First, Emerald City is tied for the #1 spot as geek capitol of the U.S. (75,000-124,999 population category) according to this morning's fascinating Scott Schwebke story:
OGDEN — For the second time in as many years, Ogden has taken top honors as one of the nation’s most technologically advanced mid-sized cities.According to information on the Center for Digital Government site, the most wired big city (250,000 or more population category) Corpus Christi, Texas. Tied for first place in the 125,000-249,999 population category were Alexandria, Virginia and Madison Wisconsin.
Ogden tied with Roanoke, VA, for first place in the 2006 Digital Cities Survey for municipalities with populations ranging from 75,000 to 124,999. Orem placed third in the category, and Salt Lake City finished fourth for cities with populations ranging from 125,000 to 249,999. The survey was sponsored by the Center for Digital Government.
Top vote-getter in the 30,000-74,999 population category was Delray Beach, Florida.
For the convenience of those gentle readers with geek curiosity (and a little extra time on their hands,) we've linked the websites of each of the first-place winners above, along with a couple of the other Utah cities mentioned in this morning's Scott Schwebke article.
We invite our readers to make their own comparisons. Frankly we think Emerald City's website is by far the very best. A trifle cartonish in style, granted. In that connection however, we must keep in mind that we're also the only top-ranked city with an actual bona-fide child-mayor.
We'll also add that we believe Emerald City would have been the hands-down winner in all categories, except for one glaring fault. Yes, we still find this language seemingly etched in granite on the Emerald City website, within Boss Godfrey's gondola information FAQ:
6. Do the plans include the gondola connecting to Snowbasin?Perhaps Boss Godfrey's IP people will fix this problem prior to the next Center for Digital Government survey.
The plans do involve a leg of the gondola that would go to the top of the mountain, which would allow skiers with a Snowbasin lift ticket to enter Snowbasin. That leg will require an environmental study by the Forest Service to approve, while the rest of the project can be built on private property without Forest Service approval.
And a few paragraphs earlier we suggested that our gentle readers were all computer geeks (a term of endearment, of course.) Last week's news is proof of that. Time Magazine issued its "Person of the Year" issue last Wednesday; and you'd never have guessed whom that person is: Our Gentle Readers; that's Who. From Time Magazine's December 13 article:
Who are these people? Seriously, who actually sits down after a long day at work and says, I'm not going to watch Lost tonight. I'm going to turn on my computer and make a movie starring my pet iguana? I'm going to mash up 50 Cent's vocals with Queen's instrumentals? I'm going to blog about my state of mind or the state of the nation or the steak-frites at the new bistro down the street? Who has that time and that energy and that passion?
The answer is, you do. And for seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game, TIME's Person of the Year for 2006 is you.
We thank the editors of Time Magazine for the truly delicious segue. And as we quickly lurch toward our 200,000th Weber County Forum page-load, we offer a hearty tip 'o the hat to all our gentle readers who have so eagerly embraced "the new digital democracy."
Consider the above ramblings a kickstart to a new open thread.
What topics are on our gentle readers' minds today?
Update 12/22/06 5:15 a.m. MT: America's numero uno print medium narcissist bitterly complains here about other people's purported narcissism.
22 comments:
Rudi...I already gave you a big WOO HOO earlier!!
Imagine, our leader and fellow posters being on the front of Time!
Of course, the City Website would be a bit 'cartoonish', as you pointed out...AND the BIG LIE is still there....a child-mayor who continues to lie..what's odd about that?
A trip to the woodshed and some of his ma's lye soap would do that boy some good!
and the mayor says that he has the highest integrity of anyone in the room. If he does then why does he not do everything in his power to make this thing right on the city's web site. If he doesn't then we know that his integrity is not worth him even standing up in his short little frame to show how high his integrity is. if it is not taken care of it, it would show that he is lower to the ground than that a pregant ant. and he has then become what he calls every one else and that is a big little short liar.
What about municipal wi-fi. Many cities and college campuses have free wi-fi zones including Elko, NV of all places. It's advertised on their billboards entering town. Is there free wi-fi available in the council chambers so participants can do instant research in the midst of a discussion? It is tedious that the average coffee shop may have better IT facilities than our government buildings and downtown zones.
Point well-taken, Tec.
On the other hand, wethinks we'd be a mite nervous about hooking up to any network that's controlled by Boss Godfrey.
Several council members have revealed to us they don't use the city email system, because Boss Godfrey has access to ALL emails.
We'd be concerned at taking a free ride, even on a short-range local wi-fi system, notwithstanding the fact we're fairly confidently-convinced of the adequacy of our own well-tweaked firewall. There are some top-notch techies in the employ of Emerald City, nevertheless -- if you take our meaning.
And another thing. Boss Godfrey won't even deign to broadcast council sessions or other important official meetings on old technology, i.e., Channel 17 TeeVee. Broadcasting such meetings is of course the obvious benefit of having a city own a TeeVee station. Yet "our" taxpayer-owned station is presently being mis-used for rock rodeo broadcasts, grainy locally produced bungee jumping videos, "moron interviews moron" pieces, and the incessant Godfrey propaganda lectures too.
So we cannot reasonably infer that Boss Godfrey is all that willing to take a giant leap into implementing a genuinely informative and interactive cyber-future for Emerald City, based on current evidence. Wethinks Boss Godfrey considers all city-owned media to be his personal propaganda play-toy.
Once again, the city council could clip his wings on this Channel 17 thing. They could also make the website their own. Unfortunately they however still languish in that "Rip Van Winkle Sleep," which has plagued all Emerald City councils since Boss Godfrey's advent, in January 2000.
Just a thought.
We are truly fortunate to have this WCF and its proprietor. Time Magazine is no oracle in my book, but they got this one right. Blogs are great and this one is among the best.
