Local Community News
On Tuesday night, Rachel Maddow spent an hour talking about nothing.
MSNBC used the time slot leading up to her show hyping the idea Maddow had a “special report” revealing Donald Trump’s “tax returns” using that little graphic box in the bottom right hand corner of the screen with a countdown timer. You know the one.
The 89th Academy Awards made history last night and not in the way you might expect. Of course, there were plenty of political jokes, commentary, and hijinks, including a moment when Jimmy Kimmel tweeted President Trump. The whole night, Kimmel made sure to make things uncomfortable and weird, too, like bringing in a real Hollywood tourist group to take pictures of all the celebrities and dropping food from the ceiling attached to parachutes. However, in one epic, awkward, and gut-wrenching twist that Kimmel couldn’t have dreamed up, the Academy Award for Best Picture was given to the wrong movie.
Here’s how everything went down. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, looking like two drunk wedding crashers, presented the nominees for Best Picture. When Warren Beatty opened the envelope and read the winner, he looked puzzled, smiled, and didn’t say anything, keeping the audience in suspense. He looked over at Faye Dunaway and handed her the envelope. She read the name and immediately said, “La La Land.” Everyone cheered and all the winners of La La Land came up to the stage.
Everyone has a need to feel like we belong. One of the most intimate ways we express this is caring for one another. We express this in multiple ways by doing things such as helping an elderly person with various tasks around their home, helping a neighbor with a project or just being a friend.
In a recent article, Wallet Hub ranked the most caring cities for 2016 among the 100 most populated cities in U.S. They used several metrics such as volunteer hours per capita, percentage of sheltered homeless people and percentage of income donated to charity. The three categories they ranked were: caring for the community, caring for the vulnerable and caring in the workplace.
I am one of those people who enjoys going out for a bit on Black Friday — my wife and I usually spend a few hours in the afternoon stopping at a few stores and grabbing some early Christmas presents.
I find it so ironic how, literally one day after people say “thanks” for all they have, it’s a feeding frenzy at retail stores for the “marked down” consumer products as people fight for more.
Though I enjoy the time with my wife on these days, I will never fully understand the craziness that surrounds Black Friday. The hordes of ravaged shoppers, the merciless fighting, the absurd lines starting outside stores days before Black Friday, it’s just too much. I understand getting a great deal on a TV, but at what cost? A dinner with your family on Thanksgiving? Hours of your life waiting in line? Your dignity as you fight people off for the latest gizmo?
In recent years, the trend has gotten to be even worse, with many stores now having their “Black Friday” sales start on Thursday — as you all know, that isn’t just some regular Thursday, it’s Thanksgiving. I don’t really care if people are crazy enough to want to shop on Thanksgiving at 5 p.m., but I do care for the poor retail employees who are forced to work because of those crazy people.
Video games have radically changed over the last few decades — online multiplayer, realistic graphics, vast worlds, and complex programming are all taken for granted today. But in the 1980s they weren’t even fathomed as an option. Today, instead of running to the arcade to play with friends, gamers can log into their home console and play with strangers from around the world.
Many don’t know that video games came from humble, albeit fun, beginnings. Those that do know, may be aware of Pacman, Galaga, or Mario, but haven’t heard of the thousands of other games available at the time.
For the 152nd time since 1859, a deluge of Minnesotans dressed in brotanks and fanny packs has flooded St. Paul for the latest installment of the Great Minnesota Get Together. Even as you read this sentence, from Albert Lea to Roseau, and all points in between, citizens of the 32nd state in the Union are making the pilgrimage to our capital city for the chance to see beauty queens carved from huge butter blocks while double-fisting a couple of pronto pups and washing them down with an entire bucket full of cookies.
The Rio Olympics came to an end on Sunday, capping an interesting Olympiad which included mysterious color-changing pools, fake robberies and, despite Donald Trump’s continued claim we don’t win anymore, utter medal count domination by the United States of America.
Canby, Minnesota’s Central Park, is an idyllic spot for a family reunion. It is encircled by a bustling small town that could leap right out of A Prairie Home Companion. A quick left turn from last week’s Randgaard family reunion and I had to screech on the brakes to capture a shot of one of America’s classic art deco theatres, Canby Classic Cinema.
According to the local CBS affiliate, the circus known as the Donald Trump presidential campaign comes to our home state in less than two weeks. On August 19, Trump will hold a “major fundraiser” with tickets going for up to $100k a piece.
There are many ways an iPhone can help a blind person like myself. You might wonder how since the device relies heavily on a touch screen. Let me share with you my experiences with my iPhone.
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