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Towns in Minnesota
There are hundreds of Wikipedia articles about towns in Minnesota that haven't been updated since 2003 began. Can anyone suggest putting Media Wiki boxes at the bottom of the town articles?? 66.32.74.97 01:27, 29 May 2004 (UTC)
- What are these "Media Wiki boxes" you speak of?--Daveswagon 01:43, 20 July 2005 (UTC)
Name origin
For a source on the origin of the state's name, see http://mrbdc.mnsu.edu/mnbasin/fact_sheets/pn_mr.html
- Hrm this English to Lakota dictionary says that Mni Sota means 'Clear water'. I will continue to search for sources. -Ravedave 22:05, 27 June 2006 (UTC)
Section about Famous Minnesotans?
What about a section on famous people from the state? I can only think of a few off the top of my head, since I have never been to Minn.
There would be many. Here are a few more: Charles Schulz (Peanuts cartoonist), Bob Dylan, Judy Garland, Sinclair Lewis, Warren Burger, Charles Lindbergh, and the Mayo doctors (founders of the Mayo Clinic). Jonathunder 20:24, 2004 Dec 5 (UTC)
- I'd rather do a list of famous Minnesotans (or just list of Minnesotans), and possibly pick a few for the main state article. Look at the article on Minneapolis, for instance—already a pile of people (though some arguably weren't in Minneapolis proper). There should be some criteria for inclusion. Being born in Minnesota works, and having lived in the state for a period of time (somewhere between 5-15 years would be good) would be the main things. To be on the state page, people would probably have to be well-known nationally as Minnesotan, but that kind of takes the "surprise" out of such a listing... —User:Mulad (talk) 00:12, Dec 6, 2004 (UTC)
Upper Midwest
Within Minnesota and surrounding states, the common definition of the "Upper Midwest" is the 5 state area of MN, SD, ND, IA and WI. These states share common immigrant histories, became states in the period of 1849-1889, and refer to themselves as the Upper Midwest. Edwin 01:10, 18 Dec 2004 (UTC) from Minneapolis, MN
- Yes, I tried to explain this to people in the Upper Midwest article itself, with limited success. In that article, they still have Ohio and Indiana (!), among other places, as potentially parts of the Upper Midwest, which is just totally and completely incorrect. I invite you to go to the Upper Midwest article and make some changes for the better when you have time. One thing though Edwin, I do think that the Upper Peninsula of Michigan could be considered part of the Upper Midwest. - BSveen 01:20, Dec 18, 2004 (UTC)
- Definitions of Upper Midwest, as well as of the Midwest generally, differ widely. There seems to be no disagreement, however, that Minnesota is in the Upper Midwest. Since this is an article about Minnesota only, I propose we simply state "Minnesota is in the Upper Midwest region.", link to that article, and let the discussion of differing definitions be covered there. Does that seem a reasonable solution? Jonathunder 14:27, 2004 Dec 21 (UTC)
- Having heard no objection, I've gone ahead and made this change. Jonathunder 06:13, 2004 Dec 31 (UTC)
- Definitions of Upper Midwest, as well as of the Midwest generally, differ widely. There seems to be no disagreement, however, that Minnesota is in the Upper Midwest. Since this is an article about Minnesota only, I propose we simply state "Minnesota is in the Upper Midwest region.", link to that article, and let the discussion of differing definitions be covered there. Does that seem a reasonable solution? Jonathunder 14:27, 2004 Dec 21 (UTC)
Sing-songy Scandinavian accents?
I've lived in Minnesota my whole life, have been to almost every part of the state, have encountered thousands of people, and never, not once, have I encountered anyone with a "sing-songy Scandinavian accent."
