Nov 06 2009
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I have a new favorite map of the St. Anthony Park Neighborhood in St. Paul.
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Minneapolis gets 6 inches 54 nights a year.
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I can’t possibly be responsible for more than 772 of the 132,772 views this piece of awesomeness has received to date. Her other stuff is great too.
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This reminds me of this one time in high school when my mom found two empty 40s of Old E stashed in my closet. I’m not sure exactly why I had hidden them there, but I do remember they’d been in there for months and I had forgotten all about them.
Anyways, I come home from school and walk into my room to find the two bottles sitting on my bed with a hand-written note from my mom that said, “Kate, if you’re going to drink, don’t drink this shit. Love, Mom.”
Best. EVER.
Nice. And reminds me my dreams were all about incredible green buds and Burning Man last night. Yeah, you’re right to be jealous.
By “clear tape”, is Mom really asking where her Scotch went?
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![fightwithknives:
A decade into the 21st century, selecting a toaster has become so difficult. Here are some samples from various online toaster reviews:
“I am very happy with this toaster. It works perfectly. And it looks great in my kitchen. I like how it holds the bread in place as it toasts and how I can control the crispness of the toasts.”
“I bought this because Consumer Reports rated it high. This just proves that they can be wrong sometimes. The $7 toaster that this one replaced was a lot better in toasting… My Cuisinart toaster consistently burns the top of any bread/bagel/pastry I try to toast/heat, no matter what setting I use.”
“I put a delicious Cherry Poptart into the belly of the beast. I again set the shiny dial at 3 and waited for the results. The corners and top of my Cherry Poptart had turned to the color of coal. Plus, the whole house now smells like burnt plastic from my crappy toaster… : (“
“This time I just wanted something that would do our toast, poptarts and hamburger buns! THIS ONE DOES ALL OF THIS GREAT! It has wide slots and we can do our buns which is great as hubby likes his toasted! Also if something short is to low to grab, just push up on the lever and it raises it up a bit so you can grab it! All in all, it is a super, simple but nice looking toaster!”
“I gave this as a wedding gift and so far they love it in New York!!”
“I bought this toaster just wanting something simple. I am quite happy with it. Holds a wider piece of bread just fine. I usually set the level down to 1 or 2 the first time just to make sure I don’t burn my toast. Every toaster is a bit different. I like the cancel button. Hit that when you think it’s done and it pops up, no problems.”
“cheap, and bad. you can get a better one from other store for like [price]. why would anyone pay 20 for this? spend 20 more and get a nice 4 slice toaster!! DONT BUY unless youre the idiot.”
I am the idiot. Why would a single girl ever need to toast four slices of bread? How should I balance my need for well-toasted bread with conflicting reviews? I don’t eat poptarts; should I worry? Should I bring slices of my preferred bread to the store just to make sure the toaster is wide enough? Should I get a one-year or a three-year toaster warranty? What will they think in New York?
I thought toasting was a solved problem until our wedding toaster decided to stop staying down. Toasting is much less of a modern convenience when you have to hold down the lever.
My toaster buying advice: Toaster reviewers who claim their new toasters were perfect the very first time they used them only have sex with virgins.](http://6.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kso3iiid9r1qznngdo1_r1_400.jpg)
A decade into the 21st century, selecting a toaster has become so difficult. Here are some samples from various online toaster reviews:
- “I am very happy with this toaster. It works perfectly. And it looks great in my kitchen. I like how it holds the bread in place as it toasts and how I can control the crispness of the toasts.”
- “I bought this because Consumer Reports rated it high. This just proves that they can be wrong sometimes. The $7 toaster that this one replaced was a lot better in toasting… My Cuisinart toaster consistently burns the top of any bread/bagel/pastry I try to toast/heat, no matter what setting I use.”
- “I put a delicious Cherry Poptart into the belly of the beast. I again set the shiny dial at 3 and waited for the results. The corners and top of my Cherry Poptart had turned to the color of coal. Plus, the whole house now smells like burnt plastic from my crappy toaster… : (“
- “This time I just wanted something that would do our toast, poptarts and hamburger buns! THIS ONE DOES ALL OF THIS GREAT! It has wide slots and we can do our buns which is great as hubby likes his toasted! Also if something short is to low to grab, just push up on the lever and it raises it up a bit so you can grab it! All in all, it is a super, simple but nice looking toaster!”
- “I gave this as a wedding gift and so far they love it in New York!!”
- “I bought this toaster just wanting something simple. I am quite happy with it. Holds a wider piece of bread just fine. I usually set the level down to 1 or 2 the first time just to make sure I don’t burn my toast. Every toaster is a bit different. I like the cancel button. Hit that when you think it’s done and it pops up, no problems.”
- “cheap, and bad. you can get a better one from other store for like [price]. why would anyone pay 20 for this? spend 20 more and get a nice 4 slice toaster!! DONT BUY unless youre the idiot.”
I am the idiot. Why would a single girl ever need to toast four slices of bread? How should I balance my need for well-toasted bread with conflicting reviews? I don’t eat poptarts; should I worry? Should I bring slices of my preferred bread to the store just to make sure the toaster is wide enough? Should I get a one-year or a three-year toaster warranty? What will they think in New York?
I thought toasting was a solved problem until our wedding toaster decided to stop staying down. Toasting is much less of a modern convenience when you have to hold down the lever.
My toaster buying advice: Toaster reviewers who claim their new toasters were perfect the very first time they used them only have sex with virgins.
Nov 05 2009
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Having lived and worked in Philadelphia, New York and Boston I have spent plenty of time pondering the different attitudes and expectations toward transit in those various cities. Through those experiences I have come to the conclusion that transportation systems work best when there is investment and ridership from the privileged, educated and economically well-off, i.e. white people.
When public transportation is perceived as charity for those who are poor it will never be invested in and respected by those who throw their weight around cities; business leaders, government employees, professors and doctors. Rather, when public transportation is utilized by people throughout a city and when privileged people depend on transit to get them from place-to-place the system will be invested in and respected.
Nov 04 2009
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Google PowerMeter illustrates the energy cost of working from home.
Nov 03 2009
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Cost of Electricity by State
West Virginia’s cheap power comes with a side of Black Lung.
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“ [Iric] Nathanson begins his century with Mayor Doc Ames, an executive so venal that his take from illegal slot machines alone was estimated at $15,000 annually, somewhere north of $350,000 in today’s dollars. This venality came in waves through the century, with the indictments of six aldermen in the late 1920s, the rackets of the Kid Cann era, and as recently as the past 10 years, with the imprisonment of three council members and a developer in a federal public corruption probe.
— Longfellow resident, Iric Nathanson, traces Minneapolis’ past in his new book, Minneapolis in the Twentieth Century. Steve Brandt reviews it here (for a limited StarTribune.com access cut-off time).
