Some good news for wankers

Finally some good news in these gloomy times. Well, good if you're a senior citizen and a guy. And if you can still get your soldier to stand at attention.

If you can get Pedro to rise to the occasion, feel free to jerk him around because it's good for your health!

Yep, old men, masturbation is good. You've gotten past that age when doing so will lead to hairy palms and blindness so yank your wrinkled member out and take the old fella for a test drive. Grab a copy of Sexy Seniors or the lingerie section of the Sears catalog and pleasure yourself.

Oh, you're probably wondering why it's good for your health to flog the dolphin. Well, it can prevent prostate cancer. Your ninth-grade health teacher never told you that.

So, silver haired gentlemen of the world, next time you're feeling randy (preferably within the confines of your own home) bust out your wiener and jerk it out because it's not just good, it's good for you.

Now that I've scared everyone off with talk of masturbation, check out the classy side of me at MinnPics. It's bursting with fabulous photos from across Minnesota that are just begging for your attention.

Important things: The Tire

Not too many people think about the inner workings of their automobile as they throw the transmission into gear and depart from their driveway each day in their journey to their coal mine of choice. It might be due to modern civilization taking conveniences for granted or maybe because not too many people understand how their automobile works.

Whatever the case is, one of the more important pieces of the modern automobile (outside of the engine) are the tires. Without these magical rubber creations, your car, truck, van, SUV or lawn mower would travel on steel and that produces a rather unforgiving ride in terms of comfort. It also chews up highways and reduces fuel economy. But the tire still gets overlooked. It gets neglected because you don't check its air pressure. It wears unevenly because you're too busy with such miniscule tasks like taking care of your toddler. So the forlorn tire suffers through this neglect and it feels used.

Today's tires guide you through sunny days, rainy days, icy days and snowy days. It's alot like the mailman of your car, truck, van, semi-tractor, SUV or lawn mower. Tires aren't admired like the rest of the car. Nobody bases their purchase of a vehicle on what brand tires it's sporting. Tires are like the bottom of your shoes. You don't notice them until something goes wrong.

I will admit to cursing profusely when I encountered a flat tire on my way to the office a couple weeks back when the air temperature was -29 degrees. I then took a step back and realized that this particular tire had piloted by car for nearly 80,000 miles. I had taken it for granted up to that point but hand't neglected its maintenance.

So today, take a minute and admire the tires you own. Take your automobile through the car wash and spring for the full on tire wash treatment. Buy a can of the shiny tire cleaning foam and treat your rubber accessories to a fancy bath. Remember that tires are indeed important things.

Nobody really photographs tires unless they are attached to a shiny, chromed-out classic car but check out MinnPics because you never can tell what photos will be showcased next.

Toothy raccoon bit off manhood

This headline is precisely why I like British newspapers. They hold nothing back but also leave you wanting to read the story and find out the reason behind a raccoon chomping off some British dude's penis.

They went as far as identifying the man as a "pervert who was trying to rape the animal". It's no surprise that the guy was drunk, though. It is susprising that he didn't hail from Coon Rapids or Wisconsin because around these parts, that's where people get randy with wildlife.

What truly is surprising is that plastic surgeons are working to repair the damage. Why, though, would they fix this guy's penis? He's just going to try and sex up a raccoon again.

While things here seem to be spiraling down the drain, MinnPics is still classy with daily photos showcasing the life and times of Minnesotans via photographs. Check it out for the latest great photo!

And now, a movie about a cat

If you own a cat or know of someone who does, you'll instantly recognize the behavior. The cat walking on your head, grooming your hair, walking on your chest, sticking their tail in your face. It's all a form of communication. Sure, it's not subtle but it's their way of politely saying "Fill up my damn dish with some food you ignorant, lazy American".



Sure, cats seems to have been nearly banned from MinnPics but that doesn't mean you should click the link and scope out the best photos Minnesota's Flickrites have showcased.

