Inherit the Wind

Happy Birthday Chuck!

Today is the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin, the Father of Modern Biology.

My survey of the morning newspapers indicates that most include articles on Mr. Darwin including a nice Opinion piece in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/12/opinion/12judson.html

I also immensely enjoyed the article in this week's Economist, excerpts from which, follow:

The idea of evolution by natural selection is not hard to grasp. It just requires connecting some uncontentious propositions. These are that organisms vary from one another, even within species, and that new variation can arise from time to time; that some of this variation is passed from parent to offspring; and that more individuals are born than can exist in the available space (or be sustained by the available resources). The consequence is what Darwin described in his book as a "struggle for existence". The weakest are eliminated in this struggle. The fit survive. The survivors pass on their traits to their offspring. Over enough time, this differential transmission of characters will lead to the formation of a new species.
...
Darwin's theory explained why species were so well adapted to their environment and how new species would form. It suggested that all living things were related, from the beetle to the lotus, and that everything descended ultimately from a single common ancestor. Evolution thus removed the need for divine explanations of diversity and, along with evidence emerging at that time of the extreme age of the Earth, it further suggested that the wider universe might also owe nothing to divine intervention and everything to natural laws. Darwin understood all of this and was greatly troubled.

The Economist article also notes that the acceptance of Darwin's propositions varies widely across the globe. "In the United States a Gallup poll conducted last year found that only 15% of people agreed with the proposition that 'humans developed over millions of years', up from 8% in 1982." A graph included in the article shows that the general acceptance of evolution varies widely among the countries of the world. In Iceland, Denmark, and Sweden public acceptance exceeds 75%. The United States falls between Greece and Turkey at around 35%.

Not surprisingly, the Economist concludes that "a country's belief in evolution is inversely correlated with it's belief in God."

However it is interesting to note that different sects regard the theory quite differently.

"We're not out to bash Darwin, he wasn't a God-hater out to destroy Christianity," says Tommy Mitchell of the Creation Museum in Petersburg, Ky., who will speak there on Darwin's life Thursday. "We would argue his observations hang on a bad starting point. He just never had a biblical worldview and that led him to his conclusions.

On the other hand, Catholic theologian John Haught of Georgetown University, author of God After Darwin: A Theory of Evolution, notes that the Vatican accepts evolution. Evolution fits comfortably with religious belief, he says, unless you view the Bible as a "literal source of scientific or technical information." (USA Today 2/17/2009)

My personal interest in Mr. Darwin and his propositions is not simply that it discomforts the clerics - as much as I DO enjoy that salutary result. Rather, it is that the field of evolutionary biology and its offshoots will likely be the source of much very useful knowledge in the coming years. The deciphering of the human genome promises great advances in both medicine and our understanding of our common human nature.

I, for one, will be happy to be the first in line for gene therapy (derived from embryonic stem cells or otherwise) to replace or repair some of my soon to be failing joints and organs.

And likewise, I eagerly await the results of the genetic research into such varied questions as the evolutionary basis for and persistence of homosexuality; and why the historical belief in a god or gods seems to have been a universal human trait.

We live in exciting times.

Going Nowhere Fast

I've been sulking the past 24-hours. I drafted a letter to my realtor in Corvallis giving her additional criteria for my dream house based on the assumption - no, make that the HOPE - my elders meant it earlier this winter when they suggested they would be willing to consider a move out of this hell hole. I shared the draft with the folks yesterday. It landed with a thud.

I am going to let it be...see if they raise the matter again without prompting. I doubt it. They want the whole idea to simply disappear.

So...I will switch gears for the moment. Perhaps a longer trip in April. Maybe I'll drive the coast highway to wine country. A long road trip appeals to me at the moment.

In other news the snow is falling lightly this morning; but it's supposed to stop soon. Mostly cloudy and then partly cloudy for the next week or so. Daytime temps should be quite pleasant - high 20's to low 30's - so perhaps I will do some cross country skiing.

Below, I offer one of my favourite pics from the early 1970's. It's a silhouette of Eric Swanson on the beach out the road. I think out past Eagle Beach...but I'm not positive.

How's that silhoutte holding-up these days ol' buddy?

