The LoopHole

These gas prices are freakin' ridic...Ooh, it's PumpCast!

2008-05-16T20:59:16Z

So I was driving around the other night at 12:30 looking for an open gas station (the band and I were "rehearsing" -- with beers -- until way too late as usual on a Tuesday night) and I finally found working pumps at a station I don't normally use. Gas was $3.73. Crazy. I started pumping my gas, and suddenly a glitzy TV screen springs to life on the pump, with the KSTP Channel 5 "PumpCast." While a quick Google search reveals this is not brand new, I'd never seen anything like it. It felt a little like "Back To The Future." Maybe more like "Idiocracy." You see, the idea is to cram something vaguely like an entire newscast into the time it takes you to fill your tank. And the results are comical. My favorite was probably the movie segment. I'm not making this up:

Hi there, I'm Rusty Gatenby with the latest movie news. "Prince Caspian: The Chronicles of Narnia" is out. It's the sequel to the first Narnia movie. I saw it the other day, and I have to tell you -- it's pretty good.

And that's it. He doesn't even say goodbye. Then on to the headlines, weather, etc. Followed by an ad for corn dogs. It's a breadth-to-depth ratio of infinity. Is news like this worth anything? Maybe momentary distraction from the dollars you're pumping out of your wallet these days. When I went out looking for more info on PumpCast, I didn't find anything legimate (KSTP doesn't even mention the service on its web site). I did, however, find that some good fun has been had with the PumpCast concept.

How are Americans handling their stimulus check?

2008-05-16T15:15:57Z

The check is in the mail . . . or for many Americans, already in the pocket. What are we doing with the money? Buying ponies. Or getting our teeth pulled. Or investing it in really awesome arcade games. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. If you are hard up for creative ideas on how to spend your check, click over to How I Spent My Stimulus. It's a running commentary from average citizens on how they plan to stimulate (or not) the economy. It's also like reading a mini-novel on someone's life situation, like this entry. Much like the comments for our recent YouTube video, folks are stopping by to discuss and diss (mostly diss) the whole idea of stimulus checks. Still, people seem more than happy to get the money. And you really shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth . . . or a gift pony.

Real life Iron Man

2008-05-15T17:26:48Z

While America is marveling over the imagined technological feats of Robert Downey Jr., the Swiss are cheering on this guy. Yves Rossy is a pilot, inventor and, um . . . a rocket man (cue the Elton John song). Yesterday he strapped on a pair of homemade jet wings and gave a public demonstration of his flying machine. He flew over the Swiss alps at a speed of 186 miles per hour and apparently he even pulled off a 360 degree mid air roll. He was later quoted as saying: "that was to impress the girls."

What if I told you Minneapolis was the cleanest city in the world?

2008-05-14T20:07:40Z

Well, okay. It's not the cleanest city in the world. According to Forbes.com Calgary is the cleanest city in the world. But Minneapolis is number 5 (right after Honolulu, Helsinki and Ottawa).

(MPR Illustration/Preston Wright)

What does it take to be in the top 25 cleanest cities of the world? According to the Mercer Human Resources consulting firm (the folks behind this report), clean air, good waste disposal and a solid public transportation system are all crucial. But hey, we live in or around Minneapolis. Does this ranking surprise you? I have to admit, I didn't expect to be in the top 10. At least once a summer we have an air-quality alert. Our public transportation system leaves much to be desired and we've recently found dangerous chemicals in our water and lawns. But I guess it says something about the world's general state of cleanliness that even the cleanest of the clean still have a ways to go. And it could be worse, much worse. Check out the list of the 25 dirtiest cities in the world. The good news here is that according to pollution experts quoted in the article, it would take relatively little money to clean up 90% of the pollution in these cities. But getting the governments to actually do it is another matter . . .

A personal experience with the China quake

2008-05-14T15:35:01Z

An ITL listener put us in touch with a former college classmate who is teaching in China -- specifically Beibei, which is near Chengdu and about 250 km from the epicenter of the 7.9-scale earthquake.

Rescuers search the rubble of the collapsed Juyuan middle school where six children died in Dujiangyan, in southwest China Sichuan province. *(AFP/Getty Images)*

I fired off a quick email asking Keegan O'Hara to get some details of his experience with the quake. (Any emphasis added is mine.)

