Pentagon reveals rejected chemical weapons

Most bizarre among the plans was one for the development of an "aphrodisiac" chemical weapon that would make enemy soldiers sexually irresistible to each other. Provoking widespread homosexual behaviour among troops would cause a "distasteful but completely non-lethal" blow to morale, the proposal says.

Who is your favorite?

From Duluth, Minnesota, weighing in at a combined weight of 700 pounds, they are the Blaster (Gary Lindgren), "Luscious" Lenny Lane (Leonard Carlson) and "Wild" Bill Irwin (Barney Irwin).

Last Week's Fog

The FOG. Taken by the Canal Park camera from about 7:15-7:45 on Thursday morning.

I wish Kerry would have sold his soul...

Hollis Rulez

The new Low record came out today! It is called "The Great Destroyer" and it is awesome. In honor of said release there was a signing at the Electric Fetus. No, it wasn't Alan or Mimi or even Zak. Miss Hollis Mae handled it all and she did a stellar job. She signed 28 CD's and 2 LP's. Hell she even did some custom artwork for special folks.

I just so happened to have a videocamera to film the proceedings (thanks Jill) and so I made a little Vlog post about it. Enjoy.

Quicktime Low quality | 3.8 mb

Quicktime Medium quality | 10.9mb

Twin Ports MAC to Close

[via e-mail]

Hello all,

Regretfully, the Twin Ports Music and Arts Collective ("the MAC") has closed indefinitely. Financial and organizational difficulties have forced us to reconsider our mission and purpose. All future shows and events have been canceled.

I would personally like to extend a heartfelt and sincere thank you to everyone who dedicated their time and energy over the past year, by performing, displaying their work, volunteering. or by simply coming to shows. It was a tremendous year and I would not have traded a minute of it for anything.

I still believe in the remarkable potential and possibility that a cooperative or collective group of artists can offer. And I still believe that the art and music scene in the Twin Ports is amazing, vital, and influential. Through careful planning and foresight, another "MAC" could emerge and become a vital and integral part of the entire community. I truly hope that someday very soon another group or venue will appear with the same strong vision and boundless energy that was the cornerstone of the Twin Ports Music and Arts Collective. It is welcomed and necessary.

Once again, thanks to everyone for the last year. It could not have been done without you.

Chris Halverson
Director, Twin Ports Music and Arts Collective

A little treat for Monday morning.

Behold--something truly mesmerizing. ;+)

Ch-Ch-Changes

UPDATE Here's the deal with the NorShor.



Downtown is undergoing some changes. What's new I spose.

Item 1 | Nutty Meg's called it quits. It all wrapped up last night with a hell of a 2 for 1 party. Bartender Joe must have called everyone he knew because the place was packed. A little too late however. R.I.P. Nutty.

Item 2 | What the hell? Eric Ringsred is opening a bar? Thats what the paper says. Why doesn't Ringsred just take over the Shor. How can the old Snyder's ever match the ambiance of the NorShor Theatre. Plus that already comes with a liquor license. It will be interesting to see who is going to manage the new place. I can't really picture Mr. Ringsred pulling bar shifts.

Item 3 | The Red Star Lounge is coming along nicely. It is all curvy and orangey and bluey with metal and stars and and and... According to Tim Nelson they should be opening this winter. Considering it can snow in June who knows...

Item 4 | NorShor blues. What the hell is going on at the NorShor? Does anyone know? The Greg Brown show that was scheduled there has been moved to the Marshall Performing Ats Center and HBH suggested that Speedie Weinie was running the place now. V-Nick says some young guy seemed to be running the place last Thursday night. Someone give us the scoop.

Item 5 | Word on the street says Rick Boo will be opening an Irish themed pub on East Superior street soon. I think they should call it O'Boo's.

It's About Time, Spongebob..

Well, we always knew about Tinky Winky, but Spongebob and Barney, too? Read this and laugh or groan or smack your head against the computer screen, railing at the futility of it all...

Geek Out!

>

If you want to get real Geeky today you can watch the live webcast of Vloggercon in NYC. Chuck is there.

vloggercon


10:30AM The current topic is about bandwidth issues pertaing to videoblogs. I just checked PDD's projected usage for the month and it is going to be abot 14GB of our allotted 20GB. If we were to start adding much more video we would have to start paying more per month.

Confirmed Artists: Free Duluth Event, Friday, Feb. 4th, Washington Studios, 315 N. Lake Ave, 6PM-Midnite

[Cross-posted from www.freeduluth.com]

Visual Artists (in no particular order)

1. David Everett
2. Lydia Mancini
3. Shane Upthegrove
4. Jill Holmen
5. DJ Starfire
6. Zoey Cohen
7. Marisa Ring
8. Jim Richardson
9. Dana Cunningham
10. Rob Litsenberger
11. Wolfgang Jack
12. Bridget Riversmith
13. Shannon Szymkowiak
14. Sarah Heimer
15. Alicia Hladilek
16. Vinny Hladilek
17. Janelle Miller
18. Ryan Amundson
19. Rod Graf
20. Connie Minowa


Performers

1. Presidential Candidate Allen Richardson
2. Presidential Candidate Sienna Effinger
3. Vice Presidential Candidate Devin "The Scotsman" McKinnon
4. Vice Presidential Candidate Mr. Nice The Muppet
5. Allen Richardson's Campaign Manager and CEO of the Anti-Voting Fraud Commission Jim Richardson
6. Sienna Effinger's Campaign Manager Charlotte Van Vactor
7. Human Buffet Steve Perry
8. Samba Drum Corps Leader Brad Rozeman
9. Samba Drum Corps Member Brad Nelson
10. Samba Drum Corps Member Julie Kohls
11. Samba Drum Corps Member Jason Kokal
12. Samba Drum Corps Member Rob Litsenberger
13. Samba Drum Corps Member David Hopkins
14. Samba Drum Corps Member Bonnie Barker
15. Action Painter Connie Minowa

Beer Tasting Provided By Lake Superior Brewing.
The event is free.

