A noteworthy day!

Today, February 2, is:

• World Wetlands Day


• the coldest instrument-measured temperature on record for the state of Minnesota [-60 degrees F in 1996]


• Imbolc and Candlemass in the UK


• Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney PA
  [Phil didn't see his shadow, early Spring coming.]

Paul Douglas Weather Blog

The folks who did the analysis of Phil's accuracy didn't look carefully enough at recent predictions for an early Spring. In the three years listed above (2016, 2013, and 2010), when Phil didn't see his shadow, he was 100% accurate in his prediction of an early Spring. Let's hope that trend continues this year. We could really use it.

This morning, while awakening and drinking coffee and poking about the nooks and crannies of the internet, we made a couple of fortuitous discoveries we want to share. Recently, we've again been pondering the question "What is local?" while reading Wendell Berry (The Idea of a Local Economy) and Douglas Gayeton (LOCAL). Today we discovered new (to us) insights and fascinating writing in Ask Where I'm Local by Taiye Selasi and her mention of the writer Colum McCann in the context of "multi-localism." We'll be following up on this concept because, although we find it fascinating, we're not sure if we really like it. Are multinational corporations the antithesis of multi-local or is multi-local synonymous with a global economy?

The Difference Between Pepsi and Coke

David Lehman, 1948

Can’t swim; uses credit cards and pills to combat
   intolerable feelings of inadequacy;
Won’t admit his dread of boredom, chief impulse behind
   numerous marital infidelities;
Looks fat in jeans, mouths clichés with confidence,
   breaks mother’s plates in fights;
Buys when the market is too high, and panics during
   the inevitable descent;
Still, Pop can always tell the subtle difference
   between Pepsi and Coke,
Has defined the darkness of red at dawn, memorized
   the splash of poppies along
Deserted railway tracks, and opposed the war in Vietnam
   months before the students,
Years before the politicians and press; give him
   a minute with a road map
And he will solve the mystery of bloodshot eyes;
   transport him to mountaintop
And watch him calculate the heaviness and height
   of the local heavens;
Needs no prompting to give money to his kids; speaks
   French fluently, and tourist German;
Sings Schubert in the shower; plays pinball in Paris;
   knows the new maid steals, and forgives her.

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