Talk:Nebraska/Archive 1

WikiProject:Nebraska proposal
Would you like to help improve the quality of Nebraska-related articles? If so, reply on my talk page; I'd like to see if there is any interest in creating WikiProject:Nebraska. –Swid 16:08, 17 October 2005 (UTC)

"More miles of river than any other state"
A sentence was just added that claims that Nebraska has more miles of river than any other state. The majority of Google hits for that phrase seem to agree, but this title appears to be additionally claimed by Alaska and Pennsylvania, and Idaho. Perhaps a more reasonable statement is that Nebraska claims to have more miles of river than any other state. In any case it would be good to get some figures: How many miles of river does Nebraska have? Maybe it would be possible to make a list of U.S. states by number of miles of river. —Bkell (talk) 18:20, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

New Sports section added to updated WikiProject U.S. states format
The WikiProject U.S. states format has been updated to include a new Sports section, that covers collegiate sports, amateur sports, and non-team sports (such as hunting and fishing). Please feel free to add this new heading, and supply information about sports in Nebraska. Please see South_carolina as an example. NorCalHistory 13:26, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

GA Fail
Sorry, but this has a lot of obvious flaws in it. Once these issues are addressed i advise you to go for a peer review then attempt GA again. Good-luck M3tal H3ad 03:48, 24 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Lack of inline references, i counted 5
 * Them 5 references aren't formatted correctly, please check
 * Article has a terrible layout, everything is bunched up
 * A lot of one sentence paragraphs
 * Bureau of Economic Analysis, external link in the middle of text
 * The last 1/3 of the article is filled with lists
 * Trivia, remove it or incorperate it into the body
 * Expand the lead and split it into two paragraphs

Rose, NE
United States Numbered Highways mentions Rose, Nebraska, and Google Maps agrees that it exists, with ZIP code 68714, but we have no article on it. I'm not sure what kind of settlement it is. Anyone more local know? -- Beland 00:48, 20 February 2007 (UTC)
 * It's an unincorporated community in the Sandhills. I've driven through it several times; it's nothing more than a post office, one-room school, and a bar.  If you want to start an article on it, I'll look up the Census Bureau data for the relevant CB blocks that make up Rose.  – Swid (talk 04:25, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

"Unicameral"
this article does not say wrather or not the Legislature is modeled after the U.S. Senate or the House of Representatives thats because its not modeled after either. Its a unicameral  "is the practice of having only one legislative or parliamentary chamber. Many countries with unicameral legislatures are often small and homogeneous unitary states and consider an upper house or second chamber unnecessary. "   --Xiahou 00:12, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

Translation into Chinese Wikipedia
The 05:38, 20 March 2008 Lord of Haha version of this article is translated into the Chinese Wikipedia.--Philopp (talk) 15:23, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

Etymology of "Nebraska"
The previous etymology discussion cited Koontz but did not faithfully present his argument, which is that the name is likely Otoe/Ioway, but could be from a Dhegihan language, such as Omaha. I added the actual words in question, along with the pronunciations, and kept the citation to Koontz. Balshan (talk) 06:13, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

Center of Population
This article lists the center of Population of Nebraska as in Shelby. This is evidenced by the citation to the government census website. Althougth this article refereces the website correctly, Shelby is clearly not the center of population. As the population of the state is around 1.7M, it is shown that over half of the people live in Douglas, Sarpy, Lancaster, Dodge, and Washington counties. All of these counties are east of Shelby, so the census data is clearly wrong. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.170.102.55 (talk) 03:51, 7 February 2009 (UTC)

Greetings!
I do not know much about this state to be honest, but what i can say is that this article needs more information, most likely needs to be checked for grammar/spelling, and needs more citations. Poor Nebraska, even its wikipedia page is a bit dull. Misortie (talk) 15:48, 7 February 2009 (UTC)

Oto & Omaha pronunciations
These seem dubious. I rather doubt the Omaha has an el sound. Do we have a ref?

William Bright, Native American placenames of the United States, 2007:320, has Omaha /nĩ braska/ and Oto /nĩ bráθge/. kwami (talk) 20:12, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

The pronunciations given by Bright are from the Otoe language, which has the phoneme /r/ with [l] as an allophone. The /bráska/ pronunciation may be from another Dhegiha language; also, some historical Siouan linguists use /r/ to refer to all the descendants of proto-Siouan /r/, regardless of their pronunciation in daughter languages. The sounds are all historically related, of course. I am a linguist who has worked with Omaha and Ponca texts and speakers for years. In fact, Omaha does not have an [l] in the same way as English; it has a velarised lateral with interdental-approximant release, which in IPA we could render [ɫ͡ð], but it's probably simpler to call it [l]. For references including Omaha and Ponca phonology, see the following:

Boas, F. (1906). Notes on the Ponka grammar. International Congress of Americanists 15, Quebec, Dussault & Proulx.

