A coalition of student activists from LSC, UMD and CSS have called for an anti-war protest in Duluth on Thursday, the day President Obama is scheduled to receive his Nobel Peace Prize. “You’ve got your prize, now earn it!” is the theme… they’ll be calling out the new Nobel Laureate on escalating the war in Afghanistan, as well as his recent decisions to launch more drone attacks inside Pakistan and station hundreds of US troops on the other side of the globe in Colombia.

No dreary speakers at this protest, just a little noise and fun street theater. Meet up at 4:30 PM at Lake and Superior in front of the Christmas… um, Holiday tree. Bring drums or buckets to bang on, and reflective clothes if you’ve got ’em for safety’s sake. And be ready to take it to the streets.

Anyone have experience with fuel oil companies in the Twin Ports? We’ve been using a company for the last several years, and when we had our chimney cleaned recently, the guy who did the cleaning pointed out there was a huge build-up of sulfuric acid in the pipe and even inside the furnace. He attributed this to the quality of the fuel oil we have been getting from the company we have been using (a company he says he has heard/noticed other such problems with).

So, my question–anyone have advice on a local company that delivers as clean a fuel oil product as possible?

Thanks

RIP Jack Rose

Jack Rose, guitarist extraordinaire, died yesterday of a heart attack. He was only 38. In September 2007, he played a rare show with Charlie Parr at Pizza Luce. Only a musician like Charlie could have gotten him to play a show like that. Besides his incredible talent, I will never forget how genuinely nice he was. His unexpected passing is our loss and the music community gains yet another deep hole. More info (as well as music/videos) is available at
http://pitchfork.com/news/37302-rip-jack-rose

Drawings and Paintings by Kathleen Pattison and Kathy Anscomb. Come on down to Bohemia Arts at 22 N. 1st Ave. W for some snacks and great local art.

A wedding photographer I know is giving away a 2010 wedding photo package this Christmas season. If you or anyone you know is getting married in 2010 please forward this on to them.

So I guess there’s a Plaid Friday thing in San Francisco to encourage shopping locally rather than in the big box stores on the evil Black Friday. I’m not much of a Christmas shopper myself, and don’t even plan to leave the house Friday, but I suppose most people are.

We’ve got this old Hoover vacuum cleaner taking up space in the basement. It kind of still works, but mostly it just makes a bunch of noise and reorganizes the dirt on the floor. It was replaced with a new Hoover about two years ago.

I haven’t looked into whether the garbage man will take it or if it needs to be brought to a materials recovery center or what. In the meantime, here’s what I’m wondering:

If I were a creative or moderately handy person, what kind of reuses for this vacuum could there be? Could Tim Kaiser make a musical instrument out of it? Would the brush roll make a good dog brush? Can I donate the hose to Last Place on Earth as drug paraphernilia or maybe a sex toy?

This vacuum was built to clean up the world, so help me resist the urge to just toss it into a landfull. Or at least help me come up with a bunch of entertaining and impractical ideas for reuse before I  just go ahead and  throw it out anyway.

Whatever you do, don’t try to explain to me how it can be fixed. The ship already sailed on that when it was replaced. If you want it fixed, I’ll glady give it to you and you can fix it all you want.

How much do you love the guy at Taco Bell with the fake British accent / Thurston Howell III voice?

Duluth’s own Turbo Rathvon will be performing at Beaner’s Central with James O’Neal and Skinny Longfeet. The show is Saturday, Nov. 21 at 8 p.m. Cover $5.