Dakota Today

**Apple blossoms and Tim Johnson coms

Yesterday was sunny with a blue sky and white fluffy clouds. Apple blossoms were very striking and pretty. Got out the camera. There are other trees in town with white blossoms. Maybe a photo of them when it stops drizzling and the sun shines again.

And, in the e-mail info from the Sen. Johnson organization. They have a new campaign website. Take a look. I am still a Democrat, but I am also still more than a bit pissed at some of Johnson's votes. He should have known better and demonstrated more integrity. But, what have the Republicans given us in the last eight years?

New Window LINK to Tim Johnson dot com

**Stay tuned even if Hobson's choices aren't particularly appealing when we have to make them again and again.-- Doug Wiken

**They're baaacckkkk and so is Hillary

A few days ago, I missed one of those classic photos. A small neighbor girl and her smaller brother had picked some dandelions out of our weedy grass and were proudly walking up the sidewalk with their bouquet in their hands held out in front of them. Anyway, the yellow pests look good in photos even if they look like crap in the grass.

Meanwhile, she's baaaackkkk too. Hillary Clinton is scheduled to be in Sioux Falls today sometime around 2:15PM at an airport hanger as she flits from the east to the west coast..Oregon perhaps.

As anybody reading this blog for very long knows, I preferred John Edwards even with his southern accent compared to Hillary or Obama. My respect for Hillary has dropped more and more as she has campaigned more and more desperately with less and less integrity. Hillary is getting her high negative ratings the old fashioned way, she has earned them.

And, I do hope somebody in the press or in the crowd will ask Hillary why we should ever support her or anybody else who supported the Bush war powers in Iraq as a presidential candidate or any other kind of a candidate. That decision was so fundamentally wrong from the obvious facts and for the constitutional reasons that it cannot be justified retroactively and it could not be justified prior to the vote. The ONLY reason for her supporting the Iraq war was in the hopes of pulling in the wingnut loons of the right who are blinded by the flag they think waves only for them. It was a desperate expedient amoral vote and it will be that forever. Whatever legacy Hillary had, it disappeared with that vote. It had already been tarnished by her votes for big banks, big credit card operations, bankruptcy legislation, etc.

We do not need another president in the White House who will take any position on any issue simply in the interests of pandering to the loudest most well-financed groups.

***Stay tuned even if you love both Hillary and Dandelions--- Doug Wiken<

**News from the Weekly Incontinent on Pipeline near Winner, SD

Recently, The Madville Times blog mentioned a new pipeline apparently snaking past Winner, SD being planned by the same outfit building the east river South Dakota pipeline. And noted I should be checking on this.

NWLINK to Madville Times on Pipeline

Skimming through the local rag today, I notice in the city council news..not front page news...that some surveyors have gotten permission apparently to poke around the Winner City dumpsite or near it. Text as I typed it follows..there may be errors.

Trans Canada pipeline
Dick Kirsch of the city building department, told the council Universal Field services, Inc., representing TransCanada Pipeline is conducting studies for the proposed pipeline to be constructed from Hardisty, Alberta, Canada to the Texas gulf coast. In order to evaluate the project, the company will be doing some soil testing on land owned by the city near the land fill. The mayor was authorized to sign an agreement with Universal to do the testing. The company plans to do soil analysis, civil, archaeological and other environmental surveys along the proposed route.

The survey party will consist of two to five persons along with survey equipment.

TransCanada Corp is planning a second oil pipeline entering South Dakota at the northwest corner and exiting the state at the southern border.

The proposed pipeline would be larger than the one planned for eastern South Dakota.

I don't know if this story means they have not talked to anybody else around here or if it just means that contact with the city gets into the paper no matter what it might concern and the paper seldom ever covers news more than a mile from the city center...or what. Anyway, it is there and that is all I have heard or read so far about the issue..or lack thereof.

I don't think the problem for this pipeline across SD starts until it gets into the shallow sandy aquifers south of Winner. The city landfill or dump was probably selected for the clay and shale in the area which might be less permeable than the sand south of town. Somehow, this seems a bit like the drunkard's search where the drunk searches under the street light rather than in the dark where he actually lost his keys.

I'm sure there may or may not be more news on this. How's that for wishy-washy. I have been watching to much political spin lately.

**Stay tuned even if you can keep your mind out of the gutter or the city dumps--- Doug Wiken

**No exit strategies..Bush and Hillary are alike

A Black preacher from Sioux City, Ia today on SD Public Radio made the case that essentially the gospel is colorless. Not his phrase, but he said it is the gospel for Blacks, Whites, Yellows, Reds, whatever. He also said that members of a church do not have an obligation to make a scene when a pastor such as himself says something a church member does not agree with. Church members are members of the church, not members of the preacher. Incidentally, George McGovern said essentially the same thing. He happens to be the son of a Methodist minister. McGovern also suggested the Rev. Wright issue was nonsense as a poltical issue. He also suggested that Hillary knew better than to present the gas tax "relief" as an issue. I suspect some of these pseudo issues used by the Clintons aggravated McGovern, but I really don't know.

Dave Kranz I think..noted that McGovern was just getting himself into alignment with his 10 grandchildren who all support Obama.

