People of “Doolith,” you’ve been warned

My in-laws are planning a trip up here this summer, my sister-in-law keeps referring to it as "Deluth" in her e-mails. I have not corrected her. I hope they find a hotel in the right town.

I was at the First Robotics competition a few weeks ago talking to the team from Hawaii. They kept referring to our city as "Duhl-uhth". They were so cold, I didn't have the heart to correct them.

His preparedness advice is spot-on, if not overly enthusiastic.

He nails the correct pronunciation of Minnesota.

Frankie McDonald is a 28-year old man from Nova Scotia.  He is autistic.  Despite his disability he has become passionate about weather and by reviewing weather reports on his computer and on television for research, he puts together his own forecasts, uploads them to YouTube and tweets them. Not only does he create his own video reports, he has embraced Twitter — where he has more than 4,700 followers — and Facebook, where he has more than 1,600 likes on his page.  Unfortunately there are those who have been very unkind to him online.  But Frankie is undeterred. "Some of the people make fun of me on the Internet and it is not a nice thing to do. I have a good heart."  We all need to take a lesson from the Frankies of the world and learn to be kinder and gentler to them.  Most definitely, Frankie is one of my heroes.

Frankie does sound pretty cool, but... "Despite his disability he has become passionate about weather" scans awkward, as if folks with disabilities rarely are passionate about things.

Jesus Edgeways, did you spot any other conceptual errors?  I think that was just Jan's simple attempt to add some framework, not write the book.  You think that scans awkward you should try reading my last 500 posts.

I felt the same way Edgeways. Also, making reference to a disability is not needed.

In most of his posts, there's a moment where he almost starts laughing at himself. It's reassuring that he's self-effacing about those over-the-top moments. In the above clip, it's at 1:25 as he tells us all the things that need to be charged. Earnest and passionate, yes, but also funny.

Edgeways, perhaps my sentence structure gave you the wrong impression of my respect for persons with disabilities. I have a long history of working with young people with various kinds of abilities and disabilities. I know how many of these young people have been maligned and bullied because of the way they talk, behave and relate to others.  It is heartwarming that Frankie has found his niche and that he is being positively recognized for his work.