I suppose the space age began for me sometime in late October or November, 1957. We were visiting my grandparents at their farm in south central North Dakota, and the Fargo Forum had published the expected track of the Russian satellite Sputnik, which had been launched October 4, 1957, igniting the space race and intensifying […]
Being an active Catholic, I was interested in who the new Pope would be after the resignation of Benedict XVI. By happenstance, the day of the Pope’s election, March 13, I was in Florida. I was on a tour bus with Grandson Ryan and his friend Caleb, at the Kennedy Space Center. The cell phone […]
* – Once upon a time, the North Dakota promotional anthem (at least as I remember it). I can hum it still. Wish it were on YouTube…. But the title “masks” a more serious message, today. Recently, within a day or two of each other, came two links: one from a present day and lifelong […]
POSTNOTE: The primary originating document is the blogpost for March 5, 2013, which is accessible here. Added material is dated. * UPDATE September 17, 2014: Relevant and current documents about this issue: 1. A 20+ page pdf of documents related to this issue can be viewed here: UN Flag Henn Co MN001 (pp 1-22). The […]
It has been two weeks since my last post. In my world, this means either a computer problem or, in this case, that I was away from computer for the last two weeks. This is my one small act of defiance to the internet: when I’m away from home, I’m away from computer. No smartphone, […]
Events like the recent Nobel Peace Prize Forum at Augsburg College are extraordinarily difficult to plan and then implement (let’s say “stage manage”). You don’t want the advertised event to be advertised to start at 11 a.m., only to have it begin at 11:45, etc. In all respects, the Forum was impeccably planned. Having said […]
UPDATE: Additional thoughts written on March 11, here. Some photos are included at the end of this post. Click on any photo to enlarge.) My colleague blogger, Grace Kelly, asked me as we were leaving the Forum today, if I planned to write about the last three days. Sure. Then comes the real problem: how […]
Yesterday noon we, along with several hundred others, braved Twin Cities roads to gather at a lunch at McNamara Alumni Center at the University of Minnesota. The speaker was Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton. (click on photos to enlarge) The event was the Carlson School of Management’s “First Tuesday” and the large audience seemed mostly to […]
This “filing cabinet” including much more background for this issue is at March 27, 2013, the link is here. * NOTE TO READER: This long post is an effort to convey information, and opinion, about a specific issue I wasn’t aware of, in a community other than my own: an essentially covert act by a […]
February 28 I took a short drive to attend the 20 year anniversary of the creation of the merged Dakota County United Educators (DCUE) in the south metro communities of Rosemount, Apple Valley and Eagan MN. It was good to re-visit the long ago accomplishment and to re-meet many fine people from the two memorable […]