The Best Small Cities to Raise a Family

From the October 25, 2010, Forbes.

Based on commute times, high school graduates, median household income, home ownership and cost of living.  The Midwest dominated.

1.  Dubuque, Iowa--  Right on the Mississippi River with those bald eagles by the dam.
2.  Manitowac, Wisconsin
3.  Marquette, Michigan

4.  Midland, Michigan
5.  Marshfield, Wisconsin
6.  Stevens Point, Wisconsin  (Hey, Belts' Soft Serve Ice Cream just opened for the season yesterday.  See my yesterday's RoadDog's Roadlog.)
7.  Casper, Wyoming

8.  Quincy, Illinois
9.  Helena, Montana
10.  Columbus, Indiana--  Indiana tries to keep this gem hidden from us out-of-staters.

We've been to 1, 2, 6 and 10.

Who Says the Midwest is the Rust Belt?

The Good and the Bad One-Word Titles

From the July 25th Chicago Tribune "Eureka! Finding the right one-word title is hit or miss" by Julia Keller.

In yesterday's Movie Scratches, I mentioned seeing the movie "Inception" which I enjoyed. Julia Keller came up with a lits of what she considers to be good and bad one-word titles in all sorts of areas.

ALL-TIME BEST ONE-WORD TITLES

GUNSMOKE-- (1955-76) TV series
JAWS-- (1974) novel
LOST-- (2004-2010) TV series (I liked it at first, but got too confused and quit)
BABE-- (1995) movie (never saw it)
HERATBROKE-- (1982) song by Guy Clark (I liked Ricky Skaggs' version)
OKLAHOMA-- (1943) musical (Now I have that song in my head, thanks Julia.)


ALL-TIME WORST ONE-WORD TITLES

SCRUBS-- (2001-2010) TV series (I liked it until the last two years.)
INCEPTION (2010) movie (I liked it)
SAW-- (2004) movie (I recently saw "Saw" and like it.)
BEOWULF-- (AD 800-900) poem

These were the ones I knew.

I Don't Always Agree, But makes for Interesting Thinking. --RoadDog


NO PUN INTENDED: Reading while sunbathing makes you well read.