Geeky
Population of Duluth: 1860 to 2000
Update: A more recent version of this chart with 2010 and 2020 figures and additional notes is now available.
I can’t remember ever seeing a graph of Duluth’s population over time, so I made one. The results of the 2010 U.S. Census aren’t in yet, but the state demographer estimated a population of 85,220 in 2008, so perhaps a slight dip can be expected.
The topic for discussion: What is the ideal population for Duluth?
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Please Stay Off The Rocks!
I have been collecting some funny or odd sign pictures the last year or so, well, signs that strike me as funny or odd, anyway. I guess this could also qualify as a “Where in Duluth?” if anyone wants to play that game …
2010 Homegrown Tags (UPDATED)
Once again, Homegrown has begun, and once again, all you numbskulls will be out there flashing your fancy digicams and/or tapping at your mobile devices, cataloging all the craziness as it happens. And as always, it’s important to properly tag your stuff so that everyone else knows that it exists.
Keeping with the tradition of years past, let’s all use the following tags:
Homegrown Twitter hashtag: #HG10 #HGMF10
Homegrown Flickr tag: homegrownmusicfestival2010
I would also recommend tagging your Flickr photos with HG10 since it’s easy to do and it doesn’t hurt to apply an additional layer of taggish re-enforcement.
I’ll post here again tomorrow with the ever-growing Flickr slideshow of everyone’s shots. Here are links to slideshows from previous years, to get you excited: 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009
Free Comic Book Day 2010
What is Free Comic Book Day?
Free Comic Book Day is a single day – the first Saturday in May each year – when participating comic book shops across North America and around the world give away comic books absolutely free* to anyone who comes into their stores. *Check with your local shop for its participation and rules.
Dragon Port Games & Comics
3 South Fourth Ave. W., Duluth | (218) 260-2646
Collector’s Connection
Village Mall; 2322 Mountain Shadow Drive, Duluth
Fun and Games in the Greater Ashland Area
212 West Main, Ashland
I hope that the stores involved will post descriptions of the activities for the day — special sales, special games, special events.
–David Beard
Nerd Nite Pi! April 27
April’s Nerd Nite is just around the corner!
April 27. 7 p.m. $5. Teatro Zuccone.
Be there, and be square.
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Finally, something goes right in the world of journalism.
Now if we can just get them to change “Internet” to “internet,” all will be right with the cosmos.
Nerd Nite 1.2 – The Ultimate Doctor Who Showdown – The Winner!
Thanks for everyone who voted on the brackets and came out last night to stump for your favorite Doctor. Here are the results:
The Final Four were Jon Pertwee vs. Tom Baker and David Tennant vs. Peter Davison.
The Champion match was Tom Baker vs. David Tennant and Tom Baker prevailed!
Nerd Nite 1.2 – The Ultimate Doctor Who Showdown – Round 3
Round 1 is done and Round 2 is still in voting, but here is Round 3 of the Ultimate Doctor Who Showdown. In Round 1 Sylvester McCoy prevailed over Paul McGann and Christopher Eccleston trounced Colin Baker. So here are your brackets now.
Round 3
Bracket # 4 – Sylvester McCoy vs. Tom Baker
Bracket # 5 – David Tennant vs. Christopher Eccleston (more…)
UMD Alumni Composer Concert Tuesday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HoJvuaBcSA
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010 – 7:30pm
UMD Alumni Composer Concert
UMD Weber Hall
Adult $8 – Senior $7 – Student $5 – UMD Student $3 – Alumni $2
This is new classical chamber music featuring a real PDD’er!
The concert features the music of 4 umd alumni composers: Robert Linnemann, Ryan Rapsys, Nick Mroczek and James Gould. All of the pieces are lyrical, varied and entertaining. Every composition is a world debut! The Gichigami Piano Trio is the featured group, but the umd woodwind quintet and other small ensembles will also play.
Nerd Nite 1.2 – The Ultimate Doctor Who Showdown – Round 2
I’m on a mission to competitively assess the best Doctor ever, March Madness style!
While I tabulate the results from Round 1, here is Round 2. Send your votes to doctorwho@ironic1.com and feel free to make your case in the comments below.
Round 2
Bracket # 3 – Patrick Troughton vs. Jon Pertwee
Bracket # 6 – William Hartnell vs. Peter Davison
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More about Google, SXSW and Homegrown
Here is a photo from Google’s SXSW Bash and here is a note from Austin Techie Friend:
If you agree that Austin would be a great city for Google to build a high-speed data network go to https://www.biggigaustin.org/ for an opportunity for you to tell them. Click on the “nominate Austin” link in the lower left corner.