Change keeps changing

Sometimes I sit and wonder what the world I live in now will look like in a year, five years, ten years.

This thought process runs through my mind because in my nearly thirty years here, I have seen plenty of changes. Hell, growing up we still had a 19 inch black and white TV in the living room and until the early 90s I had to physically get up from my seat and change the channel. Little did I know that before the end of that very decade I would be in charge of running a news website. Not just one aspect of it, the whole damned thing and not because I knew everything there was to know, it was because of my age. It was the one thing that someone of my age was supposed to know because the internet grew up with me.

Now I look back and realize that while I got the job done, I also completely sucked at it. Yeah, I made the company substantial piles of money but it was during the boom-time in our country.

Now I have a diminshed role more focused on what I know but it's still with websites. They've changed and everythign I do regarding them has changed as well. The world around me has changed too.

The city where I grew up recently had a fire burn down a pre-turn-of-the-century block of downtown businesses. Just blocks away, more businesses met the wrecking ball in favor of a parking lot and court house addition. Adjacent to that project, Great Depression-era bridges and underpasses were removed. The highway traffic they once served was moved to the freeway which now skirts the city in the 1960s.

The character of that city's downtown has changed so much that I don't even recognize it when I pass through.

Physical structures seem to be built to resist change while technology advances at a pace that makes some people's heads spin. Is there some middle ground that can be found to preserve the physical view of the past while making it functional for the future? Will the changes I've witnessed be dwarfed by those to come?

If existential questions like those above make your head hurt, check out the soothing yet intriguing photos at MinnPics. Great photos. Minnesota style.

2009 is all about the balls

When I earlier said that the Obama presidency meant dire things for political comedy, I was serious. Now I've been proven wrong. It's all about good writing and juvenile humor because some things never go out of style. Just check out the clip below from The Daily Show centering around balls. Yes, those kind of balls.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Changefest '09 - The End of Frat Boy Culture

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Reflective and optimistic

Have we now moved to a place in time where we can look beyond the fear about what tomorrow will bring and begin to work toward a better future? That's one of the positions I am taking away from Barack Obama's Inaugural Address. It's time that we should move beyond the greed and blind profit-taking that has gotten us to this place. As a country, reality tells us that we need to stop our damn bickering. Comedic prodding of our nation's leaders will always have its place but the outright negativity (which I commented on yesterday) that so many people listen to and believe in so vehemently needs to take a back seat. The divisiveness needs to end and apparently at least 2 million people are on board in believing that the nation's 44th president, Barack Obama, is just the man for the job.

Realistically, a lot of weight is being placed on the presidnet's shoulders and if we emerge from 2009 even a sliver better than many are predicting the economy, unemployment and people's perception of America's health and strength to be at that time then Obama may be viewed as a success. If even a shred of prosperity returns and a recovery of sorts begins, then Obama will be seen by many as a messiah. I don't envy the amount of pressure people are placing on this man's shoulders because with such lofty expectations, even the best of leaders would be set up for total failure. However, Obama is poised, by virtue of his cabinet choices, to unite all but the most extreme elected officials who run this country.

For once, even on a day filled with yet more media layoffs on the local front, I am optimistic. I am actually charged up to tackle things rather than sitting back and watching the world go by and go to hell in a handbasket.

What about you? What is your mood as we seem to enter a new era in America's history?

If you haven't seen enough coverage of today's Presidential Inauguration, check out MinnPics for the cream of the crop in presidential photos.

Limbaugh: I hope Obama fails

World to Rush Limbaugh: get off your high horse.

I know what his politics are. I know what his plans are, as he has stated them.
I don't want them to succeed.

If I wanted Obama to succeed, I'd be happy the Republicans have laid down. (more)

To flat out wish failure on someone is the epitome of negativity. It's something that has divided this country for the past decade and beyond. Politics, unfortunately, are about divisiveness and to have someone like Rush Limbaugh who is listened to by apparently millions of Americans every day further dividing the nation is unnecessary. To like or dislike someone based purely on what they stand for is a fine line but to judge the person before he or she has taken any action or implemented their plans simply wreaks of bitterness.

