A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day....09-19-03....Minnesota ~ "L'Etoile du Nord"

Mama_Bear

[Mama_Bear]

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day

Free Republic made its debut in September, 1996, and the forum was added in early 1997.   Over 100,000 people have registered for posting privileges on Free Republic, and the forum is read daily by tens of thousands of concerned citizens and patriots from all around the country and the world.

A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day was introduced on June 24, 2002. It's only a small room in JimRob's house where we can get to know one another a little better; salute and support our military and our leaders; pray for those in need; and congratulate those deserving. We strive to keep our threads entertaining, fun, and pleasing to look at, and often have guest writers contribute an essay, or a profile of another FReeper.

On Mondays please visit us to see photos of A FEW OF FR'S VETERANS AND ACTIVE MILITARY

If you have a suggestion, or an idea, or if there's a FReeper you would like to see featured, please drop one of us a note in FR mail.

We're having fun and hope you are!
~ Billie, Mama_Bear, dansangel, dutchess, Aquamarine ~

Please join us as we take a cyber-tour of another great state in this Union of ours. As we discover and spotlight each of our 50 states we also salute the proud FReepers who call their state 'home'.

Over the coming months each "Finest" hostess will profile her own home state - I will be presenting all the other states in random order. Please FReepMail me if you would like to participate in spotlighting your state. I would love to have your input on what you would like to see highlighted.

These are the states that have been presented to date:

05-23-03 Alabama
06-27-03 Maryland
07-11-03 Vermont
07-25-03 Utah
08-05-03 Texas
08-22-03 Nevada
08-26-03 Washington DC
09-05-03 Tennessee
09-17-03 Florida

Today we are visiting "The North Star State", aka: the milk and blueberry muffin state. ;-)

Mama_Bear

The White-tailed Deer -
and more Minnesota state symbols...

Click on the Loon above to hear it's call.


***********************

A bit of history.....

In 1848 the Minnesota Territory was formed by the US government. Ten years later, in 1858, Minnesota was admitted to the USA as the 32nd state. The state gets its name from the Dakota word "minisota", meaning "water that reflects the sky." Minnesota's state nicknames are the "Gopher State" and the "North Star State", and is the 12th largest state in the US.

Despite the convenient access to the state, immigration was slow until the second half of the 19th century, when people in the east started to hear about Minnesota's woodlands and fertile prairie. Between 1850 and 1857, the state population skyrocketed from 6,077 to more than 150,000. Long before that, the Ojibwa (Chippewa) and Dakota (Sioux) tribes made the land their home. For them state borders were nonexistent, so their territory extended well beyond what is today Minnesota. The French claimed the territory in the mid-1600s. It became U.S. territory through the Treaty of Paris (1783) and the Louisiana Purchase (1803).

What makes this state important? For one, its waterways are vital to the state's and the nation's economies. Besides its quantity of lakes, it is the northernmost stop of the Mississippi River and the westernmost point of the St. Lawrence Seaway, which runs through the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean. Minnesota today is a leader in farming, lumbering, and milling, as well as printing and iron production.

Click on the Capitol Building for some interior panoramic photos.
This is one of the most beautiful Capitol buildings I have seen.

Facts and Trivia
about our 32nd state...
(Yes, there will be a test.)

• Minnesotan baseball commentator Halsey Hal was the first to say 'Holy Cow' during a baseball broadcast.
   
• The Mall of America in Bloomington is the size of 78 football fields --- 9.5 million square feet.
   
  
• Minnesota Inventions: Masking and Scotch tape, Wheaties cereal, Bisquick, HMOs, the bundt pan, Aveda beauty products, and Green Giant vegetables
   
• The original name of the settlement that became St. Paul was Pig's Eye. Named for the French-Canadian whiskey trader, Pierre "Pig's Eye" Parrant, who had led squatters to the settlement.
   
  
• Minneapolis has more golfers per capita than any other city in the country.
   
• The climate-controlled Metrodome is the only facility in the country to host a Super Bowl, a World Series and a NCAA Final Four Basketball Championship.
   
  
• Minnesota has 90,000 miles of shoreline, more than California, Florida and Hawaii combined.
   
• The first open heart surgery and the first bone marrow transplant in the United States were done at the University of Minnesota.
   
• Rochester is home of the world famous Mayo Clinic.
   
• The stapler was invented in Spring Valley.
   
• Private Milburn Henke of Hutchinson was the first enlisted man to land with the first American Expeditionary Force in Europe in WWII on January 26, 1942.
   
• The first Automatic Pop-up toaster was marketed in June 1926 by McGraw Electric Co. in Minneapolis under the name Toastmaster. The retail price was $13.50.
   
• Tonka Trucks were developed and are continued to be manufactured in Minnetonka.
   
