Bob CollinsPulling rail in St. Paul, the first step for a photographer, Tango time, what do we have against knowledge, and the bounty on the woman who talked to Rep. Bachmann.
I’m on Morning Edition this morning at some point to talk about the Senser case. I’ll post the audio here later on, though I doubt there’ll be much on ye olde radio that faithful NewsCut readers haven’t read on the newfangled technology already.
Update 9:52 a.m. Here:
1) PULLING RAIL
I admit to having been ambivalent about light rail coming to Saint Paul — I’d still like a bus to Woodbury, please and thank you — but it’s been nothing short of fascinating watching the process of construction of the Central Corridor. Outside our window at the World Headquarters of NewsCut on one of the hottest days of the summer, for example, two workers dug deep into the ground using only a 5-gallon bucket (too many important cables and pipes to use machinery). Repeated over an 11-mile stretch, and coupled with thousands of other seemingly mundane tasks, a transportation system rises.
The other night they “pulled rail” over on University Avenue. The rail is dragged from the welding shop to the street. “Transiteer,” who writes the “Let Their Be Light Rail” blog, found it fascinating so she shot a little video.
Here’s the thing: A couple of years from now, someone’s going to get on a LRT train and ride down the rails, and not give a thought about how they got there. Who welded them together? Who pulled them in place? Who directed the traffic? Who did all the little things that — all added together — is a big thing? And who did it in the middle of the night?
That’s true for just about everything that we use that someone else built at some point — sometimes with nothing more than a five-gallon pail — and then they moved on to do something else that someone else won’t think about later.
Friday discussion point: What contribution to someone else are you leaving behind today that they won’t think twice about later?
(h/t: City Hall Scoop)
2) THE FIRST STEP
In many ways, this item also falls under “the work we do that nobody notices.” You open up the newspaper today and you see a picture of a Medal of Honor recipient. We don’t think “who took that?” “What was involved in getting the picture that was just right?”
This is a remarkable picture.
That’s Joao Silva, who was assigned by the New York Times yesterday to cover the Medal of Honor presentation to Dakota Meyer, a former Marine.
It was Mr. Silva’s first assignment as a staff photographer for the Times since he was released from Walter Reed Army Hospital. While working as a freelance photographer for the paper almost a year ago, he stepped on a land mine in Afghanistan and lost both of his legs.
Joao is a civilian. And he is a citizen of South Africa and Portugal. Yet the American military had given him access to the same care received by the troops whose risks he shared as he tried to bring home a richer understanding of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. For this, he had something to say.
“Dear President Obama,” he wrote by hand. “Thank you and the American people for your hospitality. For allowing me to recover at Walter Reed, where without a shadow of a doubt, my life was saved.”
He added: “With admiration, Joao Silva.”
Trust me on this: You should not continue your Friday without reading this first.
As for Dakota Meyer, this quote (relayed by Steve Inskeep) from “The Wrong War” seems appropriate:
For a man to charge into fire once requires grit that is instinctive in few men; to do so a second time, now knowing what awaits you, requires inner resolve beyond instinct; to repeat a third time is courage above and beyond any call of duty; to go in a fourth time is to know you will die; to go in a fifth time is beyond comprehension.
Meyer’s performance was the greatest act of courage in the war, because he repeated it, and repeated it, and repeated it.
3) FIRST TANGO
There’s a symmetry to life at this time of year. The State Fair ends, we get our first frost, and Vikings fan perch on a ledge. It’s right. It’s the order of things.
This is part of that order. Apples:
Ali Lozoff at The Current found those last evening, an affirmation that the universe is zipping along and everything is in its correct orbit.
Former colleague Bob Ingrassia, now a bigshot in the public relations business, shot this video for one of his firm’s clients explaining the rollout of SweeTango, the University of Minnesota-bred apple for which a Lake City grower’s cooperative owns exclusive rights in these parts.
This is the first big rollout of the variety.
The new apple variety was unveiled by the U of M about the time its patent on the Honeycrisp — the official apple of Minnesota — expired.
4) WHAT DO WE HAVE AGAINST KNOWLEDGE?
“If more ads were like this, I’d watch more ads,” my colleague, Julia Schrenkler said to me yesterday when she e-mailed me this link to an ad promoting BBC Knowledge. Then I watched it and I had a different reaction: “Why isn’t a show about knowledge on the air in the US?”
BBC KNOWLEDGE from weare17 on Vimeo.
5) THE BOUNTY
The bounty is getting higher for the woman who allegedly told Rep. Michele Bachmann that the vaccine against the virus that leads to cervical cancer caused her daughter’s mental “retardation.”
Local Dr. Stephen Miles offered $1,000 the other day. Yesterday, bioethicist Art Caplan, a former University of Minnesota professor, upped it to $10,000.
Meanwhile, the Minnesota Medical Association’s House of Delegates, which is meeting in Duluth, will vote today on a resolution that would back annual chlamydia screening for everyone from ages 15 to 25 — whether male or female, whether sexually active or not, the Duluth News Tribune says.
If they did so, the state’s doctors would be going beyond national guidelines, which recommend screening only females who are sexually active.
More medicine: Three smart things about urine (Wired.com)
Bonus: Mason Jennings at the Westminster Presbyterian Church. His road trip, in conjunction with The Current, is raising money for Hunger-Free MN.
PICTURE OF THE DAY (SO FAR)
The Pagami Creek fire in the BWCA, taken Monday afternoon and sent to us today by Greg Lindberg of Plymouth. Click on the image for the full version.
TODAY’S QUESTION
It’s cold again. The temperature yesterday morning tied the all-time record low for the date in the Twin Cities. Today’s Question: In your home, how do you decide when it’s time to turn on the heat?
“I’ll probably turn on the heat tomorrow morning,” I said to Mrs. NewsCut last night, gingerly acknowledging that she would once again win the standoff we have each year to see which one of us is the weaker.
“Oh, put on a sweatshirt, you big baby!” she said.
It’s going to be a long winter.
WHAT WE’RE DOING
Midmorning (9-11 a.m.) – First hour:The real threat of ‘Contagion’
Second hour: In a recent op-ed, William Deresiewicz arguest that no symbol is more sacred in American life right now than the military uniform. What are the implications of America’s ‘cult of the uniform’?
Midday (11 a.m. – 1 p.m.) – First hour: Minnesota native Norm Ornstein talks about the condition of our public discourse and elected government.
Second hour: Midday marks the 50th anniversary of the Minnesota Vikings, with Jim Klobuchar and Tommy Mason — the first Viking.
Science Friday (1-3 p.m.) – First hour: How will efforts to control the federal budget affect the nation’s long-term R&D spending?
Second hour: How two PhD dropouts built Google.
