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Your blogger isn’t as rabid about not flying as John Madden who used to pass on the NFL Pro Bowl because it was either swim to Hawaii or take a very slow boat.  I don’t know what Madden’s demons are.  Mine are simpler. 

 

I’m not afraid of terrorists.  I’m really not afraid that the plane in and of itself will just fall out of the sky.  As I’ve said before, I’m afraid of the clowns running the airlines, and now of those flying the planes, or not flying them. 

 

Case in point: that Northwest Airlines crew (or whatever it’s called these days) overflew Minneapolis, giving passengers a bonus tour of Eau Claire, Wisconsin.  I think Eau Claire means “Clear Water” in French although the circumstances of the detour are still anything but clear. 

 

First the pilots were said to be arguing about company policy.  The later story said they were playing with their laptops.  I’ve even heard it suggested that maybe a stewardess was the laptop, as in the old “Coffee, Tea or Me” days.  I think the more likely explanation is they just fell asleep. 

 

The fact is, that the main function of a pilot these days is to make sure that the auto pilot is doing its job.  The human pilots turn on the auto pilot almost before the plane leaves the runway.  That was one of the factors in the flight that flew golfer Payne Stewart into the ground near Aberdeen.  Every on board was already dead, but the plane just flew itself.  Conventional wisdom is that something like that happened on the Eau Claire adventure only it ended better. 

 

This is an easy one to solve.  I saw a documentary about railroad locomotives safety.  Even when it’s on cruise control ripping down the track, the engineer has to touch a specific button or any control at short intervals.  I don’t remember if the train comes to a screeching halt if he falls asleep at the switch.  That obviously wouldn’t work at 30 thousand feet, but such a device could certainly sound an ear piercing or blinding alarm that would awaken anybody but a dead pilot.  It’s simple and it could lead to a lot more “live” passengers and fewer impromptu tours of Eau Claire.  Like the cruise control in your car, auto pilot was devised as an “assist,” not as a substitute for a hands-on pilot. 

 

My lack of fear of flying used to hinge on the concept that the pilot didn’t want to die…or divert…any more than I did.  Then I met a few…

 

Hi, I’m Steve Hemmingsen.  Join me in Hawaii…or maybe Midway…or Samoa…

 

We're nearly three-quarters of the way through the season, and somehow Brownie has managed to hang onto the bragging rights. 

Every week I give him a hard time about that, and he always responds with, "I guess I'm the best at randomly picking games." I realize you can't really grasp his tone in a blog posting, but he says it in a real "It's luck, but I'm still better than you" kind of way.

Well, expect some off the wall picks in the coming weeks because those aforementioned bragging rights are only good to he who holds them last. 

Here are our NFL picks for week 11:

GAME	ELSEN (94-50)	MCCOY (94-50)	BROWN (98-46)
Miami at Carolina	CAR	MIA	CAR
Indianapolis at Baltimore	IND	IND	IND
Washington at Dallas	DAL	DAL	DAL
Cleveland at Detroit	DET	CLE	DET
San Francisco at Green Bay	GB	GB	GB
Buffalo at Jacksonville	JAX	JAX	JAX
Pittsburgh at Kansas City	PIT	PIT	PIT
Seattle at Minnesota	MIN	MIN	MIN
Atlanta at NY Giants	NYG	NYG	ATL
New Orleans at Tampa Bay	NO	NO	NO
Arizona at St. Louis	ARI	ARI	ARI
San Diego at Denver	SD	DEN	SD
NY Jets at New England	NE	NE	NE
Cincinnati at Oakland	CIN	CIN	CIN
Philadelphia at Oakland	PHI	PHI	CHI
Tennessee at Houston	TEN	HOU	HOU

We have within this great country of ours a system of inequality, not simply by some singular action by a biased individual. No, it is a system that by design favors the elite, that oppresses the masses to provide wealth and opportunity to the minority. The sport that remains as perhaps the most American in our current age is anything but and would make the very founders of our country incite another revolution at the way it's run. 

