Big Sky Blog

August 1, 2005: All Montana bloggers are urged to change the name of their site to “The Last, Best Place” in symbolic protest of Lipson’s attempt to copyright the phrase for his sole commercial use. More details here.
Among the participating blogs: Karen @ KarbonKountyMoos; Kim @ Revolving Duck; Randy @ SFO Life (with bonus pic!); AJ @ Raving Norseman; Sharon @ Watermark; and many others. THANKS to everyone who took the time to make this little change for one day; it may be symbolic, but symbols can be powerful. I would also like to point out what several others have found: a website (wiki) has been set up to document the controversy.

SanityEludesMe, aka Andrea, has some really great pictures of Montana wildlife – go take a look!

New magazine discovered at the newstand today: The Montana Quarterly. I like it. Nice article on the drive to preserve Montana’s “Open Prairie,” some great pictures, an article about the new “Big Sky On The Big Screen” legislation, a cute story about pig racing, and other cool stuff. Good magazine, and only $12 for an annual subscription.

Many of the Big Sky Bloggers know Sam, of “The Real Sam Johnson Show.” We seem to have adopted Sam as an honorary Montanan – he has quite a fan-base here! In light of that, it is time to take action to ensure that a Montanan is elected as the first-ever “Miss ‘Real Sam Johnson Show’” also known as “Miss RSJS!” You see, there were many lovely lady bloggers who were nominated to be Miss RSJS, and the initial voting led to a run-off that is now down to five candidates. Two of them are from Montana, but it appears that our very Pandora Zowada, of Terrestrial Ball fame, is in a battle with Kristin from Oklahoma and Michigan’s very own Penda. Now, having lived in Oklahoma twice and appreciating the goodness of Oklahomans, that’s cool — but when it comes down to the Final Vote, I’ve gotta vote for the Big Sky Blogger: Pandora! So I call on all Big Sky Bloggers to visit Sam’s place, scroll down and look on the left side, and cast your vote for Pandora Zowada to become the First Miss RSJS!

Courtney left a comment in the entry below that needs to be seen by everybody:

“All of us indeed should help rally folks around creating a community opposition to this. The state is intervening and Congressman Rehberg is trying to coordinate something, but we need to all band together on a community-wide campaign against this. We’re trying to work something up now that could serve as an online place where we can coordinate our efforts. Email me at courtney @ newwest.net if you’re interested in helping out.”

I’m sure most of you know about the controversy surrounding a Las Vegas businessman’s attempt to trademark the phrase “The Last, Best Place.” This is the phrase used by William Kittredge for the title of his Montana-themed anthology. Naturally, this does not sit well with Montanans. I think that most of us feel that it’s fine for this guy to use the phrase in his commcercial endeavors, but trying to prevent other people from using it for their own purposes is just wrong. David Merriman has suggested one form of symbolic protest: all of us Montana bloggers should change the titles on our blogs on August 1st to “The Last, Best Place.” Sounds good to me.

UPDATE: Well, it looks like we may not have to stage our blog-based protest after all; according to the Great Falls Tribune, Mr. Lipson has seen the error of his ways. Governor Schweitzer and his staff claim that Lipson has “…agreed to abandon his trademark requests, and that an agreement will be worked out in writing to assure the phrase can be used by anyone.” Sounds good – but do you think that this is the end of the story…?

The latest incarnation of The Rascal Fair is up for your reading pleasure! This week it’s hosted by the always-gracious KarbonKountyMoos, and it’s got a slightly supernatural theme.

(cross-posted from GreaterFalls.com) Um…did anyone else feel a bit of shaking at about 10:08 pm on Monday night? I was at the computer and suddenly the monitor seemed a bit jiggly — it disoriented me for a moment — then I noticed the stuff on top of the desk (router, pocket-pc, etc) kind of tremble…so I stood up, and I kind of wobbled a bit, and then the whole house kind of rumbled and gave a good shake. What the heck? Was it a mild tremor? Did something crash nearby? Weird… UPDATE: trying to access the Montana Tech earthquake site — and getting a message that the page can’t be displayed because too many people are trying to access it…hmmm…and FYI here is a brief history of earthquake activity in Montana.

UPDATE @ 10:27: Osbasso down in Helena is reporting an earthquake, too.

UPDATE @ 10:28: CONFIRMATION from KIM! — location approx 13 miles from Dillon! If you felt it, then GO HERE and fill out a USGS survey! Number of reports coming in from Helena, Livingston, Great Falls, and lots of other places. Map of areas reporting in.

Initial report is 5.6 magnitude. I hope that no one was hurt and that damage is minimal – or non-existent.

And you know, when I had lunch with GeoGirl Kim on Saturday, I actually asked her if Montana really is the 4th most seismically-active state, and she said it is indeed true. Little did we know that we would feel some “active seismology” so soon after! LOTS of Montana earthquake info over here.
AJ Tooley felt it — but not before his nervous dog knew that something was going on! Montannie felt it, too, and so did Mike’s mother, as well as Miss-Bonkrood and Sharon.
Great Falls Tribune post about the tremor.
Official USGS statement about the earthquake. And there is plenty of information at the USGS FAQ site.
And on a lighter note: look, Ma, we’ve been Farked (thx for the tip, Rita!)!
Anyone felt aftershocks…?

The Montana Standard, I would say, has the least beautiful and functional website of any daily paper in the state. They are doing some revamping though, and recently launched a forum for Butte Rats (and honorary Butte Rats) to talk about Butte stuff.

Hopefully, it will foster some real conversation. Oftentimes in Butte people just KNOW things and don’t believe they need to have logic or facts to back it up, I’ve found. This could be interesting…

I want to shout a huge “THANK YOU” to the entire state of Montana for making me feel so welcome during my three years here. July 24, 2002, is when we arrived in Great Falls, and while Great Falls is now Home, I very much appreciate all of Montana and the friendly people all over the state. The camaraderie and good will among the Big Sky Bloggers is a great example of what makes Montana so wonderful. Thanks, everyone!