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As a born-and-bred Iowa native, I am always interested in agricultural practices where ever I travel.  On a trip to Seattle last summer, I took the opportunity to take an early morning walk down the beach to Elliot Bay on Puget Sound, where I got a close-up look at Seattle’s Pier 86.  The pier was built in 1970 to move grain, unloading trucks and trains and transferring the grain onto ships bound for the far East as well as Central and South America.

A grain handling pier in Seattle's port

In the photo to the left, the ship Ji May is being loaded.  At normal operating capacity  the terminal can load 3000 tons of grain per hour through twin 48-inch conveyors.  In addition to the ability to hold and unload long trains (current capacity is 175 cars, expandable to 215), the unloading operations on shore also include a truck unloader which inclines a loaded semi tractor-trailer to unload 250 tons per hour.

Current capacity is 4.2 million bushels of storage.  The Port of Seattle owns the grain terminal and it is under long-term lease by Cargill, the nation’s largest grain dealer.  The terminal is served by both the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad and the Union Pacific Railroad.

In 1979 the terminal loaded a record-breaking 1,977,000 tons of grain into 85 vessels.  Time to load a standard 15,000 ton bulk hauling vessel is about 5 hours.

Note:  All technical information in this post is courtesy of the Port of Seattle and the information placards in Elliot Bay Park.

My faithful riding companion for the last five years

I am in the market for a different car.  My trusty Taurus is approaching the ten-year-old mark and I am thinking something a little newer might be in order.  I  spent part of today looking at cars and thinking back to my very first automobile – a 1984 Oldsmobile Cutlass that I first drove in 1988, during my junior year of high school.  I grew to love that car over the course of about eight years of daily driving, and sometimes still wish I had it back.

So, that got me wondering – would you be willing to vote in a quick poll about the age of your first car?  If so, click the question:

Have you ever asked, or have you been asked, “What do you do?” This question comes up almost instantly when you first meet someone. It may be one of the cheapest and most overused conversation starters. Our occupation sort of defines us in others’ eyes, doesn’t it?

Most people ask this question with the intention of finding out how you make a living. Sometimes I like to have fun with my answer to this recurring question.

“I take pictures of freight trains” or “I take apart wooden furniture looking for salvage parts” or “I like to take candid photography using my zoom lens”. I really like using this last one on new neighbors, then watching to see how much time passes before they close their blinds. My wisecracking answers increase with my caffeine intake.

How would you answer this question? Do you have any other humorous ideas? Who was the last person you asked this? What did they say? Click the “Comments” link and let me know!

I am attempting sleep right now – or I was – in a very unusual bit of downtime around the midnight hour. I have discovered that I have a new pet. I don’t have to feed him/her, nor do I need to walk this critter. It just stays in my house, unassuming, until nightfall, when it begins to CHIRP-CHIRP-CHIRP.

You have perhaps guessed by now that my uninvited house guest is a cricket. My mind is wandering back to “A Cricket in Times Square”, a book I read as a child about a singing cricket in New York City. Can’t quite remember the details now.

This “singing”, as it were, has inspired what I believe to be my first ever haiku:

Infernal chirping,
One with exoskeleton,
Crunchy Gooey Mess

I make my living in a lab.  I like full disclosure, so I tell you this to let you know that I have a vital interest in science and scientific inquiry.  I am classically trained as a chemist.  Nowhere in my training as a chemist have I found reason to doubt the notion that humanity, and indeed all of creation, was the product of a well prepared creator with an intensely personal vision for how this universe would look, and even how it would work.

I recently heard the phrase “sabotaging science” in reference to some church-based curriculum or another (yes, there are still a few educational programs which are built upon the foundations of religious thought).

This made me think, “If I were to create a universe, and give a certain group of life forms the ability to think and reason, would I then also sabotage that ability?”

It is a tough question if you consider the ramifications.  First, I am going to create this prototype setting for my favorite creatures to occupy.  Then I am going to create those favorite creatures, loosely based on my own image, and place them in this setting.

With further thought, the real question soon becomes, “Do I indeed give them free will to make choices, and thus, mistakes?”

As a mere mortal, there is much to consider.  Eventually, though, I think it necessarily comes down to “If they are to find truth,  how can they not have the ability to choose between truth and lies?”

Now, if sabotaging science actually happened, then I would assert that it was done from the beginning, when humans were established as the dominant form of life.  With human participation comes human error.  This is the true sabotage that has happened.  Give a person the chance to observe a monkey and a man, and instantly the similarities are obvious to this person.  But what of the less obvious differences?

It is ironic that this doesn’t hold for human creations.  Hand a person two items made by human hands or by today’s equivalent, the robot.  If the items aren’t exactly alike, the differences will be quickly obvious, while the similarities sometimes remain somewhat elusive.

For example, let us consider a small salad bowl and a similarly sized round ash tray.  To the casual observer, the two items are obviously different.  The recognition of this difference is nearly immediate among a wide variety of intellects.  Although the two items are both round, and may both be the same color, and perhaps close to the same size, the difference is obvious.

You may ask “What difference?”, to which I would answer, “The intention of the creator.  That is what separates the salad bowl from the ash tray.”  Even to a casual observer, this is quickly obvious.  This is because the observer has an understanding of the purpose for each.  Why not for the monkey and the man?

