As these frigid fowls can attest, apparently snow does accumulate on the back of turkeys. That is,when they’re not doing other crazy things. On a slightly related note, I don’t have any photos of bears doing anything in the woods.
Have you run into that annoying notification from the Bismarck Tribune or other affiliated newspapers’ websites saying that you’ve viewed your quote of free articles for the month? This is only the latest attempt by the publishers to monetize content that other sites give for free. They do so by putting “cookies” on your computer to track your use without asking you for permission. It’s simple to deny them this intrusion.
Here are directions for doing so in the Firefox browser. Yes, I know Mozilla supports homofascism, but what can ya do. Boycott locally, I always say. If one decides to boycott every national business who hasn’t either caved in to or embraced the queer agenda, one will be hard pressed to purchase anything these days. Anyway…
First, go to your Options (under the Tools menu) and select the Privacy tab as shown above. You need to select “Use custom settings for history”. That will change what appears below it, giving you options as far as how cookies are treated by the browser.
Then you’ll want to click on “Show Cookies…” to show which cookies the websites are storing on your computer without your permission. After all, that’s what this is all about.
In the Search box at the top, type in “syncwall” to reveal the offending cookies. Highlight the cookies in the list, then click “Remove Cookies” at the bottom. Close this window. Next, we’ll prevent those unauthorized cookies from being stored on your computer in the future:
You should be back at Privacy Options after closing the last window. This time you want to click on “Exceptions…” to set up a rule preventing future unauthorized cookies.
In the “Address or website:” box, type in “bismarcktribune.com” or whatever other site has been putting syncwall cookies on your machine, and click “Block”. As you can see above, I already have. This will prevent future unauthorized tracking cookies from being placed on your computer without your permission.
That’s it! You have now prevented sites using Syncwall from putting unauthorized content on your machine. That is, at least until they come up with another scheme. I wonder how this will work out for them. In the past they’ve played around with restricting content to paid subscribers, and it hasn’t worked well for them. There are multiple news sources on the web providing similar content for free, so I doubt that viewers are likely to want to pay for it from the newspapers.
I mentioned a while ago that I was able to play with my new macro lens and grab some close-ups of the various decorations adorning North Dakota’s 125th birthday cake. Here are a few…and by a few, I mean many.
I’ll start off with a piece that you’ve already seen: the state capitol building. It’s missing the J-wing, but that’s alright.
Let’s start with the eastern border of the state. Down near the Wahpeton area we have sunflowers…
To the north a bit we have Roger Maris’ record and Cass-Clay for the Fargo area…
Let’s not forget the NDSU Bison…
Then of course we have the sugar beet and (I presume) wheat or other crops…
As we reach the Grand Forks area we have a catfish (and UND, in the background)…
Topping off the Grand Forks area is, of course, the Grand Forks Air Force Base.
I presume this is a tribute to the North Dakota honeybee, who are all probably wintering down south somewhere at the moment.
Hat tip to Devils Lake and the Spirit Lake nation.
We then move westward to Rugby.
Here’s the Floral Clock, one of the attractions at the International Peace Garden.
Turtle Mountain representin’.
Good ol’ Lake Sakakawea and the Garrison Dam are featured.
To the northwest we have a tribute to oil country.
Here’s the far northwestern corner of the state.
Now we head south into Roughrider Country.
Here we have the Bully Pulpit and Medora.
If I’d gotten the focus right here, you’d think that Dickinson was known more for the Dinosaur Museum than for I-94. In the low light I had to use a wide aperture, making the depth of field very shallow. Excuses, excuses…
Not much in southwestern North Dakota. I’d have put a police car with a mannikin in it to celebrate Amadon, at least…but instead we head east toward Standing Rock and a hunting scene. My friend Nathan just got a big buck like this one.
Strasburg celebrates the home of Lawrence Welk, don’tcha know. Bubble machines come to mind.
Next we have Gwinner and the Bobcat plant.
I’ll wrap this up with the enormous bison at Jamestown.
There were a couple of other fittings on the cake, such as some tractors and nods to the Bank of North Dakota and the North Dakota Wheat Commission. It was a really cool tour around the state, and I made sure to get a slice of Slope County, where the cake is thickest. See, it helps to know a little bit about my home state of North Dakota!
I’d like to take a moment to kick off the weekend with a dude astride a rocket perched on a fire truck. You’re welcome.
We hit the road this week to take my little boy to a specialist. My medical stuff is nearing an end, same with my wife, and now we’ve got some other issues to deal with. Along the way I did manage to take out my camera a couple of times this week, and this was one of ’em.
I love a good prairie pun, don’t you?
Yesterday was a day of milestones, one of which was the 32,000th photo through one of my cameras. I captured it with my new macro lens, and the subject was the North Dakota state capitol. Well, it was actually a facsimile there of, as I’m sure you can see.
