Follow us on TwitterJanuary 31, 2012
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The Pop Traveler: Ten reasons to visit Minneapolis-St. Paul!
I was born and raised in Minneapolis-St. Paul (a.k.a. the Twin Cities), and it's the perfect place for me. The people are friendly, the cultural offerings stellar, the sports exciting (if not depressing at times) and the outdoors flourishing all year round.More » -
The Top 10 Moments of David Letterman’s First 30 Years
David Letterman has spent 43 years expanding his audience. Early on it was Hoosiers in need of a weather report, early Sunday morning 4-H project enthusiasts, kiddies catching the 1968 “Freeze-Dried Movies,” Indi 500 junkies. But tomorrow will mark 30 years of Letterman using his sardonic comedic enthusiasm on late-night national TV. It’s enough to make even NBC question Jay Leno’s credentials.More » -
Hot New Internet Meme: ‘Breading’ Cats
Forget planking. All the cool kids are putting their cats in bread and taking pictures of them looking like little yeasty lions. "Breading" is a throw-back to the old Japanese "putting-food-on-rabbits" meme of the early viral web, but with a modern twist.More » -
Quiet, Please: Unleashing ‘The Power Of Introverts’
From Gandhi to Joe DiMaggio to Mother Teresa to Bill Gates, introverts have done a lot of good work in the world. But being quiet, introverted or shy was sometimes looked at as a problem to overcome.. -
Report proposes dividing Great Lakes, Mississippi
Groups representing states and cities in the Great Lakes region on Tuesday proposed spending up to $9.5 billion on a massive engineering project to separate the lakes from the Mississippi River watershed in the Chicago area, describing it as the only sure way to protect both aquatic systems from invasions by destructive species such as Asian carp.. . -
Quietly, U.S. Moves to Block Lawsuits by Military Families
But while public officials are out waving the flag toward these families, federal lawyers in court are now quietly trying to expand the U.S. government's legal immunity from exposure to medical malpractice claims brought by those very same military folks. Now, the feds want the courts to recognize a bold application of an old doctrine -- an already heavily criticized old doctrine -- that would bar many plaintiffs, whose loved ones serve their country, from exercising the right merely to be able to present the substance of their claims to a jury. More » -
The Case for a College ‘Shopping Sheet’ (or: Obama Reads ‘The Atlantic’!)
President Obama's speech last week on college affordability offered a reform package that amounted to a carrot and a stick and a magnifying glass. He proposed creating a $1 billion fund to invest in colleges that showed progress toward cost control. That's the carrot. He proposed tying federal aid to improvements in affordability. That's the stick. And he proposed a "shopping sheet" that would help students and their families see more clearly the true costs and benefits of attending a certain school. That's the magnifying glass. More » -
How Much Can a Celebrity Make for Tweeting?
The weirdest thing about the rumor that Kim Kardashian gets paid $10,000 for a Twitter endorsement is that it’s true. (Recent plugs have been for ShoeDazzle.com and CVS.) The biggest player in the pay-to-tweet market is Ad.ly, a social-media advertorial clearinghouse pairing brands with celebs to inject highly personalized advertising into their Twitter streams.. -
Letters from solitary confinement reveal DWI man’s despair
A man arrested for driving while intoxicated and then forced into solitary confinement for two years tried to get help by writing to the jail's nurse, but the only response he got was a dose of sedatives, his lawyer said.. . -
Brainstorming Pro Bowl alternatives
How low-impact was the 2012 Pro Bowl? Chicago Bears tailback Matt Forte made the unusual decision to play despite a knee injury that sidelined him for the Bears' final four regular-season games, and you heard almost no concerns voiced about possible re-injury. No, Sunday night's Pro Bowl was an unfortunate mix of half-speed football and silly gimmicks. The television at NFC North blog headquarters quickly moved to red carpet coverage for the SAG Awards, an event that offered better depth and more intriguing storylines than anything I saw from Honolulu. (Brad Pitt's cane is no more!) More » -
Boycott the Oscars Over the Harry Potter Diss?
