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June 30th, 2009

Top 5 Places where you’ll be subject to Murphy’s Laws

It seems that Murphy’s are sprouting up everywhere which is making it very hard to determine which one is best. However, using our proven method that clients such as US News, CNN/Money Business Week, and many others employ, Onboard Informatics was able to rank and determine the best cities in this country where Murphy’s Laws do exist.

Top 5 Places named Murphy in the United States:

1) Murphy, Texas (Collin County)

Area: 5.25

Population: 9,866

Median Household Income: $105,884 (State Median Household Income: $51,056)

Total Crime Index: 45

Median Home Sale Value: $280,000

 

2) Murphy, California (Calaveras County)

Area: 10.30

Population: 2,679

Median Household Income: $43,624 (State Median Household Income: $59,386)

Total Crime Index: 35

Median Home Sale Value: $315,446

 

3) Murphy, Missouri (Jefferson County)

Area: 3.96

Population: 9,684

Median Household Income: $55,073 (State Median Household Income: $47,532)

Total Crime Index: 31

Median Home Sale Value: $113,492

 

4) Murphys Estates, South Carolina (Edgefield County)

Area: 2.00

Population: 1,670

Median Household Income: $31,723 (State Median Household Income: $47,075)

Total Crime Index: 63

Median Home Sale Value: $72,740

 

5) Murphy, North Carolina (Cherokee County)

Area: 2.28

Population: 1,730

Median Household Income: $31,573 (State Median Household Income: $49,466)

Total Crime Index: 248

Median Home Sale Value: $103,000

 

Methodology:

Population,  Median Household Income, Total Crime Index, and the Median Home Sale Value were the  variables used to determine this list. The community data points (i.e. the variables) were indexed, weighted, and ranked for each place.  Certain data fields were assigned a higher rank in order to focus attention on more important variables, the following weights were assigned to the corresponding data fields after being indexed:

  • Population: 20
  • Place-to-State Income Index**: 30
  • Total Crime Index***: 50 
  • Median Home Sale Value: 40

The places with the top five highest scores made the list.  

**The Place-to-State Income index compared the place’s median household income to the state’s median household income. This is done so places/regions with lower or higher income are not unfairly compared to the rest of the country; simply put, it keeps things fair.  Just because a salary is high, doesn’t mean its relatively high for that state/region.

***The national crime index is 100, i.e., places with an index score of 200 have twice as much crime as the National Average, places with an index score of 50 have half as much crime as the National Average.

Our experience working with various publications has allowed us to become the premier content provider. Our niche in this market allows us to provide the best content suited for your needs. If you’re interested in doing a real estate-based editorial or would like to gain access to our content to help become a local expert, please reach out to us. Together we can formulate a transparent methodology that will suit your needs and provide you with the best content available.

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June 15th, 2009

Onboard Informatics’ 2009 Top 5 Bacon Cities

In a time when “bringing home the bacon” means that you are keeping your job safe in this financial apocalypse, I would like to shed some light on places that are truly bringing home the bacon despite what is happening on Wall St.

Whether you like slab bacon, gourmet, thick cut, thin cut, peppered, nitrate-free, or bacon art; the magic of this food can overpower the most depleted 401K.  Not all cities have an equal love for this savory dish, so where in the United States does meat candy reign supreme?

Seattle, Washington

Total Area: 83.87 miles

Total Population: 582,200

Median Household Income: $54,978

Total Crime Index: 244

Seattle has quietly worked its way to the top of the bacon food chain, despite being plagued with grunge rock and being the home town of Starbucks (which does NOT serve bacon flavored coffee, anywhere!), Seattle is home of two great bacon innovations. One of those great bacon innovations is J&D’s Bacon Salt; this creation has made it possible for our vegetarian brethren to enjoy the sweet taste of pork nectar. It even appears to be vegan friendly, unless the sea salt was treated poorly when it was taken from the sea. The applications for this marvelous product seem to be endless and I believe all workspaces should have some in order to dress up any workplace noshing. The next marvelous bacon innovation is Bakon Vodka. Bakon Vodka is a label of Black Rock Spirits, LLC, after years of toiling with different recipes they finally found the perfect infused balance inspiring bartenders concoct cocktails that reflect peoples’ passion for pork; finally, the bacon flavored Bloody Mary is possible!

Des Moines, Iowa

Total Area: 75.79 miles

Total Population: 202,111

Median Household Income: $47,713

Total Crime Index: 205

Coming in on our list at number two is Des Moines, Iowa. Des Moines plays host to the Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival. The Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival is gearing up for its second year of bringing bacon enthusiasts together for a day-long celebration of all things bacon. This year’s event will prove to bring over 300 bacon lovers together for bacon education, bacon awareness, bacon recipe sharing, and of course, bacon tastings!

San Francisco, California

Total Area: 46.69 miles

Total Population: 732,967

Median Household Income: $68,521

Total Crime Index: 150

In March, the first official BaconCamp descended upon the bay area. BaconCamp is a gathering born from the desire for people to share and learn in an open environment about bacon. It is an intense event with discussions, demos and interaction from participants who are the main actors of the event.  It is community driven and everyone is encouraged to participate by presenting (food, art, and demo), judging, or volunteering.  BaconCamp is not a spectator sport. Staying true to San Francisco’s reputation for community based movements, BaconCamp is bring bacon-power to the people; that is why San Francisco comes in at number three.

Ladera Ranch, California

Total Area: 4.69 miles

Total Population: 2,250

Median Household Income: $148,369

Total Crime Index: 13

**The data for Ladera Ranch is on the zip level; it represents zip code 92694 as place level data was not readily available
One word: Turbaconducken. That’s right – a chicken stuffed in duck stuffed in a turkey, all wrapped in bacon. Ladera Ranch is where this culinary masterpiece was conceived; also it’s the home of Bacon Today, a website dedicated to all things bacon (bacon iPhone apps, bacon inspired clothing, bacon economics, bacon gourmet recipes, and bacon etc.).

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Total Area: 135.09 miles

Total Population: 1,463,364

Median Household Income: $37,841

Total Crime Index: 230

Philadelphia is home to a bacon that everyone has enjoyed, no matter what dietary restriction are part of your lifestyle; that bacon being, Kevin Bacon. Not only is Kevin Bacon is a cinematic mastermind, he is also restaurant proprietor. Bacon opened up a restaurant in his home town of Philadelphia, named “Bring Home the Bacon”. The restaurant gives the customer the option to put bacon on any sandwich or salad for no extra cost. Free bacon on any order is what has Philadelphia rounding out our list at number five.

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July 21st, 2008

How a “Best Places to . . .” article is formulated: A data comparison

I would like to make something perfectly clear . . . I grew up on the uninhibited, care-free love of fun and adventure projected in the cinematic classic The Goonies! But we’ll come back to that . . .

Let’s say that you are interested in publishing a “Great Places to . . . whatever” article, but you’re coming up short on neo-engineers responsible for data standardization—the people who would know about articles and data. Well, Onboard Informatics has plenty of them, and we’ll be more than happy to have a passionate conversation about data with you. If I should be lucky enough to talk to you, I will explain that choosing data is very similar to choosing a spouse. You want attractive data but not stupid data; which means that the data should be impressive to look at, but not only momentarily significant—it should be annually critical. We want to avoid “one night stand” type of data (there is no integrity protection for that little indiscretion). Your data should have standards, respect, and be able to speak for itself. If you don’t hang up the phone after my spouse/data analogy, we would then discuss the weight of your data and how it helps to shape your article’s conclusion. (I’m sure someone is making a “data/spouse + weight=funny” joke . . . shame on you, not classy!!). Read More

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