I propose that it is because you and I might one day create either the ash tray or the salad bowl, given enough patience and the right material and the desire to do so.  However, neither one of us will come close to creating a human or a monkey or any other of the wonders all around us.

You don’t buy it?  Well, go ahead.  Create something on the scale of the majestic world and universe we live in.  Try to create the moment that hundreds of thousands of people unwittingly share as they each observe a beautiful sunset, each from their own vantage point.  Try to create the feeling in your heart that happens when you hear a baby say “Dada” or “Mama” for the first time.  Want something easier?  Try creating a dung beatle, a cockroach, or a flea.  Where would you start?

This level of detailed work, the type of artistry that went into making just the few things we have discovered about our world, is just too much for most people to grasp.  So rather than looking up and acknowledging the wonder, we look down and wonder about knowledge.

We build tools and laboratories.  We create measuring sticks, and we create methods, and we create ways to quickly share the details of what we measure with others who are also measuring.  In all of this, we claim to build up a healthy detachment from what we are studying, we even claim to be “objective” and unattached to any method or theory, when in fact we know the opposite is true.

Just as the whole of creation brings a twinkle to the eye of the intelligent architect in charge of all, the author of a scientific paper will often defend the indefensible to the bitter end because his name is on it. Well folks, I think that we are the indefensible, and that grand architect has indeed gone the distance to defend us in spite of that, because of the love that develops between the creator and the creation.

Not only have we been allowed to search for truth, and to fail, but we’ve been allowed to keep trying again and again, with the encouraging promise of impending success.  This applies to everyone, regardless of whether you search for truth in a church or at a lab bench, as a journalist or as a laborer.  Today, tomorrow, and the next day you will have another chance to get it right.

I believe that if you are a Republican and you think that you have some claim to the Tea Party protests, you may need to review the situation. This was a non partisan, grass roots effort to shake the legislators in Washington. It isn’t anti-Democrat and it isn’t anti-Republican. It’s not “anti” anything, it is Pro American Citizen.

This is a textbook demonstration of how to peacefully express your dissatisfaction with the way your representatives have been doing their jobs.

It is the latest in an escalating response from the governed to what is apparently either disrespect or complete neglect of duties on the part of lawmakers.

If you are a lawmaker and you spend your time in Washington social circles instead of in your district listening, you should be scared. We are in your district, and we are listening, and we WILL vote in the next election.

Don’t think that a party emblem is going to be your free pass – we brought the tea and we’re making enough for both parties.

So get your act together, review your voting record, compare it to your constituents’ interests, and maybe polish up that resume. You just might be with many of those constituents, in the job market, soon.

So this post is brief – no, I mean really brief.  There is just one element:  the “call to action”.

I want you to do something, and I’m just going to come right out and say it.  Tell me about you.  Jump into the comments and tell me who you are, where you’re from, anything you want to share about yourself.  Do you blog too?  Tell me about that.

One specific question I’d love to have answered:  how did you get here?  Were you referred by someone, did you find me on a social networking service, or was it just plain old Google?

I look forward to hearing from you!

Language seems to prove evolution an incorrect theory, as it becomes less and less fit over time. Here are seven reasons we should remove “blog” from our language

1. It sounds like you have lots of cheese in your mouth when you say it
2. It wasn’t in the dictionary I used at college
3. Some words sound stupid after you repeat them ten times – “blog” sounds stupid right from the start
4. It is a four-letter word
5. It is one of those annoying words that gets used as a noun and a verb (see also “antique”, as in “let’s go antiquing” – what?!)
6. It has also been used as a root for other annoying words (Example #1 – “blogger”, which sounds perilously similar to “booger” and Example #2 – and my all-time least favorite quasi-word, “blogosphere”)
7. What would be wrong with just saying “web site” (as in “Check out my web site”)

Here’s an idea for an extreme experiment in lifestyle for those of you with large following/follower lists on Twitter: Try following only people you really care about for a month, starting today (April 1, 2009). How much more meaningful would the time be? How much less time would you waste? At the end of the month, would it even be worthwhile to expend the energy to re-follow the lame ones?

Oh, and by the way, I don’t mean just follow the people that you’d listen to if they were speaking on television – I mean people you actually know and care about. Focus on the 20% that make a difference in your life.

This one action could revolutionize the way Twitter works for you. And I will go out on a limb and say that if ten people read this, nine of them won’t give it a try even if they really want to.

This begs a question. Actually several questions – questions about the true utility of Twitter. Is it really a great tool for listening? Who are YOU listening to? Why should I be listening to you? Perhaps most importantly, as I look over the updates from all the people I follow, what if I just don’t care?

I’ve grown tired of one media outlet “reporting on” or “investigating” another media outlet. This is, perhaps, the most bold perpetration of selling out the consumer. This isn’t news, it’s propaganda.

It happens all the time, with programs focused on the entertainment sector, programs focused on politics, and most recently, it is happening with CNBC and the whistle-blowing Comedy Central (does anyone else see the irony here?).

I’m not going to link to it – if you haven’t heard the story, then just search for Jon Stewart or Jim Cramer – your efforts will be rewarded, I’m sure.

Suffice it to say that the whole thing is a ruse to help increase viewers of both programs. As far as I can tell, most anyone who appears in tabloid news programs and publications actually wants that exposure. This is what is happening with these two programs, and both Jim Cramer and Jon Stewart will benefit from the “buzz” with increased viewers.

