Bob Collins“It’s like trying to buy bread in Poland in the 1980s,” Jeff Mudge tells the Pioneer Press. It’s funny he chose the analogy because several paragraphs into the weekend Pioneer Press’ story about how long it takes to get a driver’s license road test, I was thinking, “this sounds like the old Eastern Bloc days.” Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Archives for August 2014
Something different accompanies the start of the school year this year. For the first time in modern U.S. history, whites will be the minority. Non-Hispanic white students are still expected to be the largest racial group in the public schools this year at 49.8 percent, CBS News reports. But the National Center for Education Statistics Read more →
This was the last image Jamaliah Jannah had of her two children, before they swept away in a tsunami in Indonesia 10 years ago that killed 275,000 people. The four year old daughter, Raudhatul, was swept onto an island, found by a fisherman, and raised with the name Winni by the fisherman’s mother. A couple Read more →
Well played, Twin Cities comedian Mike Brody. Related: Kevin Love: Overrated, Underrated, or Properly Rated? (Grantland).
You’ve probably heard that today is the 40th anniversary of the day Richard Nixon resigned the presidency, a day that now is typically marked by younger people revealing the massive failure of American history teachers. Read more →
August is the most underrated month on the calendar, resigned to being only known as the end of summer. Read more →
NPR’s Melissa Block is looking for a stranger who was passing through Minneapolis in late July 2013.
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A new app lets users rate neighborhoods on a “sketchiness” factor. Is it racist? Read more →
The Fargo Forum says the Rape and Abuse Crisis Center complained about the sign which advertised chainsaws and duct tape in its ex-wife sale.
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Is it too early to start debating whether schools should close during snow storms? No? Good, because Duluth schools could change the way winter operates around here. The Duluth News Tribune reports that administrators are considering a philosophical shift away from closing schools for the entire day when there’s a storm — they lost 8 Read more →
Earlier this week, Steven Bergknoff posted a link to a substance abuse fundraiser in memory of his brother on a Facebook page dedicated to memorials for Hopkins High School students who have died. “It was a long, almost 5-year battle that he had to fight,” Bergknoff said. The post was taken down by the site’s Read more →
We’re still getting fairly gorgeous sunrises and sunsets in Minnesota, thanks to the wildfires burning out West. What else can the fires provide? Thunderstorms, according to NASA’s earth observatory. In images provided this week, NASA notes that the heat of the wildfires creates Pyrocumulus clouds when conditions are right, which they are. Says NASA: Pyrocumulus Read more →
Don’t be such selfish, ill-mannered transit riders, Green Liners. Let a family get off a train before you shove against them trying to get on. Read more →
Some years ago, a monkey got ahold of David Slater’s camera and took one of the best selfies in the history of monkeys taking selfies. Who owns the copyright if the monkey took the picture? It’s shaping up as one of the most fascinating copyright debates in recent years. The monkey can’t own the copyright Read more →
With the the hurricane season underway and Hawaii now in the eye of the storm, we begin our season of asking, “how long could a typical American city last before anarchy sets in once daily conveniences are denied?” It appears that residents of Hawaii are most concerned about water and toilet paper, presumably in that Read more →