Dorsey, J. O. (1890). The egiha language, the speech of the Omaha and Ponka tribes of the Siouan linguistic family of North America Indians. Contributions to North American Ethnology. Washington, D. C., U.S. Government. 6.

Eschenberg-Bad Moccasin, Ardis (2005) The article system of Umoⁿhoⁿ. (SUNY Buffalo dissertation)

Hahn, F. (n.d.). The Ponca language. anonymous typescript in the Gordon H. Marsh Collection in the American Philosophical Society Library, Philadelphia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Balshan (talk • contribs) 10:00, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

Judicial?
The quote that Nebraska was only place in the world using electrocution exclusively is untrue. For decades, convicts have had their choice everywhere ,in the US at least, of: firing squad, hanging, lethal injection, or default to the state's  prime method,

Most deny guilt to the bitter end and get the default.68.231.189.108 (talk) 01:10, 29 March 2010 (UTC)


 * Do you have a source to back up that claim? —Bkell (talk) 01:49, 29 March 2010 (UTC)

Etymology in introduction
I think there should be a separate section on etymology. It is out of place in the introduction. --N-k (talk) 00:05, 23 May 2010 (UTC)

Road conditions and safety
I've axed this entire section. There were two major components of it. One was a one-sentence reference to the NDOT website on current road conditions, which struck me as a pretext to introduce an external link and didn't seem like real encyclopedia information to me. The other was a somewhat lengthy description of Nebraska's DUI laws, with some thinly disguised editorial comments supporting them. This section cited two sources: a Reader's Digest study, which was mis-cited (the rating supposedly given Nebraska for road safety was actually their general rating for road quality; on the deadliest-roads section of the survey, Nebraska came in 32nd, in the middle of the pack). The other was from autoinsurancetips.com, which appears to be primarily an insurance-selling site; although the site claims that Nebraska has some of the strictest DUI laws in the nation, a spot-check of half a dozen other randomly selected states also turns up claims that they, too, have strict DUI laws. A check of other websites suggests that Nebraska's laws are not extraordinarily strict.

Apart from the misused source and the dubious one, I question whether such detail should be given to one small aspect of the law. We do not go into similar depth on Nebraska's laws regarding tailgating, texting-while-driving, shoplifting, marijuana possession, forgery, and assault; I don't think that DUI deserves special attention.

--Ammodramus (talk) 13:38, 18 August 2010 (UTC)

Midwest
Oct 25, 2002:What do you all think of changing the term Midwest to the more appropriate Great Plains? --SR


 * I think that my biases as an eastern Nebraskan blind me to the fact that many western Nebraskans don't think of themselves as Midwesterners. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.14.34.223 (talk • contribs) 07:25, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

Let me know what you think of the new version (about to appear). &mdash; Toby 11:05 Oct 29, 2002 (UTC)
 * You're right, Nebraska, like the Dakotas, is really more western than midwestern (except for Omaha).


 * My experience is that all Nebraskans, even Omahans, have a tendency to renounce the Midwest label. More than one Nebraskan has told me that the Midwest ends at the Missouri River.  What is interesting is that Kansans tend to strongly embrace the Midwestern label, even claiming that Chicagoans (like me) are too eastern to be Midwestern!  I attribute this to early (ie. pre-Civil War) differences between the two states vis-a-vis regional and geographic identity generally.  Linguistically and culturally, I would say that the eastern half or quarter of both of these states is "Midwestern" while the rest is either Great Plains or "Western", though I prefer to include Great Plains within Western, culturally speaking.  I am thus satisfied with the way the article currently classifies the state.  Can any Omahans offer more details on how that city feels about the term "Midwest"? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.14.34.223 (talk • contribs) 07:25, 5 August 2011 (UTC)
 * This isn't the place to offer or ask for personal opinions or anecdotes—the information in the article must be supported by reference to reliable sources. —Bkell (talk) 16:28, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

Land area is listed as 19,275 km², which clearly is about ten times too small. I can't find the correct figure myself, unfortunately. June 8, 2003.

You seem to be correct, according to this page which I found from link's on nebraska.gov the land area is 76872.4 miles ² (about 199099.5 km²). Correcting the error.

I would consider Western American culture to have much more to do with ranching, while Midwestern would be associated with a farming culture. In addition, although it does occur in almost every town in Nebraksa, the "Cowboy" look/culture seems to be much more common in Western Nebraksa than the eastern part of the state. I may be showing my high level of geekiness right here, but I think this can be evidenced by such things as high school marching band uniforms. For example, Hastings' high school band has a very Western style to the uniforms, whereas Norfolk's band, a town similar in size, has much more Widwestern/East US style uniforms.

Redirection
Putting ne in the address bar shouldn't lead me to this site.