Personally, I speak with real people in my real life about how to invest my money and time. You know, bankers, financial planners, people who are actually handling money and not just talking loudly about money? And I’m certainly not about to tune into the comedy channel for advice on any personal matter, be it financial, educational, or whatever!

I don’t “tune in” to determine where to store my accumulated wealth. Everyone seems so aghast and shocked that CNBC is actually sensationalizing the economic situation.

I say “So what?” Didn’t CNN sensationalize the Iraq War (they created a special logo to help “brand” it across their media properties, for goodness sake)? Didn’t all the public news outlets sensationalize 9/11?

Come on, people, wake up! TV stations work for the advertisers, not for the viewers. Who is writing the check, after all?

Viewers are just part of the “package” that the program offers to the advertiser. All the viewer needs is a reason for viewing that is simple to understand. If that reason is truth and sincerity, so be it. But often that isn’t the case. And the program is just as valuable to the consumer who’s seeking justification for her feelings of insecurity, if that justification is what the network delivers.

Same goes for a heightened sense of self worth (think Oprah), a sense of relief that someone else understands your problems (ala Dr. Phil), or simply the feeling that you aren’t so weird after all (Jerry Springer).

The bottom line: Take responsibility for what you invest in – it is your hard work that you’re investing, your time and labor. Understand and believe in what it is you’re purchasing.

Sometimes you’re just doing your thing, and somehow, someone notices and praises you for it.  Other times, a bunch of people help to make you shine.  This post is a short “Thank You” to two people who have helped to make me shine.

Recently I wrote a short post on how to use LinkedIn for small town professionals.  Becky McCray and Chris Brogan made it possible for me to be nominated for a 2009 Semmy Award for this piece.  Without Chris’s post and comment section, Becky never would have corresponded with me.  Without that connection, I wouldn’t have written the post and this happy little story wouldn’t have happened.  So thank you Chris, and thank you Becky!

Believe me, I am beyond honored that someone is even reading what I’m putting out there.  To be considered along with the other nominees is much more than I could ever have expected.

Here is a quick link to a blog post that quotes the prime minister of Spain, talking about the Spanish language, its future, and the need to promote its use.

http://tinyurl.com/c5wls2

We are living in interesting times. A savings account at my local bank is paying somewhere close to one percent and a long-term CD will get me a bit more than 2%. At the same time, we are now hearing about the possible risk of deflation. Add to that the fact that the housing market in America is in the dumper, people are losing their jobs at an alarming rate, and oh, my gosh, the Detroit car manufacturers are struggling to meet all of their insanely unrealistic obligations. Is there any good news?

Well, just last week I visited my friendly “Big Box Mart” (a made-up name, but I’m sure you can guess) store and eased my way over to the book section. I was astounded to find a brand new copy of the Bible, King James Version, selling for less than $5.

Think about that for a moment. A century ago, a Christian family likely had only one Bible, and it was handed down from a previous generation. A century before that, a family likely saved several months’ worth of wages to purchase a Bible, if they could afford one at all. Today, one can be had for less than an hour’s work at minimum wage.

No matter your religious persuasion, this has meaning for you. Simply thinking about this progression has value that you can apply in your life right now. For Christians, this means that the owner’s manual to life can be had for less than the cost of most drive-thru supper-in-a-sack meals. For “ye of little faith”, what it means is that, like Bibles, many things required to carry on physical and biological needs can be had for similar discounts to what your ancestors had to pay. Food, for instance, can be supplied with far less labor than in previous centuries. Clothing, as well.

Perhaps more importantly, though, a Bible can be bought and you can own a classic piece of English literature – the KJV is regarded as such – for less than many, many lesser known works of art. Even if you never try to read it, you really ought to own one at such an attractive price!

Just a quick post to mention an innovative way to integrate technology into learning Spanish, and any other language. I had a conversation with my co-worker and my counterpart in our little two-month experiment. He had mentioned using an iPod or other mp3 player or mp4 player as a language learning tool (podcasts, etc).

That got me thinking. People use these tools for all sorts of learning. As the iPhone has gotten popular, there are thousands of apps that can do almost anything. But, I thought, not everyone has or can afford these tools.

Then my light bulb moment happened: what about a digital camera? You can buy a basic digital camera for less than fifty bucks at your local discount store, and I see kids, very young kids, carrying around what looks like a toy but takes actual digital pictures. How can this be used to learn Spanish? Well, I got my own digicam out and read the owners manual (everyone should do that from time to time), and it actually allows you to place an audio tag with each picture, using the camera’s microphone. Anyone see where I’m going here? You can easily make a set of digital flash cards, using items that you are already familiar with. That is because they are your items: your house (casa), your car (auto), your money (dinero), etc. This would also work with the video clip function that many of today’s cameras have. If your camera is a bit more basic, perhaps you can take pictures of items, then take pictures of the items with “name tags” en Espanol.

What other common items can you think of as language learning aids? Any advice for beginners or people who are “refreshing” their high school language after several years (decades?!) away from it?

10-plus megapixels and the ability to shoot video and add audio tags to pics.

Inspired by the recently aired pilot of Tim Ferriss’s new  TV show, Trial by Fire, I decided to look for something extreme to try in 2009.  When a colleague at work challenged me to a duel, of sorts, how could I not accept?