• Hormel Company of Austin marketed the first canned ham in 1926. Hormel introduced Spam in 1937.
   
  
  "My friend pork shoulder
  I return to you. This time
  I've brought mayonnaise."
  
  more funny "Famous Spam Haikus"
  by Michael Lubic
  Yummy Spam Recipes
  
  
• Minnesota has one recreational boat per every six people, more than any other state.
   
• Minnesota's waters flow outward in three directions: north to Hudson Bay in Canada, east to the Atlantic Ocean, and south to the Gulf of Mexico.
   
• The first official hit in the Metrodome in Minneapolis was made by Pete Rose playing for the Cincinnati Reds in a preseason game.
   
• In 1898, the Kensington Rune stone was found on the farm of Olaf Ohman, near Alexandria. The Kensington Rune stone carvings allegedly tell of a journey of a band of Vikings in North America in 1362.
   
• Minneapolis’ famed skyway system connecting 52 blocks (nearly five miles) of downtown makes it possible to live, eat, work and shop without going outside.
   
  

More about the Minneapolis Skyways...

Minneapolis is unique in many ways, but the skyway system is one of it's most striking, one-of-a-kind assets. When the weather turns sour, you can use the skyway system to get where you need to go.

One floor above ground, this system links buildings together with enclosed walkways. It connects most of downtown Minneapolis in climate-controlled bliss.

When the temperature plummets or the rain falls, ditch the coat in the hotel room. Explore downtown Minneapolis through more than 7 miles of glass-enclosed skyways. They provide a lively thoroughfare filled with specialty shops, restaurants and services.



***********************

Last but not least, a link to one of my
favorite teams, the Minnesota Vikings!
Good luck this season!




Thank you to the following websites for information and graphics:

Minnesota History - A Chronology
Minnesota Facts and Trivia
THE KENSINGTON RUNE-STONE

Thank you for joining us on our cyber trip to Minnesota. I am sure I have overlooked many interesting facts and points of interest, so please help us celebrate Minnesota by joining in and posting what you know about this Fine state.

Have a nice FRiday and a great weekend!

THIS WEEK'S THREADS 09-15-03...Military Monday 09-16-03...This One's For You T Man 09-17-03...Florida - The Sunshine State 09-18-03...John's Two Cents - JohnHuang2

Opinions by our own 'King of Ping' The guy's good, folks!

Thanks, Mixer!

1) Click on the graphic to open the Calendar.
2) Once there you can click on any month and even click to the right to go into next year. Once you are in the month that you joined FR you will need to click on the number in the calendar and then an add item screen will come up.
3) In the next box enter your name in the "Calendar Text" field and then click on submit.
4)If any of the screens fail to load simply click on refresh in your browser and that will usually fix it.
5) If all else fails or simply if you want me to do this for you send me an FReepmail and I will gladly do it for you. ~Mixer

[ArneFufkin]

Lake Superior is an awesome natural force. It is breathtakingly beautiful and deadly menacing at the same time. It's hard to articulate. It's like no other body of water I've experienced.

[Mama_Bear]

No sales tax on clothing!

Really? That must be because there is just no way clothing can be considered a luxury in Minnesota.......it's definitely necessary for survival in your perpetually frozen state. ;-)

[ArneFufkin]

How goes your straddling the world stage up there in Minne-haha??...:))

Everything's great LadyX. We're into our season of Autumnal splendor here, it's really energizing. Gotta run, tryin' to make a living! Regards!

[jkphoto]

Good Morning!

Not nice to tempt me with the blueberry muffins when they are not permitted on my diet. :-)

I'll take one anyway!

[Mama_Bear]

For the Spam aficionados (and would-be aficionados) among us, some interesting facts...(now, let it be known, this is another copy and paste job, I have not verified these facts - and some are a bit hard to believe, so take them for what they're worth, LOL)

