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3/4 of it is from fossil fuels. http://www.state.ia.us/government/com/util/energy/electric_profile.html

The new map is here (PDF). It was adopted by 90-7 and 48-1 votes in both chambers on April 14, signed by the governor five days later. The population variance is 0.0005%, which is so small I almost don't believe it. (More details here.)

And the guidelines are here, summarized in the redistricting commission report:

1. Districts shall be established on the basis of population and shall each have a population as nearly equal as practicable to the ideal population.
2. For Congressional districts, each district shall be composed of whole counties. For Legislative districts, the number of counties and cities divided into more than one district shall be as small as possible.
3. Districts shall be composed of convenient contiguous territory.
4. Districts shall be reasonably compact in form, to the extent consistent with the first three standards. In general, reasonably compact districts are those which are square, rectangular, or hexagonal in shape, and not irregularly shaped, to the extent permitted by natural or political boundaries.
5. A district shall not be drawn for the purpose of favoring a political party, incumbent legislator or member of Congress, political party, or other person or group.
6. Each state representative district shall be wholly included within a single state senatorial district. To the extent possible and consistent with the first five standards, each Senate and House district shall be wholly included within a single Congressional district.
7. A new districting plan shall not be used prior to the primary election of 2012.
8. Each bill embodying a plan shall include provisions for election of senators to the general assemblies which take office in 2013 and 2015, which shall be in conformity with Article Ill, section 6, of the Constitution of the State of Iowa.

Lastly, note the following from the same report: "[N]o political or demographic information other than total population is taken into consideration when creating proposed redistricting plans."

It's not quite so easy as you suggest. Here are the Iowa requirements.

http://www.sos.state.ia.us/elections/voterinformation/voterregistration.html#2

You must prove your identity and residence. Further, anyone who registers on the day of election will have to go through a verification process outlined in the link.

Iowa does allow for people to vote by being "attested" by another registered voter, but the consequences of doing so fraudulently are very severe and there are still verification processes.

Lastly, you can vote a provisional balot without proving who you are on the day of election, but you must present proof of eligibility within 14 days after the election or your vote will not be counted.

Moral of the story: Don't listen to the right wing extremists. They lie to you, or don't tell you the complete truth.

Iowa has detailed rules on how district lines are drawn, and therefore well known for preventing Gerrymandering. In contrast, Illinois has some interesting Gerrymandering going on.

I found the exact description of the tax exemptions Microsoft is getting. They pay no taxes on:

Computers, cooling systems, electric power wiring, backup power systems (including fuel to run them), electricity (!!!!!), cabling and racks, and batteries. And there's a weasely clause "..including but not limited to.." that seems to give them a blanket waiver on just about anything they can bury in the budget.

In return, MSFT agrees to make $200mil in investments in the site within 6 years.

This is definitely corporate welfare. I want an exemption on MY electricity for MY computers!

If you pay a phone bill, you've been paying for internet infrastructure for years. You've been paying for this for years.

Instead of double dipping and asking for more money to upgrade/create internet infrastructure why don't they start spending the money they already collect IN THE RIGHT PLACE?

FEDERAL UNIVERSAL SERV FUND
http://www.fcc.gov/wcb/universal_service/welcome.html
The goals of Universal Service, as mandated by the 1996 Act, are to
promote the availability of quality services at just, reasonable, and
affordable rates; increase access to advanced telecommunications
services throughout the Nation; advance the availability of such
services to all consumers, including those in low income, rural,
insular, and high cost areas at rates that are reasonably comparable to
those charged in urban areas. In addition, the 1996 Act states that all
providers of telecommunications services should contribute to Federal
universal service in some equitable and nondiscriminatory manner; there
should be specific, predictable, and sufficient Federal and State
mechanisms to preserve and advance universal service; all schools,
classrooms, health care providers, and libraries should, generally, have
access to advanced telecommunications services; and finally, that the
Federal-State Joint Board and the Commission should determine those
other principles that, consistent with the 1996 Act, are necessary to
protect the public interest.

FEDERAL UNIVERSAL SERV FUND PRIVATE LINE
http://www.shore.net/support/usf.html
The Universal Connectivity Charge is 9.25% of state-to-state and
international long distance charges, and on Internet circuits. (ATM,
Frame Relay, Private Line, Internet Access and SDSL)
[NOTE: This may be the local number portability surcharge - ED]

E911 SURCHARGE
http://www.legis.state.ia.us/GA/79GA/Legislation/HF/00200/HF00279/Current.html
The surcharge shall
3 21 be collected as part of the access line service provider's
3 22 periodic billing to a subscriber. In compensation for the
3 23 costs of billing and collection, the provider may retain one
3 24 percent of the gross surcharges collected. If the
3 25 compensation is insufficient to fully recover a provider's
3 26 costs for billing and collection of the surcharge, the
3 27 deficiency shall be included in the provider's costs for
3 28 ratemaking purposes to the extent it is reasonable and just
3 29 under section 476.6. The surcharge shall be remitted to the
3 30 E911 service operating authority county auditor or the
3 31 auditor's designee of the county in which the subscriber
3 32 resides for deposit into the E911 service fund quarterly by
3 33 the provider. A provider is not liable for an uncollected
3 34 surcharge for which the provider has billed a subscriber but
3 35 not been paid. The surcharge shall appear as a single line
4 1 item on a subscriber's periodic billing entitled, "E911
4 2 emergency telephone service surcharge". The E911 service
4 3 surcharge is not subject to sales or use tax.

SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE TAX
http://www.state.ia.us/tax/educate/78511.html
IOWA SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE LOCAL OPTION TAX
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

FEDERAL TAX
This should be the federal excise tax

STATE/LOCAL TAX

FEDERAL ACCESS CHARGE
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/accesschrg.html

If you pay a phone bill, you've been paying for internet infrastructure for years. You've been paying for this for years.

Instead of double dipping and asking for more money to upgrade/create internet infrastructure why don't they start spending the money they already collect IN THE RIGHT PLACE?

FEDERAL UNIVERSAL SERV FUND
http://www.fcc.gov/wcb/universal_service/welcome.html
The goals of Universal Service, as mandated by the 1996 Act, are to
promote the availability of quality services at just, reasonable, and
affordable rates; increase access to advanced telecommunications
services throughout the Nation; advance the availability of such
services to all consumers, including those in low income, rural,
insular, and high cost areas at rates that are reasonably comparable to
those charged in urban areas. In addition, the 1996 Act states that all
providers of telecommunications services should contribute to Federal
universal service in some equitable and nondiscriminatory manner; there
should be specific, predictable, and sufficient Federal and State
mechanisms to preserve and advance universal service; all schools,
classrooms, health care providers, and libraries should, generally, have
access to advanced telecommunications services; and finally, that the
Federal-State Joint Board and the Commission should determine those
other principles that, consistent with the 1996 Act, are necessary to
protect the public interest.

FEDERAL UNIVERSAL SERV FUND PRIVATE LINE
http://www.shore.net/support/usf.html
The Universal Connectivity Charge is 9.25% of state-to-state and
international long distance charges, and on Internet circuits. (ATM,
Frame Relay, Private Line, Internet Access and SDSL)
[NOTE: This may be the local number portability surcharge - ED]

E911 SURCHARGE
http://www.legis.state.ia.us/GA/79GA/Legislation/HF/00200/HF00279/Current.html
The surcharge shall
3 21 be collected as part of the access line service provider's
3 22 periodic billing to a subscriber. In compensation for the
3 23 costs of billing and collection, the provider may retain one
3 24 percent of the gross surcharges collected. If the
3 25 compensation is insufficient to fully recover a provider's
3 26 costs for billing and collection of the surcharge, the
3 27 deficiency shall be included in the provider's costs for
3 28 ratemaking purposes to the extent it is reasonable and just
3 29 under section 476.6. The surcharge shall be remitted to the
3 30 E911 service operating authority county auditor or the
3 31 auditor's designee of the county in which the subscriber
3 32 resides for deposit into the E911 service fund quarterly by
3 33 the provider. A provider is not liable for an uncollected
3 34 surcharge for which the provider has billed a subscriber but
3 35 not been paid. The surcharge shall appear as a single line
4 1 item on a subscriber's periodic billing entitled, "E911
4 2 emergency telephone service surcharge". The E911 service
4 3 surcharge is not subject to sales or use tax.

SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE TAX
http://www.state.ia.us/tax/educate/78511.html
IOWA SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE LOCAL OPTION TAX
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

FEDERAL TAX
This should be the federal excise tax

STATE/LOCAL TAX

FEDERAL ACCESS CHARGE
http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/accesschrg.html

I wish you the best of luck as you, Ashley Heyer, are "going places". Maybe not the places your daddy dearest told you that you were going, but places nonetheless. In fact, be sure to heft a cold one to yourself, Ashley Heyer, to celebrate not only your underage drinking, but your strongarm tactics in abusing the DMCA to try to get embarrassing information about your use of a fake ID at the wrong bar. I would hate for someone to link some stories to this so Google would put your idiocy at the top of the list. Especially since you seem to have such a promising spot as a page in Iowa's legislative House. Ashley Heyer, consider this a lesson in public relations! Something valuable, I hear, in politics.

Iowa has an independent, "nonpartisan" commission that does the re-districting, along with strict guidelines to make sure districts are "equal." The point is to keep elected officials out of drawing the lines that will elect those elected officials. Seems pretty smart.

However, the incumbency rate in Iowa is still 97%. I used to think fixing gerrymandering and mid-census re-districting and the like would fix our obviously broken system. I'm far less convinced of that now. I voted for the re-districting initiative, as I think it would be better to not even have the issue to worry about. However, I think the proposition overload in CA is what did this in, too many propositions every election that are often times difficult to parse correctly even for the most informed. I (and I think many others) default to a 'no' vote and have to be convinced otherwise.

-Ted

I suggest starting with the basics. Destroy the foundation and the "house of cards" falls. 1) Is this guy a licensed Private Investigator/Detective? Such a License is not indicated on his CV. In every state I have looked at there is a requirement that a person be a licensed PI before conducting any type of "Investigation", unless the person is a law enforcement officer in the course of his "official duties". In my state there are criminal penalties for doing so. In Iowa it is a "serious misdemeanor" according to IA state code. http://www.dps.state.ia.us/asd/pi_licensing.shtml Being a CFCE does not automatically authorize him to conduct investigations. 2) He indicated that he works with the Iowa State University Police Department.. is he sworn or civilian? What is that agencies policy concerning outside employment involving investigations? Most agencies prohibit this as there is a possibility of a conflict of interest and the danger that 'Official' resources may be used in conducting the investigation. His CV indicates he is a "Computer Forensics Analyst" for ISU Police. 3) Subpoena the University and it's police department for the answers to these questions and for copies of the general orders or operating procedures, depending on the terminology used by the entities. Amoung other things it should define outside employement and any requirements or prohibitions. 4) Contact the Iowa Department of Public Safety and confirm that he is not licensed and, as a good citizen, report the violation. More than likely they will obtain a search warrant for him and do their own Forensic exam on his computers to determine if he is indeed operating a Private Investigative Agency without a license.

