Where is the Icebox of the Nation?

Fraser, Colorado is trying to steal International Falls claim to be the Icebox of the Nation.

The Ultimate Highway Map

The Eisenhower Interstate System, simplified.

He's Good Enough, He's Smart Enough

And doggonit, people like him! It's official: Al Franken is running for Senate.

When Exercise is Bad for You

The Times reports on a study published in the European Heart Journal. According to the Times, super-fit athletes who train hard for triathlons and marathons can develop a life-threatening condition called ventricular arrhythmia. As is usually the case with these "endurance exercise is bad for you" reports, the condition is very rare.

2007 Tour of Lakes

Time to register for one of the funnest recreational bike tours in Minnesota. The 2007 Tour of Lakes heads east to Garrison and the territory around beautiful Mille Lacs lake. The Paul Bunyan Cyclists do a fanastic job at hosting this annual event. The one downside to the TOL: you will gain weight. Too much good food. Even the 70-mile route will not be calorie-neutral. Tour of Lakes

Brokers Are Not Your Friends

And in case you forget it, read this New York Times article about the SEC's latest investigation of insider trading:

"The Securities and Exchange Commission has begun a broad examination into whether Wall Street bank employees are leaking information about big trades to favored clients, like hedge funds, in an effort to curry favor with those clients, executives at Wall Street banks said. The inquiry, these people said, seems aimed at determining how pervasive insider trading, or the illegal use of market-moving nonpublic information, may be on Wall Street. Knowledge about a large trade, like the sale of a big block of stock by the mutual fund giant Fidelity, would tell a trader which way the stock would move. Concerns about insider trading have escalated as mergers and buyouts have boomed and the use of complex derivatives has soared. Studies of various markets — including those for stocks and credit default swaps — have pointed to an unusual amount of trading ahead of announcements for deals."

The speech accent archive

This archive of speech clips allows you to track different accents by speaker and native language.

Free Speech under Attack

On Tuesday, one of America's great independent bookstores canceled a planned reading by the editor of a book on abortion rights, after receiving threatening e-mails and telephone calls. Krista Jacobs was scheduled to read at Prairie Lights Bookstore in a forum to be broadcast on public radio's "Live from Prairie Lights".