Dakota Today

*** Iris says, "It rained today."

** Stay tuned, the sun will shine again--- Doug Wiken

*** Spring flowers, No April Showers Yet

The weather this year has been a bit unusual.  Not much snow or real cold during the winter, and a few days of unseasonably warm weather in early spring and late winter.  Flowers and trees are blossoming and as a neighbor noted, no bees are buzzing yet.  Anyway, a couple photos below.  Tulips in our yard, and apple tree in our backyard make their appearance.

Click on images for larger images.

The grass is green and already the eager grass mowers have been making noise in the mornings with small noisy engines stirring up dust.

Hope you and your family have enjoyed early colors and have had a happy Easter holiday.

*** Stay tuned even if you are color-blind--- Doug Wiken

*** Kodak and Xerox miss the digital boat. Kodak.bankruptcy?

ZD-Net has a story online today indicating Kodak is seeking chapter 11 bankruptcy.  Commenters wonder what it is about Rochester, NY that causes two sets of executives there to fail to effectively exploit the inventions of their engineers, programmers, and scientists.

Xerox is not bankrupt, but years ago, it did fail to utilize their PARC inventions effectively.  Steve Jobs saw the potential..

ZDNET with sad KODAK News and Comments 

Not what I expected to see today.  Rochester, NY friends of ours worked for Koday for years.  About 50 years ago, one of my photographs made it into the Kodak photo contest finals.  I did not get any real reward other than satisfaction out of it however.

*** Stay tuned for more carnage of the Republican Kinder, Gentler economic Mythology--- Doug Wiken

 

*** Retro Look for a DVD

Now and then some design idea attracts my attention.  This week I noticed a pack of Verbatim recordable DVDs at local Pamida store.  Price per DVD-R was a bit high, but the price is probably mostly for the look.  If you ever shot movies on a film movie camera, or loaded the 16mm school cameras 50 or 60 years ago, the film reel look may be familiar.

Click for larger image.

On the larger image, you can see what appears to be a roll of film.

I don't know what category a product like this falls into.

*** Stay tuned even if you are never, ever too easily amused--- Doug Wiken

*** Photographers rights compliments of ACLU

 

This week NPR and PBS have had a few stories about the Mall of America in Minnesota.  The security there sounds like should be for the Mall of American Fascism. 

Anyway, here is a link to a site put together by the ACLU outlining rights to photograph in public places, etc.

Know Your Rights Photographers__American Civil Liberties Union

The Photographer's Right by Lawyer Bert P. Krages II

And now for something completely different, a couple of good news, bad news jokes.

From a Non-Sequitur cartoon.  Doctor talking to patient, "The good news is that I did not catch what you have."

And a dreadful bit of black humor.

Doctor talking to patient, "I have bad news and I have more bad news.".  Patient "OK, Doc tell me the first bad news".  Doc says, "Sorry to tell you, but you have cancer.".  Patient says "Oh, not good, what is other bad news?"  Doc says, "You have Alzheimer's Disease."  Patient says, "Oh, at least I don't have cancer."

I guess I don't think that joke is quite so funny when a word or a name drifts out of my brain into some far distant galazy.

*** Stay tuned and keep taking those pictures..but not in the Mall of America --- Doug Wiken

 

*** Weather outside is frightful...but it is not snowing

Weather reports from KELO today have all been about "EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING". And, they have been right for the Winner area.  My digital thermometer shows 98F right now.  The Bank West thermometer was 103F or so about an hour ago and old metal spring thermometer in town showed 99 or 100.  Humidity is high too.

Walk a few feet outside and feel soaked with sweat.  Sit on a car seat parked with the sun on it and you may jump right off the seat.

So much for the weather which we in the midwest now and then are pilloried as having only the weather as an interest.

Take a look at the recent comments.  Marie Tyburec, a former Winner resident, would appreciate photos or images of the WPA rock windmill that was in the Winner, SD park until it was demolished in 1990 apparently.  I guess it was replaced with a gazebo.  So much for my powers of observation of the obvious.  She has sent me an e-mail address, so if you have such an image or postcard, let me know and I will let Marie T. know and may scan it and post the image here in Dakota Today. if that is OK with owner and Marie..which might make this more like DAKOTA YESTERDAY, but not quite.

