counts, drunken driving arrests and the severity of DUI punishments, death rates from alcoholic liver disease and binge drinking stats. Minneapolis placed 80th and St. Paul placed 87th, while Madison came in 15th and Milwaukee was 58th.
Minnesota's only team to make it to the Super Bowl, "technically unemployed" Minneapolis film makers and best friends Ben Krueger and Cole Koehler, got their 30 seconds of fame Sunday night, even though they didn't score the big payoff. Their "Snack Attack Samurai" Doritos commercial was seen on the most watched TV show on the planet, the Super Bowl.
We all know that super awesome -- and hot -- U.S. ski racer Lindsey Vonn cut her teeth on the suburban slopes of Buck Hill. And if the Germans hate on her again with cracks about he weight, we'll reserve a special table in hell for them -- even if she calls Colorado home and she's not listed as a Minnesotan by U.S. Olympic team. But even without her, the land of 10,000 lakes, hockey rinks and ski trails will be well represented in Vancouver:
Tony Hawk, the skateboard champ and advocate, chimed in on Twitter today to urge support for a new skate park in Bemidji designed by the Bemidji Skate & Bike Association.
Yes. Bemidji. And Hawk has a dog in the hunt:
We were one of three projects worldwide to receive Tony Hawk Foundation's maximum grant of $25,000 because of our vision, organziation, and low-income rural community. Other funders include Burton Snowboards, Nike, Shakopee Mdewanketon Sioux Community ($25,000), Nielson Foundation ($100,000), and many smaller business and community donations. Our local Home Depot is behind the project, and will help us with this community build project.
We're a little disappointed that a guy of Tim Pawlenty's stature would goof up when lobbed softballs by his allies at Fox News. But hey, everyone makes mistakes.
Shades of Orwell? Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher has pulled back the curtain on a network of wireless video surveillance cameras that will eventually allow citizens to snoop on each other and report their fears to authorities. The system will also make it possible for deputies to see the live video while on patrol.
Fletcher says civilians are being trained to use the devices, and he promises that there will be hard and fast rules in place to prevent users from wantonly spying on each other and invading each others privacy. But KARE 11 reported that privacy advocates are skeptical. And it made us want to go back and look at the "1984" trailer again, just for fun:
A small group of people that met on a Facebook group chanted in protest for Conan O'Brien Friday night in front of the McNamera Alumni Center at the University of Minnesota. They weren't really sure why they came out to the U, but they weren't afraid to ham it up for the broadcast news stations and print cameras that came to capture their passion for Conan that withstands freezing temperatures.
Some of the signs they held featured Leno's name circled and crossed out, "Team Coco" and "Team Conan."
Organized by a high school senior from Wisconsin, the small and "passionate" group of Conan O'Brian lovers came out Friday night to protest NBC for moving Jay Leno back to his 11:35 p.m. spot. While the group was disparate at best, it wasn't about quantity, but instead about being heard. Just take a look at this guy, whose passion for Conan is serious business -- his hat somehow driving home his point even stronger.
We want to say that we are shocked, just shocked, to discover that some University of Minnesota students are cheaters when it comes to academics. Why, the next thing you know, we're going to find out that there's underage drinking on campus. Maybe even sex.
But seriously, it sounds like there's more cheating than ever -- 44 percent more last year than the year before -- and that's only because it's being reported more than it used to be, according to the Minnesota Daily. The student paper spoke with one dean who speculated that if professors actually reported every case of dishonesty they encountered, the figure would be much higher.
Rick Howell says he's a bit taken aback by the sudden interest in the Nordic skiing speed-date event he helped plan for 6 p.m. at the Elm Creek Reserve in Maple Grove. He and a friend, Kati Campbell, just wanted a way for folks with similar interests, and who were in the market for companionship, to break the ice, as it were.
"We thought it would attract a few people," he said. But that was before notice of the event made it onto skinnyski.com, a popular Web site for Nordic skiers in the Twin Cities. Then it was posted on gearwest.com, and eventually at twincities.com. "It just snowballed from there."
Here's how it works: Nordic skiers of any ability are welcome to show up between 6-6:30 p.m., and pay for a trail pass and a $10 entry fee. They'll get paired up according to age, ability and other factors, and then light out for an easy 2 kilometer loop and get-to-know-you moment. Maybe phone numbers and waxing tips will be exchanged. Then they'll return and repeat the experience with a new partner, again and again, as long as they can hold up (one guesses).
Want to know more? Check the links above. And be careful out there.
In a heart-warming we-are-the-world moment, some students at St. Paul's High School for Recording Arts -- Hip Hop High -- have put together a video to show their support for the earthquake-ravaged island nation of Haiti. Check it out:
It's wintertime, which means the sidewalks are skinny as home and business owners are too lazy to shovel the full width of the walking path. So when you encounter one of those people who refuses to share the path with you in St. Cloud, it's only appropriate to stab them. How else are you going to get to your destination?
