Buzz

The Minneapolis-based charity Feed My Starving Children is getting closer to its goal of establishing a full-time packing center in Miami, and a recent effort to build support in the area was a success, according to a recent story in the Miami Herald.
 
At an event to pack meals for Haitian children, a group of nearly 500 Miami volunteers put together 25,000 rice meals in just two hours. One volunteer noted that it was a fulfilling experience, and said that it felt important to her to show her kids that "the world doesn't have opportunities like we have."
 
The article went on to add that the event was the first step in an effort to generate community support for the charity's efforts, and a group of volunteers was already planning another event in January. Feed My Starving Children has seven full-time sites in Minnesota, Chicago, and Arizona, and if all goes well, Miami will be its eighth.

National Public Radio (NPR) recently highlighted a technology-based gambling tactic that's being used to help fund a new NFL stadium for Minnesota.
 
In its "All Tech Considered" blog, NPR noted that state residents can use approved iPads to play a digital pull-tab game, and the money will go toward financing the stadium, which is estimated to cost about $975 million.The Minnesota system is the first of its kind in the United States

The iPads are available in bars, where patrons can play at their own tables. Gamblers can place bets of either $1 or $2, and boxes at the bottom of the screen keep a running tally of cash reserves. 

Recently, Artforum, a national art magazine, included a review of a local art show from Andy DuCett at the Soap Factory in Minneapolis.

The story’s writer, Jay Gabler, is also from the area.

Gabler compares the installation, called, “Why we do this” to a film.

“DuCett has created dozens of distinct spaces and assembled them in an eccentric progression that draws the viewer through the gallery with the promise of a surprise around every corner. His themes are memory and life history—specifically, the memories and history of the thirtysomething Minnesotan man he is,” the piece reads.  

A recent story from the TC Daily Planet tells of a St. Paul resident’s home-crafted K'nex toy, dubbed Clockwork, which “has become a fast internet phenomenon since he released the video of it earlier this month.”

The toy has more than 40,000 pieces of K'nex--a creative construction material--plus eight motors, five lifts, a computer controlled crane and a couple of K'nex balls, according to the story.

It has attracted over a million hits on YouTube and landed on Reddit’s front page.

Its creator, Austin Granger, is quoted in the story, saying, “Every time I make one, I try to go bigger and more complex, and more ambitious than the one that came before it.”

Publishers Weekly recently reported on the Sept. 8 debut of a local literary journal called Revolver.

The new journal publishes a mix of prose, poetry, visual art, photography, and play excerpts, PW states.

Online content will be refreshed every couple of weeks, while a print edition will come out twice a year.

Revolver’s seven founding editors are part of a writing group that began meeting two years ago.  

Esther Porter, a founding editor, explains that the journal came out of their monthly conversations: “We’d go out and close down bars fighting over stories, literature of all kinds. We wanted to have something to show for it.”

Reflecting the group's energy, the journal publishes pieces “that hit the brain like a bullet,” she says.
  



 

Local arts journalist Matt Peiken’s new project, MNuet, is featured in a recent blog post from Knight Arts.

Peiken intends MNuet, which launched on Sept. 4, to be an online hub for statewide classical music coverage.

He wants to create a community around classical music. Furthermore, members of MNuet will help support that.  

"No media organization around here has a staff writer dedicated to covering the classical music beat any more,: says Peiken. "The coverage is all farmed out to freelancers."

While major media outlets broadcast occasional concerts, nobody's reporting on the scene, he says, adding, "You can learn about what the major players are doing, but you don’t get context, and you certainly don’t hear much from individual artists.”

For seven days, Minneapolis-based musician Mark Mallman will be perfoming one continuous song, in the back of a van, and streaming it online. The project, called Marathon IV, is so unique that USA Today recently featured it in its Popcandy section.
 
Kicked off on Saturday, September 15th, the 150-hour music performance features distinctive sounds from instruments like a keytar, as well as a heart-rate monitor that creates music while Mallman is sleeping.
 
During the project's span, the musician will be traveling as well, with stops in Chicago, Omaha, Denver, and Las Vegas. At his final destination, Los Angeles, guest musicians will join him. 

Minneapolis creative agency Periscope recently picked up three liquor brands, according to a recent article in AdAge, the magazine covering the creative industry.
 
UV Vodka, Prairie Organic Vodka, and Revel Stoke Spiced Whisky--all owned by local firm Phillips Distilling--came to Periscope after a review. Phillips corporate director of marketing Katie Alvino noted in a statement that Periscope offers "an in-depth approach to brand building from consumer insights to amazing creative and campaign development."
 
AdAge's article pointed out that the liquor brands join a roster of Periscope clients that include Cargill and ExxonMobile. The agency has about 410 employees, with offices in Minneapolis, Toronto, Hong Kong, and Delhi.

