Sep 17

Run that by me again

Posted on Tuesday, September 17, 2013, at 2:21 PM by Jeff

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July 12, 2013: One of the buildings at the Harrison County Historical Village and Welcome Center northeast of Missouri Valley.

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Sep 16

Desperation

Posted on Monday, September 16, 2013, at 2:11 PM by Jeff

Sponsored rest areas? Is the state really that hard up for transportation money?

And then only charging $2,500 a year?

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Sep 15

“Musical Memories” off WMT

Posted on Sunday, September 15, 2013, at 3:08 PM by Jeff

I only caught the end on Sept. 1, but it sounded like the show was moving off WMT-AM 600 to KMJM-AM 1360 the following week. The last song was “May the Good Lord Bless and Keep You”, written by Iowa’s own Meredith Willson.

Two Sundays later, even though WMT’s website still has a Musical Memories web page, that is indeed the case.

When a show dedicated to music even older than the oldies gets bumped off a major station, and the ’70s and ’80s need their own place aside from the contemporary, it’s just a sign of changing times.

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Sep 15

She even SAID “Brunch”

Posted on Sunday, September 15, 2013, at 11:15 AM by Jeff

MeTV needs a proofreader. The voiceover woman pronounced it “brunch” too.

bradybrunch bradybrunch2

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Sep 14

Uh O

Posted on Saturday, September 14, 2013, at 8:45 PM by Jeff

It is entirely possible that both North Tama and Iowa State will go 0-fer this football season, the worst composite record since 1994 (2-17-1). NT has already been shut out twice this season — the most in 20 years.

In other words, it’s going to be a long fall.

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Sep 13

Happy 100th birthday, Lincoln Highway route!

Posted on Friday, September 13, 2013, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAJuly 5, 2013: Three Bridges Park on the east side of Grand Junction

The name was announced in July, but the path from coast to coast wasn’t made official until Sept. 13, 1913. The New York Times article about the announcement is reprinted here.

At the time, the Lincoln Highway entered Tama from the east on what is now 9th Street; the 5th Street extension, with the famous bridge, would not open for another few years. The official online Lincoln Highway Association map now reflects this.

This is a timed post.
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Sep 12

Lincoln Highway at 100: The Omaha shift

Posted on Thursday, September 12, 2013, at 11:21 AM by Jeff

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July 12, 2013: This loop is really a spur. It runs from the state line to the corner of 6th and Erie in Missouri Valley.

When US 30 was paved west of Boone in 1931, it completed the Lincoln Highway in Iowa. But at the end of the year, a significant change to the national route took place — AASHO, the governing body in charge of the US route system, moved US 30 out of Council Bluffs and Omaha and routed it instead through Blair, Nebraska, on a bridge that had opened 2½ years earlier. This created a direct connection between Missouri Valley and Fremont.

Although the Lincoln Highway Association had been officially defunct for years, the markers across the country still held great importance. They were removed from the old route and placed on “new 30”.

The connection into Iowa would not be paved until 1937. Even then, US 30A would remain signed for about another 30 years on the old route.

This is a timed post.
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Sep 11

US 61 four-lane plans down to two

Posted on Wednesday, September 11, 2013, at 1:34 PM by Jeff

Mediapolis bypass or no Mediapolis bypass. Each plan moves 61 away from the current two-lane north of Burlington and in the IA 78 area.

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Sep 10

That’s “aff-a-leets”

Posted on Tuesday, September 10, 2013, at 1:48 PM by Jeff

Posted without further comment.

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Sep 09

ISU records vs. Top 25 revised

Posted on Monday, September 9, 2013, at 12:12 PM by Jeff

In the “Hmm, that’s funny” category, this weekend I was making sure that my long list of Iowa State football games vs. ranked teams synced with the university’s media guide. It did not. Two read-throughs later, there’s a good reason: The numbers were changed. Below is a screen grab of the 2012 (left) and 2010 (right) media guides for the 2006 and 2007 seasons.

top25change

As you can see, 2006 Oklahoma has been bumped from 22 to 23, while 2007 Nebraska has had a #25 ranking added. The latter matches up with this chart. ESPN also archives polls going back a decade; here’s the poll for 10/8/06, before the Oklahoma game.

The kicker is that the final page of the media guide may not have been updated to reflect changes. My list has one too few #13s and one too many #14s compared to the record vs. each number, but 1972 Colorado has been revised to #14 instead of #13. According to the same historic poll tracker used earlier, that revision is wrong. (ISU is #18 in both places.)

Overall, very little changes. It’s not like anything was deliberately hidden. 2011 Oklahoma State remains the only victory against a top-six team. It’s just a little odd that such discrepancies would exist to be addressed.

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