Dakota Today

You won't die or your ears won't fall off if you miss.......

Trust me on this.  You can miss the Super Bowl, you can miss the Emmy show, you can miss the Oscar show and your ears won't fall off, nor will you be shunned by anybody who actually makes a damn bit of difference.  Also, you won't turn into a faceless mole if you aren't first in your neighborhood to see the latest super-hyped movie.  Give the movies time and sooner or later they will be on a $3.99 DVD or rent for $1.

You will miss nothing by waiting or ignoring the hyped tripe.  The same goes for sports shows of all kinds.  Whether school kids destroying their brains on a football field or a professional animal doing the same on a corporate pro field you can ignore all this mindless trash and suffer no consequences.  Also, you can toss the sports news and the magazines devoted to celebrity trash and you will not be harmed.  You may even escape the mindless social tribalism associated with this nonsense.  Feel free.

The only "serious" problem that results is  working with cross-word puzzles and you are clueless who was the MVP on a 1965 champion team  or which starlet popped out of her dress at an Oscar show or wondering who was that rapper who urged raping every female in sight.

*** Stay tuned and stay sane----- Doug Wiken

 

 

***A couple example photos with Nikon P-900 Coolpix

I am still just learning to use this Nikon P-600.  Much of it is similar to my Canon point and shoot, but enough different to take some time.  I did find some hints in online comments about the camera.  Number 1. was to change default "Standard" image to "Fine" image which decreases jpeg compression.  Second was heading to Office Max to print the online manual.  It cost a few dollars, but was worth it.  The teensy manual that comes with the camera has too small images and too little information in four languages.  3/4 of it is thus worthless. The online menu is 142 pages and when printed to letter-size and bound with a spiral backing is actually useful.  However, the index sucks.  I wondered if the camera took panorama shots, so I searched index for "panorama" and found nothing.  By accident, I happened to see "Easy Panorama" and there was the information.  When I get a good panorama image, I will post it.  Meanwhile, below are two images.  One taken with opening wide angle.  The second is with zoom.  I was probably about 600 to 1000 feet away from the ball diamond. Click on images for larger view.  Both have been re-sized to 1000 pixels wide reduced from about 4000 pixels for posting here.

Below is image with camera zoomed into home plate.

Images are both un-cropped, but pixels reduced to about 1/4 of those on camera.

***Stay tuned for more boy with new toy---- Doug Wiken

 

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*** Good Night, Irene (SD)

Too many years ago when Wakonda High School and Irene High School were separate entities and basketball rivals and before the Irene-Wakonda School District, the Wakonda, SD,  bus riders would serenade Irene, SD after ball games.

We would toss the bus windows down and sing "Irene, Good night Irene" with as much volume as we could muster whether or not the Irene Cardinals defeated the Wakonda Warriors or not.  Folk music still wasn't much at that time, but it was a time when the 1953 very popular song was still remembered even if we weren't aware of the writer or the political relations related to him or even much about folk music. And we were certainly unaware of his fight with the House UnAmerican Activities committee.

[[[Note of Feb2,2014]]]:  A friend who knows a lot more about music than I do reminded me that Pete Seeger did not write "Good Night Irene".  It was actually written by Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter around 1933.  The song became a big hit when The Weavers (including Pete Seeger) had a big hit with it in 1950.  "Good Night, Irene" was on the music charts for 25 weeks.

So, rest in peace, Pete Seeger,(deceased  Jan 27, 2014) and thanks for the memories and those refreshed, re-learned or just now realized.

NPR does this a lot better than I do.

*** Stay tuned even if you are tone deaf and totally musically and politically unaware--- Doug Wiken

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*** The Football Disclaimer to protect students and taxpayers

So, you are now aware of the mind-altering dangers of football.  The multitude of shocks and jolts to the brain and the occasional concussion all take a toll on the brain health of football players.  After all, as one pro football player said, "The human body is not designed for football.".  School boards and college regents, college administrators, high school administrators can not plead ignorance of the dangers after the Frontline on SDPB-TV program presented the scientific findings of football brain damage  If they continue to approve and authorize so as to effectively endorse football playing which is now known tobe inherently dangerous and destructive, then we taxpayers must demand that taxpayers are held safe from costs and any future lawsuits and that  parents and players are fully informed of the dangers and destruction of football  and also the limitations on liability.

