Bobcat

Bobcat is probably the only North Dakota-based corporate acquisition that can make international news, at least since Microsoft bought Great Plains Software. Reuters picks up the North Dakota angle.

Baseball, Again

The Twins are trying to keep their heads above .500, but here's an old ESPN SportsCenter commercial with Joe Mauer and a Fargo mention.

Hemp for America

Stephen Colbert covers the North Dakota hemp fight, then gets someone from a not-really-related cause to talk about it. Munchies jokes follow.

Comedy Central Colbert page

Link to the segment on VoteHemp.com. (Thanks to NorthDecoder.com.)

Trouble on the Reservation

NPR reports from Standing Rock on authorities' inability to respond to rape and other violent crimes. Blame goes to incompetence, indifference and underfunding. Whatever it is, it makes for a grim story.

National Public Radio: Rape Cases on Indian Lands Go Uninvestigated.

We're On the TV!

Things we can learn about North Dakota by searching YouTube:

• Hockey is popular.
• It's a nice place for driving around.
• It is frequented by UFOs.
• It is vigilant against the threat of emo.

Whatever the hell emo is.

Legalize It, Or: Don't Worry. We're Republicans.

More coverage of those unkempt young radicals and their quest to be hemp farmers.

NY Times: Sober North Dakotans Hope to Legalize Hemp

OK, but how do the stoned North Dakotans feel about it?

Kill Da Wabbit

Everyone from Fox News to the Chronicle of Higher Education is picking up the story about NDSU's aggressive anti-rabbit tactics.

Little Mosque on the Prairie

As seemingly unlikely as Satchel Paige pitching in Bismarck, Ross, N.D., is reported to have been the site of the first mosque in the United States. Voice of America produced an article on it in 2005. Sure, VOA is fairly propagandish and the message here is that "Muslims have long been accepted in America," but interesting nonetheless, especially the revelation that someone named Hassan Abdallah can look like your typical old North Dakota farmer.

North Dakota is Home to First U.S. Mosque

Talking Baseball (Still)

We're still in a baseball mood here.

It's not commonly known, but North Dakota in the 1930s was one of the first places where integrated baseball flourished, thanks in part to ambitious car dealer and team owner, Neil Churchill, who signed some of the best Negro League players of the time. Roger Maris isn't in the Hall of Fame, but Satchel Paige is.

Here's a long article on the state's baseball glory days.

Pronk!

Travis Hafner, AKA Pronk, Sykeston native and Cleveland Indians DH, re-signs for a giant crap-load of money -- $57 million, or 1,000 times the annual economic output of Sykeston. Good for Pronk.

I once tried to figure out an all-North Dakota baseball team. The Maris-Erstad-Hafner part seemed pretty good, but when I realized the starter would be Rick Helling, I kinda lost interest.

Roll Out.

This summer's biggest toy-related blockbuster aimed at 30-year-old men, Transformers, includes actor and Minot native Josh Duhamel. According to his entry on the Internet Movie Database, he owns a restaurant in Minot and is engaged to Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas. Not bad, as long as that damn "Humps" song doesn't drive him insane.

Bar-ry! Bar-ry!

Fargo man, Andrew Clapp, puts North Dakota on the map as home to hairy drunk dudes.

Fargo Man Greets Bonds on Field

Barry wasn't afraid, though. "I felt safe with him . . . he had no shoes on. If you come at me one-on-one, you'd better come with a lot, Jack. "