Category: General

At the [I-35W Bridge collapse] site, [Minneapolis Police Sgt. Tim] Hoeppner talked to construction workers who survived the fall.  They had been doing repair work but expressed concern to him that the bridge had been wobbling several days before it collapsed.Every layer of concrede the workes removed, the bridge would wobble even more, they told…

Thanks for all the calls, IMs and emails.All the Wingnuts were safe at home watching the news yesterday evening when they broke the story that the Interstate 35W bridge over the Mississippi River in downtown Minneapolis had collapsed.The Doctor is familiar with the area as his Monday night bicycle ride goes under bridge on both…

As part of the premier of The Simpsons Movie, Burger King put up the site Simsonize Me.  So I thought I’d give it a whirl, and Simpsonized myself with a picture taken by my friend and neighbor Justin Grierson.  When I showed my son Daniel the pictures, he said that it didn’t look like me,…

There is no feeling, except the extremes of fear and grief, that does not find relief in music.George EliotPersonally, I have found relief in music for grief, albeit temporary

Following a misguided post from a headhunter I know (Lonny Gulden) to the Ruby Users of Minnesota (RUM) site — he was looking for Java developers — he was bounced off the list, and his privileges revoked as being inappropriate poster.  Not being one to leave well enough alone, he flamed the group with the…

picture taken by my friend Duane McDowell, via email, Sun, 2 Apr 2006 18:18:17 -0700

Henry Schoolcraft (with help from the Ojibwa) finds the headwaters of the Mississippi River this month in 1832 and names them with a contraction of the words veritas (truth) and caput (head); Itasca.This Month in History, Smithsonian Magazine, July 2007The state was established as a territory in 1849 and as a state in 1858.