Obviously, I am not a lawyer, but something like the information below should be provided to parents or guardians and players and signed, notarized, etc. The information is owed to minors and their parents.  To do less fails a moral obligation.  Real lawyers get Busy, Download Football Agreement PDF_Oct2013.pdf (4.9K) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AGREEMENT ON DANGERS OF PLAYING FOOTBALL AND TAXPAYER LIABILITY LIMITATION.

Education Establishment______________________________

Education Establishment agent:_________________________

Football Player:_________________________________

Player's Parents or guardians:_________________________   _________________

on Date________________________

do agree and confirm our knowledge that football as regularly played in high school and college  with all the shocks to body, skull and brain can cause generally undetected early physical brain injury later leading to early dementia, dangerous personality changes, memory loss, depression, suicidal tendencies and premature death.  All parties are also aware of the other physical injuries to body from football playing and that early changes much like advanced aging may result.

Player and parents by signing this document and knowing it is notarized and will be legally filed do agree that they will hold harmless taxpayers funding this educational body now and in the future for any brain or body damages due to playing football or any economic losses due to brain damage.  Taxpayers will also be held harmless for liability of coaches and school officials and administrator for tolerating and effectively endorsing football playing.  In short, players, parents, and education officials and agents have ALL responsibility for damages from playing football.  Taxpayers are in all ways to be exempt and immune from any costs and damages related to those others playing football or supervising..

Have you read and do you understand this document and long-term implications and obligations?

Parents or guardian:  YES, NO   Student or player: YES, NO.

Print your names and sign your names below as confirmation.

_______________________  ________________    ___________________ 

_______________________  ________________    ___________________

Yes, No...Education Representative name and signature: ________________________  _____________________

NOTARY SEAL,  DATE, ETC

 

This document will be filed with a South Dakota County Register of Deeds with copies provided  to parents, player, and educational institution.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Copy this and present it to your school board, school administrators, college regents, college administrators, legislators, Education associations, etc.

*** Stay tuned and read the previous post on PBS Frontline and "League of Denial"- Doug Wiken

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*** South Dakota taxpayers should demand insurance against school football awsuits

If you happened to watch Frontline tonight on football concussion "disease", you may have noticed that some of the brains examined and shown to have the tau particles tied to early dementia, memory loss and personality change.were in football players just out of highschool or in early college football.  "The league of denial" is not limited to the NFL.

The thought now is that the continuous shocks to the brain even without obvious concussions cause brain damage.  As one ex-pro football player said, "The $750 million settlement between NFL and players may have made getting more evidence less likely, it also gave 750,000,000 reasons not to play football."

Neurologists doing the brain research believe we may see a near epidemic  of dementia from smash mouth football at high school and college level football.  At some point families of high school football players are going to associate problems for their family members who played highschool and college football.  When that happens as it will, taxpayers need to be prepared.  That preparation should be purchasing insurance to cover suits against high school and college football coarchs, athletic directors, schoool boards, and college administrators.  In the meantime, they need to be warning parents and students of the brain damage possible {even likely} from playing football.

School boards and administrators should get the video from PBS with the Frontline program.  It is something like $24.95.  It might be a good idea for concerned taxpayers to provide schools with a copy.  Ignorance of the issue is no longer a defense or justification.

There is no excuse for highschool and college football providing the basis for huge lawsuits against taxpayers who continue to tolerate this sport which is destructive of mind and body.

The support of Sanford Medical establishment for football is ridiculous in light of the brain damage it causes.  While they put money into medical research, they take a slap in the face of neurologists everywhere...except those on the NFL payroll to spread doubt just as the tobacco lobby did for years as it denied a connection between tobacco and lung cancer and other diseases..

*** Stay tuned, but not to football---- Doug Wiken

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*** At last, a problem I don't have

Sports addiction may be some kind of something close to mental illness like having an unnatural attraction to a concrete block.  Maybe somebody at the Smithsonian has found the reason for this ailment which troubles thousand of TV broadcasters and viewers.

The Smithsonian is even getting in on the action. Eric Simons, author of the book, "The Secret Lives of Sports Fans," tells writer Megan Gambino:

"In the case of sports, there is compelling evidence that this is basically a real relationship in your brain. In a very real sense, the sports team becomes a part of you. You just feel like whatever success it achieves is a personal success, and whatever failure it has is a personal failure. You can’t cut the team off without cutting off a part of yourself. Even if the team is losing, you have so much of yourself wrapped up in it that you can’t just walk away. To do so is to give up on a part of yourself."

