North Dakota - seriously guys, why don't you just give it to Canada

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what purpose does the place serve? is there anything actually there?

― Bob Shaw (Bob Shaw), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 10:51 (twenty-two years ago)

Rednecks who shoot Planned Parenthood staffers and doctors who fly over from MN to perform abortions seem to be what lives in Planet NDak. I fail to see why Canada would want that demographic within it.

― suzy (suzy), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 11:05 (twenty-two years ago)

America needs a place to store its survivalists. But I suppose Montana and N.Dakota could be amalgamated without anyone really noticing...

― Citizen Kate (kate), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 11:07 (twenty-two years ago)

B-b-but that's what Michigan's UP is for, right?

― suzy (suzy), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 11:29 (twenty-two years ago)

the border twixt US & Canada is (apparently) the one which has been uncontested for the greatest period of time. I doubt if they'll start redrawing it now.

― MarkH (MarkH), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 12:45 (twenty-two years ago)

>why don't you just give it to Canada

No thank you. We have Saskatchewan.

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 16:06 (twenty-two years ago)

but you could use it as somewhere to banish Celine Dion, Bryan Adams, and of course...:
http://www.anomaly.co.uk/dswavpic.gif

― Bob Shaw (Bob Shaw), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 16:12 (twenty-two years ago)

With Saskwatchewan and Manitoba, really, you won't notice it, will you?

― Citizen Kate (kate), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 16:13 (twenty-two years ago)

North Dakota has missiles, missiles they've threatened to point at Saskatchewan over grain prices. Seriously.

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 16:17 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, you better grab it fast, or we're selling it to Japan!

― Citizen Kate (kate), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 16:18 (twenty-two years ago)

wait, which Dakota has Wall Drug?

― Jay Dee Sah Mon (Kingfish), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 16:20 (twenty-two years ago)

I like the idea of using ND as an 'Escape from New York' style holding ground for the Canadian unwanted. ALL! ARE! BANISH-ED!

Although the Brits did try that once, and now we have Australians...

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 16:21 (twenty-two years ago)

all the realest survivalists are in alaska.

― typo acapulco (gcannon), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 16:24 (twenty-two years ago)

Alaska is for sissies.

They should get t-shirts made that say that.

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 16:25 (twenty-two years ago)

North Dakota is right next to South Dakota, which is wear the majority of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues takes place, and that book features whooping cranes in a big way, and whooping cranes are classic, so therefore...

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 16:26 (twenty-two years ago)

TAKE ND!... go ahead. Just rescue the cute gas station attendant girl i met in Bismarck first.

― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 16:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Actually, never mind... she's better off as a Saskatchewanian.

― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 16:27 (twenty-two years ago)

Shee beeelonnnnngs to mmeeeeee nnnnow!

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 16:31 (twenty-two years ago)

wasn't there an episode of west wing about this? like they wanted to change the name to 'dakoka' because they thought that it was the 'north' part of their name that prevented tourists from going there?

isn't there some weird tourist attraction like a giant bridge over the highway. and maybe a tractor museum?

on all of my roadtrips, i've managed to drive through most of the states. i've missed idaho, kansas and...north dakota. at some point i have to make a decision about whether getting to every state is really *that* important.

― colette (a2lette), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 16:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Wall Drug is in South Dakota.

― Kerry (dymaxia), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 17:04 (twenty-two years ago)

that was not west wing. that was real.

― typo acapulco (gcannon), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 17:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Idaho isn't that bad. I mean, I've just driven through it, but I've known lots of people who left it, which makes me think that there must be a few people still there to make it worthwhile.

North Dakota has a tremendous emigration problem, as I recall: Pretty soon there will be no one left at all!

I do sometimes wonder why southern Canadian prairie towns are so much more active and vibrant (and fiscally sound?) than northern American prairie towns... which I guess I might find out in a few weeks.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 17:24 (twenty-two years ago)

I hate Bryan Adams. He's here. Or he will be on Sunday. I fucking hate that guy.

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 17:34 (twenty-two years ago)

woohoo, that means, Moorhead, Minnesota becomes a TRUE border town.

― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 17:57 (twenty-two years ago)

there was once, briefly, a shitty Cdn TV show called Bordertown about the wild (frontierish) shenanigans that went down on the Can-US border 100 yrs ago.
It starred Cheech Marin.

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 17:59 (twenty-two years ago)

(as John A. Macdonald)

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 17:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I like North Dakota (and yes I've been there). When the End Times come I will make my last stand at the Geographical Center Of North America

http://www.quartzcity.net/~chris/1994road/rugby-nd.jpg

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 18:24 (twenty-two years ago)

..to be as far away from commies swimming in from the oceans? (I learned that from "Invasion U.S.A." by the way.. Go Chuck Norris!)

― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 18:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Isn't there a monument outside Winnipeg that reads the same damn thing?

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 18:34 (twenty-two years ago)

No, it just denotes the longitudinal center of Canada (it's just a 15 minute drive from where I'm sitting right now). Rugby, ND is the center of the continent. I once drove there in the middle of the night during the first Gulf War. This was possibly the single dumbest thing I've ever done. It was in the middle of the night and I was nearly out of my mind. Thank God they didn't strip search me, though I think that would've been the only thing that would've kept me from not going over even though I was going there for absolutely no reason. I was followed by a State Trooper the whole way which was actually kind of comforting.

― Bryan (Bryan), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 18:38 (twenty-two years ago)

do you have some sort of special fancy computer tracker that alerts you whenever the word "winnipeg" appears on ILX?

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 18:41 (twenty-two years ago)

(and btw, I knew about the longitudinality of the marker, i was just sort of making fun of how little prairie towns can find to boast about)

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 18:42 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes and ok. The funniest one is the one that appears both in Brandon and Swift Current - signs bragging about making Chatelaine's 10 best Canadian cities to live in list.

― Bryan (Bryan), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 18:44 (twenty-two years ago)

So why did you drive to Rugby anyhow?

Also the Saskatchewan Science Centre Powerhouse of Discovery boasts of being the province's best drawing family entertainment/education centre that is open between the hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. and holds the world IMAX record for running that stupid Rolling Stones movie.

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 18:48 (twenty-two years ago)

Hey latitudinal and longitudinal factoids are great! Somewhere just north of Salem, Oregon on Interstate 5 in the U.S., you are informed that you have pasted the 45th parallel and are now technically closer to the North Pole than the equator.

And more ridiculously, in Vancouver Island (half of which is below the 49th parallel geologically stabbling Washington state), there's a sign in a small town on the highway going north stating that you crossed the 49th parallel. Yay, I'm in "TRUE" Canada now.. if I make a huge spitwad and project it at ludicrous energy exactly east, i will now hit Canada instead of the U.S. Thank you for the information.

(Neither have monuments to those factoids however)

― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 18:49 (twenty-two years ago)

um, "past"

― donut bitch (donut), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 18:49 (twenty-two years ago)

do you know that Windsor Ontario is SOUTH of Detroit?
(western Cdns can sometimes have a hard time getting their head around this)

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 18:52 (twenty-two years ago)

As I said, I drove to Rugby for no reason (other than just to drive there). I was perhaps interested to see what would happen if I tried to cross the border in the middle of the night during a war. Didn't get any uglier than having someone go through my wallet and interrogate me about all the little notes I had in it (very funny stuff and possibly a great part of a story I may write sometime) and having to take off my shoes and turn out my pockets.

― Bryan (Bryan), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 18:53 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes, yes I understand, but what did you drive to Rugby for?

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 19:08 (twenty-two years ago)

I KILL YOU WITH GUNS

― Bryan (Bryan), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 19:09 (twenty-two years ago)

excellent

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 19:13 (twenty-two years ago)

Anyway...speaking on behalf of Lake Winnipeg, we'll gladly take North Dakota just so we can put an end to all the Garrison Diversion nonsense.

― Bryan (Bryan), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 19:20 (twenty-two years ago)

Does that have something to do with Lake Wobegon?

― Huckleberry Mann (Horace Mann), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 19:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Yes, yes I understand, but what did you drive to Rugby for?

I too drove to Rugby too for no other reason than to see the geographical center of North America. Bryan Understands.

Other things I went out of my way in North Dakota to see: the world's tallest man-made structure - The KVLY-TV transmission tower. 2,063 feet high!

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 12 November 2003 22:05 (twenty-two years ago)

It's probably the world's tallest man-made structure measured in feet. (as opposed to metres)

― Leee Majors (Leee), Thursday, 13 November 2003 00:02 (twenty-two years ago)

It's probably the world's tallest man-made structure measured in feet. (as opposed to metres)

Yes, because if you measured it with a meter stick instead of a ruler the tower magically shrinks in size.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Thursday, 13 November 2003 00:52 (twenty-two years ago)

This sounds suspiciously similar to the idea that if I beat myself over the head with a 2 by 4 and pound 2 six packs of Mickey's Big Mouth then the Black Crowes suddenly become the best group ever.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 13 November 2003 00:54 (twenty-two years ago)

The steel tower is taller than the combined height of the Great Pyramid Khufu at Giza, the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the Washington Monument.
If the KVLY tower had its base at the bottom of the Royal Gorge in Colorado, the antenna would still be 563 feet above the upper rim.
If a 20 second commercial started at the same moment a baseball was dropped from the top of the KVLY tower, it would end nearly four seconds before the ball hit the ground.
In a 70 mile-per-hour wind, the beacon light on top of the KVLY tower will move approximately ten feet.
If an iron worker on the antenna dropped his wrench, it would be traveling at a speed of 250 miles per hour when it hit the ground.