Headline the Daily Prophet: Harry Potter robbed by Muggles. The nominations for the 2012 Academy Award for Best Picture are: The Artist, The Descendants, Hugo, The Help, Midnight in Paris, War Horse, Moneyball, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, and The Tree of Life. It is the year of the non-movie award. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is conspicuously absent. It has been supremely dissed by mortals. Who has perpetrated this crime? Answer: every 'prestigious' (whatever that means) award-giving group.More » -
Why J.C. Penney Will Be The Most Interesting Retailer Of 2012
J.C. Penney just blew up its brand — in a good way — thanks to a new management team with some radical new ideas. J.C. Penney is about to be the most interesting retail story of the year. Late last year, J.C. Penney began building a dream team with Ron Johnson — the man who launched Apple‘s retail stores — as its new CEO. Johnson cut his retail teeth at Target and from there he poached Michael Francis to serve as J.C. Penney’s new president. Francis is largely responsible for Target’s branding and marketing efforts.More » -
Genetic or Not, Gay Won’t Go Away
That has long been one of the rallying cries of a movement, and sometimes the gist of its argument. Across decades of widespread ostracism, followed by years of patchwork acceptance and, most recently, moments of heady triumph, gay people invoked that phrase to explain why homophobia was unwarranted and discrimination senseless. Lady Gaga even spun an anthem from it.. -
Rapids’ Biegel impresses
Tony Biolo, football coach at Wisconsin Rapids High School, remembers how the seventh-grader wasn’t intimidated despite training alongside players four and five years older. “When he started working out, there was no messing around,” Biolo said of Vince Biegel, now a 6-foot-3, 210-pound senior linebacker at Rapids. “He didn’t want to just do sit-ups and push-ups. He wanted to lift and do speed workouts. “He was more disciplined in doing those things than the normal kids … “He has had some pretty high goals for an awful long time.”More » -
Uggie deserves to go trotting up the red carpet on Hollywood’s Oscar night
This week The Artist was nominated in almost every Oscar category, but for many fans of the silent black-and-white film, however, 10 nominations are still not enough. Where, exactly, is the nomination for “best animal in a supporting role”? Of course, Jean Dujardin is brilliant as a fading star of the silent era. Bérénice Bejo dazzles as an emerging starlet of the talkies. And I’m sure the Academy knows what it’s doing by nominating both the cinematography and the art direction (whatever the difference might be). But for Uggie, the adorable Jack Russell terrier who steals the show as Dujardin’s best friend – playing dead, walking on his hind legs, burying his head in his paws and (look away now if you haven’t seen it) saving his master’s life – there is nothing.More » -
The Emergence Of The Content Creation Class
The content creation class shall inherit the Internet. Richard Florida coined the expression the “Creative Class”, his belief being that these some 30 to 40 million would be the driving force for economic development in a postindustrial world. Instead of driving the macro economy the Content Creation Class refers to the group of people who drive content on the internet those that write blogs, those that upload video to YouTube, and those that upload pictures to share with the world.More » -
J.D. Salinger’s Untold Stories: Tales Of A Recluse
When it came to his work, J.D. Salinger was the ultimate control-freak. He strove for perfection in his writing and sought complete power over its presentation. He ordered his photo be removed from the dust jacket of "The Catcher in the Rye," fought with numerous publishers over his book's content and presentation and his disdain for editing was legendary. When a copy editor at "The New Yorker" dared to remove a single comma from one of his stories, Salinger snapped. "There was hell to pay," recalled William Maxwell, and the comma was quickly reinstated.More » -
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Newt Gingrich Proposes Moon Colony “by the end of his second term”
"By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon and it will be American," Gingrich told Floridians. When 13,000 Americans are "living on the moon, they can petition to become a state," he added.. -
Obama proposes financial aid overhaul that would tie colleges’ eligibility for campus-based aid programs to success in improving affordability and value
Under the plan, which the president outlined on Friday morning in a speech at the University of Michigan, the amount available for Perkins loans would grow to $8 billion, from the current $1 billion. The president also wants to create a $1 billion grant competition, along the lines of the Race for the Top program for elementary and secondary education, to reward states that take action to keep college costs down, and a separate $55 million competition for individual colleges to increase their value and efficiency. The administration also wants to give families clearer information about costs and quality, by requiring colleges and universities to offer a “shopping sheet” that makes it easier to compare financial aid packages and — for the first time — compiling post-graduate earning and employment information to give students a better sense of what awaits them.. -
The Current’s 7 years of good luck: Dessa, Mary Lucia & more weigh in
The Current, located at 89.3 on the FM dial, is far from just another a radio station. Over the past seven years, it has transformed into somewhat of a Twin Cities institution, offering an alternative to the redundancy of commercial radio while also acting as a musical rite of passage for up-and-coming local outfits of all stripes. It's a central, cultural power within a city constantly brimming with talent, and its audience and influence extends beyond the confines of our bustling metropolis. And now with a (sold out) two-night birthday soiree taking place at First Avenue this weekend, which features a stacked lineup of local heavyweights both new and old (Night Moves, Polica, Low and Suicide Commandos, just to name a few), the Current's significance has never seemed more pronounced. It was a long way to the top. As longtime DJ Mary Lucia remembers it, commercial radio was in a dismal state seven years ago. The playlists had become painfully predictable. Oh, and Nickleback was pretty popular, too. More » -
Rubio: GOP ‘too slow’ to condemn anti-immigrant talk
Sen. Marco Rubio got wide praise from the GOP presidential candidates at their latest debate and even hinted the Cuban-American lawmaker could make a fine vice presidential pick, but he steered clear of that today. Addressing the Hispanic Leadership Network's conference in Miami, Rubio instead focused on the overheated rhetoric that has dominated the immigration debate in Washington.. -
Ferris Bueller Lives!
