The Friday Link for 9/29/23

Howdy all!

Minneapolis/St. Paul and Minnesota are AMAZING!  I love living here and I love exploring the city.  Lately, the metro area and the state have been featured repeatedly on many different top ten lists for livability, quality of life, happiness, and other categories. Many times we hit #1.  I think that's great, but this seems to pain some people, and that's sad.

If you really hate this city, why are you here? You have ONE TRIP on this spinning rock and here you are wasting it. Will you say "My job is too good"?  Well, then the city can't be that bad if you are willing to stay for that reason, considering jobs are everywhere.  Will you say "I have a family member I need to stay by"?  That's also a fake crutch.  You could move with them to another state, or at the very least you could move out of the city entirely and commute to them in the metro, yet you don't. 

If you really hate the city, then leave.  Go be happy.  I'm staying.  I love it here. 

For some reason the YouTube page had the CityNerd account pop up in my suggested viewing.  The page looks at cities from a transportation, quality of life, and practicality perspective.  Ray Delahanty is the host and he decided to pay Minneapolis a visit. There are a lot of things about this evaluation I find spot on.  I love how he was told to avoid the Lake Street station, yet he goes the and doesn't find it any worse than most other cities.  He praises us for our bike paths, park system, and lakes.  He is critical of our wide streets and the obstacles we have a tendency to put into crosswalks. Also, he is not a fan of the winters.

Give the video a watch. I agree with him more than I disagree. 

Also this week a fun video for Science Fiction nerds like me.  Have you ever wondered where most of the Science fiction locations from franchises like Star Trek and Dune take place?  Most of them have very specific locations on our neighboring star maps.

The Overview Effect has a breakdown.

Have a great weekend.  

Get your Flu and COVID shots! 

The Friday Link for 9/22/23

Hey all! I hope you had a nice week.

I have recently been fascinated by something I never really thought about before. After the 13 colonies won their freedom, how exactly did they get to the point of electing the first President, George Washington? Sure, it's easy to say "Well duh, he was the obvious choice to lead the country, but it's not like the fledgling country even had a concept of what the President would be, or even how the President would be picked.

Heck, my guess is most people are somewhat ill-informed about how Presidential elections work today (even though we have gotten a bit of a history lesson from Trump's attempts to overthrow the government).  On Election Day every four years we do not elect a President, but rather your state's electors, who then themselves go and vote for the President in December.  For the most part the electors back up the will of their state's voters...for the most part.

Tonight for you, two videos from a YouTube historian The Premodernist.  First, he talks about the long weird path to the first-ever Presidential Election in the US.

Next up is another longer video but a thorough one, where The Premodernist talks about how they had to convince Washington to run for a second term.  A lot of that has to do with the new leaders of the country squabbling amongst themselves on what path should the country take forward. 

Have a great weekend everyone!  Make sure to get your COVID shots and your flu shots! 

The Friday Link for 9/15/23

Hi all!  I hope you had a good week.

Let's start off with food! I love a good Italian sandwich. Although I was born in MSP, I spent most of my youth in Rhode Island, with its large Italian population. A grossly underrated food state.

This sandwich is genius. I can not figure out why I never thought of doing this before.  Ladies and Gentlemen, the Italian Chopped Sub, courtesy of Sam the Cooking Guy: 

Also, tonight is revisiting an old friend, Jelle's Marble Runs!

Fans of the Friday Link might remember when I featured them back in 2020.  Back then, when COVID first hit, everything shut down, including all sports. It was a weird vacuum. As sports guys lamented missing their favorite teams, Jelle's came to the rescue with their marble-rific approach to sports.

Even though our sports have come back, Jelle's is still around, and they are as fun as ever.  Here are a few of their videos.  I'll be darned if I don't start rooting for specific teams/marbles every time! 

Have a great weekend everyone! 

Get your COVID booster, and your flu shot! I want everyone to stay healthy! 

The Friday Link for 9/8/23

Hi all! To start off this week let me encourage you to go watch 'Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.' When that movie came out, nerd celebrities bashed on it.  I am guessing because they were upset they didn't get to kiss the girl in the end or the production company dared to NOT make the movie in their head.  I was skeptical so I passed.

The other night I saw it was on streaming, so I decided to watch it.  It's a freaking hoot! It is a lot of fun. Chris Pine and Michelle Rodriguez are fantastic.  Even Hugh Grant is enjoyable! 

To prove it, here is a great scene where they have to reanimate a dead person to find out the location of a certain helmet.  They can only ask each dead person 5 questions. This is played out nearly perfectly. 

Two words for you - Fat Dragon. Go watch the movie.  

Next up, there is a tree that is definitely trying to kill you. Meet the Dynamite tree.  This video is from Animalogic, but the host does come off as a touch...overacting. The tree is fascinating.