Football, in this great nation of ours, is a broken college sport. What else could BCS stand for if not that? There are 119 teams in DIA football yet 52 of those teams are essentially locked out from claiming a national title, even if they go undefeated. In fact, it's possible for five teams to go undefeated, claim a conference championship, win their bowl game remaining undefeated and for all of those five teams to still not win the national championship. How can anyone ever claim a national championship under such a system? This isn't a sport; it's a popularity contest. 

I mean no disrespect to the talented athletes and coaches who battle it out week after week during the fall. On the contrary, it's a disrespect to what they do to not prove who the real champion of the sport they play is. What better way to do that than through a playoff system, not a system that has neutered my favorite college sport. 

I'm a BYU grad, a fan of the Cougars and a loyal supporter of the Mountain West Conference, a FBS conference, otherwise known as the outsiders. Historically, BYU has a national championship under its belt and for the past two years, there's been talk that if BYU went undefeated it could compete for one again. It didn't go undefeated and didn't contend for the national championship. Last year, our historic rival Utah did go undefeated. It was the only ranked team in the country to go undefeated, it beat three at least ranked teams and yet was denied the opportunity to compete in the national championship. It finished 2nd in the AP Poll, 4th in the USA rankings. This year, TCU and Boise State remain undefeated and yet by the rules, Boise State doesn't even have to be invited to any of the big moneymaking bowl games because it belongs to the WAC, another FBS conference. 

Get this, Boise State has an opening in its schedule in 2011 and has invited any big name school to play it. The team would travel, and yet no one is taking them up on the offer. Ironic since one of the arguments for keeping FBS teams out of the big bowl games is the weak teams they schedule. In fact, if you talk about weak schedules, Florida is currently ranked #1 and its non-conference games so far have a combined record of 13-17, including a Division I AA team. 

So far in the season, with just a few remaining games left, Alabama, Boise State, Cincinnati, Florida, Texas and TCU are all undefeated. Five of them could potentially remain undefeated this season. How can you declare a national champion with five undefeated teams? 

The system is broken and until it's fixed, I'll watch each game with anticipation and loathe the season's outcome with justification.

I was brought up believing that if you help out or do something nice for somebody..just do it and shut up about it.

So, I’m sort of going against my raisin’ here by mentioning that Linda and I joined with other members of our church last week serving at The Banquet in Sioux Falls.

I only bring it up because the feeding ministry has a special need..which I’ll get to later.

I’ve done lots of stories on The Banquet for KELO over the years but this was the first time I’d ever actually taken part in the process of getting up close and personal with the people who go there to eat.

They were already lining up when we arrived..nearly an hour before  the doors officially opened at 6pm.

Unlike the old facility downtown, there is room at the new one at 8^th and Indiana for guests to come inside and out of the elements.

“Man, they must really be hungry or just have nothing else to do,” I said under my breath as we entered the back door to receive instructions, work assignments and a prayer.

“Please keep in mind that these people are our guests and to be treated with respect,” said Dan who, along with his wife, Lyndia are two of the unpaid Banquet staff members who regularly guide volunteers through their paces before each meal. “When it’s your turn to eat, go sit with some of the guests,” said Dan. “Don’t preach to them..just visit and “listen” to what they may have to say.”

I’d rather just work in the background..I thought. I’d be happy to do dishes. I have no idea what to say to these folks.

“Doug and Linda, we’ll have you serve beverages, okay?” Dan said. “We go through a lot of milk..so that’ll keep one of you busy.”  Linda grabbed the milk jug before I had a chance..leaving me with the task of pouring water and coffee which aren’t nearly as popular.

That left me ample time to stand there and observe the operation and appreciate the efficiency of it.

Then I saw a couple of the guests motion for me to come over..so I did, with water and coffee in hand. But they weren’t thirsty. “Doug, how’s retirement going?” one of them said. “We watched you on the news for years and miss seeing you.”  

I almost said “What are you doing here?” before it got through my thick head that The Banquet isn’t just for the homeless and destitute or those with various physical and mental challenges. It’s also a gathering place for folks who may be down on their luck or just plain lonely.

