I was having issues with my Twitter plugin and it has been missing for the last week.  I had to replace it due to some weird compatibility issue with Wordpress 2.8, things are working now though and you can follow my Twitter activity from here again.

• The one decent article from CNN reviewing the year in celebrities.
• A Christmas kidnapping.  Don’t worry everything worked out fine.  (I like the idea behind that blog)
• Bigger is always better when it comes to insulation.
• Rick Reilly discusses the many reasons to hate Tyler Hansbrough.
• A very interesting story about a college basketball player who lost her memory after colliding with a teammate.
• xkcd details the usefulness of time spent in 11th grade.  This confirmed many of my suspicions.
• A series from NPR about the American spirit.  Created by Ketzel Levine who was laid off during production. (Via Kottke)
• And finally in celebration of the end of the Holiday Season, here is a very cool display at Rainbow Foods captured by Erica over at fresh.mn.

As promised, I’ll be giving you my 2009 Minnesota To-Do list on Thursday.  I may skip the Wendesday Where? this week due to being out of town again, but if I find a good photo I may get one up.

I happened to go inside because I wanted to fill up my travel mug and grab a bag of baked Lays.  As with most gas stations at noon they had one register open and it was kind of backed up.  I was standing in line and the woman who was checking out was taking forever.  She was acting as if she hadn’t purchased anything at a store in 10 years.  Unfortunately, I see this often so this wasn’t shocking.  After the transaction was complete the cashier says thank you and I thought everything was done.  At this point I still hadn’t seen what the lady was purchasing, but I heard her ask for a bag.

This is where the funny/irritating part occurred, I saw the cashiers expression of disbelief, she asked “You want a bag?”  The woman reaffirmed her choice.  At this point I thought the cashier was being a bit rude.   Then I saw it, the woman had asked for a plastic bag for…wait for it….a gift card.  At that point I wished the cashier would have hit her when she asked for the bag.  I would have lied to keep the cashier out of trouble if she would have.  I’m not the person who lectures my friends on environmentally conscious behavior, but I try to at least do some of my part.  I try to avoid using bags unless I actually need them, I often ask the cashiers at Target to take the items out of the bag if they don’t ask me whether I need one or not.

This lady took the time to request a bag for a gift card.  I’m still kind of annoyed, and take this as a sign that Minnesota needs to institute a bag tax like the one proposed in New York City immediatly.

Lovely illustrated story about changing a hot, dry, bland, and environmentally unfriendly driveway into a lush paradise.

Okay I’m going overboard but check it out.

I’m not sure how I feel about this, on one hand, 2,000 wolves is a very small number, and allowing the possibility of 500 wolves to be killed is 25% of that population, which is a ridiculous number. (note: I haven’t looked at the actual hunting schedule so this could easily be an over estimate).

Of course as someone who grew up in a family who relied on livestock for it’s income, I also understand that ranchers in those areas are going to be affected by this ruling by losing additional livestock.

I guess I fall on the side of the environmentalist more so than the government on this one.  If only because seeing a wolf in the wild is honestly one of the most incredible experience you can have.  I just hope that people realize that it is decisions like this that can help contribue to rising food costs.  It’s a price we all pay, and I feel that is is worth it.

Edit:

Here is a link to a more local story,

Helena Independent Record - Notes that Montana was looking at moving wolves from endangered to in need of management at time of this ruling.