If, like me, you recognize just a little bit of yourself in Simons' comments above, don't you feel just a little sadder about your life? Find more at IT-Sports Addiction.

Nope.  And I don't spend any time cheering for General Motors, or Chrysler, or Ford or even for the star executives who pay themselves $millions per year.  I am also not a fan of big pharma even if their executives get $20 million or more per year.

Sports lunacy is destroying education in South Dakota and warping education priorities. It is time for legislation that prevents SD State Universities from mandating that students must pay athletic fees.  My guess is that the Universities and the Regents would soon learn that about 75% of the students could not care less if the jocks and their coaches disappeared from the campus if they could shave their college costs by several thousand dollars.

Time for one more initiated law.

*** Stay tuned even if slam-dunk posts are rare birds here--- Doug Wiken

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*** What? Sue Lance Armstrong or can Post Office Executives?

CBS on Evening News in continuing fascination with celebrity  tonight noted that the USPO is suing Lance Armstrong for something like $100,000,000.

Sitting out here on the barren, snow-covered plains, it seems to me that suing Armstrong is more smoke and mirrors from bureaucrats who don't seem to be able to organize a parade. This seems to be a depressing misture of bureaucratic arrogance and hypocrisy in the face of their own idotic stupidity.

They pissed away over $30,000,000 on Lance Armstrong. The combination of glorification and exploitation of athletic irrelevancy is nonsense.  How many jocks highly publicised turn out to be complete jerks?  Why do we or any bureaucrats glorify this excess of irrelevancy?

It may be the US Post Office "deserves" getting back their money dumped into Armstrong's lap, but before that goes anywhere, a bunch of US Post Office executives should be canned.  What kind of idiots think that a person riding a bicycle in France can cause anybody in the US to buy more stamps or send more paper mail?

Mostly I sit and shake my head when I see so-called mainstream media seem to overlook the grossly obvious dinosaur hiding in the story...or too often the tale they are telling.

Glorification of athletes and athletics is a dead end for the US.  The USPO bumbling  idiocy makes that manifestly obvious.

Conservatives of course choose to attack the people who actually carry the mail.  A few examples below that actually also carry along a few facts.

US News Columnist Rich Newman

Better Brains Blog

Our local Post Office people are mostly personable and helpful.  Mostly rain, snow, etc don't slow their deliveries.  But now and then what happens with mail before it gets here or after it leaves here causes me to wonder even if 45 cents really isn't a lot to haul anything several hundred miles. A letter I mailed Tuesday Morning at Winner, SD Post Office made  way to eastern Iowa this morning on the back of a fast turtle that averaged something between 40 and 75 miles per day... good for a turtle, but not so good for a delivery system.

*** Stay tuned and send some snail mail to your congress critters avoiding needs of our country in pursuit of their own partisan and corporate goals--- Doug Wiken

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*** CBS Morning--News or Morning Shopper?

Years ago when CBS Morning was 30 minutes of actual news or one hour of it, I watched it nearly every morning.  Over the years watching that show seemed more and more like a total waste of time.  Recently, CBS dragged in Charlie Rose know primarily for his PBS Charlie Rose latenight interview show.  Then CBS started running ads about bringing the "news" back to the CBS Morning show.

I did not notice much improvement.  A bigger glass table seemed to be about it.  This morning I decided to try to sit through the whole show and take some notes.  I half-heard the first 20 minutes which did seem to be mostly news.  I then noted a 3-minute period of solid ads, but did not get the number or the advertisers listed.  Then I was done in the kitchen and sat down with note cards and started scribbling.

From 7:20 AM to 9:00 AM, CBS and KELO had something between 80 and 100 ads or promos for other CBS or KELO programs.  There was about 7 minutes of discussion with Peggy Noonan and Bill Bradley.  Bradley was hyping his book.  Everything he said is in the first paragraph of a column he has in the TIME magazine that arrived this morning.  Noonan was predictably Republican, but with some concerns about the far-right near total control of the GOP.