- Yes, but that's listed as a description of the stereotypical Minnesotan, and that IS a stereotype... kmccoy (talk) 22:03, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)
- Keep that part in there--it's quirky. I used to be pissed that people think we sound like Fargo but now I just kind of roll with it.--Daveswagon 01:40, 20 July 2005 (UTC)
- The point is that it's an inaccurate description. Is there a distinctly Minnesota/Midwestern accent? Yes, absolutely. Is it "sing-songy"? Is it "Scandinavian"? No and no. Moncrief 05:43, August 27, 2005 (UTC)
- If you haven't heard people that sound like "Fargo", then haven't travelled widely enough in Minnesota. Few people in the twin Cities have accents that are as strong as Fargo, but a significant minority in out-state Minnesota. I have talked ot many people in Stearns County and in the Brainerd area who have accents as strong as Marge Gunderson in "Fargo". (Crumley 19:14, 3 April 2006 (UTC))
- The sing-songy Scandinavian accent appeared along with immigrants from that area. However, that was a long time ago and various contributors would have various experience with it, particularly younger editors. Some written sources on the topic are needed. (SEWilco 02:27, 1 September 2005 (UTC))
- Googles says there is 314 hits for "sing-songy scandinavian accent" [1]
another site [2] and probably the best one - Talk:Melodic_accent Think of the Swedish chefs in the muppets, or Sven from a sven and Ole joke. Yes you have never heard it in use in minnesota, thats why it's a sterotype. I vote to keep it. Ravedave 02:49, 1 September 2005 (UTC)
- Haven't found a full description. The intonation pattern is often compared to Swedish, with a flowing glide tone directed at the meaning of the sentence rather than word emphasis. For example, "How are you?" may use a smoothly sliding pitch which falls through the first word and rises through the third word. Constantly shifting the pitch up and down through several words resembles several types of singing. (SEWilco 05:19, 1 September 2005 (UTC))
Area
It says 225,000 km² in the box and 79,000 m² in the geography section. Widely different figures. The first one looks correct, SqueakBox 20:15, July 11, 2005 (UTC)
- I assume the 2nd figure is supposed to be 79,000 mi², which is probably the land area of the state in square miles. Tomer TALK 05:10, July 12, 2005 (UTC)
- Why are the units on this page in metric? Did Minnesota become part of Canada whilst I was visiting my parents in Wisconsin? In this country, we use imperial units. This is not a freaking science page.--Globe199 06:23, 27 January 2006 (UTC)
Improvement Drive
The related articles American Empire, History of Minnesota, National Football League and Space program of the United States have been listed to be improved on Wikipedia:This week's improvement drive. To support one of these articles you can add your vote there. Also, Rodgers and Hammerstein is nominated at the Biography Collaboration. --Fenice 07:15, 9 August 2005 (UTC)
- Speaking of drive, anyway to add a noting about how inattentive Minnesotans tend to get at traffic lights? Tboger 02:08, 6 March 2006 (UTC)
- Find a reputatble source for it and contact me on my talk page and Ill find a spot for it.False Prophet 03:27, 6 July 2006 (UTC)
Not religious/Agnostic – 15%
I don't know how long religon stats have been listed here but perhaps at somepoint we get updated stats we can split out Not religious/Agnostic because not religious is not necessary the same thing as agnostic Smith03 20:17, 1 November 2005 (UTC)
- I've got a hunch the source of the data lumps them together. And since neither atheists nor agnostics really care about religion that much, how many would care which category someone else lumps them into? As for me, I used to be an atheist, but I gave it up. No holidays! Wahkeenah 20:57, 1 November 2005 (UTC)
It is POV to selectively list Protestantism and not also link, for example List of Catholicism by US State or List of Buddhism by US State.
brenneman(t)(c) 10:22, 9 November 2005 (UTC)
Is anyone interested in a Minnesota WikiProject? Please sign up below. If the list gets to 10 and nobody beats me to it, I'll start the Project for you... See, for example, the incredibly awesome WP:WPWI ... Tomertalk 07:16, 30 March 2006 (UTC)
- Count me in Jonathan Kovaciny 13:58, 30 March 2006 (UTC)
- I'm in. Grika Ⓣ 14:58, 30 March 2006 (UTC)
- me too. -Ravedave 16:03, 30 March 2006 (UTC)
- Okay I created the project WP:WPMN. Pretty much stole the whole thing from Wisconsin. Have at it. --Jonathan Kovaciny 16:33, 30 March 2006 (UTC)
The Iron Range is not a mountain range
I removed this section:
After its rivers and lakes, Minnesota's most prominent physical feature is the Iron Range, a range of low mountains that crosses the northeastern part of the state. The Iron Range is so named because its iron ore deposits were among the largest in the country when it was discovered in the late 1800s. Although the high-grade iron ore was mostly mined out during World War II, taconite is still mined across the range.
The information needs to be worked back into the article without the mention of being a mountain range. The web does not provide much help as far as mountains go. Supposedly the Laurentian_mountains crosses the state, but there is little information about it on the web. Maybe it should be worded that the Canadian Shield is the most prominent physical feature after lakes and rivers...
Good Article nomination has failed
The Good article nomination for Minnesota has failed, for the following reason(s):
- There are no references. Tarret 11:54, 17 June 2006 (UTC)
Working on FA status
(copied from User talk:Ravedave) One thing I've been thinking is that we should make an assessment of the article as it currently is, then propose a list of areas that should be expanded or improved. I'm taking a cursory glance at the article and I can see that the history section needs to be vastly expanded (does the history of Minnesota really stop at 1861?), the transportation section could use some expansion, and the "Notable people and groups" section should mention at least a few of the most important people from the state. (Hubert Humphrey, Walter Mondale, and Paul Wellstone spring to mind, as an example.) I think we should also take a look at other state articles that have reached Featured Article status and see what we can learn from them. Maybe a peer review of the existing article would help to identify what needs to be expanded -- or any areas that are too detailed as is. --Elkman 15:50, 28 June 2006 (UTC)
- The article is currently in the queue to be a "good article", so we'll see how that goes. If we add too much info to the minnesota page, we can always create new pages and stub the section out, so no worries there. Unbelivably there is no state featured article, I was amazed when I found that out. Massachusetts seems to be the best one I could find. The Britannica article is really what we should be striving for, its very good [3]-Ravedave 16:17, 28 June 2006 (UTC)
Good info source
The USGS probably has some information that can be added to the Geographic secton. - [4] I'll see what I can do tonight. -Ravedave 17:45, 28 June 2006 (UTC)'
Interesting econnomic stuff... [5] [6] -Ravedave 03:56, 29 June 2006 (UTC)
State history
The "History" section needs a lot of work. Right now, it appears to end when Minnesota became a state. I think at least a few things have happened since then.