Who among us has not been there?

I’m afraid I stink as a beverage server but really did enjoy doing the very thing I’d been dreading; sitting down and talking with the guests.

Linda, on the other hand, was hopping all evening on the milk detail..which brings me to the point of this whole thing.

Milk is one of the Banquet food services biggest expenses and it recently lost the supplier that was providing it for free.

It just seems to me that a place that provides such a wonderful service should not have to worry about paying the milk bill and there may be somebody out in blogland able to alleviate that concern.

For information on who to contact and find out more about The Banquet  CLICK HERE to check out it’s web site and give ‘em a call.

By the way, I guess we were there on a pretty slow night; just under 300 guests served including about 30 kids. But like Dan says, winter’s coming and when the temperature goes down..the guest list goes up.

I hope they don’t run out of milk.

 

This H1N1 business has been confusing from the start.  First it was Swine Flu, then it wasn’t.  I’ve been having trouble tracking it ever since.  Are we supposed to get shots?  Is there a shot?  Is the shot…if there is one…worse than the ailment?  This one affects kids more than old people? 

 

Let’s see.  We’re not supposed to inhale, exhale, shake hands, kiss or exchange fluids. 

I’m okay with the handshaking part.  That’s just the human equivalent of canine butt sniffing, anyway. 

 

We’re supposed to wash our hands in restrooms.  Employees have to.  We don’t.  Did you ever worry about a food place that has to order its workers to wash their hands? 

Worse, I have seen why those signs are there first hand. 

 

On my recent road trip, I saw stalls where the previous occupant had carefully lined the seat with toilet paper…and left it for the next person who is presumably less worried about H1N1 and sanitation in general. 

 

All of these extraordinary measures are pointless.  Here’s why. 

When is the last time in a fast food joint you managed to pull just one cup cover from the pile?  What do you do, throw the extras away once you’ve pried them apart?  Not likely, nor has anybody else.  Same deal with the ketchup cups, and jeez, how about the napkins you have to fish out of an under filled dispenser or rip out of an over filled one?  Maybe you will have been first in the sanitary pecking order, but the odds are slim. 

 

I once asked Bobbi Lower, when she was KELO’s Health Beat reporter, what about those grocery carts where people put their diapered, slobbering kid right on top of their groceries, and subsequently, yours?  That concern was pretty much written off.  Now most big stores have some sort of sanitary wipe so you can de-bacterialize that cart. 

 

My point is that you can take all the precautions you want, but you can’t escape other people’s transgressions in hygiene.  I also suspect that if we achieve this germ-free existence we’re striving for, we’ll be worse off rather than better.  How will our immune systems get the exercise they need to function when the chips are down? 

So because the weather has been so nice and quiet lately I thought I would post a short video blog about the camera we specifically use for taping our video blogs. You will learn all about it in the video.  I also wanted to mention that if you ever have any weather video to send us you can use our uShare gallery or you can just email it to us at stormcenter@keloland.com.  If you are ever having trouble getting it to us just send us an email at that same address and we will help you out.

Tony

 

Week 10 Picks

GAME	ELSEN (86-44)	MCCOY (86-44)	BROWN (90-40)
New Orleans at St. Louis	NO	NO	NO
Tampa Bay at Miami	MIA	MIA	MIA
Detroit at Minnesota	MIN	MIN	MIN
Jacksonville at NY Jets	NYJ	NYJ	NYJ
Buffalo at Tennessee	TEN	TEN	TEN
Cincinnati at Pittsburgh	PIT	PIT	PIT
Denver at Washington	DEN	DEN	DEN
Atlanta at Carolina	ATL	ATL	ATL
Kansas City at Oakland	KC	KC	OAK
Seattle at Arizona	ARI	ARI	ARI
Dallas at Green Bay	DAL	DAL	GB
Philadelphia at San Diego	SD	PHI	SD
New England at Indianapolis	NE	IND	NE

Baltimore at Cleveland - BAL, BAL, BAL

 

Here’s the deal.  Hendricks, Minnesota…the little town by the lake…has a cat problem.  Here’s the solution: Veterans’ Day in Astoria, South Dakota, eight miles away. 