Think I will sneak back into air-conditioned comfort.  I was reminded of the costs to the environment of our lifestyle in the west today.  A discussion of population growth and decline, etc.on SDPB-TV Need to Know had a few interesting facts and opinions.  Julia Whitney of Mother Jones noted that wealth reduces population, but wealth consumes more resources. She claims 10,000 tons of carbon output per US child.

Get the whole Population/Pollution story and many other good stories that no doubt drive wingnut conservatives off the deep end.  Standing Room Only Need to Know 

** Stay tuned until I am bitching about the frigid cold that is sure to come all too soon --Doug Wiken

** Rolling and boiling clouds, but no storm here..yet

Eastern South Dakota got a blast of summer weather this evening.  KELO-TV had weather screens filled with warning red. Winner, SD was on the edge of something, but other than a temperature drop, no damaging weather right here.  But, the sky was interesting.  The clouds in image below were rolling south and looked a bit like a slow motion video of cornpicker rollers.  In just a few minutes these clouds rolled from northwest to south west in the sky.

Click on image for a larger view.

Too often, no matter what the weather forecasts, the next days may be something else.  Still unseasonably cool.  Nights at 50F degrees and days often no more than 65F degrees.  My usual Memorial Day photo is of the US Flags in the Avenue of Flags at the Winner Cemetery.  This year those flags were not displayed.  We were in heavy fog this morning. That and perhaps a shortage of helpers stopped the placing of the large flags.   There were many small US flags on individual graves however.

Sleep tight if you aren't in a tornado warning area.

*** Stay tuned........to your weather radio--- Doug Wiken

** Image Sunset Winner, SD December 29, 2010

The sun sets mighty fast this time of year.  A minute or two before I stepped outside with a camera, much of the western sky looked like the image below.  I wouldn't have been able to get a good image of all of that anyway, but the image below gives an idea of the intense colors.  KELO weather is predicting a big change from comfortable to dreadfully cold, snowy, and windy.

Click on image for a larger view.

Wind is now blowing so hard that a good photo is nearly impossible without a heavy tripod.  A shot of some cows on the ridge with the sunset showed only blurry blobs of cows.

Hope the weather gets over this soon.  I hear that Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin will be explaining why she lost on PBS News Hour tonight.  My guess is she will not remember her waffling pandering to the right wing loons as a factor in her defeat.  Her blue-dog-crap issue positions irritated Democrats who sat on their hands prior to the election and her blue dog crap did not impress Republicans nor Independents.

I suspect Stephanie Herseth won't see very many pretty South Dakota sunsets despite having her South Dakota home.

[[Added info Dec 30, 2010]] Cory Heidelberger at Madville Times found the PBS transcript of the Herseth-Sandlin interview.  I think my comments in advance were fair after I watched the program and read the transcript.   PBS Transcript of Judy Woodruff Interview with Herseth-Sandlin  I can't tell if Herseth-Sandlin is intentionally dishonest in this interview or needs time for reality of her folly to sink in.  Democrats who fail to attack GOP lunacy give credibility to that lunacy which then turns around and bites them..in this case on their blue-dog rear ends.  Unfortunately, it also poisons the political arena needlessly for all other Democratic candidates.

*** Stay tuned even if the South Dakota Democratic candidate options don't seem particularly interesting. ----Doug Wiken

*** 2010 Seasons Greetings Image for Dakota Today

Click on image for a larger view.

The best to all who regularly take the time to check my rambling and ranting here at Dakota Today.  May your patience and tolerance be rewarded.  But, now that Kris Kringle is rocking and rolling, don't expect much from him in your old sock this year.  Of course, by the same token, there won't be any chunks of coal just in case you have been more naughty than nice.

*** Stay tuned for a better next year -- Doug Wiken

**We really did not need it, but I thought it was clever

Now days, a person does not know what might be on a tee shirt.  Some are so obnoxious or gross, but now and then a truly funny one shows up.  The slogan below snagged my funny bone. Not sure if it was worth $3 on clearance, but anyway, hope you too find it funny.

And that is probably enough of your daytime or nighttime minutes wasted, but don't call me on your cellphone about that anyway..

*** Stay tuned even if you have already lost your shirt in this economy--- Doug Wiken