Google Fiber in the Twin Ports – The Mayor’s Letter
Mar/100
Here’s the latest and greatest from the Duluth mayor Don Ness. Once again, WHY SHOULD DULUTH GET THIS STUPENDOUS PRIVILEGE!?!? Next thing you know he’ll be asking his constituents to support taxes and other whims without reason.
The transformation of our economy – a call to action
I need your help! By investing just a few moments of your time, you’ll be part of an incredible transformation of our regional economy.
We’re out to convince Google to build an ultra-high speed fiber network in the Twin Ports. This system will bring fiber-optic connections to every home and business at speeds of one gigabit per second, up to 1000 times faster than existing “high-speed” Internet connections.
This changes everything.
It changes our economy, it changes how we do business, it puts Duluth and Superior at the forefront of the next great economic revolution in America. And yes, you’ll be able to download an entire HD movie in 30 seconds.
Could it really happen? Absolutely. We fit Google’s criteria extremely well and we believe we have the most comprehensive campaign in the nation. Ultimately, our success depends on the participation of folks like you.
Our success depends on YOU taking three simple steps:
1) Go to www.googletwinports.com and join the team.2) There you can create a free Google account (if you don’t already have one):
www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount
and submit a nomination directly to Google:
www.google.com/appserve/fiberrfi/public/options3) Join our Facebook group, www.googletwinports.com/facebook , and post your confirmation code from step 2 to Facebook.
4) Business can place a GoogleTwinPorts supporter badge on their websites:
http://www.googletwinports.com/web-badges.phpFolks are fired up about this – Duluth is on the national map as a forerunner in this contest. Don’t let up! Let’s make this happen – we have just a few weeks until the deadline.
Thanks for your help!
Mayor Don Ness
Ok, I’m off my soapbox…
Google Fiber in the Twin Ports?
Mar/100
The very first thing I would like to say about this post is that I’m NOT AGAINST this project but am skeptical about it. I’m a huge advocate for high speed internet in every location of the country and world for that matter. I’m just rather confused about how Duluth, MN and Superior, WI are going about pitching this. I have yet to see a specific or solid reason as to why Google should pick the Twin Ports. Some of the questions that I would like answered are:
- How much will this cost the Twin Ports? – Duluth Mayor Don Ness stated that it wouldn’t cost anything.
- Will Google use local companies to install the fiber?
- Will this create new jobs?
- Will these be long term sustainable jobs?
- Besides the high speed internet, what incentives do companies have to relocate to the Twin Ports to setup shop?
- Tax incentives – lower taxes or no taxes.
- Will the Twin Ports support small business development?
- Will small business be able to get reasonable loans with reasonable rates?
- Are the local hospitals (i.e. St. Lukes, St. Mary’s, and etc) sending or receiving MRI files or anything of that nature that require a large bandwidth pipe? Are there other companies that needs a large bandwidth pipe?
- Is the current internet speed hindering companies in any way? Examples please!
This is pure speculation – Are the Twin Ports using this as an opportunity to use the community for pledges and community service? It might be belittling but I think that but there is a lot of push to show your support through volunteerism and pledging money. WAIT! – I thought that Google was doing this? So, why the push to donate time and money? – Oh… to show that the Twin Ports is worthy of the high speed fiber. Will the pledges and volunteerism continue if they win the fiber race?
Once again, please tell me WHY the Twin Ports is a prime location. The answer provided by here are not sufficient.
Additional Resources:
http://blog.google.twinports.coop/
http://www.googletwinports.com/
How to add Google maps to your website, the easy way.
Dec/080
It’s as simple as following the steps below…
- go to http://maps.google.com/
- enter the address that you would like featured on your map
- click the “link” button in the upper right corner of the map and copy the code from the embed section.
- simply paste this code in a div or table cell.
- you’re done!
With this method of implementing a map into your web page you’re pretty limited on what you can change in appearance and what not. The attribute that you will probably change is the height and width.
If you were to do this using the the Google Maps API, you would be able to customize your map with just about anything.
Wordcamp MSP!