St. Cloud police say the incident happened early Friday morning. Two men were walking towards each other on a sidewalk and an argument erupted when neither man would move over to let the other pass. The men started to fight and when it was over the 31-year-old victim "noticed" the other man had stabbed him several times in the stomach. The injuries were minor.
Excuse me? You just notice you've been stabbed after you are done fighting? Seems like something you'd notice the moment the knife entered your abdomen. And the biggest unanswered question: Did the victim lose the fight and let the man pass on the sidewalk?
The sniping came after she cleaned everyone's clocks in three days of racing in Haus im Ennstal, Austria, last weekend. The coaches have since apologized.
Vonn, who grew up racing through the gates at humble Buck Hill in Burnsville, now has enough World Cup wins -- 28 -- to pass Phil Mahre and put her within striking distance of Bode Miller's record of 31. She's also carrying a lot of U.S. hopes for gold medals in Vancouver.
Some politicians say serious things that end up sounding funny. Think, for example, of Rep. Michelle Bachmann, who once worked a crowd of fellow teabaggers to a froth by mistakenly invoking one of the worst blunders in military history, the Charge of the Light Brigade.
Some politicians used to be funny in their previous lives. Think of Sen. Al Franken impersonating Mick Jagger singing Under My Thumb, for example.
Other politicians say stuff that's actually meant to be funny. And that is evidently why Sen. Amy Klobuchar has been tapped to give one of two keynote speeches at the National Press Club's annual gala in Washington D.C. on Jan. 30.
No matter how hard local TV news folks try, sometimes their tightly scripted and produced news broadcasts go off the rails. When they're lucky, those moments can actually turn into TV worth watching. Such was the case Saturday evening when WCCO's weekend weatherman, Mike Fairbourne, couldn't control an on-air coughing fit as he waxed poetic about sub-zero temperatures and wind-chill factors.
Here's something hopeful for all University of Minnesota, Duluth students: Graduate from the school and you might get to pretend to be a dead guy on a TV show. Life isn't so bad, right?
We'd like to pretend that's all you get with a UMD degree (Why? Because it's funny and UMD-escapees find it hilarious) but it's not really true.
Bill Conner, a 1968 UMD grad, is a retired lawyer. He decided to retire early and start living the amazing life of an extra. Now he gets to pretend he is dead... on TV!
Conner will be on next week's episode of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" as a man murdered in his New York City apartment. He was killed by a shot to the head, his wife was hacked to death.
The Humphrey Institute's Smart Politics is reporting today that there's a "dearth of financial support" for Bachmann "from high-profile political figures this year, particularly in comparison to many of her colleagues in the Gopher State's U.S. House delegation."
The tight fists include some veteran GOP marquee names:
Trying to rip off ecstasy users by claiming Skittles are the real deal? Might want to avoid selling to undercover cops. They usually test their purchases and shame you publicly. The teen probably thought he scored big time. Now he just looks idiotic.
Banks allegedly sold an undercover cop 21 pills Dec. 22 and only two were actually ecstasy. On Dec. 30, Banks allegedly sold 200 pills to the undercover cop. Those were identified as Skittles.
Preliminary numbers suggest that Minnesota's 403 traffic deaths in 2009 represent an 8 percent drop from the 455 deaths in 2008. But even its expected final count of 420 deaths, the Department of Public Safety says the year-end figure will be the lowest since 1944, when 356 people died on the road.
DPS attributes the drop to better traffic enforcement, and wider use of seatbelts. The rotten economy may have also played a role by encouraging people to drive less, and more slowly to conserve fuel.
An obese Minneapolis father and daughter are among the latest batch of contestants willing to put themselves through the hell of major weight loss in public on the NBC show "The Biggest Loser."
Hell enough might be having to wear those insanely bright yellow show T-shirts for their promotional photo and video shoots, but the pair look genuinely delighted to have made the cut for the show anyway -- even as they sob during the weigh in.
Terry Gilliam, the unseen animator in "Monty Python's Flying Circus," the co-director of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," and the director of other movies including "Time Bandits," "Brazil," "The Fisher King" and "12 Monkeys," says the inspiration for his imagination and storytelling comes from a childhood growing up in Minneapolis.
His latest film is "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," notable even before its release for being the last screen appearance of the late Heath Ledger.
"I just think it's from my youth, being a kid, growing up in the countryside of Minneapolis and - with only radio," he said. "And there were all these great radio shows that were storytelling, and I think the first books I read were Grimm's fairy tales."
The Los Angeles Times, in its year-end revue of the news, took a light-hearted look back at some classic Al Franken as it noted the former SNL star's rise to the U.S. Senate, writing: "At the rate scandals are coming out of Washington, maybe a comedian is just what the U.S. Senate needs." Here's the video they posted along with the story:
Minnesota Public Radio is among the outlets picked by National Public Radio to be woven into a major local/national news experiment backed by millions of dollars in foundation support, paidContent reports. The news represents yet more growth for MPR as a national presence. Its parent organization, American Public Media, the second-largest producer and distributor of national public radio programs in the country.