WOW! Just recently I was talking with someone about how the US is so advance in so many ways yet the BLIND have no easy way to manage paper money. I even asserted that the Blind should have an organization to outright SUE the US government into action. IIRC, the person I spoke with is of Asian heritage, and I was told that in Japan (or maybe it was Korea) the paper currency has a texture or risen symbols to assist the blind know what they are handing to clerks or to others. Now, weeks later, this particular article is on Slash. So much for advancement in the US. Paper money IS costly to make, and the number of blind is vastly small, but that is no excuse to leave them at the mercy of any mischievous or mean clerks.

A quick search of some possibly interesting URLs:

How Does a Blind Person... ?
http://www.blind.state.ia.us/curious/howdoes.htm

"How does a blind person identify money?
Coins can be distinguished by their size and the texture of their edges. Paper money is identified by folding the denominations differently."

---------

Human Resources Code, State of Texas:

http://tlo2.tlc.state.tx.us/statutes/docs/HR/conte nt/htm/hr.005.00.000094.00.htm

---------

Does the US suck at design?
The Difference Between the US and Switzerland
http://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_us ers/2006/07/does_the_us_suc.html

---------

Blind Citizens News, January 1998
http://www.bca.org.au/news9801.htm

"There are so many wonderful things happening in Australia which NFBCA is taking the lead in promoting. We do not have a simple means of identifying paper money here."
That was 1998; I don't know about now...
-----------

Bon...

Well I went ahead and Looked up my local (Iowa) sales tax codes and everything seems to point in one direction Tangible property and services. http://www.state.ia.us/tax/educate/78539.html Tangible is used 41 times through the document. I really dont see how these data files hosted on a server out of state can fall under tangible property, or count as an amusment device.

But that's just me and I'm no Lawyer

my my aren't we a troll

can you prove to me the 2004 election was fraud free? can you even support the statement that it was fraud free? Of course fucking not, even a cursory glance at Ohio will tell anyone who has a brain that we can never know if bush really was the honest winner of that state (not to mention several others) or not.

Why did they make up a fake terrorist threat claim on the last county to count it's votes (which prevented all observers from seeing the count)? We know it wasn't a real threat, and we know counting votes in secret like that is one of the fundmantal signs of a flawed election.

How about the ESS tech who, without authorization, accessed on of the voting machines used in voting between the voting and the "recount" (retabulating insecurable inauditable unreliable data tables doesn't constitute a recount).

Insecure elections is NOT a partisan issue, just like jerrymandering ISN'T a partisan issue. The last two national election cycles the insecurities in the voting system have merely happen to have been taken advantage by the republicans - there Is no gaurantee that the democrats wouldn't do that same thing, and I have no illusions that they are immune to the temptation.

Insecure balloting techniques, jerrymandering, etc should ALL be illegal. Jerrymandering is impossible in exactly ONE state in the nation: Iowa, where I happen to live. One state with only 5 house reps is the only state where you cannot jerrymander

Unjerrymandered:
Iowa http://www.legis.state.ia.us/GA/77GA/Congressional /Maps/Map.gif
Hawaii http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/32/HI-d istricts-108.JPG
(probably) Idaho http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b3/ID-d istricts-108.JPG
NH http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2c/NH-d istricts-108.JPG

Jerrymandered:
Texas http://z.about.com/d/uspolitics/1/0/w/texas_congre ssional_map.png
California http://www.senate.ca.gov/ftp/SEN/cngplan/CNGMAPS/C D_STATE8X11.JPG
Florida http://www.democracyinaction.com/dia/organizations /karin/images/congressionalmap.gif?
Illinois http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b8/IL-d istricts-108.JPG

see the difference? Jerrymandering leads to complex districts most of the time, unjerrymandered districts are as geographically simple as possible.

rather obvious are they not? Jerrymandering is just another form of election fraud and both parties engage in it.

http://www.legis.state.ia.us/GA/79GA/Legislation/S F/00300/SF00317/Current.html

My dad's an ophthalmologist. This is my non-medical understanding.

It is possible to slightly improve vision by not wearing glasses. But there's open debate over whether actual visual acuity is improved, or you learn more tricks that improve vision without improving acuity (learning to recognize the shapes of letters more even if you can't make out details, etc).

Things like the "Bates Method" and the "See Clearly Method" attempt non-surgical, non-lens improvements. Note that there is at least one pending consumer fraud case against the See Clearly Method: http://www.state.ia.us/government/ag/latest_news/r eleases/aug_2005/vit810.html
And the See Clearly people in their FAQ make a point of saying things like "The doctors who created the See Clearly Method conducted a clinical evaluation. This was not considered formal research, since there was no control group." I personally am not convinced it works, at least not substantially. But I could be wrong.

Many adults do see changes in their distance vision, but it's often fluctuation rather than deterioration--for instance, from 25-27 my eyes got somewhat worse, from 27-29 they got somewhat better.

