Outstate

A little time spent with family outside of Bemidji is a good thing.  They’re not my immediate family, so to me the stories are just what’s going on in a world I normally don’t think about all that much.  For this day after Thanksgiving, I only have a few random thoughts about this world which is only a 4 hour drive from our imagination.

Northstar

Today the Northstar Commuter Rail line opens from Target Field  to Big Lake, with an extension to St. Cloud coming soon.  It’s a commuter rail line, meaning that it’s a full-blown train operating on existing tracks, costing $320M for the 40 miles that it will run.  It’s expected to carry about 4,000 people per day in a few years at speeds up to 80 MPH, but experts say that ridership may be much higher.  As the hoopla becomes a staple on the news for the next few days, a lot of us in Saint Paul might be wondering when we get our ride – and the answer is that we could have had something just like this by now.  But we don’t.

Demographic Destiny

When Norman Borlaug died recently at the age of 95, his obituary included one of the most extraordinary claims that any human could ever possibly make.  Because of the “Green Revolution” that he pioneered, the ability of this planet to produce food to support the human population was dramatically increased.  The use of fertilizers and pesticides and simple changes in practices taken together probably meant that at least a billion people were alive because of Prof. Borlaug that would not have otherwise been.

It sounds great, unless you start to think about the resources that all those people consume.  But what if, in the end, it all worked itself out and we didn’t devour this planet like a giant swarm of very smart locusts?  That may actually be what winds up happening, if just a bit beyond the lifespan of the brilliant Prof. Borlaug.

All Politics is Local

Tuesday is Election Day here in Saint Paul.  It hasn’t been an exciting election, but that only figures.  As the economic situation continues, there’s little for local governments all across the nation to do but settle in for a long siege.  There’s a good reason for this.

Helical Waves

I’ve been thinking about waves lately.  Waves as a concept, waves as a constant, waves as the continuity that ties so many things that don’t seem related together.  This is one of those columns that might not make a lot of sense, but I hope you can bear with me.  It’s a dark fall day outside, deep under the clouds that sprinkle a little bit of rain down on us.  Our hemisphere is tilting away from the sun and we all know from experience what’s coming.  It’s one of those daze.