The other nine stations in the NPR project are: KPBS (San Diego); KPCC (Southern California); KQED (San Francisco); KALW (San Francisco); OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting); KPLU (Tacoma/Seattle); WAMU (DC); WXPN (Philadelphia) ; WNYC (New York); WBUR (Boston); and WGBH (Boston).
There's another local ink to this endeavor: PaidContent says it's editorial product manager will be Matt Thompson, the former deputy web editor at the Star Tribune who launched vita.mn, and helped transform the Strib's opinion section into a blog. Web news geeks also know him as the co-producer of Epic 2014. PaidContent says he's slated to start his new gig on Feb.1.
Stephanie and Kelly Kinnunen, the editors of NEED magazine, sent out an e-mail on Tuesday suggesting that their award-winning publication covering humanitarian organizations around the world has reached a breaking point. Titled, "Thank you and Sad Farewell," it says:
Despite our exhaustive efforts, we have not been able to secure the subscriptions, advertising sponsors or investors needed to continue. Unless a holiday miracle occurs, NEED will be closing its office and operations by the end of next month, January 2010.
We wish to thank everyone who has made sharing these stories of hope possible. We wish to thank and encourage our heroes, those creating life-saving change in the lives of others. We are truly proud to have been a small part of it.
The publication is run out of some humble office space in a Northeast Minneapolis warehouse with a skeleton staff and free contributions from some of the country's foremost photojournalists. Finding enough revenue to support its mission was always a challenge.
On Thanksgiving, Minnesota's well-known opponent of all things remotely socialist, Michele Bachmann, waxed philosophical on her blog about the benefits of free enterprise, and about one professor's conclusion that once the Pilgrims abandoned communal farming practices, they became more prosperous. She said Paul Rahe "points to the Pilgrims as an example of how we today can better understand how socialism thrwarts hard work and innovation while discouraging what should otherwise be a productive and fruitful society."
We've had our own modern day fling with great society welfare state policies. And after trillions and trillions spent we've purchased neither more personal industry or frugality.
There may be something profound to say about WCCO's Jason DeRusha picking up a 20-gauge shotgun, donning a blaze orange vest and venturing out into the Minnesota fields to bag his dinner for the very first time. Or there may not be. It's just fun watching him, yet again, try something new while the "record" button is on.
"It was my first time hunting, and it was pretty incredible," he writes on his blog. "Really neat watching the dogs do their thing."
Here's that clip, which he describes as, "A short video from our trip to LeSeur to commune with nature and kill birdies."
One can keep pretty busy fact-checking "lovable little fuzz ball" Michele Bachmann, but when it comes to the "Lie of the Year," she's got nothing on Sarah Palin. That's the conclusion of Pulitzer Prize-winning Web site PolitiFact's readers, who gave the honor to Mama Grizz for promulgating the idea that President Barack Obama wants to march the old and infirm in front of "death panels" to decide who lives or dies.
Of the roughly 5,000 people who voted from among the 10 lies offered, 61 percent gave top honors for this passage on Palin's Facebook page:
"The America I know and love is not one in which my parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide, based on a subjective judgment of their 'level of productivity in society,' whether they are worthy of health care. Such a system is downright evil."
The rumors we reported may be true: Dark matter may have been found for at the Soudan Underground Lab particle physics laboratory's Cryogenic Dark Matter Search project. The facility, run by the University of Minnesota, is about 225 miles north of Minneapolis, between Virginia and Ely.
It's big deal because scientists believe dark matter, believed to make up 90 percent of the universe, is a missing link in the effort to understand the big bang theory behind the creation of the universe. It's been detected in space. But it's never been detected on Earth.
He'll still be in the 10 p.m. TV anchor chair next to Amelia Santaniello until December 2010, but Don Shelby signed off from the radio side of his WCCO gig today.
Shelby, who is 62, joined WCCO TV in 1978, and he's anchored the station's 10 p.m. news broadcast since 1985. Along the way he's earned a slew of awards, and he'll reportedly haul down a $1 million salary this year. He joined WCCO-AM 830 eight years ago, holding the mic solo from 1-3 p.m. Lately he's teamed up with former ESPN personality Michele Tafoya from 3-6 p.m. There's more about him here.
"On television, you look at Lou Dobbs or Glenn Beck, or you listen to Rush Limbaugh, their whole job is to keep the pot stirred," he told the Pioneer Press the other day. "I like when you turn the heat off and say, 'Let's taste this and see if it needs a little of that or it needs a little of this.' Because at some point, you have to stop stirring the pot and you've got to serve it. I like to finish the meal."
Forget Lady Liberty. Never mind Old Glory. We submit that no propagandist could ever devise a symbol that more accurately and concisely embodies America than Dennis LeRoy Anderson's easy chair.
The 62-year-old Anderson tricked-out his recliner with wheels, a lawnmower engine, steering wheel, and headlights. Boombox stereo and cup holders come standard on the Proctor, Minn. resident's former rig.
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