Last up, how exactly did Death Valley get its name? You would not be surprised to find out that it is named because of idiots. National Park Diaries has more. 

Make sure you get the new COVID vaccine when it becomes available and it is time to get those flu shots too. 

Stay healthy.  Stay safe. 

The Minnesota State Fair Fine Art, 2023

With the Minnesota State Fair finishing on Monday, here is an extended look at the Fine Arts entries.  

The competition this year was unbelievable. For 12 days the Fine Arts building became one of the top 10 art museums in the upper Midwest. There were so many great entries, but this first one was my favorite.  What a wonderful vibrant piece that would be a generational centerpiece in anyone's house. Just perfect.

The next 5 pieces were the best of the rest. These are the ones I really loved. Fun side note; the retro lady colorful woman painting ended up being the work of the son of a friend of mine.  

Here are the rest of the images/pieces which caught my eye.  

The Fine Arts competition is so good.  It's one of the things that elevates the Minnesota State Fair past many of the other state fairs in the county.

See you next year. 

 

The Minnesota State Fair Crop Art, 2023

Hey all!  The State Fair wrapped up on Monday and here are the extended photo set from the crop art competition. That competition has evolved so much over the last ten years.

We'll start off with my top three entries.

And here are the rest, featuring entries from my friend Laura (Sponge Bob!). Also featured are two entries from State Auditor Julie Blah and an entry from MN House Representative Athena Hollins.

Enjoy!

Apparently, next year mustard seeds are now forbidden. The competition just got REAL! 

See you next year!  

 

The Friday Link for 9/1/23

I just got back from the Minnesota State Fair.  I know people will say I'm biased, but a fact is a fact. It is the best State Fair. 

Other state fairs are fine and can be a lot of fun, but the Minnesota State Fair is its own beast. Sure we have the Ag requirement.  Plenty of livestock, judging competitions, expositions, and farm equipment to sustain even the most Ag-hungry fairgoer, but it has the quirkiness of the Twin Cities metro permeating it to its core.  A llama costume contest, crop art, midway rides, major concerts, a fine arts competition that could be its own museum, live stages of music everywhere, and of course the food.  The food a the Minnesota State Fair is insane and it's unsurpassed.

People supporting their local state fairs (mainly Iowa and Texas) will insist they have the fun too.  Well, kind of.  If you want a REALLY heavy Ag-centric state fair, Iowa is great, but there isn't a ton to do for the non-Ag fairgoer. A few things, but nothing even close to on par with the Minnesota State Fair.  Texas, besides being very restrictive of individual rights and being gun crazy, only has a more visited State Fair because of its length.  Texas basically has a full month to get to their 2.5 million visitors. Minnesota gets to their 2 million plus in 12 days. TWELVE DAYS!

And while each State Fair has a great food item or two, Minnesota's food options are nuts! Today alone I enjoyed:

Fried Green Tomatoes sandwich (exceptional!)

Hmong sausage with spicy sauce, cool rice noodles and pickled veggies

A sweet corn Danish

A Chocolate/Raspberry milkshake

Deep Fried pickles 

Sweet Martha's cookies

The best gyro this side of the Atlantic

A frozen Chocolate covered Key Lime pie

A Vietnamese steamed pork bun

And a pronto-pup (MN State Fair equivalent of a corn dog, only better)

And I didn't even try 95% of the new food items.  Heck, there was a two-block line for their newest Amish donut ALONE!

Check and Mate. 

The Friday Link this week goes first to last night's Gopher football game.  The home squad did not play well at all, until about the last five minutes, where then they looked like a superstar team on certain plays. WEIRD.  We were down 10-3 late, but watch this late comeback, as we see Nebraska once again find a way to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory. 

The next two videos are from a guy named Joe Scott. He runs a YouTube page that talks about quirky history and topics, and he presents them in a very entertaining manner.  Last week I featured his segment on the worst scientist who ever lived, and this week it gets even weirder. 

First up is a mystery that seems to have its own following; who is using all of the glitter? Seriously, there's a secret user of glitter who's industrial identity is a mystery, and no it's not strippers in Tampa. Someone is using a lot of the stuff and Joe Scott tries to break down who exactly might be the culprit (I think his updated addition might be the bullseye).

Next up is something truly crazy. What if I were to tell you the oldest sound recording of a human voice was actually made before the Civil War?  Seriously!  In 1860, a sound recording of a human voice was made...kind of. It wasn't made like later sound recordings were made, and it is only heard because of modern technology, but at the end of the day, they have a sound recording of a human voice (hum-singing to be fair) from 1860. 

COVID is coming back.  On the way to and from the fair, I wore a face mask on the crowded bus and in the crowded buildings at the Fair. A lot of people were coughing. Be careful.

Stay vaccinated and stay safe.

Happy Labor Day everyone.