Its the 51st anniversary of the opening of Southdale, the Mother of all Malls. Other cities had shopping strips, but Minnesota was home to the nations first fully enclosed mall. It was designed by Victor Gruen, and Ill let wikipedia tell the rest:
Gruen was a European style socialist; he hated the suburban lifestyle of 1950s America, and wanted to design a building that would bring people together into a community, by providing a meeting place that American towns lacked. They would come together to shop, drink coffee, and socialize.
For someone who hated the suburban lifestyle, he might have done more than anyone to encourage it. Thanks, Vic! As for the original plan, it didnt happen all at once. Again, from wikipedia:
The mall was commercially successful, but the original design was never fully-realized, as the intended apartment buildings, schools, medical facilities, park and lake were not built.
Except, of course, for the apartment buildings, medical facilities, park and lake, all of which were eventually added in the Centennial Lakes Project down the street.
Most telling note from that biography:
Southdale, in Gruen's opinion, was not a suburban alternative to downtown Minneapolis It was the Minneapolis downtown you would get if you started over and corrected all the mistakes that were made the first time around.
Always the urge to start over and correct the mistakes. This time, we will get it right!
Posted by: Mike ||
10/08/2007 12:23 ||
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Southdale was built by the Daytons in the well to do city of Edina. Still a great place.
Officer James Kellett knows it's job to serve and protect - even when it comes to nature's stinky black and white creatures. When a skunk with its head stuck in a salad dressing jar wandered into the Carrollton Township police station's parking lot, he grabbed a pellet gun and shot at the jar from about 40 feet away.
The shots cracked and shattered the jar, leaving a glass collar around the skunk's neck. With its head free, the skunk ran off. "I didn't want to use deadly force, and it is a residential area," Kellett told The Saginaw News. "The way he was when he took off, he was able to eat, breathe and spray - and do anything else skunks like to do."
Kellett didn't get much in the way of gratitude, but he's grateful the skunk didn't spray. But there is one bonus - the makers of T. Marzetti's salad dressing are sending the officer coupons good for free dressing as a reward.
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/08/2007 06:27 ||
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See Stephen Buchmann's book, "The Forgotten Pollinators", probably in your local library, for some of the other creatures who pollinate fruit.
Also, in the October 2007 National Geographic, you'll find some disturbing discussion of animals as hosts for all sorts of diseases. This is relevant because bats are also pollinators in tropical areas. Habitat destruction is forcing animals to change their habits, come in closer contact with people, compete more for available food, and pick up all sorts of diseases.
#5
*shrug* This happens periodically, it seems, but then the populations recover. Far, far better insect pollinators are the native Orchard Mason bees, even if they don't provide honey and wax. brief articleeverything there is to know plus supplies for sale
#7
Another factor, at least here in South Texas, is the proliferation of "Africanized" or killer bees. They are basically killing off the european variety, and they apparently aren't as good pollenators.
#8
#7 Another factor, at least here in South Texas, is the proliferation of "Africanized" or killer bees. They are basically killing off the european variety, and they apparently aren't as good pollenators.
IIRC, european searchers thought they had found the cause of the disappearance of bees, in large hives farms foremost, and it may had been related to the spread of a parasite found on asian bees; asian species have the adaption to cope with that, but american and european do not.
Its the birthday of Gus Hall, Minnesotas most famous Communist. By the time he was six hours old, he had organized the maternity ward into a proletariat council, purged nine babies for preferring the right breast to the left, and sent two stuffed bunnies to the reeducation camp for asserting that the New Economic Policy of 1921 was a manifestation of recrudescent capitalistic exploitation. (The bunnies remained silent during the trial, and did not contradict the accusations.)
Posted by: Mike ||
10/08/2007 06:05 ||
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NPR had a long interview with him a few days ago, the tone greatly admiring of this artist who chose to live so unlike the common herd. Apparently the gentleman has a habit of living in purloined quarters, and so had his techniques already worked out. He said it was a pity the project was ended when it was, as the group had drawn up plans for all sorts of improvements like a functioning bathroom, a kitchen, and replacement windows, they just hadn't got round to actually spending the money. Which, after all, is hard to do when one is continually acquiring new furnishings and redecorating.
Wow! Such clarity. Telling it like it is as never before. Our own cherubic Emily Post speaking harshly of those whom NPR has beatified. Probably because there's no P&G products in the photo.
#3
Don't be rude, Nimble Spemble dear. I've mentioned asses before, although I try to reserve such language for the most egregious cases. Perhaps you had other things to do on those occasions.
#1
D *** NG IT, NO SHOWER SCENE ala UNDERCOVER BROTHER! Its what makes good guys and bad guys wanna sit down together in mutual harmony-enjoyment, and order beers + takeout. FARK.com Poster > I'm disappointed in all of you.
Hard-line Islamic books that justify violence against non-Muslim societies - including texts used as terrorist "recruiting tools" - are freely available in New York City public libraries. A Daily News spot check found a book by an Islamic theorist who inspired Osama Bin Laden and terror Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, as well as others that promote the hatred of other religions and one with the misogynistic title: "Women Who Deserve to Go to Hell."
Several of these texts can be found at the Brooklyn Public Library's main branch, a mile from the Al Farooq mosque, where Rahman once inspired followers to try to blow up New York. In the main stacks sits "Milestones," a notorious work revered by Bin Laden and Rahman and penned by Seyyid Qutb, a Muslim Brotherhood member executed in 1966 for trying to overthrow the Egyptian government.