Well, off to do chores. If it's not too slippery I'm going to take mom to Costco today. Shouldn't be much too much shoveling - cleaned the driveway real good yesterday. Then off to the Club.

Winter is Beginning to Piss Me Off

Another 8 inches or so of snow on the deck this morning and another 6 inches possible today. Looks like nice wet, heavy snow. A pain in the ass to shovel.

The weekend was just god-awful. We had about 6 inches of snow on Friday morning. Rain Friday night and SERIOUS rain on Saturday. Water everywhere. Slippery as hell. On Friday afternoon I fell down in the driveway - no damage done except to my dignity.

The forecast for the week is on-again/off-again snow showers. Colder at night. Maybe some more rain and snow next weekend. ENOUGH ALREADY!

In other news, there is an interesting story posted on CNN this morning. Headline: "In Rural Alaska Villages, Families Struggle to Survive." The story suggests there is serious hunger in many villages this winter. Fuel prices are the single biggest factor. There's not much sign of a State response to the problem...

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/09/rural.alaska.villages/index.html

I get the impression that this is likely the first trip to Alaska for CNN reporter Mallory Simon. It seems that Rural Alaska is proving quite a shock. Although this is a very somber story, I did have to chuckle at one statement:

Though they send their kids to school, many speak the native Yup'ik language, and live a much simpler life than even urban Alaskans.

...THAN EVEN URBAN ALASKANS! This is what you get when a rube like Sarah Palin becomes your state symbol.

Well, I'm off to shovel and haul wood. Then a workout. The Simple Life.

Ninety-Four Years Young

Well, the old coot made it. Dad turned 94 on Thursday. Mom cooked a birthday dinner for the family - mom, dad, my sister Linda, aunt Emilie, cousin Sandra and yours truly plus dad's best pal Ron Leithead and Ron's best pal Brenda. Dad seemed to really enjoy it. He had a couple of cocktails and was regaling the masses with stories from his time in Dutch Harbor during the Second World War. There were even a couple of stories I had not heard before.

The old boy also received congratulatory calls from a number of friends and family including my buddy, Martha Stewart, who is very busy helping Congress stimulate us back in D.C. The folks were most appreciative of the calls.

My sole contribution to the festivities was a carrot cake...which is one of dad's favourite breakfast foods. He was munching away on it yesterday morning when I was over to do the chores.

Yesterday was a double-ugly in the weather department. About five inches or so of fresh snow in the morning followed by serious rain. I woke up several times last night to the sound of large clumps of wet snow falling from the trees and hitting the roof. Which of course is better than TREES hitting the roof - but startling nonetheless. I was contemplating going to a high school basketball game last evening; but my driveway was so slippery and the weather so nasty I chickened-out.

And speaking of weather, mom just called and told me not to come over to do chores this morning. Their parking area is solid ice with a couple inches of water on top. She just saw the teenage neighbor boy fall down. (What self-respecting teenager is up at 9 AM on Saturday morning?) I cut lots of wood yesterday so they have plenty on the porch for another day. Good enough for me. A rare day off!

In other news, I offer the pic below from CNN under the headline "Scabby the Rat Comes Out Winner in Free Speech Battle." The gist of the story being that union organizers may display their 10-foot-tall rat-shaped balloon outside of establishments with which they have a dispute notwithstanding the local ordinance relating to maintenance of an "aesthetic environment."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/02/05/scabby.rat.free.speech/index.html

Scabby the Rat. I want one of these...

Finally, from the archives, my first grade class picture.

Front row left to right: Adrian Birch, Max Nix, Pam Jones, Jim Trucano, Danny Thomas, Cyd Dwyer, Gaby Rampkee, Terry Cook, Nancy Pagenkoph, Gilbert Knutson.

Middle Row: Sandy Stichler, Dick Thomas, Wayne Coogan (?), Beni Norvell, Carol Berryhill(?), Bob Chapman, Elmer Lindstrom, , Patrick Mitchell, Susan Fuller (?), Linda Douglas (?).

Back Row: Milo Davis, Carl Mielke, Lamar Riddle, Joe Johnson, Lauren Cutler, Sandra Riddell, Chuck Nygaard, Mitch Hogan, Larry Jurgeleit, Danny Graves, Linda Modean, Mrs. Crites.