McGovern also said he had discussed his decision with Bill Clinton this morning after agonizing over his decision most of the night. He expressed gratitude to Bill Clinton for attending the dedication of the McGovern Center here in SD and again it was noted that both Bill and Hillary had run McGovern's campaign in Texas. I do not think this was an easy decision for McGovern, but he does have a bit too much experience with bitterly divided conventions to be ignored because he was smeared into defeat by the Nixon soap salesmen.

Even so, at this stage, I am not at all certain what effect if any endorsements or support from party celebrities and "super" delegates will have on anything until the convention.

McGovern said both Hillary and Obama are good candidates, smart and able, etc. But, he noted the near mathematical impossibility of Hillary winning and noted that at this stage, her dropping out will not be seen as her being forced out prematurely by party hacks.

Republican pollster on TOTN (Glenn Bolger?) today was blathering on about how the Democratic "split" was helping McCain so much. Well, when was the last time you heard anything from McCain, Obama, or Hillary?.

There is news, old news, and no news. McCain is right now "no news".

It is up to both Hillary and Obama to keep making news or start making news about really serious issues that make it impossible (as Obama said) for McCain to be the third term of this Bush Administration. Speaking of Bush administrations, the PBS history programs and George H.W. Bush make him look like an angel compared to his son. I suspect the unfortunate comparison between the Bush dynasty father and son, may also impact the Clinton Dynasty..Husband and wife. Perhaps it is time we forgot about giving relatives of presidents some kind of status unwarranted by actual qualifications.

A comment made last night by a talking head..don't remember which, went something like "Bush and Hillary are alike..neither of them has an exit strategy."

Well, so much for news related to the Democratic Presidential primary. The votes are in, but Hillary has not declared herself out. She is cooking her own goose.

***Stay tuned for something..oh perhaps of dandelion photos-- Doug Wiken

**Short-term solutions? More of same old same old

There are no short-term solutions to the energy problems and the foreign policy problems that spring from hopelessly flawed energy "policies". Anything intentionally short-term is not a solution. Anything long-term that can't be turned into an actual real short-term SOLUTION with commitment of a massive program and resources is also not a solution. There is not time for half-hearted non-existent long-term handwaving.

Hillary and McCain and the Anwar obliterators are talking about smoke and mirror policies that give the appearance of doing something, but actually accomplish nothing or actually make the real problem worse. We have Thune playing the ANWAR game. It is a smoke and mirrors attempt to make anybody pushing for real solutions appear to be associated with hopelessly optimistic and idealistic tree huggers. Expect to hear more stories about Obama or Hillary demanding that horses in the wilderness wear diapers. There is nothing absurd enough or slanted enough to be beneath desperate politicians trying to maintain their offices and their contributions from the rich. Now Republican senators have latched onto the food chain and merchandiser monsters claim that ethanol is driving up the price of groceries.

It seems to me that Obama is at least hinting that the special-interest driven politics coupled to election at all costs have led us to catastrophe or near catastrophe and must be changed if we are to literally survive as a modern nation.

Hillary is more of the same old same old. Thune is the young same old same old. McCain is the old same old, same old.

Hillary is more and more aggravating every day. She is smart enough to know better.

***Stay tuned for more of my same old same old (Of course, it is the best of golden same old same oldies} --- Doug Wiken

** I didn't know that..surprising Mother's Day fact from SD Magazine

SD Magazine sends out an e-mail newsletter now and then. The text below was in the May version. Interesting if you happen to have a mother and live or lived in South Dakota.

Mother's Day Originated in South Dakota

Although Mother's Day has origins that date back to the Greek sages, South Dakota actually played a significant role in its development in America. Anna Jarvis of Wessington Springs came up with the concept in 1905 and began an official campaign to kick it off. Unfortunately, some history books credit West Virginia as being the first state to make it official in 1910. South Dakota beat the Virginians by a full year. Governor Robert Vessey proclaimed the nation's first Mother's Day observance on April 9, 1909.

Motherhood is truly the world's highest calling. What compares to the sacrifices made by a good mother, many of which the child never perceives? Not even service in the military, or the ministry or medicine. What else requires a lifetime committment? What else is undertaken with a surety of at least a degree of frustration, failure, financial hardship and heartbreak? But what else gives mankind a hopeful future?

Happy Mother's Day to all in South Dakota and beyond our borders, the mothers and the mothered.
— Bernie Hunhoff

**Stay tuned even if you always buy your mother or wife candy on Mother's Day and then eat all of it yourself..well actually that's what happens on Father's Day, but that is a ways off---- Doug Wiken

Senator Johnson wants us to support veterans benefits

I suppose all the bloggers and their dogs got the e-mail from Sen. Tim Johnson requesting support of a new GI bill for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. A copy is in the continuation of this post.

I guess I am a supporter of such aid. Our government and our politicians have sent soldiers off to Iraq on the basis of a big lie and a fool's errand. Johnson supported that folly. I guess he owes something to those who believed him and others who told them it was worthwhile to be in Iraq.

What I don't understand now however is why Johnson thinks my letter to any congressman or senator would be effective when both he and Senator Daschle and staff of Stephanie ignored every letter, call, and e-mail, and blog post l I made indicating it was folly to support Bush war powers and the war that followed in Iraq.