Noble Corporation Nationalencyklopdin —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.227.53.176 (talk) 19:42, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

Unicameral in lede
A couple of editors have removed from the lede the sentence "Nebraska is the only U.S. state with a unicameral legislature." I've reverted their removals both times.

This is a significant difference from the legislative organization of the other 49 states, which I think makes it noteworthy enough to be mentioned in the lede. I'd even suggest that the sentence could be expanded to a short paragraph, bringing up the nonpartisan nature of the Unicameral (which I see isn't mentioned in the body of the article, but should be).

WP:LEAD suggests that an article this long have a lede of 3-4 paragraphs; and states that the lede "serves both as an introduction to the article and as a summary of its most important aspects". A legislative branch that's unique among the states, and unique in a significant way, seems to qualify for inclusion.

--Ammodramus (talk) 01:28, 3 December 2010 (UTC)


 * While it is certainly a notable aspect of the government of Nebraska, and certainly deserves a paragraph in the government section of the article (which it has), I don't think it's such a defining characteristic of the state itself. There are many things about Nebraska more important than its unicameral legislature. This fact feels out of place in the introduction as it is—are we saying that the five most important things to know about Nebraska are that it is located in the Great Plains, it has two cities, it was once considered a desert, it now has agriculture, and, oh yeah, its legislature has only one house? I think this little bit of trivia could be appropriate in the introduction if the introduction is expanded to include other things like a brief history, the Sandhills, Nebraska's rivers, Chimney Rock, Arbor Day, a fuller summary of the economic activities in the state, explanations of the state's nicknames, and so on. —Bkell (talk) 04:11, 3 December 2010 (UTC)


 * I wouldn't call it a "little bit of trivia", but the single sentence does come across as awkward. I think that the article would be greatly improved by adding something in the body about the nonpartisan nature of the Unicameral, and getting both facts into the lede.  Unfortunately, there're only so many editing hours in a day...  Ammodramus (talk) 23:40, 3 December 2010 (UTC)

UNO Sports
How can U.N.Omaha be both division one and two, this should be explained or changed Dmartin969 (talk) 00:32, 9 July 2012 (UTC)

Confusing
I find it hard to understand why the information about Omaha is put in the upper part of this article:

"Ethnically, the largest group are German-Americans, and the state has the biggest Czech-American population per head. During the Great Migration, many African Americans came to Omaha."

Can anyone explain?

Ida Tolgensbakk (talk) 16:18, 9 October 2012 (UTC)


 * Sorry, got it now :-) Ida Tolgensbakk (talk) 16:23, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

Borders
The map showing bordering states by direction is incorrect. Nebraska does not border Minnesota or Montana. I removed these. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.86.241.195 (talk) 17:22, 31 July 2013 (UTC)

Rural
“Nebraska is overwhelmingly rural, as the 9th least-densely populated state of the United States.” This is a not accurate; sparsely populated does not equal rural. Canada, for instance, is 81% urban (Demographics of Canada), and Australia is 89% urban (Demographics of Australia). Btw, what portion of Nebraska's population is urban?--Solomonfromfinland (talk) 21:27, 22 August 2013 (UTC)

CDP
The list of cities in Nebraska should include census-designated places. At least one CDP, Chalco, has over 10,000 people. The way I like to define city is as any location with a large, dense population, so I consider CDPs as cities.--Solomonfromfinland (talk) 21:38, 22 August 2013 (UTC)


 * I don't believe that Chalco is really much of a distinct place, except in the eyes of the Census Bureau. As a Nebraskan, I know the name chiefly from the Chalco Hills Recreation Area.  I don't believe I've ever seen Chalco used as a geographic identifier in the Omaha World-Herald&mdash;nothing like "Chalco man arrested", no shootings taking place in Chalco, no mention of places or events in the Chalco area.  A last-30-days search of the ''World-Herald website for (chalco) produces two hits: a real-estate sale on Chalco Pointe Drive, and a list of places of interest to dog owners including the Chalco Hills Off-Leash Area.  If Chalco ever had an existence as a free-standing community, it lost it long ago, and little trace of it remains outside of the Census Bureau's classification.  Ammodramus (talk) 00:53, 23 August 2013 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20090205191059/http://hastingsmuseum.org:80/koolaid/kahistory.htm to http://www.hastingsmuseum.org/koolaid/kahistory.htm
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20090814045643/http://www.kolnkgin.com:80/political/headlines/46424547.html to http://www.kolnkgin.com/political/headlines/46424547.html

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External links modified (February 2018)
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Notification: Housing in Nebraska
A request has been submitted to WikiProject Nebraska for a new article to be created on the topic of Housing in Nebraska. Please join the discussion or consider contributing to the new article. Best regards, -- M2545 (talk) 16:50, 28 October 2020 (UTC)