The existing history section should mention a little more about how the Ojibwe and Dakota Indians moved throughout the territory (i.e. Ojibwe coming in from the east, while the Dakota moved westward to the plains). It should also mention the founding of Fort Snelling and its importance to the territory, as well as the various land cessations.
I'm considering the following as an outline for the history section after Minnesota became a state:
- Immigration (from countries like Ireland, Germany, Sweden, and Norway, among others)
- Early development of Minneapolis, St. Anthony, and St. Paul
- Impact of the Civil War (including Dred Scott, et al)
- Dakota uprising and its aftermath
- Settlement and farm development
- Early economic development:
- Logging (starting in the St. Croix Valley and in the northeastern part of the state)
- Flour milling
- Railroads: Northern Pacific Railway, Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Manitoba Railroad which became Great Northern Railway (US), and the Milwaukee Road
- Hinckley Fire
- Industrial development:
- Iron mining (Cuyuna, Mesabi, and Vermilion ranges)
- Shipping on Lake Superior
- Consolidation of flour milling in Minneapolis
- New farming techniques - making farming more of a business
- Impact of the automobile and the foundation of the highway system
- Urbanization (1900-1920)
- Impact of World War I
- Impact of the Great Depression, especially on farming
- CCC and WPA projects in the state
- Development of Indian tribal governments in the 1930s
- Post World War II development
- Modern production techniques in farming - making it more industrial
- Suburban development around the Twin Cities, formation of the Metropolitan Council
- Shipping - development along the Mississippi River, construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway
- Development in computer technology: Control Data, Sperry, and others
- Minneapolis-St. Paul as a center for the arts and for health care
- Decline of mining on the Iron Range
I'm making this outline based on the book "The Story of Minnesota's Past" by Rhoda Gilman. I'm not sure I'll write huge sections on each of these events, but I'll certainly look at expansion when it's time to rewrite the History of Minnesota article.
Am I leaving anything out? Or does anyone have comments on the way I'm organizing this? --Elkman 05:30, 1 July 2006 (UTC)
- Also, here's a history of Minnesota from Minnesota State University Mankato. --Elkman 21:15, 5 July 2006 (UTC)
Straw Poll
The purpose of this straw poll is to decide wether to include the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers under a college section,, or weather to keep all colleges out of the article.
Please sign your name using four tildes (~~~~) under the position you support, preferably adding a brief comment. If you are happy with more than one possibility, you may wish to sign your names to more than one place. Extended commentary should be placed below, in the section marked "Discussion", though brief commentary can be interspersed.
Support
- False Prophet 20:03, 7 July 2006 (UTC) Part of the oldest major college conference still active
- Colslax 20:13, 7 July 2006 (UTC) The University of Minnesota Golden Gophers is major athletic institution in this state and deserves recognition.
Oppose
- Ravedave What does the conference have to do with it? To keep it NPOV if one college is included, all of them should be. This article is about Minnesota not Minneapolis.
- Hraefen Talk 21:54, 7 July 2006 (UTC) I agree that the situation should be all-inclusive (for reasons of fairness, NPOV etc) or nothing. All-inclusive would be far too much, so that means it must be left out.
Discussion
- Is there some kind of all-encompassing page concerning Minnesota college sports? Maybe something like Minnesota college sports or the like? If we could build a page like that with short write-ups for all the qualifying schools (whatever that would be) and give the appropriate links, we could then just have one link on Minnesota to that all-encompassing page that would take up virtually no room at all and would not inherently favor any one school over another. do any other U.S states have anything similar? --Hraefen Talk 21:54, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
- I like that Idea. I think one of the qualifications would have to be the School being a Division 1 program.False Prophet 22:03, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
- I like that idea of a seperate college sports page as well. I've spent the past 5 years covering small college sports and would be more than willing to do work on the project Colslax 00:16, 8 July 2006 (UTC)
- I like that Idea. I think one of the qualifications would have to be the School being a Division 1 program.False Prophet 22:03, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
- Wisconsin lists the professional sports teams and the Wisconsin Badgers. Iowa lists its minor league teams -- but they don't have any major league teams, so that's not a great comparison. Illinois mentions the Cubs, the White Sox, da Bears, and the Bulls, but puts the rest of them on a subpage. New York lists all of its professional teams, and that section is cluttered. California lists the major league teams in a nice-looking format. Texas mentions how popular high school and college football are, mainly because it's an exceptional case compared to other states, but all of its professional sports teams are on a separate page. As far as their college sports go, the main page doesn't even mention teams like Texas A&M or the University of Texas football teams, even though their rivalry is huge. Based on those other articles, I'd suggest that the Minnesota article should mention the highlights of all the major league teams and list the minor league teams. Maybe a mention of the most notable college sports teams is desirable, but I don't think we need to get overly-detailed about every single college team. --Elkman - (Elkspeak) 22:27, 7 July 2006 (UTC)