Great news, for the first time in 26 years, Matthew Broderick will be slipping back into Ferris Bueller’s patterned sweater vest. The occasion will be an ad for next weekend’s Super Bowl, but for whom the revival will go down is unknown beside that. The announcement was made via a YouTube video, below, that lasts all of ten seconds; we get Broderick dropping “how can I handle work on a day like today,” we get the date of the big game, and we get a quick "bow-bow-chh." The video’s description reads: “We hate to be such a tease, but on a day like today, we just have to. Stick it out until the Super Bowl, or take a "day off" on Monday and catch the big reveal.”More » -
Diary of a Nebbishy Comic: ‘My Seinfeld Year’
Fred Stoller's neurotic Brooklynite whine makes Woody Allen seem like an amateur, and Mr. Stoller, 52, has worked his gift into a career, first as a deadpan stand-up comic and then as a nebbishy actor in countless short-lived sitcom roles: Elaine's annoying date in an episode of "Seinfeld," a mopey cousin on "Everybody Loves Raymond," a jerky waiter on "Friends.". -
Romney Stays on the Offense With Gingrich
Mitt Romney, facing his greatest challenge of the campaign so far, relentlessly pressed Newt Gingrich on Thursday night in their final debate before the Florida primary, seeking to regain the offensive against an insurgent challenge that has shaken his claim to inevitability.. . -
FBI wants to scrape Twitter worldwide
The FBI is considering continuously monitoring all social media sites on a global basis, and is looking for help. It's asking contractors for proposals for a system that could scan the networks, globally and in real time, to identify potential threats. The deadline for responses is 10 February. According to its Request for Information, the applications must be able to "provide an automated search and scrape capability of both social media sites and open source news sites for breaking events, crisis, and threats that meet the search parameters/keywords defined by FBI SIOC".. -
Nike’s Phil Knight rails against the real Penn State villains
In a 2½-hour gathering that capped three days of mourning on campus, Nike chairman and CEO Phil Knight brought the near-capacity crowd at the basketball arena to its feet when he defended the coach's handling of child-sex allegations leveled against a former assistant. Paterno was fired two months ago by the Penn State trustees. "This much is clear to me: If there is a villain in this tragedy, it lies in that investigation and not in Joe Paterno's response," Knight said. Paterno's widow, Sue, was among those rising to their feet.More » -
Jim Rome’s Miss Radiance wins at Santa Anita
Rome and trainer Mike Puype opted to run Miss Radiance in the Bug Brush after scratching from Sunday’s Grade II La Canada Stakes, and the decision proved prudent. The 4-year-old Yes It’s True filly overtook pacesetter Bwana Babe to win by one-half length in 1:43.22. Although Rome’s romance with horse racing ownership had brought some immediate success, “It wasn’t until I got punched in the face a couple of times that I realized just how tough this is,” he said in the winner’s circle Thursday. “That’s why I can be so appreciative of something like this.”More » -
What Should Liam Neeson Punch Next?
Liam Neeson used to be in fancy-pants movies like Schindler's List and Nell and Rob Roy ... I mean, in 1993's Ethan Frome, he played Ethan Frome. At some point, though, he got really into beating people up. In 2008, he had a huge hit with Taken, where he beats people up because they kidnapped his daughter. In Clash Of The Titans, he vicariously beat people up by releasing the Kraken. (Not a euphemism.) Then his desire for action became such that he actually joined The A Team! (You probably didn't see that one.) Last year in Unknown, he beat up everyone who didn't recognize him. (Which was everyone.) In the upcoming Battleship, if I am understanding the premise, he's going to fight aliens with boats.More » -
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With Twitter allowed during Pro Bowl, Aaron Rodgers can finally bury that In-N-Out tweet
Suddenly the Pro Bowl—that consolation prize Packers fans had no need for last year—seems a whole lot sweeter this year. If not for another chance to see Aaron Rodgers kind of play football again before the offseason, then because this should be the catalyst that revives his long-dormant Twitter account. The normally bunched-up NFL has lifted its normal ban on the social media platform for the annual Hawaiian dick-around game and will be allowing players to tweet during the festivities using the #probowl hashtag.More » -
Racehorse “speed gene” traced to 18th century British mare
Irish researchers writing in the journal Nature Communications say that the original "speed gene" variant entered the equine Thoroughbred line from a single British mare about 300 years ago. The origin of the speed gene (known as the C type myostatin gene variant, first identified in 2010) was revealed by analyzing DNA from hundreds of horses, including DNA extracted from the skeletal remains of 12 celebrated Thoroughbred stallions born between 1764 and 1930.. -
How Google keeps your secrets private
How does a company that collects so much information from its users keep all that data private?. . -
Vikings will listen to offers for No. 3
Minnesota Vikings general manager Rick Spielman kicked off the draft-day trade speculation season by hopping on the NFL Network during Senior Bowl practices and declaring: "It will be, I think, very busy on draft day. We're the third overall pick, so we'll be looking at all the options. If someone wants to come up and get our pick, we’re going to be more than willing to listen." As we've discussed before, the presence of Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III would make the Vikings an obvious trading partner for a quarterback-needy team at No. 3. In the past, Spielman has said there are a few players in each draft that he would never pass up an opportunity to select, regardless of the trade offer. More »
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