Now that I've said that, I'm stepping off my soapbox and trying to figure out why ESPN, supposedly a sports station, is broadcasting the inauguration of Barack Obama tomorrow.

If you're fed up or disinterested in politics, head over to MinnPics for fabulous photos from snow-covered Minnesota.

Is it wrong to say that I am fearful?

In case you've been living under a fucking rock for the past year or so, all forms of media are tanking. There's no kind way that I could say this because it's reality. It's happening more and more frequently and I could list all of the victims of the recent media layoff but with KARE 11 tv laying people off and forcing all employees to take one week of unpaid time off, WCCO tv laying off employees, KSTP tv doing the same and the Star-Tribune filing for bankruptcy. Then there's Minneapolis/St. Paul magazine firing Brian Lambert and another Twin Cities veteran writer.

The sad thing is that this list is short. There have been far more cuts than these which have taken place in the past few weeks. It leaves the media landscape not a leaner operation but one that seems nearly gutted. Can a bare-bones staff fearful for their jobs at every turn be effective in producing and investigating news? Can their support staff, fearful of the same outcome, be effective in their jobs? Will this be the final downturn that leaves us with a media landscape that is a pure laughingstock? What will become of the media companies who cut too far? Is there even a place in the world of tomorrow for the evolving "traditional" media outlets?

Where does that leave these talented writers, producers, cameramen, reporters, personalities and the numerous behind-the-scenes employees of these media outlets? While the evolve-or-die mantra has certainly become true, has it happened too fast?

I hate to think what the media I rely on today will look like at the end of the year. Even more frightening is what the landscape will look like by Spring of 2010 (when I expect everything to begin recovering - slowly). Will I, as a media employee (no, I won't say where or specifically what I do), still have the same job duties or even a job by then? I am at least hopeful in that aspect because I like to think that I understand the buzzworthy trends that are rocking the media world. I've picked up the basic skills over the years that I need to make things work and thankfully I can grasp the new skills needed when they are unleashed.

So there it is in a nutshell. The media landscape - and the world - will not come out of this deep and painful, but necessary, recession (greed and stupidity fucked us all) anywhere near the same as they are now. This will either lead to the richest experience for entertainment and media we have ever witnessed or things will be bleak, bland and totally lacking the personality and skill that is growing and evolving and learning currently.

I am rooting for the former scenario. While you can currently listen to hundreds of hours of music from your iPod which goes everywhere and fits in your pocket, it's lacking the personality and warmth that we still crave and that was lost yesterday and is being lost nearly every day. Hopefully the suits running the world realize that entertainment of any form needs personality. It's what sets the traditional, but evolving, media apart from the "new" media.

Sadly, though, everything hinges on advertising and until those dollars come back into play, things will flat out suck but they will come back but in a wildly different format. A format that I can't wait to see or even be a part of creating.

Losing a loved (Indie 103 point) one

Anyone that truly knows me knows that I'm an alternative music geek. I love it and can't get enough of it. Maybe that makes me a bit of a junkie instead. Whatever the case is, as physical radio stations go, alternative radio's track record in the area of longevity sucks. A five-year lifespan is considered a millenium because music trends are always evolving and the stations often times are stuck in whatever sub-niche of alternative music they began their life as and can no longer grow which leads to their demise. Oh, yeah, and the fact that alternative music tends to attract a younger and less affluent demographic makes it tougher to sell advertising makes it hard for even the most devoted corporation to stick to the format.

Enough boring tech insider speak. Whatever the case is, I've been a fan of more than a few alternative radio stations that met a rather untimely end.

The first I truly grew attached to was The Spy (KSYY) from, of all places, Oklahoma City. I think this one lasted about two years, maybe fewer. From there I grew to love bands like The Postal Service, Frou Frou and The New Pornographers. I still have songs from these relatively unknown greats on my iPod in somewhat heavy rotation.

