Category Archives: Personal

I just came back from a weekend visiting friends in Northern Minnesota. The snow is beginning to melt, and this makes everyone excited about the arrival of spring. During my weekend, I spent some time walking the streets around Gull Lake, which is near the city of Nisswa. I often see things that strike my fancy while walking. For example, I am always looking for good ideas to apply to my cabin, which is in the Grand Rapids area. Figure 1 shows a unique street light consisting of a wooden carving of a bear holding an old-style hurricane lamp. Bears and moose are common themes in northern Minnesota lore. Continue reading →

I just watched the movie The Martian with my oldest son, and I really enjoyed it (Figure 1). As I thought about the movie, it certainly was the best of the "man versus Mars" movies I have seen – and it was the first with a real sense of humor. Every so often, Hollywood rediscovers the escape from Mars theme and The Martian was the best of this genre yet. Continue reading →

I am from a small town in Minnesota called Osseo. I had never traveled far from home until I finished my undergraduate work and moved to Ft. Collins, Colorado. When I arrived in Colorado, everyone that I met immediately knew I was from Minnesota – I had no idea that my accent was so strong. After living five years in Colorado, I also developed an ear for accents, and I also could pick out where people were from because everyone in Colorado was from somewhere else. Continue reading →

I watched an interesting video about the survivors of Hiroshima on CSPAN this weekend. While the main topic of the video was interesting, I was surprised to learn that there were a number of Americans POWs that were present at Hiroshima and died. They also mentioned an American POW that was near Nagasaki when it was bombed named Joe Kieyoomi. Joe, a Navajo soldier, has a war story that is almost unbelievable. Continue reading →

Last week, I had a conversation with a coworker about a mystery that he just recently solved that I feel is worth sharing here. He has a small daughter who recently was found to have high lead levels in her blood. As any good father would do, he tried to find the source of lead in his home. His home is new, so there is no lead paint in it. They tested everything that their daughter drank or ate, and they found no lead in anything – yet her blood's high lead level persisted. Continue reading →

Quote of the Day Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious. And however difficult life may … Continue reading →

I just watched an excellent documentary on Susan Oliver called The Green Girl. She played the character called Vina in the Star Trek pilot called "The Cage". Her photo in green makeup appears at the end of many episodes of the original Star Trek series (Figure 1). It appears that she had a sense of humor about all the makeup she had to wear in her role as Vina (Figure 2). I have revealed my love of all things Trek in previous posts (example), so my interest in this video should not surprise anyone. Continue reading →

One of my favorite old movies is the "The African Queen" with Humphrey Bogart (he played Charlie) and Katherine Hepburn (she played Rose). In that movie, Rose asks Charlie "Could you make a torpedo?" and Charlie responds: "A torpedo?...You don't … Continue reading →