Many middle-aged people do develop far-sightedness. This is a major argument against Lasik surgery (and related techniques) for people over about 30-35: being myopic also means that you likely won't need reading glasses, or will delay them significantly (as your eyes naturally focus closer). So you're trading distance glasses for reading glasses, but getting the in-between years without any glasses (assuming successful surgery). It's purely a personal call on how much that tradeoff gains you and whether it's worth the costs (money, standard surgical risks, etc).

None of this is medical advice, it's just my limited understanding of the facts and could be wrong.

That is funny as it was my understanding that many of the big diesel manufactures are now blending bio-diesel at a rate of 2% to reduce sulphur emissions to meet the 2006 EPA standards. Hmm, I must have just pipe dreamed that as well as the Iowa state agricultural department because they say it is lower in sulphur as well.

You should do a little research (a quick Google for "Bio-Diesel sulphur" would have keep you from looking like a fool) before you just start spouting off nonsense like Bio-diesel is quite dirtier. Without facts your position is useless and you misinform the public about solutions to which you have no idea. The fact remains that currently Bio-Diesel is the best solution we have readily available.

P.S. if you wanted to argue that bio-diesel was dirtier you would have had a better case by arguing that it has more NOx emissions which would be technically correct but has been addressed and there are easy workarounds already in place to reduce the NOx emissions from Bio-Diesel.

In Iowa: http://www.state.ia.us/tax/forms/22009.pdf

Precicely...

This Iowa Supreme Court Decision makes references to several cases where private property rights can trump protesters rights.

I was looking for references to a case where people protesting the fur trade protested within the Mall of America.

The Supreme Court recognized in Lloyd Corp. v. Tanner, 407 U.S. 551, 569, 92 S. Ct. 2219, 2229, 33 L. Ed. 2d 131, 143 (1972):

[P]roperty [does not] lose its private character merely because the public is generally invited to use it for designated purposes. Few would argue that a free-standing store, with abutting parking space for customers assumes significant public attributes merely because the public is invited to shop there. Nor is size alone the controlling factor. The essentially private character of a store and its privately owned abutting property does not change by virtue of being large or clustered with other stores in a modern shopping center.

Here's the Iowa policy, which tries to limit perimeter and to encourage existing borders rather than arbitrary ones. I'm sure there are arguments to be made against some of it, but the overall thrust seems very sensible. I used to live in the 33rd District in California in that little neck connecting the main, heavily-black part in the west with the Latino region on the east, and know what it's like to have your neighborhood simply not count.

See this part of the thread about Use Taxes.

I suspect every state in the union probably has a Use Tax. I'm contemplating starting a small buisness and didn't know jack about the Use Tax until I read the online reference for Sales Tax Licensees in Iowa.

"If you purchase tangible property for use in Iowa from a business located outside of Iowa and the seller does not charge you Iowa sales tax on the purchase, you owe a 5% tax known as the consumer's use tax on the price of the purchase. This includes items purchased from catalogs, magazines, television and radio vendors, and through the Internet."

Like this is gonna happen.

MichiganDan writes:
The Iowa Communications Network provides an interesting case study in ways that networks, concieved by politicians, can indeed be built without excessive pork attached.

This is absolutely incorrect. ICN has been a terrible failure, and is actually being prepared to be sold off to rid the state of Iowa of the nightmare. Here in Des Moines, it has become a third rail in the legislature for many years because of the increasing budget impact. It already takes much of the state's cigerette settlement as well as a large demand on the general budget. Worst of all, it's so poorly run and the fiber technology increasingly outdated that there is no end in sight, other than dumping it.

Some facts on the ICN disaster:

1. It's just about to be put on the block. See the ICN website for details on legislation being drafted to sell off the pieces of the ICN to whoever will bid on them.

2. It has been an administrative mess. ICN has had issues in the past several years with telecom fraud (they apparently weren't equipped to prevent toll fraud). Their IP service to schools has been so poor (due to budget issues, inefficiencies, competence challenges) that many schools have simply left, only to find faster service at lower costs from the private sector. My children's school has a T1 connection through ICN, but sees typically 50-80 kbps speeds on the ICN piece (as tested from their router - we had to look at why the classrooms were getting faster speeds on dialup). Upstream, the word is that ICN just hasn't purchased the necessary capacity to service what they have sold. This is further indication that they are not truly representing costs, even though they're terribly in the red.

3. The original design was a pork barrel benefit, which doomed the project out of the gates. I worked for a carrier that was asked to bid on the original RFP in the early 1990s. The RFP was puzzling - it appeared that it was intended to fail. Upon further inquiry, we learned that a coalition of incumbent telephone providers had manipulated the RFP design in a manner to ensure the project would fail. They expected they would end up with the network (built at taxpayer expense) in a few years. Given the present asset sale proposal, this may indeed be finally happening.

it *can* be done without the pork and failure.

ICN is nothing but pork and failure, unfortunately. Please, don't make our state's mistake in yours!

ICN Sale information

Links...

The program.

accountability and goals

Google search

Well maybe it is in Iowa and Minnesota, but it has proven to be both efficient and profitable for small scale producers, as discussed here back in March.

The systems described in the main article do not sound very practical to me (800 degrees F. takes a lot of energy to maintain), but they are not the only example of biomass energy being put into practise, and they might be the right choice if you already have a lot of sawdust on hand (like in a lumberyard or a furniture fab).

