Bob CollinsWhat happens if you take three of the most impressive people in Minnesota and stick them out at the Minnesota State Fair? Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
This or That
We need to give some equal time to cats in this space so here’s the story of Nighty, the black cat owned by Corey Jacob, who lives out of a van, the
Rochester Post Bulletin writes today.
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The St. Louis Federal Reserve isn’t exactly Dr. Spock but you’ll not likely find more proof of the value of parents spending time with kids than its study in this quarter’s Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Review. Read more →
‘Pavel’ is the owner of the ‘Ravenchamps’ ID on Reddit, an ID that is close to the ‘Ravens2012champs’ ID that allegedly was used by David Katz, who killed two people and himself, and wounded 10 others at a Madden tournament in Florida.
Close enough, according to some far-right web sites and the usual suspects like commentator Mike Cernovich and Daily Caller reporter Ian Miles Cheong who identified Pavel’s account as that of the shooter Read more →
Among the many mysteries on this planet is this one: how does a tortoise run away from its owner? Read more →
I took note of a particular passage in Sen. John McCain’s farewell message and wondered whether it was really true.
‘We have always had so much more in common with each other than in disagreement.’
Do we? ‘Like what?’ I thought. Read more →
Some products practically sell themselves and Barry Coleman, of Winona, Minn., has got a killer idea.
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Slowly, NPR is shedding its snooty image of old aristocrats and allowing more voices on the air — regular, varied voices — that would have never made it to air a couple of decades ago, not without a carton of heaters first.
It’s a good thing. They come with unimaginable expertise and intelligence. Read more →
Brittany Lawrence has probably heard your complaints that the only thing on social media are pictures of people showing what they’re eating. That’s wrong. There are pictures of budding Internet sensations: in this case, Wanda Petersen, 86, showing what she’s eating. Read more →
We want to feel good about feel-good stories, but sometimes they leave a bad taste.
Today’s exhibit: The story of Johnny Bobbitt, the homeless man — and Marine veteran — in Philadelphia who last November gave a woman the last $20 he had, so she could buy gas for her stalled car. Read more →
You have to really want to be a journalist to end up in journalism. And if you want to cover the federal courts of the low-tech United States, you have to be a track star. Read more →
Circuses are dead or dying. The company that makes Animal Crackers would rather not follow suit. Read more →
There isn’t anything in America anymore that can’t be turned into a billboard. Now 3M has upped the game, turning its Maplewood headquarters into a billboard, using the same product it makes that wraps light-rail cars, for example, into rolling ads. Read more →
There’s nothing we enjoy more than a nice, round number.
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Two stories in the news this week reveal anew a problem in our technological age: humans. Read more →