Boy, not doing too good. Although a couple of names are right on the tip of my tongue. HELP!!!

First grade was fine...but can't say I have a lot of specific memories. Although I did like Mrs. Crites. We got to have recess in the big back-of-the-school playground instead of the wimpy kindergarten playground. Each grade would take recess at the same time...so we could play with the first graders from the other class (I'm pretty sure there were only two classes for each grade every year I was at Harborview). We had two recesses each day - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. I THINK they were only 15 minutes long.

The classes were pretty big - looks like 32 present the day of the picture. I THINK it was in second grade when we were separated from all the Mendenhall Valley kids who transferred to the first elementary school in the valley. Classes got smaller for a year or two.

Recess was fun. I was particularly fond of the monkey bars on which we would play tag. I'm sure monkey bars have long since been banned from school playgrounds.

College Daze

The year was 1975 and I was a freshly-minted college freshman at Western Washington State College (soon to be re-christened Western Washington University). I lived in Nash Hall. My shirt-tail cousin, Dick Behrends, was my best pal - we hadn't really been close in Juneau; but he took me under his wing at school. And Dickie's best pals were Sue Perrault and Irene (who's maiden name I cannot put my finger on right at the moment) and Richard McConaghy. Dickie was seriously smitten with Sue. And Irene was dating - and subsequently married - Rich, another Juneau expatriate.

It was a fun time. Sue and Irene were rural folk from Eastern Washington near Yakima. I think they were somewhat taken aback by us Alaskans. Fascinated, amused and at times probably horrified. It is possible that they thought Dick and my morals, or at least judgement, just wasn't quite up to snuff in some respects.

Pish-posh.

The pics below exist by virtue of a photograhpy course I took at school. It seems they are the ONLY pics I ever took at Western. So sad...

Howdy Cuz! Cousin Dick relaxes with a beverage at Nash Hall.

Sue Perrault. I had a serious crush on Sue (did I ever mention that cuz?).

Sue and Irene at Nash Hall. Seems like just yesterday...sigh...


Irene drew the short straw to be my principal model for my photo class.


Irene was delightful...this pic captures her personality pretty well...

After my first year in Nash Hall I rented an apartment off-campus - 705 East Maple Street. I came back to Juneau to work for a bit and Eric Swanson, Doug Rickey, and Dick Behrends moved into the place. Adios Elmo's damage deposit.

The Maple Street spirit is illustrated by the excerpt below from a letter Dougie sent me on May 9, 1976.

The letter was addressed to: Brig. General E.A. "Buck" Lindstrom, Platoon Headquarters, P.O. Box 1602, Juneau, AK 99802.

The return address read: Dr. Maynard G. Krebbs, College of Useless Knowledge, 705 E. Maple Street #4, Bellingham, WA 98225

Speaking of drunk, there was a party last week at Burnham Wood and I was almost in a coma. It was at Joyce and Judy's place. Joyce is still as beautiful as ever. It was the old Southern Comfort that did me in. I have been drinking bourbon but Sue was going with us and she likes SC so I got that instead. About 2 AM I come staggering into the Hide-Away [the apartment] hauling a 2 Hour Parking Violation sign behind me. The damn thing was a good 10 feet long and as heavy as hell. Eric was just beside himself and Dick still hasn't stopped laughing. So things are pretty normal around here.

Well, dad's 94th birthday cake just came out of the oven. So I'm off to do chores and have a workout.

Economic Casualties

A couple of sad notices in Oregon papers this past week. The Columbia Gorge Hotel has closed its doors in Hood River. It was a way cool old hotel overlooking the Columbia Gorge - ornate public rooms, a good restaurant, beautiful gardens and grounds and a spectacular view of the gorge. I sure hope someone can secure financing to reopen this treasure.

http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2009/02/landmark_columbia_gorge_hotel.html

Not nearly as historic, but a cool place nonetheless (in my preferred old and somewhat seedy sort of way) my favourite pub in Corvallis, the Fox and Firkin, closed last week due to lack of business. The pub was located right downtown and was always my "19th hole" after a round of golf at the Trysting Tree Golf Course.