 

Knowing that the American Legion lutefisk supper is usually sold out well in advance, I figured I was safe asking my friend Tryg if I could come in a shoot some pictures…and leave before I was overcome.  Wrong!  Tryg scrounged or scalped or something one more ticket, so I had to tough it out.

 

The Main Street in Astoria, about the only paved one, is only a couple of blocks long, but I have to tell you…and I’m not kidding…you could smell the pot boiling a block away.  Uffdah!

 

Not knowing the protocol, I sat with Tryg’s brother Phil and his wife Roberta.  Phil documented a gastronomic advenutre worthy of guy on cable, Andrew Zimmern, who will eat anything.   Hold your nose and be glad it isn’t smell-a-vision…

 

It was like being a smoker among non-smokers.  I just threw my clothes in the hamper as soon as I got home.  As for the cats, just open the door to the Legion Hall and they’ll troop over for the supper to end all suppers.  If you’re an a-fisk-anado, you might want to book ahead for next Veterans’ Day.  The guest list is limited to about 100.  It is served family style, so you can eat all you want, even if you work around the main event.  They have Norwegian meatballs the size of tennis balls. 

I’m sure a lot of you can appreciate how lucky I’ve been to have had Dave Dedrick as a friend for 35 plus years.

After all, I grew up with him on television too..both as a Kelo personality and, of course, as Captain 11.

Because of that, many people, who know that Dave has been in the hospital for several weeks now, have been asking me how he’s doing and what the heck is wrong.

 

Well, to the best of my knowledge, he went in to deal with back pain that has been excruciating for some time. In the course of treating that, other old health issues have cropped up to the point that he has been confined to bed.

 

My pal, Lyle Bamsey and I decided to defy the ban on visitors because of swine flu concerns and stopped by Avera Select to see the Captain this morning.

 

Laying flat on his back, he noticed us come in and, with a big smile and handshake, said “Doogle and Bammer..good to see you.”

 

The old fart is still sharp as they come and still able to intimidate me with his intellect and wit. For example, during a lull in the conversation, I said..”So, Dave, are you in much pain?”

Here’s a guy with a spine like a dry twig laying there with instructions posted all around his bedside for staff to be especially careful in moving him..and I ask a dumb question like that.

He just looked at Bammer and rolled his eyes, then laughed.

God, I love that man and hate it that his body can’t keep up with his brain any longer.

I frankly don’t know what his prognosis is but am sure of one thing..he needs your continued prayers or positive thoughts or whatever cosmic energy you call upon to make things better.

He loves the fact that so many of you have sent greetings over the Facebook web site called “Friends of Captain 11”  He gets regular updates from his wife, Marjean..son, Dana and daughter, Sunshine..so keep ‘em coming. There were over 5 thousand of you at last count. 

Oh, one other thing that is so typical of my friend.  He wanted to do something nice for the hospital staff so ..sick as he is..he ordered pizzas for everybody and was surprised when the appreciative crew said that’s the first time a patient had ever done anything like that.

Oh, Lord..the world needs this guy around awhile longer…a LOT longer.
Please?

 

  

 

Fits and starts.  That’s the story I heard about our almost non-existent summer from Sioux Falls to the tip of Maine, the lobster villages that are the easternmost point in the United States, not the continental United States like the Alaskan and Hawaiian appendages, but the whole United States.  

It occurred to me as I nestled into one of those little villages for a week and got to know some of the fishermen that they are really a coastal version of the Midwest farmers.  They have their booms and busts, their ups and downs, weather angst and the pressure to get bigger. 

 

The small ones…and there are about 500 of them in Jonesport and Beal’s Island…are more interesting, the guys who run one and two-man boats.




Jonesport and Beal’s Island have 22 hundred people, practically all of them…a lot of Alleys and Beals…fisher folk in one way or another.  Everybody knows how to work a boat and the sea bottom.