If a hunter at the base of the KVLY tower shot at a goose flying near the top with a .45 caliber pistol, he would have to lead the goose by more than the length of a football field, or approximately 335 feet.

gotta love that.

― Dean Gulberry (deangulberry), Thursday, 13 November 2003 00:59 (twenty-two years ago)

The KVLY tower would be 629 meters high. I used science so I am right.

― Leee Majors (Leee), Thursday, 13 November 2003 01:03 (twenty-two years ago)

"would only be"

― Leee Majors (Leee), Thursday, 13 November 2003 01:04 (twenty-two years ago)

What's there? The grasslands and badlands of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, a large section of the Missouri River traveled by Lewis & Clark, half of the Standing Rock Reservation, some of the few surviving original tribal villages and frontier sites, the "World's Largest Turtle/Buffalo/Cow," 70,000 square miles of plains and prairie, 650,000 people, and Fargo. We'll keep it.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 13 November 2003 02:59 (twenty-two years ago)

I thought I was the only ILXor to have ever been to Moorhead, Minnesota. Oh well.

― hstencil, Thursday, 13 November 2003 06:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Stence, I stayed in Moorhead on a road trip because -- get this -- Fargo was all booked up. All of North Dakota's (or probably eastern North Dakota's) proms were happening that night, so all the chain hotels and motels off the freeway were all taken. I must have tried 12 places. Nope, sorry. I barely found a place by crossing the stateline and getting the last discount room in Moorhead. My welcome to Minnesota! (Never mind i had to drive back to Fargo at 6am the next day because i left my backpack at a hotel desk there and it was the worst fucking freezing weather i've ever been in my life)

― donut bitch (donut), Thursday, 13 November 2003 08:03 (twenty-two years ago)

OK, that TV tower is pretty tall, but it is supported by wires. The CN Tower is free-standing...

However, move over ND, and get outta here Toronto, check THIS out:

http://pacific.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2003/01/06/daily22.html

3300 feet?? Holy baloney!

― Rob Bolton (Rob Bolton), Thursday, 13 November 2003 10:23 (twenty-two years ago)

eight years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtPPE29GLtk

― Stockhausen's Ekranoplan Quartet (Elvis Telecom), Saturday, 14 January 2012 22:46 (fourteen years ago)

More here: http://www.youtube.com/user/LegendaryND/search?query=arrive+a+guest

― Stockhausen's Ekranoplan Quartet (Elvis Telecom), Saturday, 14 January 2012 22:47 (fourteen years ago)

This ad is ripe for deconstruction...

http://boingboing.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/wholesomesleeze-600x750.jpg

― Stockhausen's Ekranoplan Quartet (Elvis Telecom), Saturday, 14 January 2012 22:51 (fourteen years ago)

Weird enough it's kind of a boom town in some places up there because of the oil and gas.

Some of the towns like Willeston there are like these huge impromptu RV parks setup in Walmart and shopping center parking lots, as there are not enough homes or apartments for the huge influx of labor.

― earlnash, Sunday, 15 January 2012 05:45 (fourteen years ago)

this thread makes me hate so many of you

― i love pinfold cricket (gbx), Sunday, 15 January 2012 06:22 (fourteen years ago)

I got that impression about Willeston for sure. passed thru there 3-4 years ago and it was kinda difficult to find a room for the night seemed lotsa businessy oil types around

― Cashmere Combabe, Sunday, 15 January 2012 06:22 (fourteen years ago)

I also stayed in Glasgow, the other side of the state line in MT - really different feel!

― Cashmere Combabe, Sunday, 15 January 2012 06:23 (fourteen years ago)

first response hall of shame

― buzza, Sunday, 15 January 2012 06:27 (fourteen years ago)

^^^human trash

― i love pinfold cricket (gbx), Sunday, 15 January 2012 06:29 (fourteen years ago)

play nice please; feelings will be hurt

― this is funny u bitter dork (forksclovetofu), Sunday, 15 January 2012 14:42 (fourteen years ago)

kudos to ND for getting people from ND for their ads

― goole, Sunday, 15 January 2012 17:51 (fourteen years ago)

one year passes...

Wildcatting: A Stripper’s Guide to the Modern American Boomtown

Nothing is more emblematic of the American dream than chaotic mining and drilling towns such as Williston, North Dakota, and the people who flock to them in search of fortune. And no one knows better how these communities work — and don’t — than the traveling topless dancer.

― Elvis Telecom, Sunday, 4 August 2013 21:42 (twelve years ago)

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