*Still recruiting visual artists, sambanauts, poets, jugglers, and puppeteers. We have the puppets.

Cabin Fever Extreme

Well it looks like the ?th annual boys sweat-lodge swamp rock winter hootenany is off to a great start with this phone message I got. Lemme get this straight, bring arrows, a target and booze...20 guys stuffed in a tiny n.wisc cabin in a blizzard with ever shortening supply of booze, *some* arrows and no target...hmmm do the math and run for your life.

cabinfever.mp3

Zoinks......

Yesterday I had to drop something off. Literally a two minute job. There was no parking anywhere, but I was desperate and did something you should NEVER EVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE do.... park at a handicap parking spot. It was my first time. It's also the biggest fine of $103. Anyways, can I get out of it somehow? suggestions... on screwing parking police welcome.

Odd multi-use items
For example, the white Dr. Marten's boot.
This boot is only worn by:

• Artists (like to paint the boot)
• Nurses (and other medical professionals)
• Brides
  
• White Supremacist Skin-Heads
  

The New Gauntlet

All right, I'm not saying that I'm doing it right now, but the new PDD gauntlet is to fill the home page with consecutive posts, knocking all other bloggers into the archives. Good luck.

Seriously, I'm not even going to try this.

Hey! Gimmie a ride to the Twin Cities.

Why shouldn’t gimmies get? All I'm looking for is someone to drive me to the Twin Cities area on Wednesday, Jan. 26.

Greyhound is asking $27 for this service. I will pay you $15.

I'm flying out of Minneapolis the next afternoon, so I could also accept an early morning ride on Thursday, but that would make me nervous. You would have to fill me with trust before I'd accept that offer.

By the way, I'm going skiing at Copper Mountain. Jealous?

Cleaning House, Offering Up My Computer Crap

About two years ago, the hard drive on my Packard Bell 1666 bit the dust. I'm finally ready to pitch the whole thing into a Dumpster, but I thought I'd put it up for grabs here, since the rest of the machine is still in working order.

Granted, this is an old computer and it's not good for much more than word processing and Solitaire, but if someone can manage to put some part of it to better use than landfill, it's worth me making this post, right?

I suppose, since it was my first computer, I should have it bronzed. Maybe it could be some sort of trophy at Geek Prom.

Anyway, in addition to the free computer, I have a few perfectly functional accessories that I hope I can raise a few dollars on. Please comment if you have any use for the items in the following list. I will part with them cheaply (or perhaps even freely, if you've bought me a lot of drinks over the years).

* A mouse with two extension cables, for an awesome total length of 24 feet! You could point-and-click from all the way across the room! Wow!

* A keyboard with one extension cable. Sorry, you could only type from halfway across the room with this.

* Iomega Zip 100 drive. Barely used at all.

* UMAX Astra 2000P scanner. Barely used at all.

Buy now or Dumpster dive for them later. Thank you for shopping Perfect Duluth Day.

Not One Damn Dime Day

Looking for something meaningful to do on inauguration day, but like me, you have to work all day and the sniper rifle is in the shop? I have the solution for you - "Not One Damn Dime Day" (got this in email from my mother-in-law, she's friggin awesome!). So, pass this on, post it willy-nilly and make your day useful. Thankfully, "Not One Damn Dime Day" doesn't fall on comic day. ;)

Not One Damn Dime Day
Thursday, January 20, 2005 (Inauguration Day)

Since our religious leaders will not speak out against the war in Iraq, since our political leaders don't have the moral courage to oppose it, Inauguration Day, Thursday, January 20, 2005 is Not One Damn Dime Day in America.
On Not One Damn Dime Day those who oppose what is happening in our name in Iraq can speak up with a 24-hour national boycott of all forms of consumer spending. During Not One Damn Dime Day please don't spend money. Not one damn dime for gasoline. Not one damn dime for necessities or for impulse purchases in person or online or by credit card. Not one damn dime for anything for 24 hours.
On Not One Damn Dime Day, please boycott Walmart, KMart and Target. Please don't go to the mall or the local convenience st ore. Please don't buy any fast food (or any groceries at all for that matter). For 24 hours, please do what you can to shut down the retail economy. The object is simple. Remind the people in power that the war in Iraq is immoral and illegal; that they are responsible for starting it and that it is their responsibility to stop it.
Not One Damn Dime Day is to remind them, too, that they work for the people of the United States of America, not for the international corporations and K Street lobbyists who represent the corporations and funnel cash into the coffers of US politicians.
Not One Damn Dime Day is about supporting the troops. The politicians put the troops in harm's way. Now more than 1,200 brave young Americans and some estimated 100,000 Iraqis have died. The politicians owe our troops a plan -- a way to come home.
There's no rally to attend. No marching to do. No left- or right-wing agenda to rant about. On Not One Damn Dime Day you take action by doing nothing. You open your mouth by keeping your wallet closed. For 24 hours, nothing gets spent, not one damn dime, to remind our religious leaders and our politicians of their moral responsibility to end the war in Iraq and give
America back to the people. Please share this e-mail with as many people as possible.
Thank you.

It's like a toothpick on an orange.

Based on something I saw on the Daily Show tonight...I've always been told that I have a large head. Judging by how hard it is for me to find hats, I think it might be true.

I propose that parties interested in proving/disproving my freakishness get a tape measure, wrap it around their head at the forehead or so, and post their results here.

(For the record, my head/skull's 22.5 inches around--I think that translates to 58 cm or so.)

DULUTH AT -26° THIS MORNING

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.