Author Archives: Jeff

Apr 05

‘Against Professionalism’

Posted on Monday, April 5, 2021, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

From the Cedar Rapids Republican, March 15, 1901: Against Professionalism. At the close of the football season last fall representatives of ten middle western colleges and universities met in Chicago and adopted a set of rules to the regulation of … Continue reading →

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Apr 02

Your call cannot be completed as dialed, er, tapped

Posted on Friday, April 2, 2021, at 10:03 AM by Jeff

June 14, 2011: A (non-functioning) wonder of the ancient world in Winthrop. Awfully public for a changing room, don’t you think, Clark? Another part of a simpler technological life is going away in two large swaths of Iowa. According to … Continue reading →

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Mar 31

Is America slipping into a fat-jeans phase?

Posted on Wednesday, March 31, 2021, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

I must voice support for my millennial sisters who have spent much of this year having fashion choices heckled by the youth of Generation Z who wouldn’t know a pair of JNCOs if it walked up and said howdy. We shall not … Continue reading →

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Mar 30

License Plate Letters — KKJ

Posted on Tuesday, March 30, 2021, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Let’s just skip a couple notches ahead, ‘k?

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Mar 29

Happy 100th birthday, Iowa state flag!

Posted on Monday, March 29, 2021, at 10:10 AM by Jeff

July 21, 2012: The Iowa flag flies at West Lyon Community School, between Larchwood and Inwood, the northwesternmost school district in the state. The Iowa Legislature made the Iowa state flag official on March 29, 1921, according to this story … Continue reading →

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Mar 25

Not like that

Posted on Thursday, March 25, 2021, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

I try to keep this a clean blog, so I will simply say that last night’s Iowa State women’s NCAA game happened. ESPN said ISU had a 98% win probability with 39 seconds left. Probability, two dozen turnovers notwithstanding, does … Continue reading →

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Mar 24

Women’s work in the Iowa Highway Commission (2)

Posted on Wednesday, March 24, 2021, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Excerpted from “Main roads designed as 24-foot pavement,” by Ellen Landon, Ames Daily Tribune, June 9, 1953, with some cleanup: The bridge design division makes preliminary layouts and final detail design and drawing and bridges or large culverts on a … Continue reading →

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Mar 22

Women’s work in the Iowa Highway Commission (1)

Posted on Monday, March 22, 2021, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

This clip of a blueprint for a project on IA 24 in New Hampton in 1964 is emblematic of the style used in Iowa Highway Commission documents from the mid-1920s to 1970s. Pre-1925 documents have more embellishment of some labels. … Continue reading →

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Mar 19

Photo 38,000

Posted on Friday, March 19, 2021, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

September 26, 2018 Well, they can’t all be winners. This is on the Kansas Turnpike at the somewhat recently reconstructed I-70/I-470 split on the east side of Topeka, on a weeklong vacation to the Dallas-Fort Worth area that included significant … Continue reading →

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Mar 17

When the calendar stopped

Posted on Wednesday, March 17, 2021, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

On Sunday, March 8, 2020, in the final game of the regular season, the Iowa State women spoiled Baylor’s perfect conference record in front of 10,000 people at Hilton Coliseum. It would be the last collegiate sporting event in Iowa for … Continue reading →

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