Technology career site Dice.com highlighted a recent report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics that put Minnesota in the top five states for fastest job growth in computer systems design and related services.
 
Dice's managing director, Alice Hill, noted that the Minnesota High Tech Association has the goal to make the state one of the country's top five in all types of technology by 2020. Also, IT hiring in Minnesota goes beyond tech firms and includes retailers, healthcare companies, consulting firms, insurance companies, and manufacturers.
 
Maryland showed the strongest growth in the nation for the computer systems design sector, followed by Massachusetts, Texas, and New York. An interesting aspect of the report, Dice pointed out, was that technology powerhouses California and Washington didn't make the list of the top 10 fastest-growing states for IT jobs.

"Think it's futile to build up a massive cycling network because of frosty winter temperatures?" asks a recent news story in Winnipeg Free Press. "[Minneapolis] has proven a bit of snow and sub-zero winds don't mean a city can't be a top cycling spot."
 
The article notes that Minneapolis is among a handful of North American cities considered leaders in building a network of paths that encourage recreational and commuter travel. About 3.5 percent of Minneapolis residents bike to work, and the city is on track to increase that number to seven percent within the next couple of years, according to the newspaper.
 
Quoting Shaun Murphy, Minneapolis bicycle and pedestrian coordinator, the story added that half of the city cyclists don't ride their bikes during the winter, but there's been growing interest in winter biking. One draw is that Minneapolis works to have all bicycle trails plowed within 24 hours of a snowfall. 

The Salty Tart in Minneapolis recently made a list of the top 10 bakeries around the globe from Departures magazine.

“Though it is a risky move to arrive in a new city and set up shop immediately, it paid off for pastry chef Michelle Gayer,” the story reads.

After working on Los Angeles and Chicago, the baker opened the Salty Tart in 2008 in the Midtown Global Market.

With everything from coconut macaroons to pastry cream-filled brioche to various kinds of seasonal tarts, “The bakery was an instant hit,” the article states.

For the second year in a row, Ecolab Inc. in St. Paul and General Mills Inc. in Golden Valley made Forbes magazine’s list of 100 of "The World's Most Innovative Companies."

Ecolab came in 31st, while General Mills was number 50.

The leading companies were Salesforce.com, Alexion Pharmaceuticals, and Amazon.com, according to Forbes.

To get its results, the magazine used the “Innovation Premium,” which measures “how much investors have bid up the stock price of a company above the value of its existing business based on expectations of future innovative results,” the article states.

Furthermore, companies on the list “must have $10 billion in market capitalization, spend at least 2.5% of revenue on R&D and have seven years of public data,” it reads.

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport ranks third in the country in on-time arrivals, coming in just behind Salt Lake City and Charlotte, and narrowly edging out Phoenix and Las Vegas. The Twin Cities airport also came in third for on-time departures, behind Salt Lake City and Portland.
 
Commenting on the report, the Associated Press (AP) noted that travelers "still have to put up with packed planes, rising fees and unpredictable security lines," but nearly 84 percent of domestic flights arrived within 15 minutes of their scheduled time during the first half of 2012. That's the best performance since the government started keeping track in 1988, AP noted.
 
Also in the report: U.S. airlines are doing a better job of handling bags. Lost, damaged or delayed bag claims are at a record low.

Inc. magazine released its annual list of fastest-growing private companies in the United States and seven Minnesota companies made the list.
 
Highest-ranking at no. 71 was Plymouth-based GarbageMan, a firm that franchises environmentally conscious garbage and recycling services. Also on the list is Code 42 Software (see our previous coverage here), a Minneapolis-based developer of data protection and backup software.
 
Other Minnesota companies that made the list were MetroSpec Technology, DefySupply.com, Erickson Builders & Co., Intuitive Technology Group, and aimClear.
 
Despite a tough economic environment, the magazine noted, the median three-year growth of this year's list was a remarkable 1,436 percent--the highest rate in the list's 31-year history. Topping the list was payment processor Unified Payments, which reported a three-year growth rate of nearly 25,000 percent. Other prominent brands on the list include Facebook, Yelp, and Chobani. 

The Minneapolis-based Game Informer magazine is the country’s third-highest-circulation periodical, the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal reports.  

While so many other print publications have reported declining sales in recent years, “Game Informer's circulation grew more than any U.S. publication in the past year,” surpassing Better Homes and Gardens in growth, and trailing only two AARP publications in total circulation, according to the Business Journal, which cites Bloomberg Businessweek data.

In terms of circulation growth, he second-place national magazine is Family Circle.

Part of the magazine’s success has to do with its connection to the Texas-based GameStop company, the article states.