This was part of the state’s birthday cake, as yesterday marked the 125th anniversary of North Dakota’s statehood. I’ll have more on this cake at another time, featuring many of the unique decorations from around the state. Yes, I did get a chance to eat a chunk of Stark County late in the day.
Lots of events are planned at the Heritage Center / State Museum today. I know that our neighbors to the south are celebrating a birthday as well, but we here in “Best Dakota” are going to have a blast with ours.
Rumor has it there’s free cake at the Heritage Center! Don’t tell anyone…
Measure 7 is something that has come up on the ballot before in North Dakota: removing the requirement that all pharmacies must be owned by a licensed pharmacist. This time it seems like it may really have some momentum. I just got my mind blown in such a way that I have switched from a lifelong YES vote on this to a sound NO. Why? The answer will blow you away.
First, let me say that I believe that anyone who wants to operate a business in North Dakota should be able to do so. I’ve always believed that, and it’s been the core principle behind my opposition to North Dakota’s pharmacy laws. I’ve voted in favor of changing this every time it’s come up on the ballot. This time around, however, I was wavering a bit, and I don’t know why. Something just didn’t seem quite right. More on that later.
I’d classify most pro-Measure 7 folks in three broad categories:
Like I said, in principle I would have voted yes simply because of the first item. I’m not so sure that prices will come down as the second group of people believe. But the third one is the one that didn’t make sense until today.
CVS operates pharmacies in the state. White Drug does, too. I bought most of my Atari cartridges and lots of my Star Wars action figures in an Osco. So what gives? Why do the “big box” stores claim they can’t operate here? The answer is so simple and so complicated at the same time that it would never have occurred to me until Matt Evans wrote about it on my friend Rob’s blog.
In that article, Matt pulls back the curtain and reveals that there is no free market in this matter. The big box stores negotiate with insurance companies for the ability to get certain medications covered, with state regulations giving them the muscle. This artificially distorts the market, obviously.
So what happens if Measure 7 passes? The “big box” stores go straight to the insurance companies, negotiate the same thing with them as they do in other states, and the next time you want to get your prescription covered you find out that it won’t be – unless you go to Big Box Pharmacy.
Naturally this stinks for a number of folks:
No wonder the bigs have been pouring millions into this issue: rather than it being a matter of free markets, it’s a matter of rigging the game in their favor! In the guise of making more free, open competition available to drive prices down for the consumer, it’s actually a way to subvert the free market using the state-regulated insurance industry as a crowbar to leverage things in their favor.
I went from a 100% principled YES in this matter to a 100% NO in a matter of seconds after I read this. If a YES vote would result in true freedom of competition and no protectionism, I’d cast it…but it would do exactly the opposite.
Make sure you read Matt Evans’ post on Say Anything. It’s a real eye opener. Cast your NO vote to stop government-enforced cronyism from coming between you, your pharmacist, and your prescriptions. Otherwise the next time you want to support your local pharmacist, you may be doing it with your own money instead of the insurance coverage you already paid for.
It’s that time again, when Democrats don folksy apparel and adopt phrases like “The North Dakota Way” and “working with both parties”. Don’t fall for it. Don’t vote Democrat, not even for dog catcher.
Even Senators Conrad and Dorgan started small. Decades later they were North Dakotans on paper only, maintaining shoebox apartments in Bismarck to stay eligible for reelection. Their final legacy: casting deciding votes for Obamacare, legislation wildly unpopular with North Dakota voters, then retiring to multimillion dollar East Coast homes near their lobbyist cronies. Was that the “North Dakota Way”?
Then we elected the “Independent Voice™” for North Dakota, Heidi Heitkamp, who has since voted with her Democrat Party puppet masters 97% of the time according to Congressional Quarterly. We should have seen that one coming.
Now Erin Oban, wife of the Democrat Party’s executive director, uses similar rhetoric. She doesn’t mention this affiliation; in fact, her website’s devoid of issues entirely. Her opponent’s site has a very clear list of where she stands on important issues and she votes as she promises on these issues.
Democrats never actually campaign on what they stand for. Where are the campaign ads saying they support Obamacare, amnesty for illegals, the right to abortion, or gun control legislation? The ads promising to punish big corporations and advance the homosexual agenda? Conspicuously absent, but Democrats are beholden to people who want these things because their votes are guaranteed. Deception and feel-good rhetoric are required to get yours. Guess who they’ll serve.
Find an issue that’s popular in North Dakota, and Democrats are on the wrong side of it. Compare their campaign marketing to their behavior once elected. A Democrat elected to local office this year could cast the deciding vote for disastrous federal regulation in twenty years. We can’t afford to advance their dangerous ideology based on platitudes and deception.
As autumn progresses in North Dakota brings a lack of color to the landscape as everything turns a shade of brown or gray until the following spring. I was craving a little bit of color and searching my photos for something else when I came upon this shot, one I’d forgotten to share.
Favicon Plugin made by Alesis