Click here to see what ideas have been posted.
Donna
We have things to learn from Austin — even if they “suck.” Homegrown is a great thing. Let’s put our brains to work here instead of our emotions.
iPhone owners rejoice!
This may be old news but I noticed yesterday as I was rolling down Tower Ave in Superior that my iPhone was showing a 3G connection, I thought it was for fake but it was for real!
Nerd Nite 1.2 – The Ultimate Doctor Who Showdown – Round 1
Ten go in! One comes out!
For Nerd Nite 1.2 I am going to settle once and for all who the best Doctor is, at least until Matt Smith becomes the Doctor starting April 4. In the spirit of March Madness I have constructed a bracket and have seeded the Doctors based on how many stories aired in their reign.
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“Cities Go Gaga for Google Fiber”
Catching up on some of my favorite tech blogs this morning and found this familiar face headlining a post on Gizmodo.
Duluth, Minnesota
But wait! Patrick Garmoe, public information officer of the Google Twin Ports Initiative laughs sheepishly as he explains Googlefest, an event that is one part rally, one part carnival and all parts enthusiasm for the promise of Google Fiber. In the midst of bands, choirs and other entertainment, “We’ll be shooting a movie with real actors and a Hollywood director and live-streaming the event to impress Google,” Garmoe says. The new initiative comes on the heels of Deluth mayor Don Ness’s own stunts. In a spoof video proclamation that in honor of Google, all first born males would be henceforth named GoogleFiber and first born females would of course be Googlette. Also, he literally sunk to a new low in the brutal battle for business. He jumped into the freezing waters of Lake Superior. Hizzoner, perhaps you’ll be deterred from further lunacy by these extremely gnarly Google Image results for “frostbite.”
Google Bike
Google biking. Very rad.
Shorter Days for All of Us?
Maybe this isn’t really a local enough topic for PDD, but given the earlier post on whether we’re vulnerable here to earthquakes, a Yahoo news story today seems interesting and relevant. The Chile quake apparently may have shifted earth’s axis, and made earth days slightly shorter. And this has happened before with big quakes, too.
Reminds me, too, of a Harper’s article from 2000 about dam building. There’s a quotation in that article that says: 
“The planet accommodates 40,000 large dams–dams more than four stories high–and some 800,000 small ones. They have shifted so much weight that geophysicists believe they have slightly altered the speed of the earth’s rotation, the tilt of its axis, and the shape of its gravitational field. Together they blot out a terrain bigger than California.”
So, any thoughts–think we’re headed towards shorter Perfect Duluth Days due to earthquakes and dam building?
Apologies in Advance for Opening Such a Shit-Storm of Nerdom
Thursday, March 18 · Triple Rock Social Club
Leslie and the LYs with Christopher the Conquered
The latest on Google Fiber in Duluth
Report by Minnesota Public Radio’s Bob Kelleher
Lundgren better be funny…
I’m in the mood for funny … so Paul Lundgren’s Happy Hour better be funny … dammit.
What: Paul Lundgren and poet Ryan Vine share the stage
When: Tonight @ 6pm
Where: Teatro Zuccone
Think about showing up. Paul’s mom would like it if you did.
Turbo Rathvon & Wyatt Famous with Fearless M.I.
Saturday Feb. 27 at 9 p.m. at Hell Burgers in Canal Park.
Come see the rising stars of the Twin Ports music scene: Turbo Rathvon, Wyatt Famous, and Fearless Moral Inventory! No Cover!
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSA5yE1KEsM
MPR interview with Mayor Ness – Duluth tries to land high-speed Internet via Google
The mayor of Duluth is ready to throw his city’s hat in the ring for a new Google experiment to test ultra-high speed Internet access.
MPR’s Steven John talks to Don Ness about his city’s plan.
Threaded Comments – Aborted
As explained in this post, Perfect Duluth Day experimented with threaded comments for a few days. The benefits of it seemed to be outweighed by the complications of it, so the experiment is now over and comments are back to working like they used to.
Since previously threaded comments are now unthreaded, we hope it won’t create too much confusion to readers who haven’t been following along.
Threaded Comments – This is only a test
Those of you who are regular PDD readers may have noticed that the comments have changed to allow threading — so you can respond directly to one comment rather than having it appear several comments below the one it is relevant to.
PDD administrators turned this function on today to see if it works good or crappy. We might get rid of it right away. We might keep it and tweak it to work better. So try not to fall in love with it or hate it too much.