I was on the top floor of a dormitory building (6th floor) when the quake began. To tell you the truth I did not notice it right away...Then I realized the building was shaking, and some students said "earthquake" rather calmly to me and my friend who is another teacher at the University, they even told us in English which was helpful. Then we preceded to exit the building, it was very calm and orderly scene, I did not hear any screaming or an uncommon amount of yelling... I personally did not feel scared at any point, although many of my Chinese friends were very concerned about the threat of aftershocks. As a result many students were encouraged, if not directed, by the teachers or administration to not sleep in the dormitories on Monday night. This meant that all of the athletic fields and open areas on campus were filled with students on Monday night. It was a very interesting sight to say the least... Although I am nearly sure there are no sort of rescue efforts going on in Beibei, due to extremely minor amount of damage, the rescue efforts have been extremely impressive. The response by the central government was almost instantanious, much different than the events currently taking place in Burma/Myanmar in Southeast Asia, or dare I say...New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. The troops from the Peoples Liberation Army were unable enter many of the affected areas by vehicle or aircraft due to bad condititions, so they went by foot to begin rescue efforts as soon as possible. Even Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao travelled to the area within hours of the earthquake and he is helping with the rescue efforts. Now, I am in Beibei, everyone has been glued to the state news channel, but I think life is more or less back to normal (in Beibei).

Thanks to Keegan for the details, and listener Matt Steele for the contact.

Are you a 'Black Diamond' at airport security?

2008-05-13T18:10:51Z

(TSA graphic)

WSJ's Scott McCartney (subscription may be required) brought some popular attention today to the new Black Diamond airport security screening program now rolled out at a few airports by the Transportation Security Agency (eight cities so far, according to the Journal). Basically, you're supposed to sort yourself based on how much of a hassle you're likely to be going through security. To simplify the concept (at least for skiers) they adopted the "black diamond," "blue square," "green circle" code: Are you an "expert," a "casual traveler" (though apparently not frequent enough to be an "expert" yet) or are you a green circle "family" or "special assistance" case? The TSA (here's their latest press release) has a scintillating and dramatic video that takes five minutes to walk you through basically what I just explained in about 50 words. McCartney's column is upbeat; people in Orlando certainly seem to be fans. The idea is increased speed for people in a hurry, and less stress on slower people. My big question is the middle category. Now...I'm not an everyday business traveler. And I'm hesitant to declare myself an expert on anything. But when it comes to going through airport security...dare I say I know most of what there is to know? Who has been on a plane more than twice in the past five years who is not basically an expert? It's hard for me to imagine someone arriving at the security lanes and thinking, "Now, how does this whole thing work again? I'm supposed to walk through where? I'd better take the casual route 'till I can wrap my head around this dag-burned system." Then again, maybe I'm missing something. What additional levels of knowledge might I still need to attain black diamond level?

Bye-bye, old (toxic?) cup. Hello weird replacement.

2008-05-13T15:30:09Z

Not the deepest blog post ever...

Out with the old...

...in with the new.

But my brain is functioning well enough this morning to make a clean break with my tea mug of five years. It was a tough decision, but it had to be done:

* It's made of possibly toxic plastic (I haven't confirmed this),
* ...which has partially melted because it has metal inside and I once nuked the mug by mistake,
* ... besides which I haven't really washed it more than four times since I got it.

It does however have a lid, which I really like, and sentimental value: It was given to me by my Rochester reporting colleagues when I moved from St. Cloud to St. Paul in 2003. I think it's funny that this mug which I suspect has been leaving toxic traces of plastic in my body says "Mayo Clinic" on it. I don't think a workday has gone by that I have not used this mug in five years. It was a sad, if brief, trash-can funeral. My temporary replacement (temporary, because it does not have a lid, which is essential as much as I carry my tea around) is valuable mostly for kitsch value. I got it for free when I refilled an inkjet cartridge at OfficeMax. It features images of a heavily tattooed man and woman, whose backs sport the reminder to "Save Money on Ink." Am I veering too close to the true blog aesthetic with a post like this? Perhaps. I'll have a sip of tea, refill some ink cartridges, and think it over. (btw, I'm currently drinking Republic of Tea "Acai Green Superfruit" tea -- $15 a tin. Not sure if it's worth it. I think I'll have to wait another 40 years before I learn whether all these extra antioxidants are doing me much good.)