The challenge itself is, admittedly, not nearly as extreme as it sounds when I call it a “duel”.  It certainly doesn’t hold a candle to learning horseback archery, but nevertheless, it’s worthy of the effort we will be giving to it.  We are going to learn Spanish as completely as possible in sixty days.  Both of us have some prior experience with Spanish, and both of us have experience learning other languages but Spanish is and has been far from our minds until this year.

I plan to post updates here as frequently as is practical and (hopefully!) interesting.  I anticipate a post every three to five days, for a total of 12 to 20 updates over the course of our little competition.

We haven’t settled yet on how we will determine the winner / loser of the challenge, nor do we have any prizes or penalties for winning / losing.  I guess we will make up the rules as we go!

Feel free to suggest resources, lend your own experiences with Spanish or other language learning, or provide a list of “incentives”, or even suggest my next “extreme experiment” in the comments section.  I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Thanks!

I came upon an interesting story on languages a few months ago, and found that the author’s viewpoint was unique and perhaps even a bit riveting – if you’ve ever listened to Art Bell, you may know what I mean.  Sometimes, even though you want to stop listening or reading, it is hard.  Reading the blog from whence this story came intrigued me with its many diverse stories on space, language, politics, and sometimes just interesting news stories.

I subscribed to the blog, called Page F30, as a result.  Today I came across this post on a crashed slave ship near the Turks and Caicos Islands.  I don’t know exactly why, but I had to share it here.  Check out the post and click thru to the whole story – very interesting.

Baguettes, anyone?

In a post on his excellent and always fresh blog on social media for business use, Chris Brogan discusses how social media resembles a French cafe.  Something you notice right away about Chris’s blog is his great skill for creating vivid word pictures – this is no exception, so go check out the post!

I find less distinction than Chris does between the two types of media / marketing that he has identified.  “Social Media” is a relatively recent term, and “mass media” was a college major when I was entering school, but to me they both are ways to connect people together.  I liken the growth and change in the use of networked computers to the use of telegraph wires, and later, telephone wires (slowly, more people can communicate over longer distances and more directly, eventually bypassing the telegrapher).

While the medium certainly matters, and the message definitely matters, maybe the atmosphere matters most.  In the blogging world, the “A-List” is a pretty tight club, and as if on cue, Robert Scoble chimed in with a comment about Coke umbrellas in cafes in Paris (and in Mexico and China).  This comment is uncanny. If you read thru Coca Cola’s annual reports, both extreme localization and this pervasive branding – making Coke into the background music – are goals for them!  If Coke is the umbrella or it is the bench, or if it creates the neon glow that you’re basking in, well, just saying.

The evolution from telnet and CompuServe to today’s “communication connections cafeteria” also sort of resembles the evolution of broadcasting from monotone AM radios to satellite radio, from three broadcast TV networks in B&W to hundreds of channels of satellite HDTV, from reel to reel recordings in tin cans to MP3.  In each case, the end user gains more and more granular control of their information/entertainment “diet” (and the product itself is more perfectly replicated).

This doesn’t seem novel or surprising to me, it seems a natural part of an ongoing evolutionary and learning process. Mistakes and defects are reduced, six sigma style, bringing us a more useful and user-friendly system of connectedness, which in turn drives adoption rates higher.

Kudos to Chris Brogan for keeping vigilant about the humans on each end of the wires!

It seems the latest craze is to do less online, especially if you are an established and well-known “internet star”, for what that phrase is worth.  Some of my favorite bloggers are now in the process of reducing their frequency (or have recently done so).

I think it is cool that people finally have had enough of this slop that is peddled, where some so-called expert says “Blog at least 3 times per week, with anchor posts, and pillar posts, blah blah…”.  Oh, and this one,  “Be sure to write your posts so that they are optimized for search engines, with appropriate titles and blah blah”.  Finally, a favorite gem, “Be sure to reciprocate with link love, because links are the currency of the web!”

Links are the currency of the web?  What?!  Last I checked, I couldn’t give a link to Woot in return for a refurbished USB toaster.  Can you imagine the pointy-headed character that sat down one Saturday night and came up with these rules?  Was he trying to help you be effective in your outreach effort, or was he trying to assure that your Saturday night was just as uneventful as his Saturday night, by tethering you to your computer with rules to *help* you “Get things done” the same way he does (alone under the incessant hum of the fluorescent lights).

So, in the spirit of my theme for this post, I’m NOT linking to my favorite bloggers who have recently reduced their output in an attempt to restore sanity to their RT lives, I’m NOT blogging three times this week (I actually beat all of them to the punch on this one!), and I don’t give a rat’s whisker about SEO for my title.

Some of what we do here is for our enjoyment, for Fun, folks!

Goodnight from the Midnight Blogger, at well after midnight here in the beautiful middle west!

I recently had the chance to reunite with several friends from college.  We returned to Pella, Iowa, and visited our alma matter, Central College.  It has been a long time since I’ve had as much fun, sitting with my old friends and enjoying more laughter than we should be allowed.  We got together for a “tailgate” meal of grilled burgers, we took in a football game, we wandered around the campus for a few minutes, noticing how many things had changed since we left.

People say that some things never change, and that is true.  The Central football team still appears to represent about 25% of the student population, the Dutch letters are still just as sweet as I remember, the  town is still quietly reverent on a Sunday.  But some things are seemingly in a constant state of change.   Most of us had gotten “plumper”, for instance, evidence of slow but constant change.

