Author Archives: Jeff

Dec 18

One time

From the (at least) second-greatest and most underrated football movie ever. (FYI: This will be ISU’s fourth game between Dec. 7 and Dec. 26, inclusive. The other three were bowls in the 1970s: two on the 18th and one on … Continue reading

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Dec 16

Son of the Revenge of the Crimson Monkey

From this blog post in 2018, emphasis added: The Cyclones upend the world order with a 38-31 win en route to their second-best season in my lifetime, becoming the only team in the nation to beat Oklahoma in the 2017 regular season, … Continue reading

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Dec 14

Alice Zimple, 1934-2020

Alice Zimple of Traer died Friday. She is the fourth person Traer United Methodist Church has lost this year, including one to COVID-19. Her obituary is here. Alice was the heart of Traer UMC’s kitchen, no matter what the event. … Continue reading

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Dec 11

When ‘Tama Jim’ honored Ulysses S. Grant (2)

Spring 1885 was approaching, and Iowa’s 5th Congressional District election of 1882 was still in dispute. Republican James Wilson had been declared the winner, but Democrat Benjamin Frederick was still fighting for it, and won the seat outright in November … Continue reading

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Dec 09

‘Tama Jim’ and his second stint in Congress (1)

This is what Iowa’s 11(!) congressional districts looked like for the elections of 1882 and 1884. The 5th District is in orange. A mid-decade redraw after a special census in 1885 created a new map that would be used through … Continue reading

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Dec 07

Iowa’s four closest U.S. House elections in a century

A Quad-City Times story interviewed the curator for the State Historical Society of Iowa about the closest congressional races in Iowa’s past. He limited himself to about the past century, starting with a 1916 election where the Republican won by … Continue reading

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Dec 04

Some weird plans for US 69 in Des Moines

US 69, aka East 14th Street in Des Moines, likely has more stoplights between IA 5 and I-35/80 than it does in the rest of the state combined. The DOT wants to rebuild many intersections on the route, and the … Continue reading

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Dec 02

The quickest, dirtiest reverse brackets I can make

I said I wasn’t going to do this. Furthermore, I said I wasn’t going to go all out on it. Perfectionist me begs to differ. That’s right, the reverse football playoff brackets are back, in a manner of speaking. Once … Continue reading

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Nov 30

Iowa State’s Man in Black

Well, this explains some things (Yahoo): Cyclone tight end Chase Allen jokes about Campbell’s penchant for all-black outfits – “He’s Johnny Cash.” Campbell wears the same black hoodie so often that senior defensive back Greg Eisworth will ask: “Do you … Continue reading

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Nov 25

400th anniversary of the Mayflower Compact

My header image for the past few weeks has been the Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, Massachusetts, at the tip of Cape Cod, which would seem an odd choice for a website focused on roads and Iowa. There’s a reason. The … Continue reading

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