South Dakota weather dominated KELO's minutes in the two hours.  Rapid City low temperature was around 33 F degrees.  7 inches of rain in eastern SD caused flooding in Madison and hail damage at Mitchell.

During the last hour and 40 minutes of the show, The only thing even approaching serious news was about 4 minutes on the Fortune 500 report indicating those companies had $840 Billion of profit, but are primarily investing outside the US.  The GOP's favorite target GM (Government Motors to them)  had revenue of $150 Billion and net profit of $9 Billion.  Might it be that Obama and Democrats actually saved a few thousand jobs?  Not much mention of that at CBS.

From then to the end of the show there was nothing of significance.  Dr. Phil expressing opinions on "the Tanning lady", John Edwards trial jury, and Troubled Athletes...and of course, Teenage Bullying.  Even more insignificance was exemplified by reporting on Kristi Noem getting a political science degree from SDSU.

Following is a list of the ads that seemed to me to make CBS Morning into CBS Morning Shopper show.. some of my scribbled notes are no longer readable or translatable by the original writer however.

Cybutol? drug, Staples, Aveno, Activa, CBS sitcom hype, CBS news hype, Cerntal1?, CBS hype for Hawaii 5-0, Nespresso, Farmers Insur, Garnier hair dye, Hershey's Kisses, JuvedermXP, Kindle Fire, Walmart, CBS hype for upcoming "news", Advil, Garnier anti-wrinkle, Purina DogChow, Angie's List, Discover Credit Card, Banana Boat Sunscreen, Smuckers, CBS hype for Letterman show, local Lewis Drug, CBS Hype for upcoming news and Dr. Phil, Hype for CBS App, local ad for Scheel's, a KELO PSA for Learning Disability organization, local Audiology Associates, KELO "This is your home" hype, CBS hype for "Long Story-Short" coming up, CBS Late Show hype, CBS hype for Evening news, Lunch Break Combos, Walgreen alergy ad, Garnier Nutressa Hair, Ocean Spray Cranberry's, Hugs Benefel dog treats, Nutrium Dove Body lotion, Local Furniture Mart, local Avera, another local Furniture Mart ad, CBS hype for upcoming segment on Kristi Noem, Hallmark, Hershey's kisses, Garnier Moisterizer, CBS hype for evening sitcoms, Hype for NCIS, CBS hype for NCIS:LA, local ad Graham Tire, Lodestar Casino, CBS hype for CBS This Morning, local Windows World, Knology, CBS Hype for Two Broke Girls and 2 1/2 Men sitcoms, local ad Golden Buffalo Casino, Window World, Culligan's ad, Perkins, EyeMart Express, another Culligan's ad, CBS hype for "The Talk", CBS hype for upcoming "Dame Daphney segment", local Good Samaritan, Clinique makeup-Yonkers, JennyCraig weight loss, the Dame DaphneySheldrike segment was about elephants and ivory trade, but mainly hype for her book something like "Love, Life, and Elephants", local Spray your fat away, Deadwood, SD gambling and vacation, KELO hype for News Eye on KELOLAND Bakken oil, KELO PSA for WRDI disability aid, CBS hype for Erica tracking down a story somewhere, local Menards, Sanford Orthopedics, Heart attack info ad, Sleep Express, Lewis Drug, AAA Insurance, St. Mary's Hospital, general KELOLAND hype ad.

And then the "NATE BERKUS" show and a switch to PBS TV.

I guess my perception of CBS Morning dribble is more or less supported as appropriate when I actually took time to take some program notes.

CBS and Charlie Rose can do better and have done better in the past 30 years.  Taking notes on the whole show was more disappointing then normal viewing with coffee, snack,  and bathroom breaks.

*** Stay tuned, but you won't miss much on CBS between 7:00 AM and 9AM CDT.-- Doug Wiken

 

 

*** How to demonstrate your inner stupid outwardly

A handy how-to bit of assistance for those unable to fully display their inner stupid in ways sufficently graphic to be a warning to all of us.  All you have to do is wear those expensive jackets with corporate sports teams logos.  Get Your NFL Gear Here.

With the right jacket, you don't have to wear a dead coyote or dead jackrabbit around your neck to demonstrate your tribal imbalance.

And, if you don't think wrestling is quite queer  enough, check out the Penn State Football program.  Warning the link might not be safe for office viewing.

