Long Burn

My mission yesterday morning was to bike across town to the auto parts store and pick up a new battery for the car. Overall I use my bike to...

My right index finger has been complaining for two or three weeks. What it is is 'tennis elbow' in my mouse clicking finger. So I h...

February 12, 2009 is the bicentennial of Charles Darwin's birth. My wife is making an exhibit in his honor for the Natural History Muse...

Here's a picture of the wood shop in F's old grade school. He was 8 at the time and made a cutting board in the shape of a fish. A...

Children in Sweden are expected to assemble furniture.

I was going to throw out this scrappy old screwdriver and then I saw that it is rated for 12,000 V, so I decided to keep it. You never know...

Our five-year old son has been hard to put to sleep lately. He talks and asks questions and fidgets and wants to go to the bathroom or drin...

I'd like to congratulate everyone on completing a full orbit around the sun during 2008, and I hope that our ride in 2009 will be at lea...

We were shaken awake this morning by an earthquake. My body reacted very strongly, I flew out of bed and up the stairs to see the kids. I ha...

Last night I scored the cyclist's hat trick: fix three flats in the same day. It was good too because I had to fold up the laundry and ...

There were several years when I thought the greatest thing you could be was a mountain man. This was mostly inspired by our Scout leaders w...

Thanks to Papa Twister for inspiring this. First we stabbed the pumpkin with our long knives and then we cut a hole in the top of its head ...

In money terms, emitting carbon dioxide gives you a lot of bang for the buck. But why not turn this around, and not emit some large mass of...

My New Year's Promise for 2008 was to ride my bikes farther than I drive our car. Mileage totals, 30 November: Biking, 4608 km, 2864 mil...

In Holland we were told that chocolate is more nutritious than cheese. It is an accepted fact among the Dutch.

The Complete Bushisms on Slate. "How can you possibly have an international agreement that's effective unless countries like China ...

Fresca asks, what do folks say about the election? I am pleased to say that what I am hearing now is a stunned silence, because 53% of the U...

Our 5-year-old 'A' told everybody at day care that it was his Mom's birthday. They let him cut out pictures and make a really n...

Recently I posted a photo of the homesteading Johanson family. Paraphrasing Rigtenzin's comment, This really nice..family photos are be...

Our family took a vacation in Holland last week. Some of us vacationed anyway as the Swedish schools were having fall break. I was officia...

Let me introduce Peter and Christine Johanson who homesteaded outside of Wheaton Minnesota in the 1880s, and 7 of their 16 kids. Back row f...

Well its been quite a week here in post-Long Burn land. I have not had a chance to think two thoughts in a row since returning from Tokyo. ...

The blog muse kicked my butt for using that old line about not feeling inspired to blog anymore. If you're a blogger you post, resistan...

It may be the end of Long Burn. The beginning of the end was an obsession with election coverage which blended nicely into reading about glo...

Sarah Palin: A Trojan Moose Concealing Four More Years of George Bush By Arianna Huffington http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/0...

Just found this cool blog wordspinning . It starts with this quote: This is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown as...

I've been at a conference the last couple of days, helping man a booth, presenting our research, talking with different companies and wh...

Here's part of a newspaper article from last week: After having spent several summers in Sweden together with his Swedish wife and two s...

All these Minneapolis cycling types are twittering about the Xtracycle , a device that mounts into the rear of the frame and lengthens an or...

Igor Kenk, owner of The Bicycle Clinic, was arrested for bike theft and was eventually found to have 2,396 stolen bicycles. Kenk had stashe...

Thanks to everyone involved for a great trip to Minnesota! It was so great to see friends and family. Highlights of the trip: 1. Seeing my...

Fresca asks me to flesh out my proposal for using some of a fictitious billion dollars to help everyone stop being morons. I find it is not ...

The breakdown from a national survey of 'Most Admired News Figures' Couric, 5% O'Reilly, 4% Gibson, 3% Rather, Brokaw, Williams...

I had a big meeting today to sign a commercial R & D contract and so I put on the new wrinkle-free, stain-free shirt I bought at the out...

We got back yesterday from a two week trip to MN. There's an old Swedish saying, 'Away is good but home is best'. It was a gre...

Tagged with fives by Tim : What was I doing 5 years ago? On August 8 2003 I sent 28 emails, to students, family, colleagues. Pithy. Five th...

Here's some highlights of our first few days in Minnesota. This is the newest member of the family, Elanor. I'm a Great Uncle! Here...