Culture

Is there interest in Google?

December 21st, 2016

Last month there were 1.6 billion unique monthly visitors to the Google web site. Most of us geeks use Google many times a day. Anyone with a computer uses the site. It is the most popular site on the planet.

So what is this site all about? I can't tell you everything. My editor only gives me so much space. Here are a few things you might like:

Searching - If you need a part for your dishwasher and you have the part number, type it into the Google search bar.

Doing some research? - Collect…

Transgender history, part 2

December 14th, 2016

Last week, I brought up a question many individuals had asked me: why don’t insurance companies have to cover medically necessary transgender surgery? The easy answer is they don’t legally have to, but I feel it is more important to understand the history that led to this lack of coverage.

In “Transgender History Part One” I examined the origin of transgender identity and healthcare in America. The short of it is that the first widely known trans woman, Christine Jorgensen, found…

Unconnected and older than dirt

December 14th, 2016

I told you before that I am an information junkie. I read reports, surveys, investigations, whatever turns my crank. Since I am older than dirt, I have a tendency to read things that affect my generation. This time I read something that was put out by the Pew Research Center (a think tank) that said that 13 percent of Americans still do not use the Internet.

OK, here is the important part. Of that group, the most telling variable is no longer race, sex or even income. It’s age. Over…

Homeless, not hopeless

December 14th, 2016

A woman spends another restless night shivering on a concrete floor, the only source of comfort a rubber mat, thin scratchy blanket and a lumpy pillow. It offers temporary refuge from the bitter Fargo winter.

A man found passed out in an alley Downtown is whisked away in an ambulance to the ER, then the hospital, to be treated for alcohol poisoning and dehydration. A day later, he is discharged into the street where he drinks more alcohol to quiet the voices he hears because of…

The Gorman dogfight

December 14th, 2016

As you enjoy the crisp, clear Midwestern air and gaze up at the stars this winter, taking comfort in the security that a place like Fargo has to offer, it could be hard to feel any sense of unease. It could be hard to think that anything strange or otherworldly could effect a place like this. Unless, of course, one of those “stars” you were looking at happened to move in a strange way.

Let me fill you in on a little secret:

On the evening of October 1, 1948, while participating in a…

SantaCon returns: Downtown fun and philanthropy

December 7th, 2016

The SantaCon Pub Crawl for the Gladys Ray Shelter and Veterans Drop-In Center returns to Downtown Fargo Saturday, December 10, beginning at 1pm with a kick-off at Rooter’s Bar.

But this is not your average pub crawl, as participants are (1) in costume; (2) in the holiday spirit; and (3) donating money and much-needed toiletry, clothing, and other items for a local homeless and veteran’s shelter.

Fargo SantaCon is in its seventh year and is one of the increasing number of SantaCon…

Moorhead sin city

December 7th, 2016

Frank Engel’s Prohibition moonshine operation in a north Fargo basement: photo by Markus Krueger

“When I used to go to Ralph’s, people would say that it used to be a speakeasy -- which is half true,” says Markus Krueger, Programming Director at the Historical and Cultural Society of Clay County, “it was two separate speakeasies, and every building on that block was a speakeasy, or they housed the people who worked there.”

He went on to say, “Three blocks surrounding first avenue north in Moorhead had almost as many places where you could illegally buy alcohol in 1927 as…

Steps in the right direction

December 7th, 2016

Run a Google image search for “diversity in video games,” and the first result you’re likely to get is a collage of several 20-30 year old white guys, usually with a little scruff on their face.

From the Assassin’s Creed to the Call of Duty, there’s a lot of homogenization among AAA video game protagonists. Female characters, when they appear, are often in need of saving rather than taking center stage and saving the world themselves. None of this, of course, is even…

Transgender History Part One

December 7th, 2016

There were a number of people asking me why our public plans in North Dakota don’t cover transgender surgery. The easy answer to this is that they don’t legally have to, but I feel it is more important to understand the history that led to there being no coverage. Specifically, I’ll be going over the history of being transgender by looking at how culture, medicine, and feminism have viewed transgender individuals and the effect these forces have had on each other and on trans…

Overpriced textbooks: how to deal with reading lists

December 1st, 2016

By Ben Haugmo

benhaugmo@yahoo.com

It is by now widely accepted that the price of college textbooks is too high. I’ve heard horror stories of single volumes ranging in price from $100 to $300, which are then barely opened over the course of the semester.

Luckily, alternatives exist. Students rarely have to purchase brand new books anymore, thanks to online vendors and rental programs. There’s a growing trend of utilizing free online resources in lieu of traditional textbooks. In some…

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