In the photo above, for those who aren’t familiar with Central, the pond and the spanning bridge have been a fixture for generations on the campus.  A favorite photo op, a natural meeting place, a romantic spot for a first kiss, a platform for daring divers (the pond is only about thirty inches deep, so I don’t advise this).  The bridge has been a focal point on campus for so many students.  The college has even incorporated it into its identity, making the modernly stylized logo from a representation of the bridge.

Something so elemental, something as enduring  as “the bridge” at Central, would appear to be a solid, even stoic, symbol of continuity.  Forever there, from generation to generation, ready and able to serve its purpose, and ultimately unchanging.

Well, not quite.  Even the venerable bridge is not exempt from change.  From my first evening on campus as a freshman I remember trotting up the three steps to the fairly severe arch of the bridge that took you over the water on your way from the student union to the cafeteria building on the opposite side of the grounds.  I still remember sitting on a bench nearby with a couple friends and watching anxiously during winter months as people gambled on the last, treacherous, icy step.  About 15% of the time we would be rewarded as the unsuspecting person would land with a “thwack” and often a little squeal, surprised to be sitting at the icy foot of the steps to the bridge and looking around to see who might have seen them execute such a “landing”.  Admittedly not very nice of us, and certainly potentially dangerous for our “subjects”, but in all of our observed landings no one was ever hurt anywhere but their pride – well, and maybe their unmentionable muscles.

If you can’t tell from the photo, there are now no steps – apparently the administrators were watching too.  Also changed from the bridge I traversed is the slope – it is almost flat now.  And it’s made of steel and concrete, not wood.  Some changes were made to accommodate people with difficulties walking, no doubt, but some changes like the steel railings, are more for aesthetic and durability purposes.

If you are reading this and you are in charge of things like this at good old Central, please keep up the good work – I’ve never seen the campus looking so good.  If you’ve never visited Central College or the city of Pella, Iowa, you owe it to yourself to spend a day and see the authentic Dutch architecture, taste the Dutch foods, visit the campus, see where Pella windows are made, check out Lake Red Rock (Iowa’s largest reservoir if memory serves me), and shop the downtown stores “on the square”.  Believe me, you won’t forget it.

Occasionally I think about how it might be nice to start life over somewhere else without any possessions. Sometimes I feel like I’m defined by my “stuff”. Wouldn’t it be interesting to show up in a new location with nothing but the clothes on your back and the skills you possess? Despite the sense of freedom and release that this might offer, I’ll bet that there is one thing you just couldn’t give up.

For me, the one thing – well actually the many things – that I simply couldn’t part with are the numerous images I’ve collected.

I have pictures that I’ve taken, pictures I’ve been given by my grandmother, and very old pictures of past generations of my family. I have photo books, photo boxes, and just loose photos laying all over. I have drawings that I did, drawings from my sister, and various paintings. I have a really neat framed picture I took of Dana Point Harbor in San Clemente, California during a vacation there.

The image above is of a painting that hangs over the fireplace in my den. The painting features a herd of Hereford cattle grazing in a pasture at the foot of a mountain. It used to belong to my grandfather. It always hung over the head of his bed. It reminds me of him and all of the times I “helped” him do his chores, feeding the cattle, planting his fields, and doing odd jobs around the farm. I, of course, was there mostly as moral support because I was usually too young to help much, but I’ll always remember the great conversations we had as I got older, riding along with him in his pickup truck.

If you hadn’t noticed, there is a photo tucked into the left corner of the frame. This is a photo of me at about age 2 sitting on my great grandfather’s lap. This would have been the father-in-law of my grandfather, who owned the painting. I have only a few memories of my great grandfather, but I do remember that he taught me to chew gum (prior to age 3!).

I have discovered that the most enjoyable moments in my day are often those that let me remember some past experience I’ve had, and relate that experience back to that moment. I’ve done this many times with my favorite bloggers, I do it each time I listen to my favorite radio program, and I’m constantly doing the same thing with these images that are so present in my life. Each time I come home and sit down in my den, this painting brings back all of these great memories.

If you suddenly started over with little or no “stuff”, what would you miss the most?

The past two weeks have provided numerous opportunities for recreation for me. I started with a weekend in Omaha, Nebraska and Council Bluffs, Iowa taking in their annual “Omaha Railroad Days”, a celebration of all things related to trains. For railfans, Omaha and Council Bluffs are natural destinations. The headquarters of the largest railroad in the country is here, there are several museums located here that celebrate trains, and the Dodge House is also located here.  I didn’t have time to see all that’s available, but I do plan to go back in the next few weeks and finish my tour.

A quick video of one of the garden railroad exhibits I visited at Lauritzen Gardens is here:

There is more in a series of posts I have started over on Researching the Railroad.

My next opportunity for recreation came in the form of a four-day vacation. My parents invited me to visit the Black Hills on a trip they were planning. I gratefully accepted their kind invitation and returned to the Black Hills of South Dakota for the first time in about twenty years.  Much has changed, but many things remain as I remember them.  Bonus:  Our tour of the Badlands inspired the new header image.

I thoroughly enjoyed my last couple of weeks of leisurely summer fun, and I’m looking forward to a few more enjoyable breaks before fall.  To my folks – thank you, the invitation came at the perfect time and it couldn’t have been any better.

