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pharyngula | October 6, 2006Franken is broadcasting from the UMM campus right now, if you're interested.
If you've finished listening to the Al Franken show — Live! From Morris! — now is the time to switch to Science Friday, where you'll be able to hear Richard Dawkins talk about The God Delusion.
pharyngula | October 6, 2006
I've been reading Thomas Franks' What's the Matter with Kansas?(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), and then today I read the excellent profile of Michele Bachmann in the City Pages. Yikes. The similarities are terrifying. Bachmann is a clueless ideologue who has harnessed the power of the Religious Right to ride to political power on issues like discriminating against gays and promoting creationism; she's the kind of candidate who preaches piety while legislating for the abolition of the minimum wage, exactly the sort Franks describes as wrecking Kansas while claiming to save its soul.
She's in a tight…
pharyngula | October 5, 2006Drinking Liberally is cancelled this week in Morris. If you're really hard up, you could go to the DL in Minneapolis, but really, why would you want to? We've got Al Franken, star of TV and radio, founder of the Midwest Values PAC, and best-selling author entertaining us at a DFL fundraiser here in our little town, so we're a much more exciting place than that urban mess to the east. I think there are still tickets available, but I know they were going fast a few days ago—call Jeff Lamberty at (320) 585-5646 if you're interested. Nope, sorry, you were too late. Sold out! Good for the Stevens…
pharyngula | October 5, 2006Nothing has changed out here, Sandy—people still fight over Vikings in Minnesota. I live just a few miles from the Kensington Runestone Museum, and I know better than to dispute it now. (Nah, not really. If some asks, I'll tell 'em I think the runestone is a hoax.)
pharyngula | October 1, 2006Once again this year, I'm setting up our Café Scientifique-Morris, which is going to be held on the last Tuesday of each month of the university school year. This time around, that means the first one falls on…Halloween! So we're going to do something fun for that one: maybe some costumes, lots of clips from classic horror movies, I definitely think we're going to need some bubbling retorts of colored fluids, and the chemistry department is tentatively going to provide some treats (ice cream made with liquid nitrogen—chemistry and treats don't usually go together in people's heads, I know.)…
pharyngula | October 1, 2006As promised…
My yard has become DFL Central in my neighborhood, with a swarm of political signs proudly displayed; if I'd taken a picture aiming south, you'd see even more. Can you see the difference now?
BEFORE
AFTER
The red and blue sign in the first was for Collin Peterson, our far too conservative Democratic representative. I'm not going to endorse him any more; I'll be watching his record carefully in the next month to determine whether I'll actually vote for him in the election.
pharyngula | September 29, 2006Note the headline on our student newspaper.
It refers to the fact that our football team played Trinity Bible College's and beat them by a damnable 67 to zip…and that we've probably got a smart-ass heretic on the newspaper staff.
pharyngula | September 22, 2006Y'all come on down—we're having a party at my place tonight. Everyone bring something to eat or drink, hang about, talk, listen to some music…
All you need is hate
The Delgados
Black Cadillacs
Modest Mouse
Viktorin
Hedningarna
Lullaby
The Cure
Thunder Road
Bruce Springsteen
Skinfakse (Delivering The Light)
Hege Rimestad
Porcelain
Moby
El Prado
Tom Griesgraber
Sugar Magnolia
Grateful Dead
Excitable Boy
Warren Zevon
Consequence Of Sounds
Regina Spektor
I'm going to be so lonely tonight, aren't I?
pharyngula | September 8, 2006This is much happier news. Our county Democratic-Farmer-Labor party is having a fundraiser on 5 October, and we have a big-name guest to draw in donors…
I'll be there!
(One local curiosity: there has always been a fundraiser for the party every year, and by tradition, it's been called "The Bean Feed." I've never gone before—the name just puts me off. It brings to mind a few Monty Python sketches, and Ann Margaret (not so bad) in Tommy (uh-oh). We've got some new people on the local committees, though, and they've made a few changes. This is one hint that new blood in Democratic activism is…
pharyngula | September 8, 2006Minnesotans are going to be a little less above average in October, when a gaggle of evil morons hit the state: James Dobson, Tony Perkins, and Gary Bauer are having a rally in St Paul to "motivate pro-family conservative Christians." It may also help motivate us pro-family liberal atheists.
