November 2023 Posts

PDD Geoguessr Challenges #3 and #4: North Shore State Parks and Duluth Neighborhoods

If you missed the post introducing PDD Geoguessr Challenges, the concept and rules are summarized at the end of this post. That first post had links for two somewhat standard challenges. In this second post, the challenges get a little bit more complicated just to show the different ways Geoguessr games can work.

Postcard from a Great Lakes Packet Freighter

This undated postcard, published by Zenith Interstate News Company, shows a Great Lakes packet freighter passing through the Duluth Shipping Canal under the Aerial Lift Bridge.

Introducing Perfect Duluth Day Geoguessr Challenges

GeoGuessr is an online game that challenges people to locate specific places in the world based on the environmental cues of Streetview. The mechanics are rather simple — you move around a Streetview environment stripped of all its informational overlays looking for clues that indicate where you are. Once you think you know, you mark the spot of your original starting location on the inset map. The closer you are, the more points you get. A game consists of five locations.

Cemetery land sale preserves trails through Morley Heights and Woodland wilderness

Park Hill Cemetery is located off Vermillion Road in the Morley Heights neighborhood of Duluth. The Park Hill Cemetery Association is selling 52-acres of excess property on its northern edge to the city of Duluth. The property will remain natural. (Photos by Mark Nicklawske)

A rugged chunk of deep forest in a remote northeast corner of Duluth has been secured for preservation and ongoing trail use after city officials agreed to buy the property, which was reserved for cemetery space more than 100 years ago.

Sparhawk touring Europe with solo project

The Guardian reported this week on Duluth’s Alan Sparhawk’s European tour, which features a set list of new songs that mine the depths of grief for his late wife and bandmate Mimi Parker.

The tour opened Nov. 11 with a performance at Le Guess Who Fest in Utrecht, Netherlands. It continues with three shows in Spain and two in Portugal.

Jeno Paulucci featured in new book

In his new book, The Rebellious CEO, Ralph Nader picks Duluth icon Jeno Paulucci as one of “12 leaders who did it right,” noting his respect for workers.

Learning the back-story of “Random Acts of Radio”

I am sorting through items found at the College of St. Scholastica book sale, and I ran into this CD from the 1990s.

It feels like an argument could be made to submit this to the archives and special collections at the University of Minnesota Duluth as a significant artifact of the Duluth music scene.

PDD Gift Guide 2023

Welcome to the 2023 PDD Holiday Gift Guide, an annual tradition that highlights products made in Duluth and the surrounding area. You’ll find 16 gift ideas here, but the comment area is open for suggestions.

Big Sky Woody – “#84” and “#85”

#84 and #85 by Big Sky Woody are available free on Bandcamp.

PDD Quiz: Gales of November II

Dive into this week’s quiz, which covers vessels (and other things) lost, found and run aground on Lake Superior. For additional maritime trivia, check out the first PDD Gales of November quiz.

The next current events quiz sails your way on Nov. 26. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Nov. 22.

Making connections. Even small, brief ones.

A lot of people say today’s college students are indifferent and want nothing to do with the older generation. I disagree!

Cub Cadet

Ma’iingan came by to look at the snowblower, a 2001 Cub Cadet 926 SWE 8-horse, at noon on an early November Saturday a year ago. The last backyard maple, birch, and popple leaves had fallen overnight. Around 11:45 I brushed a few from the engine with my hardware-store work gloves before starting the machine and testing the controls. After he got there we crunched around in an ankle-deep layer of leaves while discussing the blower’s features and flaws.

I was selling the Cub Cadet for Frasier’s Mom. She and he (a nifty brindle pit-bull-mix with sweet chocolate eyes) lived next-door to us for about five years. They moved to southern Wisconsin last October after an unexpected decision by her landlord. Frasier’s Mom had bought the snowblower new. While showing me how it worked she recalled how the rural sales guy had treated her better — just talked to her like an actual equal human being — than she had been treated by any other man while buying power equipment. She also told a couple stories about hard work she and the machine had done during winters in small cities and tiny towns and out in the sticks. I don’t think she wanted to sell it or leave Duluth. I do know she and Frasier seemed to be having a blast every time they left for and returned from Chester Bowl trail walks.

Selective Focus: Masha Conner’s Character Drawings & Pro-Choice Art

When Masha Conner isn’t working as a nurse at WE Health clinic, she can be found pouring her passion for abortion access, drag shows and cosplay into her character designs. A collection of her drawings and a recent interview can be read below:

Mystery Photo: Thiel’s Art Gallery in Duluth

Who is the handsome gentleman in this cabinet card photo? That information might be lost to history, but we know from the printing on the card that the image was shot at Carl Thiel’s Art Gallery in Duluth. Handwritten on the back of the card is the date: “Jan. 1896.”

Rafe Carlson – “Bound to Get Burned”

Hermantown native Rafe Carlson has a new single, captured in this video from Bo Allen Productions.