Many people spent at least part of their long weekend traveling to cemeteries to take part in the annual “decoration”. This seems like an appropriate time to talk about those we’ve lost.

In my lifetime, I’ve seen several friends and family members pass away. The first I really remember, and the first to really impact me, was my great grandmother who passed just before I turned ten years old. Her husband, my great grandfather, was also very important in my life but despite remembering him and what a fun fellow he was, I don’t remember his passing (I was about three years old at the time).

Some of the saddest and most draining experiences have been losing friends at a young age. One of my good friends from college passed away over seven years ago. We were very close in age, and shared several interests and had a similar love, admiration, and closeness with our grandfathers. He was killed in a car accident one cold day in December, and I had seen him and joked with him earlier that day.

Maybe the hardest death to deal with is the slow and agonizing death of someone close to you. You don’t know if you should wish them comfort and a quicker journey or a longer time on earth to finish their last acts, words and thoughts.

It sometimes amazes me that some friends of mine can be rather unemotional and almost “clinical” about dealing with the difficulty of losing someone. For me, it’s as if an actual piece of myself has been cut away as I think back over the times we shared and realize that no more will be shared. I don’t know if these friends are in a late stage of denial, if they are actually aware of this lack of emotion and it is really a coping skill, or if they genuinely don’t feel the same type of loss when someone dies.

These were just some thoughts I had as I think back over my Memorial Day weekend. This three day weekend means different things to different Americans. For me, it is for reuniting with family and remembering and honoring those we’ve lost especially those who’ve made the supreme sacrifice for our freedom. Hope you had a happy, meaningful, productive and safe weekend.

William F. Buckley Jr., who marshaled polysyllabic exuberance, famously arched eyebrows and a refined, perspicacious mind to elevate conservatism to the center of American political discourse, died Wednesday at his home in Stamford, Conn. He was 82.

Although I have been interested in politics since junior high school, I never knew quite how to classify my own politics. I knew some things that I was not – some things I didn’t believe in. For one, I have never had much faith in group thinking or the “wisdom of the crowd”. For another, I have never had much time for middle men – people who place themselves between me and something or someone of value.

What does this have to do with Buckley’s death? Well, it was not until I started college that I sort of found my political footing, so to speak.

My early days at Central College were marked by a full year of trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life as a profession. At least two or three times a week, I visited the library’s periodical stacks to read about people who I regarded as successful, hoping to discern their success secrets. It was during these frequent “soul searching” sessions that I came across the National Review. This was like having a light turned on. At that time, the original George Bush was president and the original Iraq war was just getting underway. In a world that was changing rapidly and perhaps less certain than ever before, the logic and the pure thought and intellect that were apparent in the pages of National Review gave me a hopeful, positive outlook.

An antidote to the popular press of the time, National Review contained consistently well-crafted prose which was thoughtfully critical when necessary, but not in a cheap, populist way. Continued reflection on and examination of Buckley’s publication was like reading a map that revealed the details of my own political mind.

While it used to be hard to explain my own personal politics, it is easy now to tell people that I am most definitely a conservative, but more importantly, I think it is now easier for me to understand why that is true and what it means to be a conservative.

William F. Buckley Jr., Rest In Peace.

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It has been a while since posting but I am still upright and breathing. Good news for me!

I’ve been dealing with Sinus maximus over the last few days and this, among other things, has taken my attention away from the nocturnal blogging activity.

Hope to be back up in lights with feature posts very soon!

President Hugo Chavez on Sunday threatened to cut off oil sales to the United States if Exxon Mobil Corp. wins court judgments to seize billions of dollars in Venezuelan assets. “If you end up freezing Venezuelan assets and it harms us, we’re going to harm you. Do you know how? We aren’t going to send oil to the US. Take note, Mr. Bush, Mr. Danger”

Sometimes you try to give people the benefit of the doubt, but this is really difficult to do so with Hugo Chavez. Wow, Chavez needs to give some thought to what he is saying. Undoubtedly the United States is Venezuela’s number one export destination for these barrels. Is his “threat” of $200 barrels of crude supposed to scare us? This is exactly why our country’s energy policy needs to be multifaceted.

We really should address our dependencies on single regions, single resources, and single relationships with an eye toward broad diversification. Our goal should be to develop many energy sources, many supplying regions (both domestic and abroad), and no more “cozy triangles” between government, industry and special interest groups. Click the “Digg Story” link below to read the news account of Mr. Chavez’s banter.


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“Our law is by definition a codification of our morality.”

Barack Obama is speaking here about religion & the value of remaining tolerant of others religious views, even if they don’t claim a religion. The video linked here is long, about 40 minutes, but you really owe it to yourself to hear what Barack Obama is saying about religion and its place in the public discourse.

This is something that the democratic party can be proud of. Please don’t interpret this as an endorsement – people who know me know that I certainly don’t carry any water for the democratic party. Also, it pains me to imagine the media hurricane that would result if someone who isn’t from the left made some of these exact same statements.

That said, if ever the democrats needed something, it is a person who can address situations with truth, with reason and with humility. Funded by individuals and not beholden to suspect special interest groups, Senator Obama might be the best hope for the democrats. He is certainly someone without a barge full of baggage and dirty laundry and other assorted political uglies.

