Saturday, August 8, 2026

Join our email blast

July 23, 2014 by justin in Your View

Snake oil always sells

Civic Skinny (July 17) asked if the $40 million settlement with buyers club was an indication that the 864,000 adult Iowans, “Are so gullible… and can be snookered in a deal like this?” I think that if you look at past elections the question should not be can Iowans, but

Read More →
July 23, 2014 by justin in Your Money

Paid for by taxpayers in… City of Des Moines

Amount: $76.32 To: DEMCO (Wisconsin) For: Four aluminum directional arrow signs Amount: $18,425 To: Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services (Illinois) For: Analytical services Amount: $127.08 To: Carpenter Uniform Co For: Various polo shirts and “Community Ambassador” clothing transfers Amount: $61.02 To: Best Buy For: Logitech wireless keyboard shipped to the

Read More →
July 23, 2014 by justin in Political Mercury

Branstad egg-cited about modern Iowa agriculture

Over-hard or scrambled. That’s how the governor likes his eggs — which are part of his breakfast diet one or two days a week, he says. Gov. Terry Branstad talked about his own taste for eggs at the end of an hour-long tour of Rose Acre Farms outside Guthrie Center

Read More →
July 23, 2014 by justin in On the Move

College student starts water accessory business

Austin Hayden, a 21-year-old Iowan and a senior at Truman State College in Missouri, created a company called ParadisePad to sell thick foam pads used as floating devices. Currently assembling and delivering the pads to 15 boat dealers and marinas in Iowa and Missouri, Hayden’s business has about $250,000 in

Read More →
July 23, 2014 by justin in Tech Talk

Do it yourself with 3D printers

Everyone has that one gadget in the house that runs perfectly for years and then unexpectedly falls apart. It might be the disc tray on your Blu-ray player or the ceiling fan that pops a screw. For me it was a waffle iron that snapped its hinge in the middle

Read More →
July 23, 2014 by justin in Book Review

‘The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry‘

Courtesy of Beaverdale Books Review by Shirley Shiffler Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill April 1, 2014 $ 24.95 260 Pages The very charming “The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry” is a delightful story of a bitter, crabby, middle-aged man who welcomes loneliness and isolation but, in spite of himself, is

Read More →
July 23, 2014 by justin in On The Tube

R.I.P. Hercule Poirot

Agatha Christie’s Belgian detective Hercule Poirot (David Suchet) returns to “Masterpiece Mystery!” with his waxed mustache, three-piece suit and formal manner — so formal that he even refers to himself in the third person (Sunday, 8 p.m., PBS). Poirot cuts an odd figure, but he’s so good at piecing together

Read More →
July 23, 2014 by justin in The Sound

Taking the long view

The evolution of Fitz & The Tantrums can be viewed in microcosm in their music. One song, specifically: 2013’s “Out of My League.” “Out of My League” was a song the band had always believed in. When it was initially released last year, the single was a middling success, but

Read More →
July 23, 2014 by justin in News of the Weird

The continuing crisis Clinton Tucker, who is black, sued Benjamin Moore paints in Essex County, New Jersey, in June for wrongful firing — after, he said, he had tolerated years of workplace racial insults. In fact, Tucker said the company had introduced two new paint shades shortly after he was

Read More →
July 23, 2014 by justin in Rap Sheet

Metro’s most wanted NAME: Alfredo Gonzales-Angeles SEX: Male RACE: Hispanic AGE: 44 HEIGHT: 5’ 8” WEIGHT: 190 HAIR: Black EYES: Brown DOB: 7/19/1969 Crimestoppers This information was obtained from the Polk County Crime Stoppers website. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Des Moines Police

Read More →