Anything that reduces the dependency on foreign oil is good for the economy, and less dependency on large energy companies is good for the consumer. That these technologies allow small business to reduce thier cost of operation (or increase thier income) and are environmentally sound is good for everyone.

Well it's actually Cowshit, but close enough. Biomass is efficient, cheap, and practical as has been proven at this farm, and this one (which was discussed here back in March.)

As long as the power industry is dominated by the large investors who currently dominate the industry, there will never be a "natural" economy with a supply/demand that will adjust naturally. Despite deregulation, we are moving in a direction where consolidation of power suppliers and overly powerful electric resellers will be able to create a false scarcity of electrical power like we saw a few years ago in California

Micro suppliers could aleviate the conditions that led to the massive blackouts that we observed to day by placing cleaner, smaller, and more efficient power sources closer to where the electricity is being used. This would also make our national electric grid more resistant to terrorist attacks by distributing power generation, make localities less dependant on the owners of long distance transmission lines, allow homeowners the option of choosing power from the grid or from thier natural gas feul cells (in the basement) depending on which comodity has a more reasonable price, allow municipalities to reduce the cost of sewage treatment by turning sewage into natural gas or electric, and allow family owned farms to reduce costs and supplement thier agricultural incomes by selling electricity generated either by windmills or from natural gas from thier animal waste

Fuel cells are more efficient (85% of the energy contained in the natural gas converted to electric as opposed to 35% to 45%) and cleaner (natural gas fuel cells give off only water and CO2, no CO) than burning natural gas or oil for power generation.

A micro supplier market will decentralize the electrical generation market making power delivery more reliable and less vulnerable to outages, and will place natural, market based controls on energy costs by reducing the ability of large power companies and resellers (remember Enron?) to create a "false scarcity" in the market.

He's not a student, he's staff. :)

And, we don't pay per megabyte, Iowa has the Iowa Communications Network for which UNI pays a flat fee.

Our network maxes out at night when we release the throttle on the student network, a slashdotting like this was barely a blip in our traffic graphs, which you can find at:

http://www.uni.edu/netstats/

Let me preface this by saying that I work for the local muni.

Mediacom, who is the local competitor to our local municipal cable/data product is trying to get the law changed in Iowa to prevent the formation of new Communications utilities and severly limit the ability of the already formed utilities to do business. The link to the legislation is here.

In Iowa, like most states, there are open meetings and open records laws. Mediacom has, in the past, requested and received all of our financial data including customer counts, contracts with providers, etc. We, on the other hand, can not ask them for any of that information which results in an unlevel playing field.

Our product costs less because we don't have to pay off stock holders and the like. All that we have to pay off is our municipal bonds that were floated on the creation of the utility.

Oooo! I know the answer to this one, because it happens to some kinds of dolls, too.

The answer many common plastics make use of "food" components, including corn solids and syrup. Here's a listof things made with corn, including plastics.

Plastics "separate" over time, with components migrating to the surface. It's the organic parts of plastic that cause problems like mold/fungus on plastics, as well as make them tasty for bugs.

Nowhere is the potential for renewable resources more visible than in wind energy. Iowa has the potential to produce 4.8 times its own annual electrical consumption through wind power. Because of decreasing capital costs, new technological advances and favorable legislation, wind power is Iowa's and the world's fastest growing renewable resource.

Iowa has more than 400 wind turbines with total nameplate capacity of 335 MW. This is enough power to generate electricity for more than 100,000 homes per year and avoid more than one million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually.

Well, the article link seems out, so how about a little reference material on biomass for energy generation: Iowa Renewable Energy Resource Guide - Biomass and from the same site Methane Recovery.

Since I can't find the article to read it (broken link as I post), I can't say definitively, but from the above site, it appears methane has been used for energy generation in Iowa since 1972. So this would appear to be nothing new, even for Iowa. Not to poo poo the post or anything.

Well, the article link seems out, so how about a little reference material on biomass for energy generation: Iowa Renewable Energy Resource Guide - Biomass and from the same site Methane Recovery.

Since I can't find the article to read it (broken link as I post), I can't say definitively, but from the above site, it appears methane has been used for energy generation in Iowa since 1972. So this would appear to be nothing new, even for Iowa. Not to poo poo the post or anything.

Uh, sorry dude. Iowa does, in fact, have lots of fiber. Not just for schools, either, although the one in question is the Iowa Communications Network.

If you were an IT admin in a school in Iowa and didn't know about ICN, then you must have been trying really damn hard to make your school part of the reason we're not always #1 in education.

You're obviously not on an H1B visa.

See also:
http://www.iowa2010.state.ia.us/news/06_11.html
http://www.rediff.com/news/2001/may/24us1.htm
http://www.zazona.com/ShameH1B/H1BFAQs.htm
http://lists.tamil.com/lists/it/2001-01/msg00029.h tml

woof.

I know you are all asking yourselves if it so great why everyone not located in Iowa. Yes, there is a downside. Chief and foremost right now is Iowa's winter, cold and snow and more cold, though it is warmer than Minneapolis. Second, gettting into and out of the state by airplane is a bit vexing at times. But this is really a chicken and egg problem. We cannot get better air service without more demand, and we cannot get more demand without better air service. So you might have to "bite the bullet" for a while and pay a little more for plane tickets. Finally, while there is a lot to do in Iowa, there is not always something going 24 hours a day, like there is in the big cities. For me persoanally I consider that a blessing as it leads to a life with a much more relaxing pace.