*** Stay tuned for more helpful hints-- Doug Wiken

 

 

**Winner wins by a lucky bounce..Winner 12: Tri-Valley 6.

OK, I confess.  I view the damage highschool football does to knees, ankles, spleens, and brains outweighs any real or imagined benefits of such sports.  And, the last time I even wrote a story covering a football game, it was more or less satire.  It seems that back about 40 years ago, the powers that were at SDSM&T were not happy with stories we wrote about a losing football team in the campus newspaper The SDSM&T Tech.  So, I dashed off one of those stories fair and balanced like Fox News that was so absurdly slanted in favor of our losing team that we never heard any more complaints.  That bit of humor was picked up by several other college campus papers including Stanford's.  Now, 40 years later,  there really isn't even a campus newspaper or annual at SDSM&T and the administration wonders why there is no sense of community there even if interscholastic athletics still distorts campus life and jobs and burns up far too much of the fees paid by students.

But enough about my lack of qualifications for writing about sports, and onto the news about the Winner SD Warriors football team defeating Tri-Valley by a score of 12 to 6. Despite that score, the game was tied until the last 4 seconds of the game.  This was a game with teams matched so well that it could have been almost as well decided with a coin flip before it ever started.

Neither team scored in the first half.  Good defense and bits of luck for both teams.  That half was one where even someone like myself could be sitting on the edge of a chair wondering what was coming next. High School teams with quarterbacks who can pass like Ted Wonnenberg and receivers like Eric Shueth who can really run make the game almost interesting ..at least compared to the old Winner game style of run up the middle, run up the middle, run up the middle..............

The second half had some scoring.  Eric Shueth got out of the crowd and dashed 50 yards or so for a TD.  Note, the photos following were captured mostly from the SDPB-TV show and aren't like those a good digital camera would get right in the dome.

Not too long after that, Tri-Valley scored.  Neither team got an extra point.

From then on, it was nearly a standoff.  Winner had the ball with a few minutes to go after Ted Wonnenberg intercepted a pass and got Winner into a better field position.

Winner failed to make much progress in the few remaining minutes against Tri-Valley and it looked like, according to SDPB announcers at least, that  both teams would let the game go into overtime.

But, with about 4 seconds to go, Winner called a time out and Coach Dan Aaker gave them some strategy for the unusual situation.  SDPB announcers wondered aloud about how many overtime games had been played in previous games and noted either before or after about the low odds of such last second plays ever working except in works of fiction.

 

Following the timeout came a quick "Hail Mary" pass by Wonnenberg aimed toward Zach Horstman near the endzone.  Horstman and a TriValley player Jace Eckstaine tipped the ball and it bounced into the air long enough for Jayd Knodell to grab it and dance into the end zone to be quickly mobbed by most of the Winner team.

Tri-Valley was predicted to win and the KELO sports coverage last night almost made it seem as if the moon had dropped out of orbit because a West River team like Winner beat such a good team as the East River Tri-Valley team.

There were a number of awards presented. The Winner Warrior's coach holds the 11-B Football Championship Trophy.  I missed part of the game, but I think Eric Shueth got an award and he was interviewed at the end of the game.

The Mitchell Daily Republic has much more detail in today's paper, so if you want the full report, that might be a place to start.  Also, SDPB-TV probably has a streaming video of the game someplace on their "sparkling new" website.

SDPB-TV Sports Page

Despite the low score, this game may be one of the few High School Championship games that was really good entertainment from start to finish.  Of course, my wife and my view was a bit biased since a number of the players were children of my wife's coworkers, current or past at WRHC.

And just for the record, following is a photo of the final statistics for the game for those enamored with such data. I am often amazed by the amount of information and numbers collected by sports reporters in the interests of filling dead air between plays.

And just to show that I probably won't be putting much more sports news into Dakota Today for awhile, a cute kid and pretty mama picture of the "We are Warriors" kind.

I hope everybody of every age had a good time at Vermillion, Sd in the USD Dome and made it back to Winner safe and sound last night or this morning..

And, in my more usual bah, humbug mode, despite this interesting game, my belief remains that Winner, SD school puts far too much emphasis and resources into athletics and more should be put into making mathematics, physics, chemistry, government course, and even life skills such as avoiding teenage pregnancy interesting and useful to students entering a tough economic world.

Stay tuned for something more like the Dakota Today usual --- Doug Wiken