• In America, it's consumed at the rate of 3.8 cans a second by more than 60 million Americans.
• It's trademarked in 92 countries, and sold in 45, from Anguilla to Zimbabwe
• If laid end-to-end, 5 billion cans would encircle the earth 12 1/2 times
• 5 billion cans of Spam(tm) would feed a family of four, three meals a day, for 4,566,210 years
• You can grill more than 29 billion Spamburgers with it, and that supply would last 5.4 days if everyone on Earth ate one spamburger for dinner each night
• Each year, 100 million pounds (45 million kg) of Spam(tm) are sold around the world.
• Spam(tm) is made in two U.S. locations - Austin, Minnesota, and Fremont, Nebraska - and seven other countries: England, Australia, Denmark, Phillipines, Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea.
• The average consumers of Spam are families with several children, especially in the southeastern U.S.
• In 1989, the U.S. armed forces bought 3.3 million pounds of SPAM.
• Hawaii, Alaska, Arkansas, Texas, and Alabama rate the highest in spam consumption respectively.
• Among the 50 foreign countries where Spam(tm) is sold, the UK and South Korea are the largest markets.
• In South Korea, Spam(tm) is considered an upscale food and one of the most popular American imports. The Wall Street Journal recently spotted a Seoul executive in search of the perfect gift. The executive deliberately skipped over traditional gift items such as wine and chocolates in favor of Spam(tm), explaining, "It is an impressive gift."
• Hormel PR man Allen Krejci says: "Spam(tm) has endured because of it's convenience and versatility. You can eat it hot or cold. You slice, dice, or cube it. You can eat it for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snacks. In fact, the only thing that limits your use of Spam(tm) is your imagination."
• Nikita Krushchev once credited Spam(tm) with the survival of the WWII Russian army. ''Without Spam(tm), we wouldn't have been able to feed our army,'' he said.
• Senator Robert Byrd of West Viginia eats a sandwich of Spam(tm) and mayonnaise on white bread three times a week.
• Number of miles a snowmobile must drive at -30 F to fully brown a can of Spam(tm) wired to the engine: 35 (Source: The Iditarod [heard on a Madison, WI radio report for "National Canned Luncheon Meat Day, '96)
  
  
  

(Apparently, whoever put this together thought it was extrememly important that we all know that Spam(tm) is a registered trademark. LOL)

[Mama_Bear]

I'll take one anyway!

Now, now....you've been doing so well. :-(

BTW, did you happen to see post #55? ;-)

[Mama_Bear]

I love these funny state laws. They are a great contribution to the state threads.

Thank you ((((((((TTM))))))))))!

[.45MAN]

I am Speech-less.
this has said it all
for to-day.
now I'am back to work.

[Mama_Bear]

There's not only my 'Finest' (hahaha) toothed comb but also another instrument. I don't believe for a second that the Mall of America is the size of 78 football fields. I'm going over there right now with my tape measure! :-)

Yes, I have to admit, that is really hard to believe. That would be bigger than the entire town where I live, I think.

[jkphoto]

Re: Post #55

My computer is giving me problems . . . I can't read that post. Really strange but that is the only post that is all blurred. :-)

Jim . . . got any idea what is happening?

[Mama_Bear]

My computer is giving me problems . . . I can't read that post. Really strange but that is the only post that is all blurred. :-)

Uh huh, sure. LOL.

Actually, there does seem to be some kind of problem with FR today. The mail has been AWFULLY slow opening for a long time, but today the forum seems to be hanging up every once in awhile too.....or, maybe it is just my computer.

[Jim Robinson]

Must be turbulence in the ozone layer causing the electrons to discombotulate.

[Johnny Gage]

Lake Superior is an awesome natural force. It is breathtakingly beautiful and deadly menacing at the same time. It's hard to articulate. It's like no other body of water I've experienced.

Amen to that!

North Shore BUMP

[Billie]

That does it! I won't stand for it! Posting a Texas graphic on a Minnesota thread. :-)

Are you sure you want to go that far? :)

[LadyX]

"To: The Thin Man

I love these funny state laws. They are a great contribution to the state threads.

Thank you ((((((((TTM))))))))))!"

Did someone declare this Another Appreciate The Thin Man Day??!!

Do we get by with all typooos and mispelings??

Is the sky falling?!

[Billie]

Hi, Temple, do hope that downed tree is the worst of the damage you got from the wrath of that democrat hussy Isabel. Did it tear up and transplant many other trees from the park?

[Mama_Bear]

"Save some money, send him to the other Sweden - Minnesota."

Hi Dave. LOL! So, it is mainly Swedish immigrants who settled Minnesota?

I thought the information that I found about the Kensington Rune Stone was interesting - that the Vikings were in that part of north American back in the 1300's. Although many people feel that the stone is not authentic, many believe that it is and that it indicates the Viking/Scandinavian influence in that area goes back much further than people thought.

I love the interesting little tidbits that you add to our thread. :-)

Happy FRiday to you. Hope you have a great weekend!

[Mama_Bear]

Glad to know that you are feeling well enough to be working, but don't work too hard - don't want you having a relapse.

You and dansy have a nice weekend.

[LadyX]

Good to be here when you are, Empress - -

[Mama_Bear]

Did someone declare this Another Appreciate The Thin Man Day??!!

LOL. I don't think so. My motive is purely selfish....I just try to say nice things to him every so often so that when I do make that rare mistake, he isn't so hard on me. ;-)

Besides, I wasn't able to be here to give him his deserved accolades on "Appreciate The Thin Man Day", so, better late than never.