The Blaisdell Blog

  I wrote this column when I first learned that Sen. John McCain had inoperable brain cancer.  I hope it conveys the  respect and affection with which I hold this great American.   Sen. John McCain stands with his arms at an odd angle.   He moves them only by moving his whole shoulder.   His arms reach for objects by moving outward and then forward instead of in a normal forward flow.    On October 26, 1967 a 31 year old John McCain was flying his 23 rd bombing mission over North Vietnam.   He was shot down and ejected from the cockpit, but that is a violent act and he broke both arms and a leg upon impact with the ocean.   Those were not the wounds he suffers from today.    The North Vietnamese who pulled him from the water deliberately crushed his shoulder with a rifle butt and then bayoneted him.   He was transported to the Hanoi Hilton, the North’s primary prisoner of war camp.   There he was refused medical attention until it was discovered that his father was an Adm

Mathematical averages are as abstract as the formulas that determine them.   But they do show data: facts that can neither be spun nor rejected without mental fraud and personal peril.   Averages tend to be either mathematical (constructs where you take the sum of the data points and divide by the number of points), medians (where there are as many data points above as below the median line), or modes (the data point that occurs more often than any other).                 The Washington Post recently ran an article on what the average American looks like. Since I have never met a graph I did not like, it was my first Post read this morning. I went to it for the fun but came to a sudden and jaw dropping stop at the end.   They had me at “average” but then trumped it with an ace.   See if you have the same reaction.             Before we dip into a mathematical look at Americans, it is good to remember that all of us tend to see the world through the lens of our own experience.

A family of turtles was relaxing on the sunny bank of a river just above a waterfall.   They were enjoying watching the deep green water turn a translucent blue as it spilled over the granite edge of the falls.   Suddenly, a turtle named Simon saw a baby bunny struggling in the strong current and heading for the waterfall.   Simon grabbed a life preserver attached to a rope and threw it to the bunny.   [Turtles are naturally cautious creatures and always come prepared for emergencies.] The baby rabbit grabbed hold and was pulled to safety.                 Just as Simon was helping the bunny to the grassy bank he saw another small rabbit in the water.   Again, Simon threw the life preserver.   As he was pulling in this rabbit another bunny appeared, struggling in the current.   Simon called for help.   The turtles all worked to save first one and then another baby bunny, but the astonishing number meant that even the most vigorous effort could not save all of them.   Precious bunn