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the VP

Peter Zuckerman wins national award for Scout’s Honor

by the VP June 5, 2006

Peter Zuckerman was reported to have won a prestigious $10,000 award for his Scout’s Honor story that stirred up so much angst in southeast Idaho. None other than the famous Charles Gibson (ABC News) presented the Livingston Award to Zuckerman, who is one of the youngest journalists to ever receive the award.
What are the Livingston [...]

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Local teens can sell water for summer cash

by the VP June 4, 2006

Idaho Falls teens often complain there’s a lack of jobs available to them here. Try this simple idea: selling bottled water.
The idea comes from this entrepreneur’s blog, and is basically buy cheap cases of bottled water and a bag of ice. Throw them in the family cooler and write “ICE COLD WATER $1″ in [...]

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Idaho Falls Fight Club

by the VP June 3, 2006

A straightforward idea to settle disputes among consenting adults and reduce aggression.
Is there one already? We know the first two rules are not to talk about Idaho Falls Fight Club, but how about a hint?
Legality, even among consenting adults?

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Post Register profiles those who overcome adversity

by the VP May 24, 2006

I wanted to give kudos to our local Post Register for the local student stories they profile all year round, and especially at graduation time. Yesterday I admired how Bonneville senior Raul Carreno is graduating high school but couldn’t speak any English just two years ago. Today I admired how Idaho Falls senior Tony Jenkins [...]

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Video Game Arcade 2.0 in Idaho Falls

by the VP May 1, 2006

Videogame arcades are pretty much history, the remaining ones now focus more on carnival-style games and collecting tickets and redeeming prizes. The reason is because home video consoles like Xbox, Playstation, and Nintendo enable so much more gaming experience than the standalone game cabinets could.
Could a new style arcade be run with these home [...]

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Idaho Falls City Website Overdue for Overhaul

by the VP April 26, 2006

Anyone check out our Idaho Falls city website lately? You can see that it is long overdue for a redesign.
There is just not much information provided on the main page, which effectively makes it a ’splash page’, which went out of style years ago. Some of the links need fixing (clicking ‘Events Calendars’ takes you [...]

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Waive state income tax for college graduates

by the VP April 14, 2006

Idaho seems to have less a problem with high school dropouts than with our kids dropping out of college or not going at all.
I propose a revolutionary solution: waive Idaho state income taxes for the year that any student earns an associate, bachelor, or master degree from an accredited Idaho higher education institution.

This solution would [...]

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The time is ripe for Thunder Ridge 2.0

by the VP April 11, 2006

Anyone remember Thunder Ridge? If you can believe it, there it used to be a swimming resort and miniature golf course up in the foothills east of Idaho Falls. The swimming part had a large pool and a big blue tube to swim down the hill. I spent many summers there as a kid, and [...]

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Rapping about po-ta-toes

by the VP April 9, 2006

Keeping with the Idaho themes, here is a neat flash animation and rap about wonderful potatoes. Safe for workplace viewing.
Update: link posted a few days ago was incorrect, it goes to the correct place now.
“Boil-em, mash-em, stick-em in a stew…”

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Idaho Falls Beltway is probably too far away

by the VP April 5, 2006

I have heard a few people talk about building a beltway around Idaho Falls. For those of you not familiar with the urban planning term, a beltway is basically a freeway that wraps around a city in a circle. They are usually added to poorly planned cities where traffic has become unbearable. Instead of taking [...]

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State Capital Moves to Idaho Falls

by the VP April 1, 2006

The last days of the 2006 Idaho state legislative session proved surprising as the official state capital was changed from Boise to Idaho Falls. The state constitution, seal, flag, and a cardboard box of other historical state artifacts were smuggled across the valley in the middle of the night. This move was similar to the [...]

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Grand Theft Auto Idaho Falls

by the VP March 28, 2006

Awhile ago, I challenged anyone to build a Sim-city model of Idaho Falls. Now I challenge someone to build a virtual model of Idaho Falls that can be used in video games, like first-person shooters. Imagine building the virtual model of Idaho Falls, then programming your own video game like Grand Theft Auto where you [...]