Oh and I almost forgot a benefit, at least for those in Silicon Valley, NO EARTHQUAKES :-)

For more information:
Iowa Dept. of Economic Development

A coder in Iowa
stoothman

AAAAARGH I always thought I lived in a state that had a few brain cells to rub together. I want to know why they passed it over (AFAIK) the objections of our Atty. Gen. Who is listed as one of the 26 who object.

Prof. James Freeman at Cornell College in Mount Vernon Iowa put the Iowa state code online. He argues, convincingly in my opinion, that it's important to provide information as plain old HTML files whenever possible, and minimize dynamic page creation.

For general good advice on Web publishing, I like Philip and Alex's Guide to Web Publishing .

Mike O'Donnell

William Clinton President The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, District of Columbia 20500 United States of America phone 1-202-456-1414 fax 1-202-456-2886 or 1-202-456-2461 (busy, keep trying) e-mail president@whitehouse.gov webpage http://www.whitehouse.gov/

House Majority Leader House of Representatives Washington, District of Columbia 20515 United States of America webpage http://www.house.gov/

House Minority Leader House of Representatives Washington, District of Columbia 20515 United States of America webpage http://www.house.gov/

Speaker, House of Representatives House of Representatives Washington, District of Columbia 20515 United States of America webpage http://www.house.gov/

Senate Majority Leader U.S. Senate Washington, District of Columbia 20510 United States of America webpage http://www.senate.gov/

Senate Minority Leader U.S. Senate Washington, District of Columbia 20510 United States of America webpage http://www.senate.gov/

Governor Don Seigelman State Capitol, 600 Dexter Ave. Montgomery, Alabama 36130 United States of America phone 1-334-242-7100, fax 1-334-242-4541 webpage http://www.state.al.us/

Governor Tony Knowles P.O. Box A Juneau, Alaska 99811 United States of America phone 1-907-465-3500, fax 1-907-465-3532 e-mail office_of_the_governor@gov.state.ak.u s webpage http://www.gov.state.ak.us/

Governor Jane Dee Hull State House Phoenix, Arizona 85007 United States of America phone 1-602-542-4331, fax 1-602-542-7601 webpage http://www.state.az.us/

Governor Mike Huckabee 250 State Capitol Bldg. Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 United States of America phone 1-501-682-2345, fax 1-501-682-1382 e-mail mike.huckabee@state.ar.us webpage http://www.state.ar.us/governor/gover nor.html

Governor Gray Davis State Capitol Sacramento, California 95814 United States of America phone 1-916-445-2841, fax 1-916-445-4633 e-mail hometeam@ca.gov webpage http://www.ca.gov/s/

Governor Bill Owens 136 State Capitol Denver, Colorado 80203-1792 United States of America phone 1-303-866-2471, fax 1-303-866-2003 webpage http://www.state.co.us/

Governor John Rowland State Capitol, 210 Capitol Ave Hartford, Connecticut 06106 United States of America phone 1-860-566-4840, fax 1-203-524-7396 e-mail governor.rowland@po.state.ct.us webpage http://www.state.ct.us/governor/

Governor Thomas Carper Legislative Hall Dover, Delaware 19901 United States of America phone 1-302-739-4101, fax 1-302-577-3118 e-mail ssnyder@state.de.us webpage http://www.state.de.us/governor/index.htm

Governor Jeb Bush State Capitol Tallahassee, Florida 32399 United States of America phone 1-850-488-4441, fax 1-850-487-0801 e-mail page http://www.state.fl.us/eog/govmailform. html webpage http://fcn.state.fl.us/gsd/

Governor Roy Barnes State Capitol Building, Room 203 Atlanta, Georgia 30334 United States of America phone 1-404-656-1776, fax 1-404-657-7332 e-mail governor@gov.state.ga.us webpage http://www.state.ga.us/

Governor Benjamin Cayetano State Capitol, Executive Chambers Honolulu, Hawaii 96813 United States of America phone 1-808-586-0034, fax 1-808-586-0006 e-mail gov@gov.state.hi.us webpage http://gov.state.hi.us

Governor Dirk Kempthorne State Capitol PO Box 83720, 700 West Jefferson, Fl. 2 Boise, Idaho 83720-0034 United States of America phone 1-208-334-2100, fax 1-208-334-2175 e-mail governor@gov.state.id.us webpage http://www.state.id.us/gov/govhmpg.htm

Governor George Ryan 207 Statehouse Springfield, Illinois 62706 United States of America phone 1-217-782-0244, fax 1-217-524-4049 e-mail governor@state.il.us webpage http://www.state.il.us/gov/

Governor Frank O'Bannon Statehouse, Rm. 206 Indianapolis, Indiana 46204 United States of America phone 1-317-232-4567, fax 1-317-232-3443 e-mail page http://www.ai.org/gov/gov_mail.html webpage http://www.ai.org/gov/index.html

Governor Thomas Vilsack State Capitol Des Moines, Iowa 50319 United States of America phone 1-515-281-5211, fax 1-515-281-6611 e-mail general.office@igov.state.ia.us webpage http://www.iowaccess.org/

Governor Bill Graves State House Topeka, Kansas 66612 United States of America phone 1-913-296-6240, fax 1-913-296-7973 e-mail page http://www.state.ks.us/public/g overnor/comment.html webpage http://www.state.ks.us/public/governor/

