The Perambulator

Welcome to my Weekly Stumble Report! Below are about thirty links from the past week all of which were interesting enough in one way or another to earn recommendation. This week I cover music and discography, CMS and OS, food and agriculture, disabilities, health and environment, politics and rights, and arts and science.

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Welcome back to The Perambulator!

We have updated our blog platform and unfortunately there are still broken images and etc… Please bear with us as we complete the transition.

I wouldn’t exactly call it a vacation but in 2006 I took a 2500 mile road trip to Canada. All I intended to do was run up to Thunder Bay, get my social insurance number, and mine some amethyst crystals.

It all started earlier in the week. It had occurred to me that Thunder Bay isn’t all that far and that I could really use a getaway, or a pilgrimage as you will. I couldn’t afford it though so I put it aside. Lo and behold, the next day I received a small, unexpected windfall. Better yet, when I approached my partner with the idea, she readily agreed.

I wasn’t able to leave until late in the afternoon but I managed to stay alert most of the way to Superior, Wisconsin. I was eager to get into Duluth at an appropriate time of the morning to dine at that great cafe there. Unfortunately for me, Duluth was replete with road construction and I was well north of the cafe before I realized I had passed it. No backtracking for me so I hightailed it to the border. [Read more →]

Start with an organic banana split lengthwise.

Spread with about one tablespoon of almond butter.

Add about three scoops Extra Creamy Vanilla Ice Cream.

Sprinkle with a teaspoon of organic brown sugar.

Cover with a heaping teaspoon of blueberry jam.

Top with two or three organic fresh cherries.

Jackson, Wyoming is a small town. This becomes apparent if you turn off the main through roads and visit the local, non-tourist oriented businesses. The paint store, the grocery, the library. Here you are likely to meet real Jacksonians uninsulated by wealth and pretense.

Speaking of wealth. If the town is so rich, why do their boardwalks have so many bent nails? It’s supposedly historical but whoever restored it last was terrible at driving nails. Twenty or thirty percent of them were driven only two thirds in and then bent over and beaten down. WTF? These were common nails too. Easy enough to turn the hammer around and pull it back out.

The facts are that the common nails were driven by common labor and common labor apparently is not worth very much in Jackson. If I were building a million dollar facade, I would pay well and expect perfection. [Read more →]