Hello everyone. I know it has been a while since the last article, but that subject is for a different time. I want to tell you a little bit of news about Topeka, Kansas. Yes, something interesting is happening in Kansas. Topeka, as some of you may know from some history class, is the capital of Kansas, but is now in the news for other reasons. A plan to rename the town to Google?! Read on to learn more….
When you think of Kansas, fast internet is probably not one of the first thing that comes to mind (maybe potatoes?). That may change, according to a formal proclamation Monday The mayor of Topeka announced his city will be known as “Google” — Google, Kansas. The mayor wants the kids of Topeka and even many of adults to have the fast internet that they deserve. The mayor believes that faster internet would encourage people to stay in Topeka and would encourage business in Topeka. Sounds like a cool young mayor right? Guess again. The Mayor of Topeka is Bill Bunten, a 79 year old man who admits to not using the internet much and having his assistants search the internet for him. Bunten had this to say about the temporary name switch: “It’s just fun. We’re having a good time of it,” he said of the unofficial name change, which will last through the end of March. “There’s a lot of good things that are going on in our city.” Could the switch last more than a month? Could the new capital of Kansas be Google? When Bunten was asked if the change could ever be permanent he said:
“”Oh, heavens no, Topeka?” “We are very proud of our city and Topeka is an Indian word which means ‘a good place to grow potatoes.’ We’re not going to change that.”
Potatoes. I knew it.
Google has declined to comment on the name switch and, of course, took no part in it.
Is there a reason for this crazy renaming besides the fun of (temporarily) living in a town named Google? Yes, there is. The unusual move comes as several U.S. cities elbow for a spot in Google’s new “Fiber for Communities” program. The Web giant is going to install new Internet connections in unannounced locations, giving those communities Internet speeds 100 times faster than those elsewhere, with data transfer rates faster than 1 gigabit per second.
As crazy as this may sound, this is not actually the first time the apparently tech-crazy town of Topeka changed its name. In 1998, former mayor Joan Wagnon temporarily changed the name of the city to “ToPikachu, Kansas,” in reference to Pikachu from Pokemon. This change lasted one day. Why you ask? Not even Bunten knew why: “We did it for a day, I can’t remember why.”
So will this switch help Topeka win the “Fiber for Communities” contest? I can’t see how this would help, but maybe.
Keep on Googling Topekans.
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