Food crunch and the dumpster-diver

2008-05-12T20:12:28Z

The food shortage is hitting close to home. Real close. Check out this story from Marketplace about the increase of traffic at St. Paul food shelves. All of this has got me thinking about a story I did a while back on dumpster divers (right click to download). I still hang out with a lot of these same people and they are still foraging for food in the trash. In fact, one friend of mine gets the majority of his groceries from the garbage . . . everything from veggies and breads to easter candy and flower bouquets. He's doing fine. Trash cans are still more than full enough. Of course not everyone has the time to go looking for free grub. And I'll be the first to admit, the idea of dumpstered food is not that appetizing for a lot of people. But my point is that there is a lot of free or wasted food in this city. Even with organizations like Sister's Camelot and Second Harvest trying to save some of this stuff, there's still almost 100 billion pounds of food being wasted every year in the U.S. It would be great if there was more food in the world, but in the meantime, how can we get better about making use of the tons of food we are throwing out?! What's stopping us from getting it to the people who could actually use it?

Do have what it takes to be a 'Budget Hero?'

2008-05-12T15:54:42Z

Our hardworking friends at Public Insight Journalism have just released their most massive online game project yet. It's safe to say online game concepts don't come much meatier than balancing the federal budget. While I believe it is available as a widget that will probably appear on multiple sites around the web, for starters the Budget Hero game has established an outpost on the Marketplace web site. Sure, I've got a slight personal interest in the project (um...whose voice is that in the tutorial?). But I'm pleased to be tangentially attached to something that really did turn out great, considering the incredible ambition of building an interactive game around something so complex. At times, I'm a little thrown by the simplifications that had to made to tame this beast of an idea. But that's part of the necessity of a project like this: No sane human being who isn't justly compensated would want to contend with the true vastness of the federal budget. This allows people to engage with the concepts and trade-offs -- built from the actual budget numbers and forecasts, to be sure -- and get a sense of how truly difficult the process is. That's especially true if you remain true to your values (the "badges" you are asked to choose at the start of the game) rather than just hue to fiscal discipline. It's a good eye-opener for an election year. Give it a whirl. What do you think? You can comment on the game on the page where it resides at Marketplace, on Gather.com, or -- if you like -- right here.

WSHD: "What Should Hillary Do?"

2008-05-09T16:25:28Z

For Hill-raisers, Hill-colytes, and Hill-ophiles (just invented those last two) the clouds are darkening. Indiana was a squeaker -- the sound of leaking air, perhaps? Yet the numbers still let a crack of light through the door. And we all know how hard it is not to walk toward the light. Of course, the unscientific opinions of the great unwashed masses are deeply important at a time like this. So, what say you?

You know you're (almost) a grown-up when...

2008-05-08T22:45:42Z

...you look up and suddenly realize you are interviewing pediatricians. We interviewed our second one today on our lunch break. The first one, a few days ago, was a little odd -- and I think that distracted me from the big emotional impact of what we're actually doing. Today's was much more accessible, and we walked out thinking, "Yes, this is the person who we'd choose to safeguard the health of our first-born." That's heavy. All the books say that when you've got a kid on the way (as I do, within a few weeks) the guy usually has his crisis near the end of the process. I'm not having a crisis -- and I continue to maintain a very macho notion that I'm totally ready (even though, of course, I'm not -- who could be?)... but it's interesting how your world shrinks dramatically as the date gets closer. The pediatrician visit was definitely a signpost. Must have been something to me if I'm actually writing about it. Suddenly I feel like I'm writing on Nanci Oleson's "How's The Family" blog. But like most guys, I'm too out of practice with verbalizing my emotions, so it's kind of an ugly process. So before I subject you to more... < EOM >

Bescumber your rivals: Learn some new words

2008-05-07T15:10:22Z

You know, we are running out of insults. Seems like when we were kids, we had a new cool insult word every week. (As someone often enough on the receiving end, I should know.) Dink, dork, dingleberry, dung beetle (science class was often a source for the insult-of-the-day). And those are just the D's. As adults, the well dries up. We fall back on the same old standbys, like "jerk" and other more off-color options I can't write here lest I get a note from my boss. Someone just flipped me a link to a list from Neatorama designed to give us some new (and printable!) options. Lots of good nouns (I like "cacafuego" and "coccydynia"). But my favorite is probably one of the few verbs: "bescumber," meaning (ahem) "to spray with poo." Some possible applications I'm imagining:

* "Bob, I prepare for these meetings in good faith, and all you do is bescumber my proposals. I'd like to see you put something worthwhile on the table for a change."
* Look, I don't put myself out there on Match.com so I can show up for a blind date and have my life's ambitions bescumbered by the likes of you."
* Honey, I'm not sure, but I think the cook may have bescumbered my pork chop." (This is a more literal application.)