Before that was 97X (WOXY) from Oxford, Ohio (near Cincinatti). I had listened to that gem of a station since the late 90s. It played all kinds of obscure shit and it had loyal owners, loyal talent and tons of loyal fans. However, when money too big to ignore came calling, the owners took it. They realized that a mom & pop operation had no place and would be unable to compete in today's world. I stayed up late on their last night on the air listening to their online stream as the DJ played their last song (which was its first too) by U2 - Sunday, Bloody Sunday.

More recently and definitely more local was the loss of the longest running alternative station Minneapolis, The Twin Cities and Minnesota had seen. Drive 105 was what it was. It was weak both in power and music but if you could plow through the dreck it wasn't half bad. It served its purpose for the corporate overlords at ABC and they did play some local music. The last song played - Say it Ain't So by Weezer, is a definite must hear on my iPod.

Then there's the latest victim to fall due to the alternative radio curse.

Indie 103.1 in Los Angeles was amazing. It never should have lasted for the just over five years it did. It had everything against it that one could imagine. Ownership, signal and a huge and well-known competitor. Even with the deck stacked against them they survived. Indie quickly became the hip station for celebrities. Zach Braff, in advance of his Garden State movie, took over for an entire day and played his favorites as he interviewed artists and actors from his movie. Henry Rollins, Dave Navarro, Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols, Dicky Barrett of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Rob Zombie all had specialty shows on the station. The hot as hell Suicide Girls had a late-night advice show and the music was very indie. Early on, the mohawk-clad TK would play a Frank Sinatra track each afternoon. Yeah, they were that cool. The new music, though, set trends. Songs they played first would often times break across the country months later and be huge. They seemed to have a knack to find music that would be the next cool thing. Oh, not to mention that they were playing some cool new Prince tracks. Why'd you leave us Indie? Oh well, I'll have to add My Way to my iPod because that seems to be the eventual only place for decent and adventurous music.

Then today, at Noon central time, it ended. I caught the last hour or so with the airstaff saying their goodbyes and staying in good humor while doing so. Then came My Way by Frank Sinatra. The personalities are gone. Replaced by a Mexican music jukebox format. Thank God for streaming because for the time being Indie 103.1 lives on in its online format so catch this gem while you can. (more info here and here)

And if music is your thing, check out MinnPics because from time to time I'll feature something relevant to the Minnesota music scene.

I call it "Boy with Cigarette"

For many years we've heard the damned liberal media pedaling their outright lies about tobacco companies marketing their products to children. I don't know about you but I've never seen the Marlboro man during The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show. Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention. Maybe every frame of the animation prominently featured Joe Camel's penis nose. Again, I didn't see it.

But sometimes companies (me) go too far and the advertising message is so obvious that Ray Charles could see it.

I present to you my latest creation, Flavor Country. 

I'm aware that it won't sit well with some people but breathe deeply for a second and consider how ridiculous it is. And then remember that I have a very real problem taking anything seriously.

Once you're done pondering the ridiculousness of this faux advertising message, head over to MinnPics and bask in the greatness of the photos featured there from Minnesota's most skilled amateur photographers.

Is "black ice" a racial thing?

After watching one segment of the FOX9 Morning News during breakfast, it would seem that they are attempting to portray Minnesota's cold weather battle against black ice to be racial in nature.

Was it just a coincidence that the reporter freezing her ass off outside the FOX9 studios near Interstate 494 was black? Is it some sort of conspiracy that the salt used to counteract the black ice is white?

It seems that this is another case of black versus white and the white man being led to believe that anything black should be feared. I, for one, will not stand for this injustice. Who's with me?

If racial equity is too much to handle today and you'd rather think of something warm, check out MinnPics and peruse the archives for warmer memories of days gone by.

