Spud Zeppelin

First, Some Data to Work With

nospam@example.com (Spud Zeppelin) — 2007-02-04T09:38:24Z

Something I'd been meaning to do for a while: Compile some meaningful-looking population projections for Idaho for 2010.

How do I define meaningful-looking? Well, in particular I was interested in County-by-County numbers that would total to match the Census Bureau's statewide projection for 2010, and had some basis in real research. So, I give you a list of 2010 County population projections that is the weighted average of datasets produced by "real economists" and is consistent with what the Census Bureau projects as our statewide population in 2010: 1,517,291.

The detailed table is after the jump...

Continue reading "First, Some Data to Work With"

Dickinson Coverage Update

nospam@example.com (Spud Zeppelin) — 2007-01-27T09:43:47Z

So the Statesman *finally* got around to mentioning Dr. Dickinson's disappearance in yesterday's edition -- peripherally in the context of the opening of his favorite play in Moscow. Intriguing that the story required them to present all of the major details of the disappearance -- since they had yet to publish any of them over the ensuing three weeks -- but managed to omit most of the usual details of a theatre opening (in fact, they barely managed to work in the title of the play!).

Obama Swift-Boating Begins Early

nospam@example.com (Spud Zeppelin) — 2007-01-22T11:28:00Z

I've already had a Republican relative receive the email that is the subject of this piece on Snopes, and start asking questions about it. I figured it was still too icy for Swift-Boaters....

Snopes Article on Obama Chain Email

Appalling and Disturbing

nospam@example.com (Spud Zeppelin) — 2007-01-19T12:47:50Z

I've been lamenting the decline in the quality of the Statesman since the McClatchy acquisition, but this has got to be the worst example ever: Dr. John Dickinson, the sitting Moscow City Council President and retired longtime Chair of the U of I Computer Science Department, has been missing (following a presumed fall into the John Day River in Oregon) for a week and a half, and the story hasn't even received a *word* of coverage from "Idaho's #1 Website for News and Information." This is a person that literally *thousands* of people here in the Valley, and countless more throughout the state, know personally. Obviously, my heart goes out to his family and friends, many of whom I knew from my days in Moscow, and I certainly hope for his miraculous safe return, but that this story would receive so little coverage from the Statesman that I would only learn of it through an Alumni email newsletter is appalling and disturbing.

Sushi Seppuku Part III

nospam@example.com (Spud Zeppelin) — 2007-01-19T12:46:08Z

Ok, Since I wrote the last couple pieces about sushi, I have to admit to having had a couple of wonderful sushi lunches, on weekdays (most recently yesterday), at Fujiyama on Milwaukee. Not Downtown, not a weekend, certainly not Nobu, but still -- good sushi.

A Different Kind of Democrat?

nospam@example.com (Spud Zeppelin) — 2007-01-10T12:39:04Z

I'm posting this to open up some room for thoughts... as many of you know, I once (in the prior iteration of this site) ran a post on Dog Chromatography -- that is, Democratic "dog" colors -- that got some attention. However, now, I feel compelled to discuss some differences among Democrats that are more particular and substantive... because I feel particularly distanced by certain types of political philosophies *within* the Party, which of course makes it much harder to pin-down what I am. So, let's start by what I'm not:

A Blue Dog like Fritz Hollings
A New Democrat like Evan Bayh
An Environmental Democrat like Al Gore
A Progressive like Dennis Kucinich
A Conservative Democrat like Joe Lieberman
A Traditional Democrat like Richard Gephardt
A Liberal Democrat like Maxine Waters
A Yellow Dog like Ann Richards

I'm sure there's more; this list is far-from-canonical. Hopefully, I can make this into a meaningful voyage of self-discovery....

New Year's Resolution

nospam@example.com (Spud Zeppelin) — 2007-01-02T18:37:26Z

Ok, so one of my New Year's resolutions is to write more.... I'm going to make a concerted effort. It might help to have some cross-pollenation, so I'm going to look for some feedback in the comments: any interest in me making this a group blog, that is, volunteers to help keep the content flowing?

Sushi Seppuku Part II

nospam@example.com (Spud Zeppelin) — 2006-11-10T06:01:51Z

Turns out, the same thing applies if you happen to be looking for sushi for a late-afternoon lunch on a Saturday. The only sushi place I found (and granted, this time I only tried the three that are within a block of 8th and Idaho) open for lunch on Saturday (Koi) closes at 2:30 and later reopens for dinner.

Sushi Seppuku

nospam@example.com (Spud Zeppelin) — 2006-09-26T17:04:20Z

One recent Sunday, I found myself with both the urge and the opportunity to seek out sushi for lunch. So, I headed into Downtown Boise, figuring I would get to try one of the city's new sushi restaurants that had opened in the eleven years I had been gone.

I was wrong! And dumbfounded!

It turns out, that among FIVE different sushi places I tried to visit in Downtown Boise on a Sunday afternoon, not a single ONE of them was open for lunch. It wasn't that they were closed on Sundays altogether, either -- most, if not all, of them were open for dinner a few hours later. It's an embarassment of sorts: one thing I learned in the "big city" tech industry while I was gone is that while the Japanese may regard sushi as dinner fare, in this country, it is overwhelmingly a lunch item.

We're Baaaack!

nospam@example.com (Spud Zeppelin) — 2006-09-26T16:54:25Z

Yes, the site has been down for a while, but that was by design.... I had a lot going on with moving back to Boise, and so on. However, the site is back, and expect a whole deluge of posts forthcoming.

Some things will NOT be back, however:

Technical/Professional posts and content by the owner; these will have a(nother) new home soon.
Discussion related to any old tools that may have been used to produce the site in the past.
Overtly personal posts by the owner; he already has another site for those.

What this site WILL focus on:

Idaho, particularly politics, public policy, and lifestyle
Lengthy, meaningful commentary and discussion