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Have you ever noticed how the hilly topography of Turtle Mountain is much the same as the Missouri Coteau, that band of hills that runs along the north and east side of the Missouri River? If so, it is because they are the same geological landform — largely dead-ice "moraine," or collapsed glacial topography.

The Orion Nebula is the closest and most active area of star formation in the Milky Way. It is often compared to a stellar nursery or maternity ward. The dimensions of this thing are mind-boggling -- it is around 1,300 light years away and about 30-40 light years across. In terms of actual miles, a light year represents 6 trillion miles.

Matt Olien reviews Avatar: The Way of Water.”

Matt Olien reviews “The Fabelmans.”

Matt Olien reviews “Bones and All.” An odd one, but a good one, says Matt.

It’s a busy weekend for movie-goers, Matt Olien gives us a double-header, reviewing both “The Menu” and “Disenchanted.”

A huge opening weekend for this blockbuster.

Matt Olien reviews Armegeddon Time, a new historical drama starring Anthony Hopkins, Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong.

There were a lot of great ballads that originated in points south on the Great Plains and somehow made their way to North Dakota. Bismarck’s renaissance man, George Will, collected folksongs from his father’s seed company employees more than a century ago, and one of the first songs he reported was “The Texas Rangers.” The expansion of the range cattle industry was the context for the migration of many such ballads north.

Sooner or later, I suppose, someone is going to get wise to the hidden storyline of “Sweet Betsy from Pike” and demand the ballad be outlawed from the public schools. Generations of children have sung the story of the hardy traveling woman, Betsy, crossing the plains to California. The continental journey is the first obvious theme of the ballad.