Important things

We are surrounded by important things every day. Think of all those necessities that we seemingly take for granted. Nobody takes time out of their hectic day to appreciate the most basic things in our lives anymore because we're too obsessed with who some dipship bachelor is going to give a rose too.

However, in the first part of an ongoing series, I am going to examine the underappreciated items in our lives and explain why they deserve at least some passing recognition.

The first item: CHAIRS

Where would se sit without them? Would we all pull up a beanbag to the office conference table? How unprofessional would that look to a bunch of Japanese investors? "Oh, look at the stupid Americans sitting on puffy fabric-covered ball, ha ha ha."

It would pretty damn stupid. Not to mention painful because while it's nice to lean back and relax for a spell, it's also of the utmost importance to have good posture. Without healthy posture, your spine will turn to the consistency of spaghetti and having a spaghetti spine will eventually lead to having linguini arms and from there, ravioli brains aren't too far off.

No matter what the style of chair is that you prefer, take time out to admire its beauty and sturdy craftsmanship. I'll go one step further and say that today, January 12, should be chair appreciation day because chairs deserve some recognition too.

If something less nonsensical is more to your liking, may I suggest MinnPics. Big photos from skilled photographers focusing on cool topics. It's a winner.

Things you can't walk off

Walk it off. We've all heard this overly cliched phrase before and it usually relates to someone pissing and/or moaning about an injury that is minimal at best with "walk it off" being the ultimate solution to this person's bellyaching. However, there are some things you just can't get over by walking.

What are these things, though?

A severed leg.
That has to be the one non-life-ending injury that some cold, heartless bastard would mock and ridicule you for, yelling at you to "walk it off, bitch!" The nature of the injury, though, defies one to walk it off.

A steel-toed boot to the testicles.
As always, a swift kick to the nuts usually renders the kicked useless. Doubled over in pain, feeling like the testicles have been relocated to one's stomach, walking isn't usually an option.

A papercut to the tongue.
I found this out the other night as I paid the mortgage. First off, envelope glue tastes terrible. Secondly, I'd rather have a festering splinter in my finger than a papercut on my tongue. It really makes enjoying anything remotely tasty pure agony.

The long-suffering, middle child of mine needs your attention. MinnPics wants you to visit it and look at its gallery of hand-picked photos from across Minnesota as captured by Minnesota's best Flickrites.

What would you do?

Because I can do what I want, I will.

That's sort of the essence of free will. If I feel like stopping at the edge of a steep hill in my car, throwing the green monster in neutral, climbing out and pushing the bucket of bolts over the edge and laughing maniacally as I watch it careen down the side of the hill all the while hitting rocks and trees as I wait for movie special effects to take over and waiting for to it burst into flames because if it happens in movies it must happen real life just because I can, that's my choice. Sure there are repercussions with any action but if I do it I must be willing to accept those repercussions.

It's just like writing a profanity in gas on the sidewalk in front of your house, lighting it on fire and noticing a police car coming around the corner. You had better act fast or chances are you'll be spending some time explaining why the word "fuck" is burning on your sidewalk. Stomp swiftly or pay the price.

Of course my ultimate dilemma today is whether or not to climb my desk and take a nap. A siesta sounds rather tempting today as I am being beaten down with a cold which has lingered for a week and was awake at 4:59 AM (I saw my alarm clock's display) after finally crawling in to bed around 11:30 PM. The baby's internal clock seems to be broken.

I already know the answer to my dilemma but what would you do? Soldier on or grab your blankie and catch some Zzzzzs?

MinnPics doesn't take sick days. As reliable as the sun rising in the east, Minnesota's hand-picked gallery of the finest photos from the Northstar state works like a steel-driving man.

Humor and the White House

Let's face it, humor is subjective and much of it occurs unintentionally. But the fact that it is subjective is what makes it great. Sometimes a person falling over a strategically placed double-humped camel is just funny. Until the person tripping breaks their femur, that is.