Even as a farmer, I would support a GI bill of some kind even if it meant reducing the ag subsidy payments to the equivalent of two minimum wages annually and using the savings for veteran's benefits. Hell, they might even use some of that to pay for hearing aids for all the WWII vets who are going deaf.

While hammering on this great waste of time, I remember that when one of my uncles was released from a VA hospital for home care after his surgery and the VA also dropping him on a floor and breaking his hip, that the prescriptions they sent with him would have killed him in a matter of days. Local home health workers noticed the gross error.

So what you say? Well, in the recent news, have been stories of veterans of the Iraq war getting back home all shot up or messed up mentally or both and being given prescriptions which have actually killed them. By now they have had about 20 years to solve those problems.

Read the e-mail in the continuation. Maybe they ought to also think a bit about aiding those students who want to go to attend engineering and science colleges and universities so they can help reduce or eliminate our dependence on middle east oil..whether or not they are veterans or not.

**Stay tuned anyway, and maybe you can send letters that will influence the politicos in DC to do the right thing this time --- Doug Wiken

**Is Bush actually right about something? Ethanol?

President Bush mentioned Ethanol in his press conference. The Farm Journal ever searching for good news about Republicans has the report below.

Bush: Ethanol Not To Blame for Food Prices 4/30/2008 By Jeanne Bernick, Farm Journal Crops and Issues Editor

While some antihunger activists point to the biofuels industry as exacerbating world hunger by diverting crop needs, President Bush said Tuesday he believes corn-based ethanol is responsible for only a small part of rising food prices. Weather, increased food demand and energy prices are the key drivers of current global food inflation, according to President Bush’s remarks during a press conference in the White House Rose Garden.

“And the truth of the matter is, it's in our national interests that our farmers grow energy, as opposed to us purchasing energy from parts of the world that are unstable or may not like us,” President Bush told reporters.

Bush said high crop prices should not slow biofuel efforts and that the high price of gasoline is going to spur more investment in ethanol as an alternative to gasoline.

More at the LINK below:
NWLINK Farm Journal Crop News

This is important to corn farmers, but the information needs to also get to food consumers who are getting a figurative line of bologna from food corporations. Bush like a stopped clock with eight years on the dial is actually right about once.

The whole thing is however besides the real point. Bush War, Inc. in Iraq has squandered thousands of lives and enough of the taxpayers, past, present, and future, money to convert about a third of all the US energy used to wind energy sources. That needs to be the "moon project" and the sooner the better. The quicker the US is separated from the lunatic religious fanatics of the mideast, the better.

To paraphrase a Bible saying, "What do we profit if we gain all the oil from the terrorists and lose the whole world to global boiling."

** Some fodder on animal factory stench and pollution..or Pew on pew.

Native Americans in South Dakota protesting a hog farm conveniently stuck into an area surrounded by tribal land might have a little more ammunition for their cause. Highway patrolmen should be required to ride with a hog in their back seat if they think aiding an out-of-state hog factory is such a good idea. I would guess some of the Native Americans might then wonder which is the actual pig, but that is another matter of Highway Patrol public relations problems.

To be taken more seriously than a modest proposal of a pig in every back seat however, are thousands of pigs in your backyard.

Washington, DC - 04/29/2008 - The current industrial farm animal production (IFAP) system often poses unacceptable risks to public health, the environment and the welfare of the animals themselves, according to an extensive 2½-year examination conducted by the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production (PCIFAP), in a study released today.

Commissioners have determined that the negative effects of the IFAP system are too great and the scientific evidence is too strong to ignore. Significant changes must be implemented and must start now. And while some areas of animal agriculture have recognized these threats and have taken action, it is clear that the industry has a long way to go.

MORE BELOW IN CONTINUATION OR AT THE SITE Source. The Omaha World Herald carried the story today with a blurb on the front page pointing to the story on page 5. The paper also had a story indicating the problems with putting personal information about family matters in a personal blog with some of the problems that resulted for Nebraska bloggers.

http://www.pewtrusts.org/news_room_detail.aspx?id=38438

http://snipurl.com/26jwk

The complete Pew article is in the continuation of this post. Worth reading if you care about the differences between an actual farm and a factory.

**Stay tuned even if you have never smelled the stench of hogs. It is a stink that can carry for miles and never leaves the clothes of those around hogs--- Doug Wiken

**This and that..

Saw the first dandilions I have seen blooming this year. Must be a near certain indication that spring is here. Also, the end of April is rapidly approaching and that means property taxes are due in South Dakota. Damn, are they ever a reminder of how upside down the SD tax system really is. When RE taxes start pushing $20 per acre, it is time some of the people living in towns and cities and making good money as some of them fill the schools with kids need to be picking up their fair share of the taxes. Perhaps a few of the corporations doing business in SD could kick a few bucks into an education fund too. I don't notice the chain marketers charge less here because they don't have to pay a state corporate income tax as they do in other states.

The schools consolidate and should get more efficient and teach better and cost less. It looks to me that all that actually happens is that administrator salaries go ever higher and the school years get shorter. And, oh yeah, the real estate taxes keep going up even if special assessment op outs are required.