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Install lights in the river

by the VP March 9, 2006

I believe one of the mayoral candidates suggested this in the last election, but I’ve also had the idea so I thought I’d bring it up now anyways.
The idea is for Idaho Falls to install lighting in the Snake River. Crazy, isn’t it?
The best place to start would be in the river around the pedestrian [...]

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Proposed New Downtown Plaza

by the VP March 6, 2006

I propose a new downtown core planned and constructed in the blocks south of the current library. All current (low-income residential) houses and the roads crossing the four-block area should be demolished. The entire spot should become an open plaza, and four tall buildings (6-10 stories each) should be constructed on the four corners of [...]

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Challenge to build SimCity model of Idaho Falls

by the VP March 3, 2006

I challenge anyone to build a SimCity model of Idaho Falls. It must be detailed down to all paved residential roads, playground areas in parks, Keefer Island, the freeway, and all commercial buildings to as nearly the size/shape/color as possible. The streets must be labeled (if even by hovering the mouse), and our numerous parking [...]

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KIDK Channel 3 Spotlights 911 Abusers

by the VP March 1, 2006

I’ve ripped on Channel 3 for some poor decisions they made before, so I thought I’d balance that with a kudos to them for their recent series on idiots who misuse our 911 system. Unfortunately, KIDK hasn’t caught up with the idea of putting your video content online yet.
I’ll make a harsh suggestion (along the [...]

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Stall Conversation

by the VP February 26, 2006

I had barely sat down when I heard a voice from the other restroom stall ask, “Hi, how are you?”
I’m not the type to start a conversation in the men’s restroom, but I replied in an embarrassed voice, “Doing just fine!”
The other guy said: “So what are you up to?”
I thought it was bizarre, but [...]

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Twenty Great-Paying Jobs That Don’t Require Degrees

by the VP February 25, 2006

It is important for many Idahoans to develop great-paying income creatively since most of us do not hold four-year college degrees. (Isn’t it ironic that Idaho is ranked about 36th in adults completing a university education and 37th in annual income-could there be a correlation there?)
I hope CNN’s list of the twenty best-paying jobs [...]

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Idaho Falls needs more parks

by the VP February 23, 2006

I read that 80% of Boise city residents live within 1/2 mile of a city park. I wonder what percentage of Idaho Falls city residents live within 1/2 mile of a city park. I am sure it is nowhere close to 80%.

I encourage our new mayor Jared Fuhriman and the city council to [...]

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Solar-Powered Street Lights

by the VP January 25, 2006

Isn’t it time we start to reduce our energy consumption? One group in Idaho Falls says our taxes are too high and government too inefficient, but our (previous) mayor and city council maintain that Idaho Falls has too many fixed costs that cannot be ignored or reduced. One of these costs is our city-wide energy [...]

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Scoop? Riot Zone to Develop Bigger than Lagoon?

by the VP January 1, 2006

Rumor has it the Riot Zone has plans to develop an amusement complex that will eventually be larger than even Utah’s Lagoon.

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Scoop? Rigby Super Wal-Mart?

by the VP January 1, 2006

Rumors from credible sources say there will be a super Wal-Mart built in the north end of Rigby. The rumor further stipulates land has already been purchased.

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Google Map Tools Targeted for Idaho Falls

by the VP December 27, 2005

Google Maps have become quite prolific. They not only display great visuals with the simplest interface controls, they also can be tied in to several databases and provide amazing information. We would like to develop some some custom maps for information in the Idaho Falls area (such as restaurants, free air hoses, cheapest gas, etc.) [...]

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Domino’s Woes from Big Sale

by the VP December 23, 2005

A buddy told me about how today his bosses bought 50 pizzas from a local Domino’s. That’s right, 50, F-I-F-T-Y pizzas in one delivery order! How did Domino’s react to the order? The delivery guy chewed out my buddy’s boss for placing the huge order without prior notice. He complained he ran out of dough, [...]

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“Live from Wal-Mart” is Not News

by the VP December 18, 2005

I recently turned on the early morning news on our local channel 3 station, and found them broadcasting “Live from Wal-Mart” for holiday gift-giving ideas. This happened in the first five minutes of the broadcast. There was no reporter on the scene, only the Ammon Wal-Mart store manager showcasing some of their sales. This is [...]

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