The Blaisdell Blog

Three years ago my book club chose The Ghost Map by Steven Johnson as one of our selections.   It is a non-fiction book about the search for the source of the cholera epidemic in London in 1854.   It is a very good book, and, like most good authors, Johnson gives us not just the historical facts, buy relevance to our modern world and lots to think about.   In the last chapter of the book he talks about why workers in the poultry industry in Asia are given flu shots.   The shots don’t keep them from getting avian flu, they keep them from getting the basic, human influenza.   Why?   Because doctors and scientists want to make sure that there is no way for the deadly avian flu to mutate into human influenza because human flu, while not so deadly as avian, is airborne—easy to transmit.   Avian flu, while extremely lethal to humans can only be passed from host to victim through physical contact and is rare in humans.   We now learn that the H5N1 virus (avian flu) has been transmuted in

Two days before Christmas my husband and I were making a few last minute shopping stops before heading home to settle into uninterrupted enjoyment of the holiday.   It included the hardware store, because that makes Tom happy, and the liquor store, because that makes me happy.   We picked up some bourbon (also for Tom), some scotch (for me) and a bottle of champagne for New Year’s Eve and joined the line at the cash register.   That is where I go a short lesson in voting equality.   In the long line in that south Texas liquor store there were both men and women.   There were lots of Latinos, a few blacks, at least one Asian and my husband and I, along with a few other, “Winter Texans” who all look as white and mid-western as a ‘50’s sitcom.    Here is the instructive part:   person after person who came up to the two working cash registers handed over a credit card to pay for their purchases, and every one of them was asked to show a photo I. D.   And guess what?   They all did!   No

If, on December 25, we are celebrating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, then we are off on both the day and the year.   The consensus of most theologians and historians is that Christ was probably born around 4 B.C.   That means this year should actually be 2015 instead of 2011.   [This means that all of you nuts who are fretting about what will happen when the Mayan calendar gets to 2012 can ease up and find a new conspiracy to concentrate your paranoia on, 2012 has come and gone.]   We have a pretty good fix on the year because, while we don’t know when Jesus was born, we do know when Herod lived and died.   We also have that pesky reference to shepherds watching their flocks by night.   Usually this would be something done during lambing time, which indicates a spring birth for Jesus, not December 25.    So, we have Christmas being a rather arbitrary date, set to celebrate the birth of a poor, lowly born carpenter’s son, who became the pivotal character in the creation of one of the

My default setting for a good book is a biography, add a penchant for American history and you have someone who reads a lot of Presidential biographies.   I am up to 13 so far, and plan on covering every President before I die, God willing.   Naturally, it caught my attention when President Obama said he would put his administration up with the top four Presidents.                 President Obama was clearly one of those children who were constantly told by his parents and grandparents that he was, “special.”   He was a special person; his parents were special people and everybody else, particularly people who didn’t think he was special, were wrong, jealous and possibly evil.   Such children grow up with an exaggerated sense of self.   We usually only see this syndrome in athletes or Hollywood stars, because politicians have to come up the hard way and there are lots of people to let them know just how, “not special” they are.   Of course Obama was plucked from the political shelf an

Thank whatever Gods may be that our national conscience, our fair land, the very planet we live on, and even—dare I say it—Christmas itself (!!!) has been saved by the U. S. government.   Yes, in the midst of concern over unemployment, an economy in transition, unresolved wars and intransigent, undisciplined citizens our governmental guardians have found time to save us all by ending the use of chimpanzees in medical and scientific research.   Having seen the original movie, Planet of the Apes , and been totally frightened off by the sinister trailers for, Rise of the Planet of the Apes , I can tell you that this little wide-eyed blond will be sleeping better tonight.                Here is how the saving of the planet from rampaging primates on horseback came down.   [By the way, is it just me, or do chimps charging into the fray on horses sound too much like bringing a knife to a gun fight?   But I digress.]   Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, rule

When I was a principal, my desk was covered with paperweights.   One of the most unusual was a mass of coprolite.   Coprolite is fossilized dinosaur dung—yup, a rock of crap.   When I had to deal with a particularly obnoxious person, knowing I had to be tactful as well as effective, I would casually pick up the coprolite and pass it from hand to hand as I talked.   I could be smiling, quiet and professional all the time I was thinking about what was in my hand, and what I really thought of the conversation.               I am retired now.   While I consider it important to be honest, kind and helpful, I no longer feel the need to be tactful.   My goal here is to be straight forward, not even handed.   I don’t want to show both sides, I want to show the truth.   The Palestinians have been trying to create themselves since the 1993 Oslo peace accord was signed by the Palestine Liberation Organization and Israel .   Since they weren’t having any luck recreating the holocaust, they were

Part of being a Cardinals’ baseball fan is feeling like you should set a place at the dinner table for our players.   Over the past 11 years, Albert Pujols has certainly become part of that, “family” of Cardinals.   So it was, with genuine sadness, that I learned that the three-time, National League MVP has agreed to a 10 year contract with the Los Angeles Angels for a cool $254 million.   St. Louis is the best baseball town in the United States and we loved Pujols.   Unfortunately, St. Louis is also well known for making good teams on the cheap.   They parley their good well (and a pretty good scouting and farm system) into competitive teams; but when individual players want top dollar, St. Louis sends to send them on their way with the best of all good wishes.   So Pujols is going to finish his spectacular career in Los Angeles .   Well, the weather is better there than in St. Louis; but they won’t love him like we do.   I think Albert knows that.             Is Pujols worth it

I was a Goldwater Girl.   Barry Goldwater would have been a great President.   He was that rarest of all elected officials: a man who spent a life time in politics and died with his soul in tact.   Goldwater’s run for the Presidency showed how far the left will go to destroy a strong, capable, articulate candidate.   By the time, “Daisy” was done scaring the pants off a World War II and Korean War weary country, Goldwater won only six states.   But Barry was right about the New Deal, right about Viet Nam and right about the unions.   He was also downright blunt about the issues.    He did not suffer fools lightly.               I admire intelligence.   It sees broadly and does not confuse expediency with conciliation.   Intelligence knows when and how to compromise on execution but not principal.   Intelligence allows for other opinions without caving in to intellectual bullying.   Goldwater was an intellectual with salty language.   He was secure enough in who he was that he didn’t