And, unless my eyes are also playing tricks on me, it appears the Rapid City Journal dead tree version has a new format. I don't particularly care for it. Maybe some of the artsy types can explain why a paper that looks like propaganda from a farm credit publication is a better typeface, etc. etc. than some good old newspaperery looking text. The fine fonts must save some of that ink the papers buy by the barrel.

And then there is George Bush. I watched the weasel trying to blame his economic, political, and diplomatic foul ups on congress this morning. And on the war, Bush doesn't just move the goal posts, he makes them dance.
What a bunch of spineless wimps there are in the White House Press Corps. They might as well be the Whitehouse Press Corpse.

Where is the "Mr. President, you are questioning my motives. I am searching for truth here. If that motive is at cross purposes with yours, just what are your motives, sir?" Gutless damn wimps. Speaking truth to the Texas Twit in power is absolutely the last thing on their tiny minds.

Bush goes on and on about the never-ending fight against terror and how we are making progress against it in Iraq and Afghanistan. I must have been dreaming, but I would swear I remember the smirking weasel in a flight suit on an aircraft carrier with a big "Mission Accomplished" sign behind him.

Bob Schieffer of CBS correctly summarized the Bush speech as a political gasp of somekind..an attempt to shift blame. Then Schieffer went on to say that it really was true however that Congress did not have an energy policy.

Hmmm. How the hell are we supposed to know what kind of an energy policy the US has? Cheney held secret meetings on energy policy and so far it seems to me that nobody including Bob Schieffer and the rest of us outside of the collection of aiders and abettors in the White House know what that policy is. It seems without knowing of course to just be to drive the price of fuel so high that agriculture and travel grind to a screeching halt.

Bush is just too, too cute by half at least. He reminds me of all the smart ass arrogant prick frat rats I ran into on college campuses and the worst of them pale in comparison to the Texas Twit.

What we need in the White House of course is a dry drunk that all the barflies would just love to sit with and toss back a few. Oh wait, I must be dreaming again.

***Stay tuned, keep your eyes open even when you think you are dreaming--- Doug Wiken

**GPS shows distance between stalker and potential victim

Finally, why has this taken so long?

Police stations in Massachusetts have turned to modern technology to crack down on known stalkers. Those convicted as dangerous individuals are now being attached to satellite monitoring devices that electronically notify the authorities when a stalker is too close to their victim. The messages are sent automatically, meaning that the police could potentially stop an attack before the opportunity presents itself. (Source: topix.com) NWL to Infopackets story on GPS and Stalker monitoring

http://snipurl.com/26ce0

Putting GPS transmitters on parolees, etc. has been available for years. It seemed obvious to me years ago that putting such transmitters on stalker victims and then knowing the distance between them might have made judge's protection orders actually mean something without also bankrupting taxpayers and producing a massive gestapo snooping system running night and day.

SD AG Long has advanced good ideas in relation to keeping drunk drivers out of jail, but also off the roads driving drunk and still working to support their families. He needs to now push for this advancement and the SD Court system should also be very interested in this.

*** Stay tuned even if the BushSpies, Inc. already have your every keystroke recorded somewhere--- Doug Wiken

**Rev. Wright does a pretty good job

I have been reading a lot of froth about the Rev. Wright who happens to be ..wink, wink, nod..Barrack Obama's local minister. So far not much of what I have seen him say that is in the context of more of what he says has been particularly terrible unless Democrats are deeply worried about losing Dick Cheney's vote in the general election.

The controversialists in the press are wringing their hands about the Rev. Wright's terrible impact on the Obama campaign. The "ain't it awful" crowd is just too concerned and upset about this to take it seriously. The Rev. Wright pretty well summed up a lot of my white guy's bitterness about Bush, Inc.

And, while we are talking about strange things said by ministers that we could just get oh so terribly upset about, perhaps we should remember what Jerry Falwell said about 9-11 and then apologized for ..of course, it might not be nice to kick a man of the clothe around now that he has croaked, but take a look at the link below:
Jerry Falwell Apologizes for his 9-11 comments I suspect other rightwing ministers white or otherwise have said equally stupid things about 9-11, etc.

Of course, the Rev. Wright controversy pales into insignificance compared to the horror that are photos of Miley Vanilla..er Cyrus, otherwise known as Hannah Montana...never to be confused with Patsy Montana...that apparently grace the pages of Vanity Fair which might better be called Vanity Fare.

Oh, and apparently Ken Blanchard wants to know how many of the angels dancing on the head of a pin are blessed or damned and what monumental difference that makes in the world of partisan sniping.

***Stay tuned..maybe John Edwards can be the compromise candidate-- Doug Wiken

**What about Janklow and the ARGUS this time?

The Sunday ARGUS and that of today (April 28, 2008) has articles on the "Janklow 36". It is a follow up on some prisoners dumped out of the SD State Prison because of crowding and told to get out of South Dakota and not return some 30 years or so ago.

The ARGUS has followed up on the lives of some of these people. And, to probably nobody's astonishment have found that too many of them ended up following their criminal instincts and getting re-arrested and imprisoned again, etc. etc. Some blessed their lucky Janklow stars and took advantage of the unexpected freedom and made good of the rest of their lives.