Governor Paul Patton State Capitol, 700 Capitol Ave. Frankfort, Kentucky 40601 United States of America phone 1-502-564-2611, fax 1-502-564-2517 e-mail governor@mail.state.ky.us webpage http://www.state.ky.us/agencies/go v/govmenu6.htm

Governor Murphy Foster, Jr. State Capitol, P.O. Box 94004 Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70804 United States of America phone 1-504-342-7015, fax 1-504-342-7099 e-mail page http://www.gov.state.la.us/governo r/contact2.htm webpage http://www.gov.state.la.us/

Governor Angus King, Jr. State House Station 1 Augusta, Maine 04333 United States of America phone 1-207-287-3531, fax 1-207-287-1034 e-mail page http://janus.state.me.us/govoffice/ gov_form.htm webpage http://janus.state.me.us/govoffice/ homepage.htm

Governor Parris Glendening State House Annapolis, Maryland 21401 United States of America phone 1-410-974-3901, fax 1-410-974-3275 e-mail governor@gov.state.md.us webpage http://www.gov.state.md.us/

Governor Paul Cellucci State House, Room 360 Boston, Massachusetts 02133 United States of America phone 1-617-727-6250, fax 1-617-727-9725 e-mail goffice@state.ma.us webpage http://www.magnet.state.ma.us/gov/gov.htm

Governor John Engler State Capitol, PO Box 30013 Lansing, Michigan 48909 United States of America phone 1-517-335-7858, fax 1-517-335-6863 email page http://www.state.mi.us/MIGOV/ gov/ContactGovernor.shtm webpage http://www.state.mi.us/migov/

Governor Jesse Ventura 130 State Capitol, 75 Constitution Avenue St. Paul, Minnesota 55155 United States of America phone 1-651-296-3391, fax 1-651-296-2089 e-mail Governor.JesseVentura@state.mn.us webpage http://www.mainserver.state.mn.us/gover nor/

Governor Kirk Fordice P.O. Box 139 Jackson, Mississippi 39205 United States of America phone 1-601-737-9540, fax 1-601-737-9507 e-mail governor@govoff.state.ms.us webpage http://www.state.ms.us/

Governor Mel Carnahan Missouri Capitol Building, P.O. Box 720 Jefferson City, Missouri 65102-0720 United States of America phone 1-573-751-3222, fax 1-573-751-1495 e-mail page http://www.gov.state.mo.us/guest.htm webpage http://www.gov.state.mo.us/

Governor Marc Racicot State Capitol Helena, Montana 59620 United States of America webpage http://www.mt.gov/governor/governor.htm

Governor Mike Johanns State Capitol, Executive Suite, PO Box 94848 Lincoln, Nebraska 68509-4848 United States of America phone 1-402-471-2244, fax 1-402-471-6031 e-mail jodee@mail.state.ne.us webpage http://www.state.ne.us/

Governor Kenny Guinn State Capitol Carson City, Nevada 89710 United States of America phone 1-702-687-5670, fax 1-702-687-4486 webpage http://www.state.nv.us/

Governor Jeanne Shaheen State House Concord, New Hampshire 03301-4990 United States of America phone 1-603-271-2121, fax 1-603-271-2130 e-mail nhgov@nh.com webpage http://www.state.nh.us/

Governor Christine Todd Whitman Office of the Governor State House, 125 West State St., CN-001 Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0001 United States of America phone 1-609-292-6000, fax 1-609-292-5212 e-mail page http://www.state.nj.us/governor/govmail .htm webpage http://www.state.nj.us/governor/officeo .htm

Governor Gary Johnson State Capitol Santa Fe, New Mexico 87503 United States of America phone 1-505-827-3000, fax 1-505-827-3026 e-mail gov@gov.state.nm.us webpage http://www.state.nm.us/

Governor George Pataki State Capitol Albany, New York 12224 United States of America phone 1-518-474-8390, fax 1-518-474-1513 e-mail gov.pataki@chamber.state.ny.us webpage http://www.state.ny.us/governor

Governor James Hunt, Jr. State Capitol Raleigh, North Carolina 27603 United States of America phone 1-919-733-4240, fax 1-919-733-2120 webpage http://www.sips.state.nc.us/

Governor Edward Schafer 600 E. Blvd, State Capitol, Fl. 1 Bismark, North Dakota 58505 United States of America phone 1-701-328-2200, fax 1-701-328-2205 webpage http://www.ehs.health.stat e.nd.us/gov/governor/index.htm

Governor Bob Taft State House Columbus, Ohio 43215 United States of America phone 1-614-466-3555, 1-614-466-9354 webpage http://www.state.oh.us/gov/

Governor Frank Keating State Capitol Bldg., Rm. 212 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73105 United States of America phone 1-405-521-2342, fax 1-405-521-3353 e-mail governor@oklaosf.state.ok.us webpage http://www.state.ok.us/

Governor John Kitzhaber State Capitol Salem, Oregon 97310 United States of America phone 1-503-378-4582, fax 1-503-378-4863 webpage http://www.governor.state.or.us/

Governor Tom Ridge 225 Main Capitol Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17120 United States of America phone 1-717-787-2500, fax 1-717-772-8284 e-mail governor@state.pa.us webpage http://www.state.pa.us/PA_Exe c/Governor/overview.html

Governor of the Commonwealth Commonwealth of Puerto Rico San Juan, Puerto Rico 00936 United States of America webpage http://fortaleza.govpr.org

