If you go to Reddit.com there is a subreddit called "NoStupidQuestions" in which people ask some questions that are merely ignorant and uninformed, but many of which are quite stupid.

I searched this for questions about South Dakota. I found some doozies.

Andy Erickson/TSM
Andy Erickson/TSM
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I've seriously never met or heard of ANYONE ever talk about these two states.

What even happens there and what are those states known for? What's it feel to live there? Do you feel isolated from the world?

Yes, people live here. 886,667 people according to the 2020 census. Without knowing, I would guess they live in an incredibly large and crowded metropolitan area that would stress me out in ten minutes of just being there. It feels good to live here. Isolated is not a good adjective, considering we are in the center of the third most populated country in the world. Insulated from the nutbags in the rest of the country is a better way of putting it.

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Andy Erickson/TSM
Andy Erickson/TSM
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Why is it illegal to sleep in a cheese factory in South Dakota?

I'll be honest, I do not think this is true. If you search the Internet for why this is, all you get is a bunch of wacky law stories about how it is a thing, but if they do happen to link to a reference, they link to another wacky law story somewhere else.

I searched the South Dakota Department of Health website for "cheese factory sleep" and got nothing.

I also searched the South Dakota Legislature website. The only thing that even comes close to making sleeping in a cheese factory illegal is Administrative Rule 44:02:07:82. However, this is in the Food Service Code, not in the Grade A Milk and Milk Products article.

44:02:07:82.  Living and sleeping quarters. A private home, a room used as living or sleeping quarters, or an area directly opening into a room used as living or sleeping quarters may not be used for conducting food establishment operations. Living or sleeping quarters located on the premises of a food establishment must be separated from rooms and areas used for food establishment operations by complete partitioning and solid self-closing doors.

If sleeping in a cheese factory is against the law, that law is not published on the Internet.

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Getty Images
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Why are seatbelts mandatory by law driving a car but not helmets riding a motorcycle in South Dakota?

This question isn't as stupid as it is obvious to anyone who lives here. Sturgis.

The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally is the largest in the world and it is held here every year. The roots of which, and motorcycle riding in general, are of a rebellious and carefree nature. There are a lot of added inherent risks to riding a motorcycle. But despite those, and I say this as a former motorcycle owner and rider, we don't want to be told to do it.

When I was riding I always chose to wear a helmet and am a big advocate that helmets save lives. When my mother-in-law had a bad motorcycle accident in 2015, the only part of her body that wasn't broken was her neck and head because she was wearing a helmet. She lived because of it. But I don't think not wearing a helmet should be against the law, nor do I think wearing a seatbelt be mandated by law, but I still use one all the time.

For the record, helmets are required for any operator or passenger under the age of 18.

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Getty Images
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How do states like Kentucky and Tennessee (and South Dakota) deal with two different time zones? Does it cause problems?

Having lived on both sides of the state, there isn't really much to deal with. When I lived in Spearfish and Rapid City in the Mountain time zone, all of the primetime network TV shows started at 7:00 pm, just like the Central time zone, with the exception of KELO-TV because they are the only statewide local channel, so CBS primetime starts at 6:00 pm Mountain.

The biggest problem is if you live out west and call someone in the east, you may forget they are in bed when you call at 9:30 pm, or vice versa if you live in the east and call someone at 7:00 am.

As for Pierre and Fort Pierre, which are not only divided by the Missouri River but also the time zone border, you can cross the river at 2:00 am closing in Pierre, and arrive for another hour of boozing in Fort Pierre, with a designated driver, of course. So it's not a problem, it's a feature!

10 Really Strange Things That Are Still Illegal in South Dakota

Even though these laws are rarely ever enforced nowadays, they still are on the books in South Dakota. Here are the Ten Commandments of South Dakota Law:


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