I am certainly no apologist for Bill Janklow. But, it must be said about this that he put himself in a position where he could be blamed for his opinion and actions or credited and he may not have had to do that.

But, the more important point that the ARGUS is omitting or fails to recognize is that for their report to have any validity, the life of these "lucky" prisoners must be compared with similar lives of those released after they had served their full sentences back in those days.

My guess is they would have found a very similar recidivism rate and also a similar success rate if they compared this group of "Janklow 36" and and a "Random 36" from those days. The ARGUS is "Willy Horton-ing" Bill Janklow. I hope he now as a little sympathy for Gov. Dukakis and a bit of disdain for the shrill GOP rightwing attack ads like the "Swiftboaters", etc.

And, if I got something wrong in this post let me know. I am writing it without benefit of having the paper in front of me and Janklow is unlikely to be providing me with any inside information.

I have found many things to criticize Bill Janklow for, but I don't think his early release of these few prisoners is something that should be hung around his neck like a permanently rotting albatross.

***Stay tuned...maybe I will come to my partisan senses again--- Doug Wiken

**Closing the deal and no deal

Hillary supporters and press molehill into mountains corporate media controversialists are claiming that Obama "just can't close a deal".

Perhaps Obama hasn't had any experience with closing cattle futures hot deals. I would have thought the Hillary apologists might have thought twice about even mentioning the word "deal" in their propaganda.

Meanwhile back on the home front, speaking of deals, the local Pamida discount store passed out some coupons yesterday that offered a 50% discount on Micro Innovations computer accessories.. That sounded like not too bad a deal, so I went back today to check. Buried in the fine text of the coupon was something to the effect of ""excludes clearance items and no other discounts apply". Strange coincidence, every Micro Innovation computer accessory on the rack had a yellow "Clearance" price tag even if there had been no reduction from the regular price or one showed a reduction from $29.95 to "$29.00. Turned out that any of the accessories I had thought useful had already been sold, but this super coupon coupled with an everything clearance-price deal was the most inventive merchandising artistry I have seen.

**Stay tuned even if this line is just a closing deal--- Doug Wiken

**Is there an echo someplace?

I just decided I am awfully damn easy to flatter. Bernie Hunhoff drops a nice note into his Editor's Notebook about two blogs here in Tripp County and one of them happens to be mine and the other belongs to Lowdon Heller. At least, take a look at what Bernie wrote about Ideal News and Views...you already probably know more about Dakota Today than you need to know.
SD Magazine Editor's Notes on Ideal News and Views

Round and Round she goes. Where it stops nobody knows. Echo, echo , echo.........

But what the heck, I feel pretty good today about making a simple set of shelves for canned goods. Maybe I'll get around to putting some photos in here when I finish sanding and varnishing the plain old two by four studs I used to make it. Just the right depth for most canned goods. There they are in all their labeled glory so we don't have to wonder if we really should eat something that has something like "best when purchased by xxxxxxxx" where "xxxxxxx" is a date that was passed an embarrassingly long time ago.

And, the snow in yesterday's photo is just about all gone already here; but, it sounds like eastern South Dakota got a nasty late blast of 14 inches or so of snow. Good thing it wasn't also 20 degrees below zero.

***Stay tuned..and subscribe to South Dakota Magazine...help keep some 5 gallon buckets full of money here in South Dakota--Doug Wiken.

**Wet Snow in Winner April 25, 2008

So much for the mist and light possible chance of snow forecast last night. A couple inches of partly cloudy early this morning and it kept falling until around noon. Photo below shows some of it mostly before sun had done it's work. By now, the ground heat and sun has melted a lot of it. Must have been around a half inch of actual moisture in it. Photo below.

And, the snow shovels had already been packed away. South Dakota of all places...indeed.

***Stay tuned even if you don't think snow and weather is the cat's pajamas----Doug Wiken

**Son, Don't get your math and Physics from the Argus or, busted myth busters.

The ARGUS today April 25, 2008, printed a "Reader Rant" titled "Re:Shooting Bullets". The writer gets his science from cable TV Myth Busters. He says a bullet tired into the air and then coming down to hit somebody was proven not to have "enough force" to cause serious injury. The writer also notes that a bullet returns with the "same rate as any falling object (32 feet per second squared).

Those with a little knowledge can be dangerous. Of course some of us with a little more knowledge might be even more dangerous, but here is a little physics anyway.

Velocity is distance per unit of time. Acceleration is the change in the velocity. Force on an object can be determined by the equation F=MA, or Force equals mass times acceleration. This little bit of physics and math may be about all most people ever really need to know about physics of motion.

So, the writer has confused acceleration and velocity in his comment. The velocity of falling objects in a vacuum will accelerate or increase in velocity at around 32 feet per second squared above the earth. Objects with an initial speed or velocity in an upward direction with no continuing propulsive force such as a jet engine, will accelerate in a negative direction, ie down or decelerate in more common usage.