Governor Lincoln Almond State House Providence, Rhode Island 02903 United States of America phone 1-401-277-2080, fax 1-401-273-5729 webpage http://www.doa.state.ri.us/info/exec.htm

Governor James Hodges State House, PO Box 11369 Columbia, South Carolina 29211 United States of America phone 1-803-737-9540, fax 1-803-737-9507 webpage http://www.state.sc.us/

Governor William Janklow State Capitol, 500 East Capitol Ave Pierre, South Dakota 57501-5070 United States of America phone 1-605-773-3212, fax 1-605-773-5844 e-mail sdgov@gov.state.sd.us webpage http://www.state.sd.us /state/executive/governor/governor.htm

Governor Don Sundquist State Capitol Nashville, Tennessee 37243 United States of America phone 1-615-741-2001, fax 1-615-532-9711 e-mail dsundquist@mail.state.tn.us webpage http://www.state.tn.us/governor/

Governor George W. Bush State Capitol, P.O. Box 12428 Austin, Texas 78711 United States of America phone 1-512-463-2000, fax 1-512-463-1849 webpage http://www.governor.state.tx.us/

Governor Michael Leavitt 210 State Capitol Salt Lake City, Utah 84114 United States of America phone 1-801-538-1000, fax 1-801-538-1528 e-mail governor@state.ut.us webpage http://www.governor.state.ut.us/

Governor Howard Dean 109 State St. Montpelier, Vermont 05609 United States of America phone 1-802-828-3333, fax 1-802-828-3339 e-mail governor@state.vt.us webpage http://www.state.vt.us/

Governor Jim Gilmore State Capitol Richmond, Virginia 23219 United States of America phone 1-804-786-2211, fax 1-804-371-6351 e-mail page http://www.state.va.us/governor/govmail .htm webpage http://www.state.va.us/governor/

Governor Gary Locke State Capitol, P.O. Box 40002 Olympia, Washington 98504-0002 United States of America phone 1-360-902-4111, fax 1-360-753-4110 e-mail governor.locke@governor.wa.gov webpage http://www.wa.gov/governor

Governor Cecil Underwood State Capitol Charleston, West Virginia 25305 United States of America phone 1-304-558-2000, fax 1-304-342-7025 e-mail governor@state.wv.us webpage http://www.state.wi.us/governor/default .htm

Governor Tommy Thompson State Capitol, Room 115 East Madison, Wisconsin 53707 United States of America phone 1-608-266-1212, fax 1-608-267-8983 e-mail wisgov@mail.state.wi.us webpage http://www.wisgov.state.wi.us/

Governor Jim Geringer State Capitol Cheyenne, Wyoming 82002 United States of America phone 1-307-777-7434, fax 1-307-632-3909 e-mail governor@missc.state.wy.us webpage http://www.state.wy.us/gove rnor/text_governor_home.html

BTW, looks like it's passed both the House and Senate and is ready for the Gov's signature.

From the Iowa General Assembly web site:

A transaction that is subject to a computer information contract which provides that the contract is to be interpreted pursuant to the laws of a state that has enacted the uniform computer information transactions Act, as proposed by the national conference of commissioners on uniform state laws, or any substantially similar law, is null and void and the contract shall be interpreted pursuant to the laws of this state if at least one party to the contract is a resident or has its principal place of business located in this state.

For purposes of this subsection, a "computer information contract" means a contract that would be governed by the uniform computer information transactions Act or substantially similar law as enacted in the state of residence of the other person to the contract if that state's law were applied to the contract.

Hous e File 2205 Passed the House on April 20, 95-1, Passed the Senate on April 19, 46-2, we're now waiting on Governor Vilsack to sign it.
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Hous e File 2205 Passed the House on April 20, 95-1, Passed the Senate on April 19, 46-2, we're now waiting on Governor Vilsack to sign it.
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Hous e File 2205 Passed the House on April 20, 95-1, Passed the Senate on April 19, 46-2, we're now waiting on Governor Vilsack to sign it.
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• Iowa Homepage
• Moving or starting a business in Iowa
• Iowa Department of Economic Development
• Iowa Small Business Resource Office
• And there's lots more, just look around...

• Iowa Homepage
• Moving or starting a business in Iowa
• Iowa Department of Economic Development
• Iowa Small Business Resource Office
• And there's lots more, just look around...

• Iowa Homepage
• Moving or starting a business in Iowa
• Iowa Department of Economic Development
• Iowa Small Business Resource Office
• And there's lots more, just look around...

• Iowa Homepage
• Moving or starting a business in Iowa
• Iowa Department of Economic Development
• Iowa Small Business Resource Office
• And there's lots more, just look around...

You can say what you want about Iowa (Idiots Out Wandering Around, etc. etc. etc) but we do have a pretty forward thinking state government.

Iowa has the Iowa Communications Network, a state-owned OC-192 fiber that is primarily used for distance learning, but also hooks all the small, country schools into the internet. I believe that it is the largest state owned fiber-optic network in the US. (Oklahoma has something like it, but not on as big a scale).

Some time back there was an aritcle about the CAVE. Well, Dr. Carolina Cruz-Neira, one of the founding "mothers" if you will, of the CAVE is now at Iowa State University, preparing for the opening of the next generation of CAVE-like technologies - The C6 .

Maybe we have nothing to do but pick corn and dink with computers, but I sure love this state!

I didn't think it was posible even here in Iowa we have a decent website...
"Subtle mind control? Why do all these HTML buttons say 'Submit' ?"