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Linked here (from Digg) is an interesting article from the Economist which, of course, is critical of using corn as a feedstock for ethanol. It is even more critical of ongoing U.S. subsidies of ever-larger farming operations which are focused on row crops (mainly corn/beans) and livestock production. These are discussed as barriers to the economic advancement of poorer farmers around the world. The article examines increases in food cost both as a threat to poorer consumers and as an opportunity to wean U.S. farmers from this paternalistic subsidy system.

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Where do you get inspiration from? For me, seeing someone succeed against the odds always seems to stir me to do more. My creative juices flow faster, my adrenaline pumps a little harder, when I watch someone succeed despite everything and everyone saying that they shouldn’t.

With that in mind, take a look at the video below. By the way, stay tuned because I’ll tell you some little known facts about this in part two. Many of you already know my “little secret”, and even if you don’t it might seem obvious if you’ve been following along, so just play along and don’t spoil the surprise for others!

The U.S. government ruled on Tuesday that food from cloned animals and their offspring is as safe as other food, opening the door to bringing meat and milk from clone offspring into the food supply.

One justification for this approval was that there appears to be no danger posed by food from cloned livestock. This is reckless approach to a complex issue, if you ask me. It is a little like saying that although an army tank might be dangerous if it is armed, you can drive one around town if you just leave the shells at home, because at that point it poses no apparent danger.

While I consider myself fairly progressive with regard to scientific innovation, I also consider myself a thoughtful food consumer. Having grown up in an agricultural area, and having family ties to the grocery business, and with a professional interest in food production, I have had lots of time and opportunity to think about what I eat.

One thought that I have is that some things work better in “low gear” and some should be pushed a little in order to get certain tasks done in a timely manner.

If you are planning to plant corn after the fourth of July parade, then you can bet you won’t face much success. Planting is something that happens in the spring, on a schedule. When it is time to go, you go. Feeding livestock is another task that must be done on time. Late just won’t cut it.

Planting your crops on time, however, doesn’t mean planting your field with the tractor in road gear. Likewise, farmers don’t expect the plants to grow at a quicker pace than nature will allow.

Genetic mutation is, I think, something that should happen at a slow and natural pace in the great outdoors, not rushed by nerdy guys in white coats at the lab bench (it is OK for me to stereotype them, because I am them).

A safety net that all of the species on earth enjoy is that of genetic diversity, or in other words, a broad pool of genes to select from as the generations proceed. Genetic diversity demands a slow and natural mutation process, not instantaneous, “on-demand” mutations initiated by man.

It is the wild types and “waste animals” that become the vehicles for genes which, while perhaps not studied by well-funded scientists, are likely the best insurance policies against creating a dominant class of animal that eventually becomes devoid of desirable traits like disease resistance, longevity, weather hardiness, and reproductive vigor. The truth is that we don’t know how our experimentation will affect generations of animals into the future, because we’ve not had the required time to observe these effects yet.

I don’t think that our genetic basis for life is anything less than miraculous and I don’t think that it is nearly so easy to understand as we sometimes like to assume. Relationships aren’t always only the ones we can observe, some causes have multiple and unknown effects. Clearly a newspaper article doesn’t qualify you to make these decisions, but I wonder how many of the bureaucrats at the FDA have studied this issue beyond the white papers provided by the lobbying groups for either side of the argument. While the food itself may be safe for human consumption, and I would still emphasize the word “may”, I find it difficult to believe that humans can exert proper control over something as complex as genetic cloning, especially in light of all the other things we have already gotten so wrong.

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You really need to click throught to the article and read it! You almost get the idea that this could read “Only in Poland”.

A POLISH schoolboy who turned a city’s tram network into a giant toy by maneuvering rolling stock using a TV-style remote control has been arrested after he caused chaos on the public transport system. It is probably good to arrest the kid and give him an appropriate punishment, but once that is finally done, it might not be a bad idea to figure out a better way to remote control the trains. If any schmuck with a TV remote can go derail the trams, do you really think this will be the last time?

I am always on the look-out for train related news and I also have a little blog about my developing model layout at http://bvcentral.blogspot.com. Check it out and let me know what you think!

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I don’t claim to comprehend all of the issues around the Hollywood writers’ strike, but I do understand that it revolves around the writers wanting greater compensation based on an increase in the number of channels that their work is now appearing in, while the producers wish to retain the extra income from these alternate channels.

I have mixed feelings about the strike itself, but little sympathy for either side, since I perceive mostly greed on both sides of the question.

If I may digress for a moment, as a comparison, I’m a research technician and in that role I perform various different laboratory tasks.  My products, if you will, are the results of my experiments.  I don’t demand greater pay if my work gets recognized by more people, I just thank the person or people responsible for increasing my exposure. Most likely either my boss or my company are the responsible parties, and yes, they sometimes can realize an increased profit by sharing these results with a greater number of people, but it isn’t actually easy to do this type of promotion so kudos to them!

Back to the writers, I understand that the writers’ products are unique, but can’t you say that about most jobs?  Could the writers, for instance, sell advertising to clients or do other types of promotion? Could they negotiate placement of DVDs into major retail chains at specified price points?  Could they put together a multi-part marketing push involving merchandising of toys, fast food co-branding, product placement media buys, et cetera?  Could they manage the payroll for all of these operations?  Does the creative role trump all others?

