Hmm. Out of curiosity, how large -are- the nukes lurking around the Dakotas? Y’see, I’m getting sort of nervous.
I guess mapping the fallout of nuclear destruction of Sioux Falls should scare me…
I have a “Bob, Canada” t-shirt. As do many of my friends, being as we were living there and in on the whole joke.
As part of the deal, they get the spokesbrat too.
Look. As a native of the good state of North Dakota, I have remained silent as my state has received good-natured ribbing. I have agreed with a fewthings said. But this board is here to dispel ignorance, and that I shall attempt to do.
First of all. Yes. It gets cold here in the winter. Very cold. -40[sup]O[/sup] and colder at times. It also gets HOT here. Last tuesday it was hotter here than in San Antonio. We have only a minor homeless problem.
Second. Yes the land is flat. At least at THIS end of the state. It gets a little more bumpy out by where Tripler is, on the other side of the state. Not a lot to see on the ground. But Look UP. The sky here is Freekin HUGE. I spent two years in England in the Air Force, and when I came back here, I had forgotten how BIG the sky is here. (Yes Tripler I joined the Air Force and left this state. Ya wanna know how not to get assigned here? Ask to BE asigned here. I did. They sent me to frickin Loring AFB. Maine. THAT was the middle of nowhere.)
Third. And this is very important. Listen carefuly.
WE DO NOT TALK LIKE THEY DO IN THE F*CKING “FARGO” MOVIE! They were making fun of MINNESOTANS’ accents there! (Well a few of us kinda sound like that, but they are lousy minnesota transplants.) Nothing pisses off a denizen of North Dakota, or even more so, Fargo, more than being asked why we don’t sound like that. F*cking Coen Brothers can eat me. I hate their movies. Barton Fink made no sense at all.
I think that pretty much covers it. I cannot beleve that Tripler and I are the only two posters from this state. Yeesh.
This site puts it a bit better than I could ever try to…
http://www.forwardgarden.com/forward/14395
Message ends.
particlewill is right. I know a small handfull of people that do the “Youbetcha!” and the “Oh yah!” stuff, but that’s all Minnesota. Them people are just plain wierd.
And particlewill, honestly, it’s not too bad here. I have stuff to keep me occupied, and good friends to hang out with. It’s really just the damn cold I’m complaining about, and all the damn snow we get (although we got lucky this year). Sky is nice, but I need something to break it up. Throw a mountain in there or something. . .
And LNO, don’t worry about the size. It’s the quantity you need to keep in mind. . .
Tripler
I just can’t tell you how big they are.
Well, now, mister, dere’s no call to get all flustered up like that, ya? Dey could have called it “Cloquet” or “New Ulm”, wouldn’t that have been somethin’? Ya? Yaaaaah.
“Mountains are nice to look at, but they sure block the view.”
(attributed to a Saskatchewan farmer who retired to Alberta)
Last year Tennessee wanted to enact an income tax. FedEx (which is based in Memphis) said that if there was an income tax they would move their base to North Dakota. If that would have happened North Dakota would have gotten so many new jobs that they would have gladly called it FedEx Dakota..
I can’t resist Disney Florida, Coke Georgia and Winnebaggo Iowa.
The trouble with that is, while a FedEx base would bring jobs, WE DON"T NEED ANY JOBS. We don’t have enough people to fill the jobs we have now. The unemployment rate in Fargo is 1.5% right now, and the overall unemployment rate for North Dakota is 2%. ( At least those are the figures as of Friday, according to the Fargo Forum, our local paper.)
That has been a major factor in a few large companies NOT coming here.
So it gets a little cold here. Put on more clothes. Lemme tell ya something. No one gets mugged when it’s -10[sup]o[/sup].
Several years ago there was talk about South Dakota changing its name and some magazine (can’t remember which) ran a contest to pick a new name for it. The winning prize was a one-way bus ticket to Pierre or the cash equivalent.
Among the suggestions I remember were Saskatchacold, Zipdecoatup and Land of the Frozen Dead. The winning entry, I believe, was Manitscolda. And rhe winner took the cash 
soulds like the plan ya hear every decade or so about splitting up california which some people are for …
but the state in scaramento dosent want to lose la/orange county since from what i gather thats somehting like 40 percent of the state tax budget by its self. note im using data from memory and it may be wrong
althouhg i read that ca passed france in budget and economic size recently …
Although that last one has more to do with central and western North Dakota than the more urban eastern end I live in…
I’ve got a bunch of 'em at work that a Minot native gave to me. I’ll dig 'em up when I get back.
Tripler
But I can agree with the cellphone one. . .
I lived in South Dakota for a long time—I never locked my car and didn’t even own a key to my house. If my car broke down at 3:00AM during a blizzard, friends would come looking for me, if a stranger didn’t bail me out first. There is no state income tax, a reasonable sales tax and housing is very affordable. Deer grazed in the city park across the street from my house, and I fed wild turkey in the back yard. If my ex-wife ever leaves the place, I would go back in a heartbeat. I just don’t want to be in the same state with that person ever again. South Dakota is the best kept secret in the whole damn country.
Interestingly, the recent talk about “Dakota” led a Raleigh, North Carolina newspaper columnist, Dennis Rogers, to speculate whether his state should change its name to just “Carolina”, to help disassociate itself from its inferior neighbor to the south. And for some reason, certain citizens of the latter state took the suggestion personally. Roger’s lastest News and Observer column on this topic is We’re only laughing at that ‘peach’. (I have to admit, his idea of giving Charlotte to SC has often crossed my mind).
Yeah, where to bury them when they freeze to death.