Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Near and Fargo...

I just finished speaking to a group for North Dakota Farm Credit Council in Bismarck, ND. After you finish all the standard jokes, it turns out ND just might be the place to be for the next decade or so.

They have a wide variety of crop choices, the highest social capital of any state, and they are not afraid of Canadians.

Anyhoo, I told the listeners if they checked my blog I would include the reference sources for my remarks.
  1. To uncover your signature strengths click here.
  2. To learn more about ND economics click here.
  3. For more information about happiness research click here.
  4. To learn more about Yankee and yeomen farms click here.
  5. To learn more about social capital click here.
The best part is I learned today the transportation issue could be the choke point for ethanol expansion. It turns out there are not enough locomotives - at least where rail is the only solution for moving ethanol.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

John,

I know you like to poke fun at North Dakota, but many of those jokes from the link you posted don't work for North Dakota. Just a couple of examples: Northern, Central, and Southern North Dakota is actually eastern and western; Also many of the Germans in North Dakota don't understand the Ole & Lena and lutefisk jokes.
Anyway I enjoy your show and never fail to learn something. Thanks.

Ryan
from North Dakota

John Phipps said...

I have learned about the "real" divide in the Dakotas, and honestly, am very fond of people in the Northern Plains.

But when NDFB members get up at an annual meeting and start telling Ole jokes (true story) - it's a culture shock for this Yankee.