Then there's politics. The political landscape is one sorely lacking in humor. It's really a bunch of folks working about four months each year wearing suits pretending that they can change the world. These are the people that should understand the humor in what they do. Unfortunately, these people often times take themselves far too seriously. "Ooh, look at me, I won a popularity contest despite having a bad haircut and an ill-fitting suit." Get over it, you make mistakes and deserve to be laughed at just like the rest of us.

But, thankfully, politics is a source of unintentional humor. No, I haven't seen any politicians trip over a sleeping double-humped camel but anything's possible, right?

Whatever the case, unintentional political humor is just as subjective as the other forms of humor. That's where my latest scientific analysis comes in.

The level of leadership is rarely in proportion to the level of unintentional humor. Think about George H. W .Bush. Remember the time he vomited on a Japanese leader? That was funny. He wasn't the greatest of leaders but he didn't exactly leave us without any humorous moments to remember.

Then there's his son, George W. Bush. He's been compared to a modern day Woodrow Wilson and that isn't a kind comparison. However, he has left America with a wealth of comedic moments. He stumbled through unscripted speeches, mispronounced words and had a booze-loving daughter and a dog who bit a reporter. Those are things that Ronald Reagan could never had beat had he been in office for six terms.

Oh, hell, just look at this scatter graph and judge for yourself.
The unanswered question, though, is how much unintentional humor will a Barack Obama White House present to us? From early estimates stemming from his two year campaign for the presidency, the humor seems to be at nearly the lowest level possible on this graph while his leadership ability is at least on par with the likes of Reagan and Clinton. He's likable but polished and rarely does someone so polished produce unintentional humor. He can pronounce fancy, multi-syllable words and he can locate Portugal on a map. It's hard to imagine his wife driving her car across someone's lawn so that rules out even spouse-aided comedy. But if that's how it's going to be, at least we have plenty of YouTube footage from the past because videos live on forever.

If charts about presidential humor and leadership bore you to tears or enrage you, then head over to MinnPics which is nothing short of a repository of fabulous photos from across Minnesota and it's updated daily - sometimes more often!

Let's talk about Kelly Clarkson

More than a few people are discussing Kelly Clarkson's new image. Remember the Kelly Clarkson who won the original (and best) American Idol? Well, first off, Ms. Clarkson doesn't look much like this photo. It takes a special Photoshop artist to retouch a photo to this extent but I want to read beyond the photo. Think about the music.

Based on the photo, Clarkson's new music would sound like something akin to that atrocious Nelly Furtado album from a couple years ago which was just another throw-away piece of booty-shaking shit.

I'm hoping that Clarkson's photo doesn't match up to the music. Maybe there's one ultra-glossy, ultra-annoying bubble gum pop song that will get a ton of radio exposure and get what is hopefully another poppy rock album widely played. I'm thinking something like the hook-laden Since You've Been Gone which was the pop rock song from 2004 that truly put her on the map. She became more than a karoake star. She became a true rockstar.

I only hope that she can straddle the fence because I actually like the real Kelly Clarkson. There's things I'd do to her that would make a stripper blush. But judging this book by its cover, this Kelly Clarkson will be writhing around on stage and looking painfully awkward doing it. Not that there's anything wrong with a good looking lady rolling around, scantily clothed, while singing sexually suggestive lyrics but this isn't who Kelly Clarkson is.

Judge away, what do you think this CD will sound like?

While MinnPics is full of great photos from across Minnesota, it's strangely devoid of a sexually suggestive Kelly Clarkson ready to fellate a lollipop.

My New Year's resolutions

I could probably rattle off a few hundred resolutions I should make to better myself int he new year but I think I'll stick to the top three. Truly, three things have been causing plenty of strife in my life so why not nip those three and call it good?