(Thanks to Jo Easton for the link!)

St. Cloud Superman -- the song, the dude

2008-05-05T17:25:32Z

I knew that if we included the song in our most recent Story Slam, it would spark a fresh round of curiosity, celebration, and trash-talk about central Minnesota's own self-appointed superhero.

Young Jeff interviews the Man of Granite (City)

I wrote the song in late 2001 (maybe early '02?), after doing a feature story for MPR, where I had been on the job for a few months as a reporter based in St. Cloud (while the local paper followed with a piece a few weeks later, I believe we were the first). After passing him every day on my way home from work, I finally just pulled over and asked him what his deal was. He had only been out on the corner for a few months at most, at that point. When I pulled over, some local college students were working on a documentary. I gather it took a few years, but it eventually became this short film. I think the film benefits from its extended production timeline, since St. Cloud Superman evolves somewhat as years go by. This is definitely recommended viewing. The song arose partly because of the complicated reaction to the MPR story. The story was an open-ended portrait of a local character; but to some, St. Cloud Superman is a jerk and a dangerous threat. Who am I to issue a verdict? (Though state records at the time showed he is not, as some have insisted, a registered sex offender.) The song was an attempt to capture the contradictory and controversial enigma that is St. Cloud Superman.

Again, I wrote this song seven years ago. A solo performance (at left) has been getting good traffic on YouTube, and the debate in the comments captures exactly why I wrote the song in the first place. This latest Story Slam (theme: "Achilles' Heel") seemed an appropriate radio debut of the full-band version:

(Link to download the MP3.)
This text will be replaced by the flash music player.

St. Cloud Superman is well-documented on the web. Here's a taste:

* He has his own MySpace page (Latest headline: "Whoever threw that Big Gulp at me, you totally missed.")
* He reportedly got into a tussle a few years ago with police at the State Fair
* He has been joined on his corner (peaceably) by Spiderman and (not-so-peaceably) by Darth Vader
* In October of last year, he physically stopped a man from jumping off a bridge in St. Cloud and committing suicide. The man had started talking to him because he recognized him, even out of costume.

Vindication at last? Google around a bit. Plenty of chatter out there (including his alter ego, which has never been much of a secret).

Speaking of tripping on LSD . . .

2008-05-02T16:32:43Z

What do John Lennon, Steve Jobs and Nobel Prize winner Francis Crick all have in common? Just thought I'd add a few more thoughts on this topic. One reader sent me some interesting evidence in support of LSD's mind expanding powers. First, it was apparently a big influence on Steve Jobs. During his younger years "Jobs experimented with LSD, calling these experiences 'one of the two or three most important things he has done in his life.'" Genetic Scientist Francis Crick had a breakthrough while tripping. "He often used small doses of LSD . . . to boost his powers of thought. He said it was LSD . . . that helped him to unravel the structure of DNA, the discovery that won him the Nobel Prize." And while the Beatles song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds wasn't actually about LSD . . . It's widely thought that the ground breaking Revolver album was heavily inspired by the band's use of the drug. Pair that with this story from our recent Story Slam. Dave Good tells a tale about one guy who's habit of taking the stuff didn't yield such "positive" effects. Check it out:

This text will be replaced by the flash music player.

Was the invention of LSD a good or bad thing?

2008-05-01T17:28:54Z

Albert Hofmann, the father of LSD died this week. He lived to be a 102. Throughout his life he had great faith in the power of his drug to help people deal with mental problems. He also openly detested the recreational use of the drug by the youth movement in the 1960s. Listening to the remembrances of his life and work I started thinking about what a mixed bag his invention was. Some say it opens your mind to a greater consciousness. And it has been the inspiration for great art and cultural movements. But plenty of people have also had bad trips, and the drug has been used in some horrible ways. After a raid on some labs in 2000 the drug has been on the decline. But it'll probably have a resurgence sometime down the road. What do you think? Is the world better or worse for the invention of this powerful chemical compound?