Announced today on the Google Fiber Blog, Kevin Lo said that they will be taking thousands of cables and stretching them across Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri. The new glass fiber cables will create a new online infrastructure that will carry data at 100 times faster speeds than what most Americans have access to right now.

They’re going to be focusing on building the backbone of the fiber network for now, but they’ll start connecting houses once the infrastructure is up and running.

The Kansas City Star is reporting that Google took their time due to issues over where Google would attach the fiber optic cables to. The original agreement said that Google would be able to hang its wires for free in the upper part of utility poles that usually host electrical lines.

The problem came with the fact that using the higher up portions of electrical lines brought higher fees from construction and hiring more advanced engineers that charge more for their services. A source from Google told the Kansas City Star that Google was going to opt out of the offer and put their wires at the same level as other Internet providers in the community.

Google has about 100 people working in Kansas City at the moment with more people coordinating the efforts back at their HQ in Mountain View, California.

Google hasn’t said how much their service will cost, but promises it will be competitive with what local ISPs are charging.

Are any of our readers in Kansas City? If so, have you seen Google employees out and about today?

This is no joke or repaint-the-town-sign prank.  According to Tim Hrenchir, Topeka Mayor Bill Bunten consulted yesterday with all seven city council members and got their approval.  Then he "signed a proclamation . . . calling for Topeka to be known for the month of March as ‘Google, Kansas – the capital city of fiber optics.’"

Considering that not a lot of other cities are likely to take this step (and now, they’ll look like copycats even if they do), it’s a good bet that this’ll earn Topeka big points in Google’s eyes.

As for the related Facebook group (because there is one of those, too), "Bring Google’s Fiber Experiment to Topeka!" has 10,717 members at the moment, and that number represents about 8.74 percent of Topeka’s population (according to 2007 census data).  Which is rather impressive.

Anyway, Google’s supposed to keep collecting responses to its broadband network proposal until March 26th, and then the company should name its target communities later this year.

Granted, the average person isn’t likely to consider the information exciting.  “Examples of records that will now be searchable include public school FCAT scores, water and waste permits, employment data and consumers’ commuting patterns,” reports The Buzz.

Still, it’s an interesting development insofar as it involves Google and a branch of government.  Google and Florida aren’t alone in this matter; states including Utah, Michigan, California, Virginia, and Arizona are already onboard.  Add in the company’s previous (and unrelated) relationships with Minnesota and Kansas (and even the U.N.), and you’ve got something of a trend.

Make of that what you will – this article isn’t for finger-pointing or conspiracy theories.  Google just happens to be present in a lot of places, and in reference to the newest arrangement, The Buzz reports, “a Google official, John Burchett, said he hoped his firm would receive increased traffic as a result.”

Burchett may be overestimating the public’s desire to see waste permits, but in any event, there you have it.

Actually, Google, Dell, HP, Intel, Lenovo, Microsoft, and the World Wildlife Fund are all members of the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, but Google seems most closely tied to this new development.  “We can reduce the energy used by computers by 50% or more,” the company’s director of clean energy, Bill Weihl, told Elizabeth Landau.

So, thanks to an agreement between the Climate Savers Computing Initiative and the National Governors Association, energy-efficient PCs will become a common sight in Minnesota and Kansas government buildings.  And although they’ll initially cost a bit more than a normal computer, lower electricity bills should (over time) make the purchases worthwhile.

For this reason, look for other states to make similar arrangements; the National Governors Association believes that over $20 million could be saved “if all states adopt the initiative’s criteria.”  Also, lest we forget the initiative’s “green” aspects, know that the $20 million in electricity corresponds to around 200,000 tons of carbon dioxide.

Go Google.  And Dell, HP, Intel, Lenovo, Microsoft, the World Wildlife Fund.

The availability of Google’s geo-oriented services, especially the APIs that enable other programmers to build upon Google’s applications, has prompted Google to break out the standard blogging template and debut a new blog called Google LatLong.

"Things are changing so fast we thought a blog focused on this topic would be the best way to communicate with you," wrote John Hanke, Director, Google Earth & Maps, "both about our products and about the overall development of geo on the web."

The power of this geoweb focus becomes starkly evident when viewing satellite imagery of places stricken by natural events. Google Earth’s before and after look at Greensburg, Kansas shows a place that moved from a pretty green community to a blasted scene of devastation, in the time it took a tornado to sweep through there.

Geoweb isn’t a fully defined term yet, according to Hanke. "I expect the "it" will evolve substantially over the next few months and years as we (the geo ecosystem on the web) collectively figure out how "earth browsers," embedded maps, local search, geo-tagged photos, blogs, the traditional GIS world, wikis, and other user-generated geo content all interrelate," he wrote.

Google has started to push what can be done with this geoweb to ordinary Internet users. Through the My Maps function on Google Maps, people can create custom maps of whatever they like. That content will be available to others through local searches, via a "see user-created content" link.

You get Helio, a new youth-oriented cell phone service that wisely has formed an exclusive partnership with MySpace. A customized, WAP-based MySpace client comes on each Helio handset. It not only makes it easy to read MySpace blogs on the go, but also to write to them.