Andy wonders which Minnesota politicians will show up for these hucksters for fascism: would Michele Bachmann be a safe bet? Mike Hatch better not; I've seen a few of his ads, and his gun-totin' bird-killin' pseudo-populism is almostas annoying as Mark Kennedy's badly acted family dramas that play up his…
pharyngula | September 7, 2006Real Minnesota purists will like this: a new blog, Sky Blue Waters, dedicated to environmental issues in Minnesota. The big story right now is on a major oil pipeline being run through the state, and there are also articles on other Minnesota concerns: energy issues like wind farms and ethanol production, and pollution concerns, like runoff from feedlots.
pharyngula | September 7, 2006So I took The Minnesota Purity Test, and got a score that says I'm 62.1% Minnesotan. Not bad for a non-native…but then, my mother was born here, and a lot of the test is more a measure of Scandinavian-American heritage. There are a lot of people in the Seattle area who would score well on this.
pharyngula | September 5, 2006Just in case my wife happens to check out the internets this afternoon, I'm sure she'll be interested in seeing the state of her yard.
The plumbing crew came out this morning to repair our broken water main, and apparently to also plant a dead pagan king in a nice barrow outside our bathroom window, and imprint the rest of the lawn with interesting trackways. Oh, well, at least we now have fully restored water pressure.
I must also thank the kind reader who sent us the disaster preparedness and cleanup manuals. They'll come in handy—as you might guess, there's now a musty odor rising from…
pharyngula | September 4, 2006
Good news for Minnesota! Minnesota Citizens for Science Education has been officially launched. This is a new advocacy group with the goal of promoting good science education in our state. Specifically—
A scientifically literate population is essential to Minnesota's future. To that end, Minnesota Citizens for Science Education (MnCSE) will bring together the combined resources of teachers, scientists, and citizens to assure, defend, and promote the teaching and learning of evolutionary biology and other sciences in K-12 public school science classrooms, consistent with current scientific…
pharyngula | September 1, 2006One of the other consequences of our broken water main is that our cat, Midnight, fled the house during the ruckus, and he has not returned. This is a very lazy, timid cat who has been declawed (not by us—we do not approve of such barbarity), so he's not exactly going to thrive out there. And it's raining. Midnight always freaked out at getting wet or being exposed to weather. If any Morris people should spot him, let Skatje know. He does have a collar with a tag and his name, address, and phone number.
pharyngula | August 28, 2006The BIG fair, the Minnesota state fair, is going on right now, and Karina Hill is letting people vote on exactly which repellent Midwestern grease lump on a stick she should eat. Here's the menu:
Fried cheese puffs
Cajun Season Alligator Sausage on-a-stick
Deep Fried Cheese on a stick
Jerk pork chop drummy
Pancake wrapped around sausage on-a-stick
Uffda Treat
Belgium waffle on-a-stick
Australian Battered Potatoes
Cheese-burger calzones on-a-stick
Wild Rice corndogs
Key Lime Pie on-a-stick
Dogzilla
Egg-roll on-a-stick
Fried-Egg Bagel Sandwich
Pizza on-a-stick
Political pop…
pharyngula | August 25, 2006Hey, this is a very good site for us Minnesotans: the Minnesota Monitor.
Minnesota Monitor is an independently-produced political news daily featuring original and investigative reporting.
As a coalition of long-time progressive bloggers, freelance writers, and professional journalists our aim is to enhance and expand the political dialogue in the Minnesota. By combining the immediacy of blogging with time-honored journalistic inquiry, Minnesota Monitor intends to provide a platform for overlooked stories, policy and campaign analysis, and unique local perspectives on the important issues of…
pharyngula | August 22, 2006Corruption and wingnut Christianity seem to go hand in hand. Case in point: Vox Day, misogynist Christian freak, is the son of Robert Beale, Minnesota millionaire, founder of both a computer products company and the Minnesota Christian Coalition. The elder Beale is on the lam from The Man for tax evasion.
"He fundamentally believes, and has stuck to his belief since this case started, that the federal income tax is illegal," said Bradford Beale, his son and vice president of Comtrol Corp., the firm that his father founded.
"It was common knowledge at Comtrol," wrote Rank, "that Beale was…
pharyngula | August 17, 2006First, the Minnesota zombies invaded the lakes. Then there was some unpleasantness from the police when they took over the mall. Now there's going to be a zombie pub crawl in Minneapolis on Saturday, September 9. But wait! There's also going to be a pirate pub crawl on the same day! What to do, what to do…
Actually, my personal dilemma is easily resolved by the date. It is a very bad idea to do a pub crawl the evening before your wife's birthday. Even if the possibility of a pirate-zombie war tempts you.
(via MNspeak)
pharyngula | August 12, 2006So, I'm working the DFL booth at the fair. Anyone who has done this kind of thing before knows you spend a lot of time just sitting there, trying to look open and inviting and friendly, and you end up staring across the aisle at the booths on the other side. The two directly across from me were these:
Morris Life Care Pregnancy Center
This is one of those rinky-tink pseudo-Planned Parenthood outfits that provide some prenatal care (which is commendable), but really exists for their primary function: scaring people out of abortions. While I like adorable babies as much as anyone, I consider…