So, if a car is pushed off a cliff about 600 feet high, using another formula distance equals initial velocity plus 1/2 acceleration times time squared, etc the car would be traveling at about 450 feet per second when it landed if there were no air resistance. Air resistance sets a "terminal velocity" for falling objects depending on the mass, density and streamlining. The falling car would be moving about 300 miles per hour if there were no air resistance. Humans falling out of an airplane don't keep accelerating until the hit the ground. Apparently terminal velocity for falling humans is about 130mph. Here is a link with some more basic information:

Physics site with question on falling bodies

Falling bullets on the other hand are a totally different can of worms to mix metaphors or something like that, but lets not get into chemistry. I do not think I would want to be the test subject for shooting even a 22 caliber rifle perfectly straight up on a windless day. Here is a link with some information on the terminal velocity of bullets, mass, etc.
"Straight Dope on Falling Bullets"target="new"

Then there is "Grandpa" who answers at Grandpa on Firing gun into the air

And finally, there is Myth Busters itself, but revisiting the falling bullet issue
Myth Busters Revisit Falling Bullets issue

Do a Google search for "Terminal velocity of a falling bullet" or body or human and you will get a lot of interesting information that somebody at the ARGUS should have checked before posting the "RANT".

So, "Be careful out there" or beware David Letterman jokes about squirrels."

***Stay tuned even if your eyes glaze over at the mere sound of the word "physics" or you think of "physic" instead and want nothing to do with loose stool..let alone falling loose nuts--- Doug Wiken

**Is Rahm Emanuel correct about the value of the Democratic Primary?

I don't usually agree very much with Rahm Emanuel, but last night on Charlie Rose show, he made a few good points. The campaign between Hillary and Obama is actually not particularly dirty by political standards in many other communities and is unlikely to significantly impact Democratic chances in the fall. And, the contest between them is actually a good thing because it is a contest of ideas and solutions and the quality of both their positions will be improved by the testing and also if either becomes President, the testing process will help prepare them for the presidency.

He also said that neither should try to "parallel park" their way into the presidency. By which he partially meant that discussing delegate and election percentages are not issues, but tactics and as such are not going to build good will for either of them in the coming general election.

They both need to do a better job of telling us what their real vision is and how their qualifications mesh with the vision and they also need to tell us how they will move us toward their vision of a better society, etc.

They need to provide us reasons why they should be given the mantle of power, etc. Neither is doing a very good job of that right now.

Emanuel also made the point that the Democratic primary is causing millions of new people to enter the political process and some older party members to be re-invigorated.

All seemed to make good sense to me. It also happens to be an awfully lot like what I have been thinking about all the "gloom and doom" of the talking heads. The marketplace of ideas and those promoting the ideas may be tough, but it can do a valuable service to society as well.

**Stay tuned, I may have to edit this if my recollection doesn't fit my notes on the program--- Doug Wiken

**Let's think about thinking

I woke up this morning with parts of an old Bob Lumen song running through my
head as I thought about three software products.

Let's think about living
Let's think about loving
Let's think about the whoopin' and hoppin and boppin' and the lovie, lovie
dovin'
Let's forget about the whinin' and the cryin'
And the shooting and the dying
And the fellow with a switchblade knife
Let's think about living
Let's think about life.

http://www.lyrics007.com/Bob%20Luman%20Lyrics/Let's%20Think%20About%20Living%20Lyrics.html
New Window LINK to text link for song above

http://snipurl.com/252g4

Philosopher and mathematician Descartes apparently concluded, "I Think therefore I am." I guess "I am" means living, so if we are thinking about living, we are also thinking about thinking. Recent articles in WIRED magazine concerned thinking under the "Get Smarter" cover. The May 2008 set of stories was in the usual fashion for WIRED, a bit flippant, but also with some interesting information.

The cover also brought back a memory from 1958 or 1959 at Wakonda Public School. The May 2008 WIRED cover shows a dude with a helmet of sorts with lights, spark plugs, wires, meters, circuit boards, etc sticking out in all directions. Reminded me of highschool and college friend Robert "Bob" Rederick whose interest in radio and electronics caused him to put on a cap one day in study hall that was complete with wiring and glass radio or TV tubes, capacitors, coils, etc wired on top. No pictures of that humbug exist. The study hall laughter generated a near instant very negative response from the teacher.

Neither the teacher nor Rederick (or any of those of us laughing at the time) probably realized Rederick was about 50 years ahead of the "cutting edge" of nerdy media graphics.

Anyway, one of the stories in the WIRED May 2008 issue memory special is titled "The Memory Master" (pages 118 to 125). It is about Polish psychologist Piotr Wozniak and his memory jogger, learning enhancer software Super Memo.

New Window LINK to Super Memo

According to the WIRED story and the website, SuperMemo helps a person learn and remember. Old and new data from psychology research back to 1888 shows we learn or "memorize" information, but then forget much of it if we don't use the information or concept everyday. SuperMemo is designed to time your re-enforcement of the memory, ideas, concepts just at the right time. That right time is just as you are on the edge of forgetting or misplacing the information in your brain..

SuperMemo handles the timing and reminding if you can use it correctly with honest assessments of your memory.

