Author Archives: Jeff

Jan 03

TV station coverage maps updated for the new decade

Let’s say you are a presidential candidate. (Odds are you might be.) And let’s say you want to run the same ad at least twice every half-hour*. Since you’re mostly likely in that group with a percentage smaller than the … Continue reading

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Jan 02

License Plate Letters — JAJ

Iowa entered the J series of license plates before 2019 ended. Of course, it was a blackout plate, because as this early December story from the Marshalltown Times-Republican shows, a lot of Iowans really, really, really hate the standard license … Continue reading

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Jan 01

Imperial March of the Fates

I haven’t seen Episode IX yet — I’ve been waiting to get around to it until Rian Johnson was impeached for his high crimes and misdemeanors, or after today, whichever came first — but when I heard this happened, I … Continue reading

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Dec 31

Sorry, kid

It was 1995, and I was a dork. Now it is not 1995, and I am still a dork. (There was no college football championship at the time, and Iowa State certainly wasn’t doing anything bowl-worthy, so I took my … Continue reading

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Dec 30

The decade in Iowa roads: Four-lane completions with a WTF cherry on top

November 4, 2019: From the Lincoln Highway in 2011 to the Jefferson Highway in 2019, Iowa’s scenic and historic byways received a more uniform, more visible signing scheme in the 2010s. Since the Second Great Decommissioning and completion of four-lane … Continue reading

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Dec 27

The matchup I thought would never happen

October 11, 2015: Notre Dame’s stadium expansion includes academic facilities and its first video boards. I wrote before on this blog that Iowa State would never play Notre Dame in football unless the stars aligned for a bowl game. Well, … Continue reading

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Dec 26

National travel map, macro-level

This is an expanded yet condensed version of my 29 states in 12 months of ’16-17. The only additions to the red group on this map were Wyoming (two months before the 12 began), South Dakota (very barely), Washington, Oregon, … Continue reading

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Dec 24

Another dispatch from the frontier, sort of

Here’s a reason Iowa needs to keep the presidential caucuses. A major media outlet left to its own devices went looking for a “small town” and found “this small town of Newnan, about 40 miles southwest of Atlanta” “a rapidly growing … Continue reading

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Dec 23

Casey’s pushes pizza into the smart phone era

October 22, 2013: There’s a Casey’s in Casey, Illinois (seen here). There is not a Casey’s in Casey, Iowa. Casey’s hangs its convenience store hat on two major things: Serving rural Americans and making great pizza. In many places, maybe … Continue reading

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Dec 22

A video clip that needs to be prepared immediately

For the appropriate time on ABC’s “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve”: I’m Hugh Downs… and I’m Barbara Walters… and this is… 2020! [Someone may have watched more TV newsmagazine shows than was healthy in the ’90s.]

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