In its final report, the Sept. 11 Commission noted Rahman and Bin Laden's attraction to Qutb: "Bin Laden shares Qutb's stark view, permitting him and his followers to rationalize even unprovoked mass murder." An August NYPD report on the "homegrown threat" of terrorism contended Qutb believed "militant jihad had to be used ... to overthrow non-Islamic governments and to bring about a 'pure' Islamic society."
Qutb's treatise is hardly the only hard-line book on library shelves in New York and Long Island, The News found. The reference room of the Brooklyn main branch carries "Fundamentals of Tawheed." In it, author Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips writes, "Un-Islamic government must be sincerely hated and despised for the pleasure of God."
In the research section of the New York Public Library in Manhattan, The News found "Islamic Fatawa Regarding Women" and "Women Who Deserve to Go to Hell." "We have no intention to accuse women when we say that they will be a majority in hell," wrote author Manssor Abdul Hakim.
The availability of such controversial books in public libraries points out the difficulties a society faces in balancing an aversion to censorship against the need to prevent terrorism. "These are also recruiting tools," said counterterrorism consultant Ilana Freedman of the Gerard Group International. Freedman said she was not suggesting banning books, "but without balance, without counterpoint, children cannot make informed decisions."
Librarians said it is not up to them to decide what belongs on their shelves. "We don't censor what people read," said Mary Haines, director of the South Country Public Library in Bellport, L.I., which just added "Milestones" to its collection.
Brooklyn Public Library spokeswoman Ruth Wagner said libraries have the responsibility to be inclusive, and "efforts are made to represent the widest possible diversity of views."
There is just enough space for Lisa Rivera's family to sleep at Jessie's House homeless shelter. In one room, she fits the full-sized bed she shares with her 9-year-old daughter, the trundle for her 11-year-old son, a twin bed for her 14-year-old daughter and a playpen for her 1 1/2-year old son. "It's comfortable, but it's hard sleeping all together," the 32-year-old woman said. "Oh my God, sometimes it's so hard."
Faced with domestic abuse, high housing costs and unemployment, Rivera's family finds itself among the growing ranks of the homeless in Massachusetts - and possibly, the country if the AP had its' way.
About 1,800 homeless families were in Massachusetts shelters last week - up from 1,400 in June 2006 and just under 1,200 in June 2005, according to state figures. There are more families in shelters now than at any time since the inception of the state's family shelter program in 1983, according to the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless. How's that new mandatory health insurance thing working out, folks?
State officials blame a wide range of problems - from cuts in assistance to the recent housing crisis. "We're very concerned that this is going to keep going," said Julia Kehoe, commissioner of the state Department of Transitional Assistance.
Massachusetts is one of the few states that keep government records of the number of homeless families in shelters because state law requires the Commonwealth to shelter any family that meets income and other guidelines. The state keeps a daily count to show how many beds it needs, said Robyn Frost, executive director of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless.
Nationally, the picture is much less clear. More money, more grants, more shelters, more taxes, more freebies, more illegal aliens, more homeless - a socialist paradise!
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/08/2007 06:15 ||
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Don't worry. They will all go away the day that President Clinton is sworn in.
#2
Seeing how this women's living on my dime, how about the enlightened state of Massachusetts maybe makes her give up the baby daddy names of her four bastard kids and maybe, just maybe, have them chip in on the price of raising what they're responsible for bringing into the world?
I know that's "mean spirited", but fuck her...
#4
It's long past the time that every child born in America is DNA swabbed. We've long ago given up on holding people accountable for 'bearing false withness'. It's time to "trust, but verify." If we're making payment for the kids' survival, we're entitled to identify the contributors. That includes mommy
Bets on how many in this instance, father unknown, would produce a correlation with adult males swabbed IAW standing law on criminal detentions and arrests? My bet would be that any sperm donor who has no inclination to take responsibility for his 'gift' to society, doesn't take much responsibility for any other of his actions in society.
#5
Irony is always lost on the left. It's precisely because of liberal policies that Massachusetts has such high housing costs. F-em and the horse they rode in on.
DENVER Protesters blocked the city's Columbus Day parade route Saturday, pouring a bucket filled with fake blood and dismembered baby dolls onto the street as police arrested 83 people.
At least 10 people face charges of resisting arrest, but most are accused of blocking a parade route or interfering with peaceful assembly, Denver Police spokesman Sonny Jackson said. No serious injuries were reported. Denver's parade, which was started in 1907, has a history of arrests and confrontations between supporters and detractors of Christopher Columbus.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/08/2007 00:00 ||
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They are welcome to migrate back to europe. Ungrateful scumbags.
#2
Buckets of Blood(tm) and Dismembered Bodies(tm), isn't that a usual day of entertainment in Tenochtitlan (Mexico City) during pre-Columbian days?
People like these never ask themselves why so many of the Crow joined the American Army as scouts. Maybe because the Sioux had been kicking their asses for generations before the white man showed up. Or that one of the earlier writings of Spanish missionaries in the Southwest told of the raiding and fighting between Apache and Pueblo communities which had gone unabated since the time before record.
Selling the Myth(tm) is an important element in the Guilt Game(tm), which has shown remarkable success in stripping the simple minded people of power and possessions.
#3
Another case of Irony alway being lost on the left.
Like the time I saw a group of feminazis at a pro abortion rally, who were the same women who weeks before had thrown red paint on women who were wearing fur coats.
The unfathomable contradiction that it's OK to kill your baby, but not the poor little mink, never entered their pea brains.
This whole hemisphere was populated with noble brown people practicing their indigenous customs of slash and burn agriculture, human sacrifice, infanticide, slavery, warfare and cannibalism 'till Whitey showed up and spoiled the game.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