What about all the support staff? I’m sure that if they left work for a month or two, much production would grind to a stop.  Instead, many of these people are now facing the prospect of layoffs.  Why must these people be pawns in such a chess game of greed, with their livelihood hinging on whether or not an overstuffed union or a bunch of overstuffed shirts win a staring contest?  What all of these self-important people decide to do can mean the difference between employment and unemployment for some innocent bystanders.  What if you had to wonder whether you are going to have insurance or have none tomorrow, pay the bills or wonder how to pay them?

Lest you think I’m giving the producers/owners a free pass, please be assured, I’m not.  There are several questions that need to be addressed.  First, is there a logical method for allocating the income from alternate channels?  If so, what is it? If there is extra income and there is a real reason for withholding it from some of the people who helped create the “content”, then the studios should be explaining that reason to their stakeholders.

Finally, I want to propose something very radical: Life’s given us lemons, so let’s make lemonade.  Forget the writers.  Forget about them altogether.  What is the worst that could happen if we don’t get the writers back?  Will we only have one CSI program instead of half a dozen?  How will we cope?  Will there be less sitcom silliness?  Oh, no, not that.

Will this be the end of our world?  Is this a crisis?  No it is not, and I assert that there is much good writing available for consumption without taking it through the filter of television and movies.  Places to look include the newspaper, the good old-fashioned book, and even the blogosphere.  I’m guessing that many, probably most, and maybe even all bloggers would be absolutely delighted to know that their material is being consumed by a growing audience (you won’t see me picketing any time soon!).

If you can’t find any quality writing, why not start a blog of your own and produce some quality writing yourself? Who knows, maybe the studio will call up and you can be a SCAB!

What do you think?

The $200 million dollar project is designed to be a functional and profitable working farm growing enough food to feed 72,000 people for a year and provide another tourist attraction to the city.

Being an “aggie” by training, I find this fascinating. Replicate this in downtown, urban renewal areas, and the possibilities are quite intriguing. The logical way to grow is usually up, so it just might work.

Concerns I’d have from an operations standpoint would be the costs in addition to the initial cost (annual purchases of inputs, annual maintenance cost, unexpected repair cost, etc.) and the widely varying market prices of farm produce. But I’m assuming they’ve spoken with an engineer and an accountant already.

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First, a question then an explanation.

The question: How long has it been since you listened to a favorite album, CD, or cassette from beginning to end, without stopping? I’m wondering if our rushing, ever more “productive” tendencies are taking the good out of our life.

The explanation: I got the idea to use a song lyric as the title of this post after I thought for a while about my recent (and very unusual) twelve day stint away from work. I had taken a few days off during the holidays, resulting in almost two weeks of vacation. After the first day off, I began to forget about scheduled duties and my concept of time and itineraries soon slipped away. I even stepped outside my house without wearing my watch a couple of times – the equivalent of being stark naked for me at any other time.

So, what did I do with this newly liberated time? Many things, but one of the long lost joys that I revisited was listening to music. Not just throwing a CD in while I’m exercising, or taking the mp3 player with me as I run out the door, but really listening, and sitting down. Relaxing and trying to figure out what an artist had in mind with a particular song. In the case of a concept album, what did s/he intend to convey with the whole work?

To say that my musical taste is varied would be accurate, but I listened to a relatively narrow range of music between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Frank Sinatra’s Las Vegas box set was high on the list, while a Dropkick Murphys CD also made the cut. Shannon Brown is a country favorite (she also has a very nice name) from here in Iowa, and her last album was produced by John Rich of Big and Rich fame.

Eventually the whole experience took me back to a time, around ten years ago, when I sat with a friend of mine who also has a fairly eclectic taste in music. That night, we discussed the merits of Texas Swing as a style of American Folk Music and whether or not Bob Wills was and is the King of Swing. I’m not sure which was more valuable to me, the relaxation of the present time or the memory of the past. I’m glad I got to enjoy both.

Happy New Year to all.  I have enjoyed getting to know many new people this past year and I’ve really enjoyed finding my little place in the “blogosphere”.  Now there is a word I never learned to spell when I went to school!

I’m still finding my voice, as they say.  So far I’m quite pleased with the preliminary responses to my homespun blogging effort.  I’ll be much more familiar with the mechanics by this time next year and I hope to be updating the navigation features very soon.

Thanks to all who have supported me with encouraging words or good advice – it’s much appreciated.  Hope your 2008 is all that you hope for plus a few pleasant surprises.

I found this over on Digg. It finally happened. I had predicted $100 barrels by the end of 2007 during January of 2007. Looks like I missed it by a couple of days. I am driving a flex fuel Taurus, and at my little home town gas station, E85 (85% ethanol fuel) is currently $2.35 per gallon, while regular and super (10% Ethanol) are around $3+. I am guessing that this will drive the per gallon price of gas toward $4, with peak demand pushing it past later this spring/summer, while E85 will (hopefully) stay under $3.

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Guess what?  No content yet, but look to your left and let out a cheer.  That’s right, we have the Lijit Widget (Wijit!) installed, so when the content finally arrives, you’ll be able to search it with ease.

I’m a fan of Lijit’s people and their technology, but mostly their people.  If you have a blog and you’re not offering your readers the opportunity to use the Lijit search widget, you are missing an opportunity and so are your readers.

Merry Christmas.  I  hope your holidays are truly blessed.

Check back soon, things will be changing…