As far as Ogden: the wired city, I was at a Godfrey gondola pitch meeting and a guy ran in and said, "How'd all of you like your whole city to have Wi-Fi? My company will wire up your whole city for free!” Godfrey smugly replied, “We are already going to do that. It’s already in the works.” And he sent the man on his way. I have been waiting for the free Wi-Fi service ever since.
Godfrey will tell you privately that what he is trying to do is raise the caliber of city residents – to stem the growth of slums by getting the higher caliber people to push back into the slums and drive them out rather than the slums creeping further up the hill.
The way I look at it is you increase the quality of life in the city for everyone rich or poor alike. As home prices rise the slumlords feel like selling. The new owners pay more for those inner city homes and they become quaint and quirky high-end residences instead of just old houses.
Free Wi-Fi city-wide could help do that. Purchasing Malans Basin (and the rest of the bench land) and putting a nice little city park (keeping the natural flora) up there would be another. Keeping and enhancing our trails system would be still another. And putting some low wattage lighting on the golf course to make it a winter cross county ski attraction for families and yuppies to play in at night would be still another.
What we get, what Godfrey does, is spend borrowed money like a drunken sailor and try to ram the mother of all dumb ideas down our throats for the benefit of his admitted crony, Chris Peterson.
He’s like our President, “W”. He has the right idea, but his ineptitude and hubris cause him to move in the exact opposite direction of his stated goals. We must rid ourselves of the both of them.
Queit bitchen! Their all REPUBLICANS
What is happening to Officer Matt Jones?
TLJ:
No. But the pocket protector does.
JUST THE MATH ALONE QUALIFIES YOU FOR GEEKHOOD!
I was a champion speller, BTW....so I am humiliated when my fingers get tangled on the keys.
But...YOU TLJ, are soooo impressive.
TLJ,
What a coincidence! I received this link last week. "Are you a geek?" quiz.
Sigh. I scored only 27.8%, which makes me a "total geek" but no better. I was hoping for at least "super geek".
I just wanted to say congradulations to Mathew Godfrey. He placed number 5 for the "25 people who most influenced business in Utah" in the Connect magazine. Its good to see he is a great influence to Ogden. Man, you gotta hand it to him for bringing all of those great ski companies here. That has gotta piss you guys off to see someone you hate do great things.
And anon, if you are a regular reader of WC Forum, you will have noticed the postings congratulating the mayor for successfully soliciting outdoors-related businesses moving to Ogden... while also noting that they came here without a gondola/gondola system to a non-existent resort being in place. Imagine that.
You really ought to try to stay up with the news, though, if you're going to keep posting. "Breaking" stories two months old most folks won't find all that significant.
Thanks for the "geek test" link, Ogdenlover.
We scored 39.644497, thus putting us in the category of "Major Geek."
We confess we expected a top geek score, inasmuch as we've recently become proficient in html programming and such, after having earlier somewhat mastered C+++, Basic, and DOS batch file programming. (We won't even hammer FORTRAN or COBAL, which we learned during our early-seventies undergraduate years at the "great granary of academic learning" --the U of U.
And we were disappointed that nowhere in the test were our many youthful hours weighted, having glued ourselves to the tube evey morning in the fifties to Watch Mr. Wizard every Saturday morning for years. Our bet is that Don Herbert's excellent Saturday morning program spawned a whole generation of fifties kids who studied physics -- and thus became "science geeks."
And we still pick up (and take home) random 'rocks" that always seem very interesting.
Go figure! Wethinks this fairly elaborate test is overly-weighted toward trivial "willow-in-the wind" geek concepts, and under-weighted for long-time geeks who spent too much time studying hard science to assimilate "fairy tales."
Just a thought.
TLJ,
Yeah, I got a PhD, and like Rudi I got to check off a bunch of programming languages, but I obviously don't spend enough time with movies, TV, or video games. Have to work on that...
I assume that by now all the geeks out there have seen the White and Nerdy video (fast internet recommended).
My score was 19.5. Haven't quite decided if I am proud of that or, here in the presence of higher ranking posters, abashed. Tending toward the former though.... And I just wrote to the Sundance people complaining that Ogden this time round is not getting a single documentary film or an animation series. Surely that counts for something....
Geez...I hardly know how to turn ON the computer and I scored from 20.9 up to 27 something...hard to read that geekily small print!
Therefore, I think one doesn't have to do much to be geek. I DO watch Jeopardy, tho..and that helped my score.
Free Wi-Fi is an excellent idea and should be available throughout the city. Perhaps some of the potential gang bangers would turn their attentions elsewhere.
Also, high tech activities commpliment outdoor adventures quite nicely.
Night skiing at Mount Ogden golf course sounds like a great idea. Does the city still provide cross country trails on that course?
The Marshall White Center could use your help. I went there yesterday and Fritz gave me an excellent tour. It's a wonderful place dedicated to a wonderful man. The Center helps a lot of people and provides an excellent service to the city.
If one child is saved, it's a good thing. The Marshall White Center has helped thousands. They need our help now. Please search your heart and locate your wallet or pocket book and navigate yourself to the Center. Fritz will be waiting for you with a big smile.
They even have a small high tech center. I think we should help make it a large one. Knowledge is power.
The staff at MCW is wonderful. They still need food for their families they're helping...and toys.
MCW is an asset to Ogden, and the people who work and volunteer there are the best!
If you look up narcissism in the dictionary, you'll find George Will's photo in the margin.
rudi:
Well, yes, he's pretty much a stuffed shirt and tends to pontificate rather than discuss. Except on baseball. On that topic, he writes well and his narcissism seems to evaporate. But then, he's a Cubs fan. And "narcissistic Cubs fan" is more or less a logical impossibility.
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