Stop eating boogers
This clearly doesn't say that I'm going to be making any sort of effort to curtain my nose picking habit. Hell, I like showing off in traffic just how many knuckles I can lodge up my nostril. It does, though, mean that I'm planning to put an end to my eating of those boogers. Maybe I'll invest in one of those fancy jars labeled "Boogers" and put that sucker to some good use.

Stop wearing women's underwear to work
Again, this one is specific enough so I can still sport some lacy panties when I'm hanging around Casa De Sornie on a lazy Saturday afternoon. I do fully intend to retire my favorite thong because bending over and having others notice my personal underwear preference is starting to make me uncomfortable. Almost as if people are talking about what they've seen.

Be kinder to America's exotic dancers
No longer will I sit at the tip rail and throw out pennies. Sure, it has much more relevance in today's economy but a stripper, um, exotic dancer just looks odd with her g-string full of coins. In fact, it's quite the turn off. I apologize, strippers of America, for making it look like you are packing a fat bratwurst down below.

Now that I've 'fessed up to my oh-so-honest New Year's resolutions, it's time to share yours.

Make it one of your New Year's resolutions to check out MinnPics and bask in the glory of these fabulous photos each and every day.

2009 predictions - #1

I could spout off about a hundred predictions for the upcoming year but instead I'll slowly throw them in to the mix here from time to time. Maybe even before the year is up.

My first prediction has to do with the media landscape. Being from Minnesota and, more specifically the Twin Cities, my first peek in to my crystal ball has to do with the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

If you're unfamiliar with this newspaper, they are the largest daily in Minnesota but have been missing debt payments and just announced that they are axing their B section for the month of January as an "experiment". My guess here is that while people will notice and, yes, even complain about the combination of the main news and metro sections but the investment group owners won't react outside of axing still more content in print.

This loss of content translates to a loss of pages and, in turn, leaves behind less value and less of a reason for the increasingly financially pinched average Joe to throw down 50 cents for a smaller paper.

Thus begins the slippery slope leading to a Minneapolis Star-Tribune that nobody will recognize or one that won't even exist.

What little money I have is on the Minneapolis Star-Tribune becoming web-only with a bare bones staff of full-time employees who will write and edit the content, shoot and edit video content and shoot their own photos. A small, free Sunday-only printed piece will still exist on racks as a vehicle for delivering those stacks of printed inserts because that is all that's left that still makes money. While this would leave behind the paper's hundreds of thousands of subscribers, the investment company currently running the newspaper doesn't care because if it lines their pockets, it's good business.

Another scenario leaves the Minneapolis Star-Tribune to be swallowed up by the neighboring St. Paul Pioneer Press. Five years ago I would have punched myself for thinking something so ludicrious could ever happen. Maybe now, though, it's time for this to happen as it would leave the stronger weekly papers whose business models are more nimble to succeed and grab more advertising dollars and actually add subscribers - something the trudging behemoths have almost certainly failed at.

Less doom and gloom exists at the safe-haven known as MinnPics. Check out the stunning photography from Minnesota's finest Flickr-using photographers.

The points, finally explained

I've referred to points here from time to time. Like any in-house currency, they are actually of value (when enough are amassed). And expect more points more frequently as I attempt to stimulate the points economy.

But rather than bore you with the details of what the points are good for, I've finally gotten around to tackling the logistics of the elusive A Day in the Life Official Membership & Points Card because a picture is worth a million words. It's rather official in appearance and, as the flip side of the card shows, I've opted for magnetic strip technology rather than antiquated bar codes. It's handy and luckily for me it stores all kinds of personal data like your social security number, your height and weight, your tenth grade gym locker combination and your favorite kind of pudding.


But wait, it's more than a single-use membership card. It also works as your driver's license. It functions as your official NRA membership card. It contains an ultra-slim 2 megapixel digital camera and it also functions as a Chinese throwing star if you ever find yourself in the midst of a ninja attack.

It's the only card you'll ever need to carry.

If photos of actual substance are your thing, I suggest checking out the offerings at MinnPics. It's where Minnesota photography lives.