In local news, our on again/off again winter continues. It's on again today. Looks like we got about five inches of snow last night with more expected the next few days. Then warmer with rain. I see shoveling in my immediate future.

We set a record for snowfall in January - I think it was about 75 inches. We also got 9 inches of rain. I've had enough winter for a year - maybe a lifetime...

I've been very busy running errands for the elders. They insisted on having a Power of Attorney document completed and my name added to all their bank accounts. The banks are not cooperative - they insist on doing everything the hard way - massive amount of signatures and paperwork with multiple trips back-and-forth. The general Power of Attorney is essentially ignored by most of them.

My experience at DHSS had led me to believe that Alaska had a pretty good system for such things, living wills, power of attorney, guardianships and so forth; but I no longer believe that. The statutes and regulations may be fine, but in the real world nobody appears to be paying any attention. Since I've got plenty of time to deal with these matters I have not been obnoxious to all the financial functionaries with whom I've been forced to deal. But god help anyone with limited time, mobility, or patience.

Today I'm going to deal with the hospital and my folks living wills and I'm sure that will be painful, too.

And now for the fun part. A couple of pics from my recently excavated treasures.

I believe this was taken on Pleasant Island where Eric, Carl and I went cross country skiing a couple of times. More on these noteworthy trips in a future installment...


Jeff Hard and Jane Ellis in a hotel room in Anchorage in 1973.

The Anchorage trip was quite amusing. It was a Student Council gig of some sort. I have zero recollection of the business aspects of the trip. I do remember partying-down at the hotel however. Our faculty advisor/chaperon, Karen Price, had a hot date on offer and clearly felt somewhat guilty leaving us to our own devices. To assuage her guilty conscience, I talked her into buying us some liquor on the conditions we stayed at the hotel and did not cause a riot.

We were an extremely responsible group of kids - all things considered.

Harborview Elementary circa 1961

It is an ugly, drippy, slushy day. We got about six inches of snow Friday night. Yesterday involved some serious shoveling of heavy wet snow at the elders. And we were supposed to get another foot last night; but it warmed-up faster than predicted and turned to rain during the night. So, it's a mess; but at least I don't have to shovel today.

We had a little get-together at the Prospector Friday evening after work to celebrate Shelly Manguso's birthday. It was quite fun. Last night I went to the Island Pub for pizza with David and Kathy Bohna. They are good friends of my former sister-in-law. I met them in Anchorage years ago and they since moved to Juneau. They're great company.

A couple of weeks ago when John Chapman, Brent Long, and I were at the Pub we spent a lot of time reminiscing about the old neighborhood and school days. I've been thinking about the visit and it prompted me to dig-out all my old elementary school pictures this morning. I've got every year from my Harborview Elementary School years except second grade when individual pics were taken instead of group shots. I'll be rolling these pics out over the next couple of weeks.

I am embarrassed about how few of the kids I can place a name to from my Kindergarten experience. PLEASE let me know if you can fill in any of the blanks.

While rummaging through the archives, I also stumbled on several other treasure-troves. A few pictures from the high school era (the collection that was NOT suitable for going into the year book). A few pics from Western Washington University when I took a photography class. And a few pictures from the 1980's. Some quite amusing. So stay tuned...

Mrs. Broburg's Kindergarten Class

Front row left to right: Denise Blefgen, Unknown, Unknown, Unknown

Second row: Unknown, Unknown, Margaret Wells, Unknown, Unknown, Unknown, Unknown, Charlie ?

Third Row: Unknown, Bob Chapman, Unknown, Elmer Lindstrom, Dylan Gibson, Unknown, Donna Wright

Back row: Mrs. Broburg, Jim Brown, Danny Graves, Unknown, Patrick Greany, Unknown, Unknown, Unknown.

I have very few discreet recollections about kindergarten. I do remember we had nap time every day when we had to get out our blankets and curl-up on the floor. My blankey was yellow with white trim. I liked my blankey. And I remember one day when Margaret Wells called me at home - the gist of the conversation being that she figured we would get married someday. I was very embarassed - my mom thought it was about the cutest thing ever, of course, which made it sooooooo much worse.