The Blaisdell Blog

On this day in 1517 a man started a revolution.   To you, this is Halloween; to me it is Reformation Day.   Of course, if you are not a Lutheran, Reformation Day may not mean quite as much.   To the general public, Martin Luther is often depicted as a brooding, personally troubled man.   Pictures of him show a square-jawed German with a grim mouth and a furrowed brow.   Growing up in a Lutheran home, I was sure he had been a brave but angry man, nailing his 95 Thesis on the door of the church in Wittenberg and starting a religious revolution.   Even his decision to enter the priesthood, a vow to St. Anne if she would deliver him from the fury of a sudden storm, seemed to be born of fire.                Luther, who was not a simple monk, but a highly educated theologian, is a frequently misunderstood revolutionary.   He profited from being the right man at the right moment.   Luther’s ideas came at an economically and politically advantageous time. Because of this, he had promot

The ginkgo tree is a tall, hardy tree of Chinese origin.   It has been around, stinking up the environment, for over 250 million years.   We have abundant fossils from the Permian epoch of the Paleozoic era, all showing the distinctive fan shaped leaves of the ginkgo.                The ginkgo’s wrinkled, coral colored, fruit smells like vomit or dog poop (there’s a pleasant choice!), the interior seeds, however, are described as tasting just as good as edamame!   My contention is that the step from vomit to edamame is a small one.   I don’t care how popular these boiled-in-the-pod soybeans are, they taste like crap.   They are popular only if you are opposed to any food that contains calories, fat, carbohydrates or good taste.   They are also popular among those faddists in the community who are sure that eating something obscure makes you an epicure.             These are the same gustatory snobs who think that the world’s most expensive coffee bean, Kopi Luwak, is a treat.

My book club will be discussing The Passage by Justin Cronin in November.   This book is a well written and intriguing example of post-apocalyptic science fiction.   The Passage examines what happens when an unexpected, “effect” proceeds from a well-intentioned, “cause.”             There have been other, “before and after” moments in history, and I wonder if we are approaching one now. The Toba Catastrophe is such a time.   About 70,000 years ago Mount Toba , a super volcano in Indonesia , destroyed itself in an eruption of truly Biblical proportions.   The debris Toba ejected into the upper levels of the atmosphere altered not just the climate, but the population of this world.   This eruption brought about a decade long, “volcanic winter.”             The result of this entire climatic catastrophe was a serious die-off of our evolving human species.    Mankind was reduced to less than 10,000 members—literally on the edge of extinction.   The result of this bottleneck

While smoke, mirrors and thunder sticks are being used to distract our attention from the walking nightmare called, “business as usual” in Congress our national debt has now reached $17 Trillion dollars.   To give you some clue as to how big that is, let me simply tell you that $10,000 in Benjamins could be carried in your pocket, $1 million could be carried in a plastic grocery bag, a trillion dollars in $100 bills would need acres of pallets, each stacked with bills taller than the average man (that would be 5’10” plus an extra 8” for their pride).     There is really no explaining this kind of money, but we can look at the percentages and try to make some sense of it all. There is a line in The Music Man that says, “There are burglars in the bedroom while you are fiddlin’ in the parlor.”   Well the media is fiddling with every issue pertaining to our latest governmental fiasco (at the behest of the Congress who wants attention on anything except themselves) while our elected

When I want to find sensible, day-to-day, philosophy I seek out my Jewish friends.   When you truly are God’s chosen people, and are then persecuted for it, it leads to an interesting perspective on the world.   Which leads me to the commentary, “If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.”               We have had a, “lock-step” summer.   Everything was planned to the last turn of the tires on the RV and the calendar has been stuffed with every possible contingency and then some.   Our last adventure before heading back to Texas was a cross-country run from Olympia , Washington to St. Louis for a baby shower honoring our soon-to -arrive grandson.      The first day out I was experiencing blurred vision for distant objects, making me dizzy (I am blond!).   The second day I had pronounced double vision which started with objects in the distance but rapidly deteriorated to objects no farther than an arms length away.   The third morning was worse and we headed to an ER a

Paul Romer is a genius.   Since the Nobel Prize in economics is due about now, I am hoping that Romer is the man.    Here is a gentleman who looks continuously at the human condition and tries to make it better by making it more understandable.   He does it with numbers, cosmic thinking and tenacious research.   He embodies everything I love about economics. Romer is the son of former Colorado Governor, Roy Romer.   He has an undergraduate degree in physics and a doctorate in economics.   He and I are probably not hitting for the same political team, but that doesn’t matter.   He is intelligent, hard working and plays by the rules.   That is all I ask from anyone.   This man speaks my language. Since Romer started as a physicist he probably has heard that no one could explain Albert Einstein’s theories better than Einstein himself.   Likewise, no one explains Romer’s economics better than Romer.   He talks about how societies can increase production and economic growth.   Thi

On Tuesday, two scientists (both in their 80’s) Peter W. Higgs of Scotland and Francois Englert, of Belgium were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.   Unlike the Nobel for Literature, which seems to go to any dull, obscure 2 nd world writer who sees the world as a forlorn and gloomy place, or the Nobel Peace Prize which has turned into a political joke with America as the punch line, the prizes in the hard sciences: physics, economics, chemistry, and medicine are genuine acknowledgments of expertise and merit.   Higgs and Englert are visionaries armed with solid theoretical and mathematical skills.   The Higgs/Englert 1964 theory postulated a sensible answer to a 50 year old question in physics.   According to their modification of the Standard Model of physics (a labyrinth of equations with more Greek letters than an Athens primer) the universe is filled with energy that gives mass to particles that move through it.   [That whole E=mc² thing; neither mass nor energy can be d

There is a special movie genre that has devoted fans and clear winners when it comes to the top offerings.   I am talking about 1950’s era science fiction.   Almost any discussion of these sci-fi classics will put the 1951 movie, The Day the Earth Stood Still in the number one spot.   The movie starred Michael Rennie (damn good looking man!) and Patricia Neal in a thriller steeped in cold war paranoia and a dark warning for the future of man.   In many ways, however, the second lead belongs to a huge, metallic and all powerful robot, Gort, played by 7’7” actor, Lock Martin (what a great stage name!).                            The old movie (don’t waste popcorn on the 2008 remake) has a spaceship setting down on the Capitol Mall.   Klaatu (Rennie) gets out, tries to deliver a message of peace and is shot down.   His robot, Gort, retaliates but Klaatu stops him.   Klaatu is healed, escapes, goes underground as the mysterious, “Mr. Carpenter,” finds a sympathetic pseudo-love inte

Decades ago I worked with a woman who belonged to one of the newly emerging churches of the charismatic movement.   We were in casual conversation one morning when she suddenly felt the need to, “witness” to me.   She put her hand on my arm and fervently asked if I had been, “born again.”   I took her hand off my arm, gave it a gentle squeeze and said, “Barb, when you are born Minnesota-Norwegian-Lutheran, once is enough!”               I never did tell her that the only part of the conversation that offended me was her hand on my arm.   Another part of that whole Minnesota-Norwegian thing is a cool reserve and a very (!!!) healthy respect for personal space.   I have since become a comfortable and happy, “hugger” but it has taken effort.   Probably the hardest part has been in church.   This whole, “…sharing the peace of the Lord” thing (shaking hands with everyone within three pews of you, including the child with the obvious and vigorous cold) took me years to appreciate.   K