The article and software site is interesting. But, I don't know anybody who has actually tried SuperMemo. It certainly looks like it might be the kind of software that the great state of South Dakota might want on every high school and college students computer.
NOTE: A google search that found this post here at Dakota Today also found this link on learning and SuperMemo: NWL to Sharp Bean Blog on Learning, etc The home link to Sharp Bean might be worth bookmarking too:
Sharp Bean Blog

Meanwhile, a post was made here at Dakota Today by Shimon Sofer who is part of an Israeli software company selling a product called "42Tags". It is a kind of database using a "tag" system for storage of document scans, files, images into "packages" of information with and easy search system. It does not appear to have a text editing function so that your own writing or notes can be saved into the package without first using a word or text processor and saved as a file. The "42Tags" system seems to have promise. Note, Sofer indicated in his post that the program will be available free until May 1, but buried in the fine print is "or until 1000" free copies have been distributed. It appears at the site that the 1000 total has already been reached. NOTE: I received e-mail from Shimon Sofer this morning (April 21, 2008) indicating that free authorization will continue until May 1 without regard to the 1000 copies limitation. Looks like an opportunity to me. Seems fair too that if you get it an like it that you tell others about the software.

Scramble to the link and download-- New Window LINK to 42Tags Site and Software

Now, another big however. For years, I have been using off and on a "daily journal" kind of software called "THE JOURNAL by David RM Software. It allows storage of your writing, your images, your imported files, etc and also has a good search system. With an add in or some modest changes, THE JOURNAL software might do everything that the two products above appear to do. So also take a look at THE JOURNAL site.
This is good software that is regularly updated with suggestions from users. I have had an ad for it on Dakota Today, but it apparently never generated one sale for THE JOURNAL which did surprise me. Even
so, below is a link without any ad revenue associated with it for Dakota Today:
New Window LINK to THE JOURNAL software by DavidRM NOTE: Free 45 day trial period of THE JOURNAL is available.

So, what do you have to say about learning, memory, and related software..or NOT? Comments here are pretty much open if they are relevant and not loaded with insults to me or others.

**Stay tuned even if your area is filled with smoke like the air is here today from a fire somewhere to the south..perhaps Kansas--- Doug Wiken

**South Dakota ..Ins and outs going anywhere

Apparently even Black Hills cougars or mountain lions have heard about the SD GOP policies of garbage in and graduates out. A cougar decided apparently after some kind of advanced cougar degree in the mountain school of hard knocks took off for what seemed like something better...only to be shot in Chicago.

The story from Chicago and a photo of the "crime scene". Not sure how long this link will be any good however.
NWL to Black Hills Cougar travels 900 Miles?

Searching for Black Hills Cougar via Google turned up a site with a big pdf file from SD Game Fish and Parks and SDSU. I borrowed part of a good image there. You might want to look at the original and the information there as well.
NWL to Easter Cougars SDSU/SDGFP PDF

Below is some Dakota Today editorial use of the good image.

On the other hand, the Omaha World Herald today April 17, 2008 has an article titled "Tax Scofflaws--14,000 Nebraska cars registered in Iowa, S. Dakota". Hmmm? Build a crappy license and tax system and they will come. Be nice if they also paid sales tax on those "South Dakota" cars.

Actually, there are crappy laws in Nebraska and South Dakota...both in one way or another exploiting the poor for the benefit of the very rich...but then, graduates for South Dakota colleges and universities just like Mountain Lions, can go anywhere from here...and cars can come here from anywhere.

Now, I gotta go outside and shiver since as indicated in a previous post, I had my ears lowered a couple of inches.

***Stay tuned for more of the South Dakota ins and outs sooner or later, taters--- Doug Wiken

**Dakota Today--Mountain man, Mountain goat

With the weather in South Dakota on a roller coaster of warm to frigid for the past weeks and months, I have delayed on getting a haircut and neglected shaving. We might say it is a winter hair situation. But, even the Jackrabbits are loosing their white winter hair, and I will have to get a new drivers license from the great state of South Dakota. My wife didn't think forcing viewers of the photo ID to decide if the image was a mountain man or a mountain goat was a really good idea. So, you can see the before and after image below.

Unfortunately, unlike the jack rabbit, my winter hair and summer hair stays the same conspicuous old geezer white. Looked like the barber was sweeping up flour. They did recognize me even if it had been months since I darkened their door however.

I do hope the temperatures don't drop precipitously.

***Stay tuned for something more important

**New software use by trials and terrors system

I have been spending more time than I ever guessed would be required to do something which seemed as if it would be relatively simple before I got into the middle of using some new software.

Over the years, I have found a lot of good shareware and freeware software mixed in with a lot of trash on some computer magazine CDs and some sites. I am trying to put the best (at least in my estimation) of them onto a CD with a simple menu system for installation, etc. That requires some software and in searching I did not find any actual freeware that would do that. I purchased software which seems to be working, but not nearly as easily as is portrayed on the software developer's site. "Big surprise NOT" I would guess most readers might say.

Anyway, if I can continue to make some progress on this, perhaps in a week or so, I will have such a software CD put together. If something like that for around five dollars interests you, let me know. That might provide a bit more inspiration. Categories now include video tools and viewers, graphics tools and viewers, file and file directory tools, word and text editors, anti-spyware, browsers, e-mail, blog tools, and some links, etc. Not everything is locked down in concrete bytes yet however. Below is an image I was unable to incorporate well.