The Wall Street Journal (via the Kansas City Star) sees this as a big trend. They note that Facebook’s mobile services will be available to students at more than 2,000 universities by the end of this month and high school users by early May.

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Steve Rubel is a PR strategist with nearly 16 years of public relations, marketing, journalism and communications experience. He currently serves as a Senior Vice President with Edelman, the largest independent global PR firm.

He authors the Micro Persuasion weblog, which tracks how blogs and participatory journalism are changing the public relations practice.

The July 16th game between the Kansas City T-Bones and the Schaumburg Flyers will begin with two T-Bones fans playing two innings of MVP Baseball 2005 on reclining chairs situated around home plate. The fans will be the two finalists in a 16-player tournament scheduled for July 9, and those 16 will come from high scores recorded at area CompUSA stores.

The game will be between digitized versions of the two teams, complete with scanned faces and accurate stats. No word on why a T-Bones fan would do anything to hurt his team by trying to win with the Flyers, but we’ll have to see how this one goes. This game is especially important, since the T-Bones and Flyers are rivals who faced in the playoffs last year, and those two innings will absolutely count in the standings.

(via Kansas City Star > Boing Boing)

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Though lab tests are not yet confirmed, the doctor who treated the man last month says the symptoms are consistent with the mosquito-transmitted virus that killed 98 people in the United States last year.

“This season’s first human case of West Nile virus reminds us of the importance of taking precautions to avoid becoming ill,” said Dr. Lyle Petersen, director of the CDC’s Division of Vector-borne Infectious Diseases.

“It’s impossible to predict what this year’s season will hold. So everyone who spends time outdoors should take steps to protect themselves from mosquito bites and West Nile virus.”

The Kansas man is the first human case reported this year, but the disease has been reported in birds and horses in the 14 states already.

Introduced to the US in 1999, West Nile virus has killed hundreds of people. It seems to have peaked in 2003 with 264 related deaths among the 9862 people infected. Last year saw only 2535 infected humans. Every state but Alaska and Hawaii have had confirmed cases.

For most healthy people, a West Nile infection is minor as only about 20% people exhibit the symptoms such as fever, aches, nausea, and vomiting. The highest risk is among those over 50-years-old and organ transplant patients whose immune systems are all but shut down from the procedure. The most extreme cases cause brain inflammation that can quickly lead to death.

The Centers for Disease Control has put forth guidelines to help prevent contracting the disease. All recommendations involve protection against mosquito bites. Mosquitoes are most active between dusk and dawn. If it is necessary that a person be outside at that time, the CDC suggests long sleeve pants and trousers in addition to insect repellent with DEET.

“In addition to DEET and permethrin, repellents containing picaridin and oil of lemon eucalyptus have recently been found to provide reliable and long-lasting protection from mosquito bites,” the CDC said in a statement.

Some want to discredit Darwin’s theory of evolution, and wish for the criticism of the theory to be taught as well.

According to AP,

Science groups are boycotting the hearings, held by a Board of Education subcommittee, because they view them as being rigged against evolution. The board could revise its science standards in June to include both the theory of evolution and criticism of it.

Many scientists fear that the board will follow recommendations from advocates of “intelligent design” in adopting standards critical of evolution. Conservatives hold a majority on the 10-member board.

BOE chairman and former state GOP chairman, Steve Abrams is spearheading the effort. He says that he doesn’t want religion in the classroom, but supports empirical science.

Abrams’ intentions have been criticized.

Republican board member, Sue Gamble said, “He throws out what looks like a scientific definition that makes sense and it absolutely does not.”

“Just because Steve Abrams says it’s so doesn’t mean it’s so,” added Gamble.

Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania have had similar issues in their schools in recent years.

In 1987, the Supreme Court ruled that creationism was not allowed to be taught in tandem with evolution.

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The stage is set once again, this time in Kansas, as a conservative state Board of Education gears up for four days of hearings beginning today.

The hearings will address state school science curriculum, as some are intent on diminishing or discrediting Darwin’s theory of evolution and natural selection, and implementing a science standard based on intelligent design.

Evolution proponents criticize the move, saying the concept of intelligent design is merely a mask sitting over the face of creationism.

Steve Abrams, chairman of the BOE and former chairman of the state GOP, is spearheading the effort. Abrams’ goal is more intelligent design friendly scientific standards.

Stating that he is against bringing religion into the classroom, Abrams claims to support empirical science, defining the term as “observable, testable, measurable, repeatable and falsifiable.”

When engaging within these tenets, pre-existing biases of faith are eliminated,” he said.

Board member, Sue Gamble, a moderate Republican, doubts Abrams’ assertions.

“He throws out what looks like a scientific definition that makes sense and it absolutely does not,” Gamble said. “Just because Steve Abrams says it’s so doesn’t mean it’s so.”

Evolutionary scientists are losing their religion over the matter. They are staging a boycott of the hearings in a protest that states the considerations by the board undermine science.

“These science hearings’ are meant to further a political and theological agenda,” said Pedro Irigonegaray, a Topeka attorney representing pro-evolution scientists.

The hearings will run through Saturday and resume on May 12th. The BOE members will present arguments and witnesses from both sides of the debate.

A three-member panel, which has already expressed doubts about evolution, will then make recommendations for science standards approval next month.