Gainful Employment

Your useless intrepid author has just taken a new job with the Minneapolis Medical Research Foundation. Too bad the University Ave. light rail line won't be ready for years yet, a $1.50 train ride would definitely beat $10.00/day minimum for parking. But hey, at least it's a job.

More Finds

Thanks again, "Next Blog" button.

Word salad.

I speak absolutely no French, but this is a phenomenal photo.

Legit, but a niche market methinks.

Fantastic snark.

More great pictures.

This photo reminds me a lot of FOUND magazine.

Non-sequitur

Paris Hilton + Talent - STDs = Lily Allen

Non-sequitur

Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Waylon Jennings shouldn't have called themselves the Highway Men, they should've called themselves the Justice League.

New Feature

Via this blog (found using the "Next Blog" button, of course) I discovered the best terror alert advisory EVER. If this is how Tom Ridge et al had presented it when the color-coded alerts were unveiled no one would've questioned the system. So if you ever need to know the US' terror alert level, just check Midwest Product's sidebar.

The same blog entry also alerted me to the fact that Nabisco's video game programmers are seriously twisted.

Updated - Speaking of Bert & Ernie, those who haven't seen it should check this out. God I hope my new job doesn't have internet filters, I don't know what I would do without time-killers like this.

Whereupon I Pretend to be Roger Ebert

Went to see Al Gore's Campaign Commercial An Inconvenient Truth last night. I'm glad I went, although I have some mixed feelings about the film as a whole. I was concerned going in that it was going to be the equivalent of a Michael Moore picture, full of sanctimony and disingenuous use of information, but happily this is not the case. While the film is very much about its creator, it is NOT about its creator's self-righteousness a la Mr. Moore.

Mr. Gore's dry sense of humor helps to lighten the tone somewhat (fans of Futurama will also appreciate the "None Like it Hot" segment taken from that show), and there are a couple of really convincing arguments advanced. Probably the most important point the film makes is that there is no meaningful "debate" in the scientific community; towards the end of the picture Mr. Gore contrasts the 0% of peer-reviewed articles over the past decade that question the reality of global warming and the 53% of mass-media stories suggesting there is no consensus. Also quite effective is the blindingly obvious correlation between world-historical carbon dioxide levels and global temperature (see chart, source here), and the implied end-result of the massive, unprecedented spike in CO₂ levels we are currently seeing.

Unfortunately, I think ultimately the film really only speaks to those who already appreciate the preponderance of evidence for global warming and its connection to human activity. I was impressed by the crowd at the showing (25-30 on a Sunday night), but if books may be judged by their covers, it appeared that at least in this case Mr. Gore was preaching to the converted. There are also a few ineffective parts of the film, most notably the continued emphasis on saving exotic animal species. I don't think any climate skeptics really give a damn about polar bears or tropical birds, and will point to these segments as indications that Mr. Gore cares more about animals than people.

On a final note, I really do wonder whether Mr. Gore will end up tossing his hat in the ring in 2008. It's sad, but unfortunately I think a lot of his newfound credibility comes from his departure from American politics; I fear that if he returns as a candidate people will automatically reject his environmental appeals out of hand.

Non-sequitur

Popsicles are easily the most phallic, sexually suggestive dessert treat imaginable.

Some Initial Thoughts on MN, Seven Years Later...

As noted below, I've just returned to St. Paul from 7 years in Kalamazoo, MI. I've not even been back a week, so I can hardly comment on the current status of the Twin Cities in any sort of comprehensive fashion, but I have a few observations of changes and/or things I hadn't noticed before I moved.

-Construction-wise, St. Paul has really stagnated by comparison to Minneapolis. Since I left in 1999, there are no significant new towers in downtown St. Paul, while there are a number of completed new office and condo towers in Minneapolis, and a whole slew of new condo towers under construction. St. Paul has no current construction, and only one condo tower proposed, plus the (probably never going to happen) Bridges of St. Paul project. More on this later when I can get some photos and links put together.

-Tangentially related, the finally-approved LRT line connecting the two downtowns is long overdue, and is desperately needed. Traffic is awful both ways on 94, worse even than it was a decade ago, so both cities will benefit. But for St. Paul especially, this is a potential economic lifeline; with a massive budget deficit and stagnant growth, this will be huge.

-Everyone here is white. And blonde. Not that Kalamazoo is a bastion of racial diversity, but seriously, I went to the Twins game on Friday, and I was overwhelmed by the homogeneity of our population. Not that I'm not a part of that; your author is himself a pasty white blonde.

Thank you, "Next Blog" button!

Wow, I am totally digging the "next blog" button provided (forced on us, really) by blogger. It will direct you to a random blog registered to the blogspot community, and I have found some real doozies. There are, of course, some that are similar to mine (many with all posts having 0 Comments, for instance), and there are some in foreign languages, and then there are some that are just totally inexplicable and/or awesomely bad - behold:

...and this blog is their shrine.

Why? Why will she be watching over me?

Not sure if he hates the Irish, or if he just hates good grammar... (It makes me sad that he's a Minnesotan; must be a transplant)

The title says it all.

"...a guided journey of my fiber arts expeditions."

Picture Test

If I'm going to do any catblogging as threatened promised, I'm going to have to make sure I can post photos. So if you see a picture of the crowns of the Wells Fargo building and 225 South Sixth, all went as planned. If not, well, then you'll appreciate the motivation behind tomorrow's string of deadly shootings at the blogger.com offices.

Non-sequitur

Every blog needs a gimmick, or so the voices in my head tell me, so here is Midwest Product's: an occasional emphatic statement about a specific item or issue with no relation to previous entries, stated succinctly and without explanation or justification. But wait, I hear my zero readers saying in chorus, can't every entry in an unfocused blog like this be considered a non-sequitur? To which I reply: I don't know, and I don't care. In any case, today's entry follows...

The new Battlestar Galactica: it makes Star Trek look like the old Battlestar Galactica.

Look at me, I started a blog!

So yeah, having just returned to Minnesota from a seven year stint in Michigan, I've decided to commemorate the occasion with the foundation of this ridiculous exercise in hubris and egotism weblog. And just what will I be writing about? I'm glad you asked, non-existent reader of this entry (note: if through some mistake, perhaps due to that nifty "next blog" button, you are actually reading this, fear not: not only are you not non-existent, but you have also validated my own existence, and for that I thank you). I would imagine that most of my posting will be Minnesota-centric, with occasional forays into the national political and music scenes, some light catblogging, and perhaps a few updates on my own life (see first sentence) to appease those few among my friends and family who I tell about this little page viewable from anywhere in the world secret.

Microphone Check 1-2 1-2

Is this thing on?