As you may have heard, power went out in downtown Mpls this morning. Lightning strikes and a downed branch. A branch. That's all it takes. Well, if the lights went off at the Neiman-Marcus, might as well keep them off; the Nicollet Mall store is closing. I've wondered for years why they stayed open; it had the same empty feel as the St. Paul Macy's, which is kept alive by a secret government program that sends state employees over during the lunch hour to buy a shirt, or some earrings.
Another blow for downtown retail, but a lesson: those lovely retail malls downtown were doomed. City Center, Gaviidae, the Conservatory, Block E: nope. Someone's welcome to build another, but not on the public dime.
In unrelated news: this might be the bottom story of the day. But we'll keep digging.
TECHNOLOGY. The Bug-a-Salt: it's been a journey for him.
It's a gun that kills flies with a grain of salt. Brilliant. By the way, I killed four flies yesterday with a rolled-up newspaper; it was so hot they were sluggish, and their automatic flight mechanisms did not engage. It's a good thing humans didn't evolve the same way, with hairs on our back directly connected to our limbs. Nothing would ever get done. You're having a meal in a restaurant, someone enters the place, the door makes a slight breeze, which tickles your neck hairs, and you stand up and bolt out the rear exit.
LISTICLES Here's a list of technological devices that have outlived their usefulness. Typical linkbait. Easy targets, lackluster rationales, and a few choices that make you say "hey, wait a minute, I use that. Now I must disagree in the comments." My choice: #11, the Printer / Scanner / Fax machine. The author, who might be 19, says "A surprising number of people still get one of these when they buy a computer, even though there's no reason to do any of these three things, and if you ever run out of ink or toner you will suffer the tortures of the damned. The sooner we stop expecting paper copies of things, the better."
There's no reason to get a fax machine. Agreed. Ever seen "Die Hard 2"? There's a scene in the beginning where John McClain is talking to the cop he befriended in the previous movie, and asks him to send a fax. The cop is unaware of such a thing. McClain says "wake up and smell the 90s." That was almost a quarter-century ago. Faxes can go away.
On the other hand: there's no reason to scan? He wants a paperless world, but we're not supposed to need a scanner. Got it.