So, the posts might be a bit on the short side here for a few days...and I don't want to hear any ..."ah, blessed relief" remarks.

**Stay tuned. Patience really is a virtue--- Doug Wiken

**Actual image reflected in Dick Cheney's Glasses

You saw it on TV, you've seen it in blogs, but you really didn't know what was reflected in Dick Cheney's glasses until now. See the real deal in THE DICK's glasses straight from Ludefisk Images compliments of Ole and Lena, award winning photographers.

Meanwhile, the rightwing, Hillary, and McAncient are trying to pin an "elitist" label on B. Obama for noting that some voters are "bitter" about the consequences of NAFTA and war costs on their jobs and taxes. Imagine that. I guess Hillary and McCain are so insulated from the real world that they just can't imagine we might be just a tad bit pissed off at their blunders, lies, and incompetence.

**Stay tuned, I may get around to noting the lunacy being spewed by RR (not Ronald Reagan) at the remnants of Mt. Blogmore--- Doug Wiken

**Storms and hits on SD Highway Cameras at DT

Not much of a surprise to anybody in South Dakota that our weather goes up and down like a roller coaster. Might be shirtsleeve weather one day and a day or two later we may be "enjoying" a foot of snow. Whatever, the TypePad hit counter shows a post here on the SD Hiway Cameras generates more hits when the weather may be causing driving problems.

It would be nice if South Dakota and perhaps the SD Rural Electrics and Rural Telephone coops could get together to add a few more photo sites such as down here in South Central South Dakota where the weather radar sometimes grossly misses actual local conditions. While SD DOT is at it, they might think about adding some weather data to the photos. Below is a not too good suggestion, but might be worth somebody with more influence than me pushing a bit.

And, below just in case we get some more nasty driving weather is the link to those cameras...even if they do ignore southern South Dakota.

New Window LINK to SD Highway Cameras

**Stay tuned even if my lunar eclipse photos were over-exposed--- Doug Wiken

Winner Spring Winter or Snow and Mud

I watched KELO weather for the last week or so with doom-filled projections for monstrous snows and thought their initial predictions would put most of it in SE South Dakota. But, I cleaned up most of the tools outside anyway. Then when the snow hit, there wasn't much...until it hit again and again. I don't know, there may be something between 6 inches and a foot of snow. A lot of it melted on the bottom making mud out of the township road and also making it very hard to move the snow off after my little Mitsubishi Eclipse proved it was not a snow plow. Anyway, I got it shoveled out and moved enough that I could clear off most of the snow with the tractor. Below is a photo I took this morning in Winner a few hours before they got around to blading the snow off the streets.

The sun is shining now and if the wind slows down a bit, the area would be pretty tolerable. Sounds like next week is going to be more like actual spring. This snow seems wet enough, most of it may stay where it fell which would be some good moisture for the area.

My son-in-law said he saw something like 20 cars and two semi-truck-trailers in the ditch along the interstate in eastern SD last night. The slush on the roads out here yesterday could have pulled vehicles into the ditch, but I haven't heard yet if there were any serious crashes around here. Electric power flickered off and on so that hospitals, etc. had to switch to standby power generators.

**Stay tuned. The weather is always a topic even if it is never interesting to anybody except the victims themselves--- Doug Wiken

**Some ideas just go to pot

A few weeks ago I happened to see a cooking show where a pasta pot was used. It was actually two nested pots-- an outer pot with an inner perforated pot. Cook the pasta in the nested pots, and then just lift out the pasta with the water draining out the perforations into the larger outer pot. Really looked slick compared to trying to carefully pour a gallon or two of boiling water off pasta without dumping pasta or steaming fingers, etc.

I did some searching on web and at a local discount store. Such pots were not cheap compared to ordinary stew pots. At Pamida, an eight quart version that also included a steam tray was around $24. A stew pot that would fit right into our 16 or 20 quart pot was on sale for about $8. The tightwad Norwegian tendencies kicked in and I thought, "How hard would it be to drill some holes?

Well, drilling holes in a stainless steel pot provided a small bit of education. The first two black oxide drill bits from a cheap set snapped before they made any more impression on stainless steel than my fingernail would have. So, off to a hardware store to get a better center punch and a 5/32" titanium drill bit. That worked much better. Of course, the price gap between $8 and $24 was narrowing. With tax, the bit was about $2. I will probably use the $4.79 punch for several years...but.... Anyway after some swearing and disgust at less than an ergonomic design for an electric drill spread over an evening and a morning, I had over 100 holes drilled without breaking the titanium bit. That wasn't so bad after all.

Time to clean up the fillings. Then I noticed that few of the holes drilled with a clean edge. Stainless steel like that in these pots made in China or India flake off like small bits of shiny oatmeal. And when they don't flake off leave a razor sharp tab next to the hole. Some tedious "grinding" with a sharpening stone which was the closest I had to a useful tool at the time and place and the pot holes were more or less cleaned up.

Next day, I got a rotary steel brush which would fit a drill and finished the hole touch up. By t