November 9, 1989, the night the Berlin Wall was breached, I spent the evening with an incredibly interesting woman from Finland. I had met ...

When people ask me how anyone can put up with a Minnesota winter, my answer is pretty simple—stay indoors. I mean, even the snow plow drive...

IF this works, it will truly be the game-changer. Storing energy has been the ultimate quest since forever. So far, the best we can do is l...

One sparkling August morning in 1970, I awoke in the small town of Roskilde Denmark . I was hitchhiking to Copenhagen but had been warned t...

Spent time in Edgar Wisconsin seeing Tony in action. I really like his customers. The majority are probably working farmers or were when th...

One of the peculiarities of my childhood was that I was raised in a home where we were taught that lying about Santa Claus to children was ...

My brother insists that the world's smartest people are found in construction. No one is more innovative when it comes to solving crazy...

1919 cover of the Nonpartisan League’s newspaper, The Nonpartisan Leader, portraying “organized farmers and workers” standing tall agains...

"The speech is extraordinary and, as one might expect, eloquent. Now that the lecture has been delivered, the Dylan adventure is comi...

Those of us who live in the frozen north tend, I believe, to understand more of the nuances and implications of climate change. We burn FA...

One of the sadder and more crazy outcomes of this fall's election is the Democratic Party's decision to blame their defeats on the ...

Last Monday, I finally got to see the Martin Luther / Reformation exhibit that is currently on display at the Minneapolis Institute of Art....

The first book I ever read that I deemed "serious" was Markings by Dag Hammarskjöld —the UN Secretary-General from 1953 until hi...

When Charlie Brown Christmas premiered in 1965, I was a high school junior living in northwestern North Dakota—an exceptionally harsh place ...

Växjö Sweden decided in 1991 to become a fossil-fuel-free city.  I shouldn't even speculate why a small city of 100,000 in one of the hi...

Anyone who believes that religion is just a cushy set-up that allows some corrupt charlatans the opportunity to fleece the rubes, has a vali...

A few weeks back, I was hosting an old college roommate who has Swedish roots like I do.  It was a beautiful early fall day so we elected to...

Finland's economic woes these days are very nasty considering how much she has done to avoid them.  Her work force is incredibly hard-wo...

As someone who lives in a little town that has three Danish wind turbines turning against the horizon, I am not a bit surprised that the Dan...

Those of us who have been preaching that economic growth is not dependent on increased energy use have been ridiculed as idle dreamers for d...