The Thoughts and Rants of Austin

As I open the silicon wrapping it makes a very recognizable crinkling sound. Then a terrible smell was produced from the packet as months of fake sponge cake and artificial banana flavored creme pored out of the packet. It is the kind of smell that lingers in your nose and doesn’t go away.

The ‘sponge cake’ is sticky and soft. The sponge cake is is really squishy and always returns to its original form. The creme is a white color and taste like bad banana taffy. Twinkie’s are all artificial. Even the ‘banana puree’ thats in it is still artificially flavored.

A local English teacher is trading his smartboard, a classroom, and his students, for a fender guitar, a recording studio, and a screaming audience.

Don Cooper, an English teacher at Young High School, has always had a love for writing music and playing guitar, but never thought he could make a living out of it. But in recent years that as all changed as he has paired up with his friend, John Dodge, to form the two man band named ‘Don Juan’.

It makes me more real,” says Cooper. “It makes it feel like you’re livin’. When I’m on the road, I’m always stayin’ with friends. Travelin’ can really git ya down.

Nobody settles “for anything less than the best,” Dodge says. The group squabbles “about fine points,” but the “creative tension” builds as a group molds a new song.

“We love each other and we fight all the time,” Dodge says. “That’s the way we work. It’s all ultimately positive. Writing songs together ain’t easy. We’re writing quite a few, but it’s tough. But it’s worth it.”

Dodge and Cooper have been singing together for about three years, and hope to start recording this spring. “There will be product on the streets” said Dodge “on the airwaves, we hope – by the end of the summer.”

The New York Times wrote a great article about the Pope’s time in New York. I’m not catholic or really even christian, but the Pope has said somethings that I have agreed with. The New York times made a long article that would otherwise be boring, actually a fairly good read. The NY Times does a really good job of using quotes to keep the article moving. NY Times also did a very good job of using descriptive verbs to set the scene at every place the Pope went. They also used very vibrant photos to keep color in the article so its just not a block of words in your face.

Paul Johnson, sophomore at Morningside College, was standing at the entrance to the Olson Student Center wearing a black t-shirt that said “Straight Outta M’side”.

The shirt plays off of the new movie “Straight Outta Compton”. The logo for the movie took off on the internet. In just a couple days there was pictures of “Straight Outta Yankton” or “Straight Outta Elkton” all over Facebook and other social media outlets.

Johnson decided to capitilize on this popularity and make a “Straight Outta M’side” t-shirt. He is selling the t-shirt for $10 for the rest of today and tomorrow. The shirt is bound to make some favorite memories at Morningside.

Over 500 homes and many businesses have been destroyed by two major fires blazing through the counties of Lake, Amador and Calaveras in California.

One fire, named the ‘Valley Fire’, started late last week in Lake County, 90 miles north of San Francisco. According to the USA today over 400 houses have been destroyed in the town and surrounding areas. The State’s dry conditions intensified the fire. One death has been confirmed because of the fire, but many people are unaccounted for. As of late Monday, the 61,000 acre fire was only 5 percent contained.

The second fire, named the ‘Rouge Fire’, according to Fox News, “is a second massive blaze, less than 200 miles away (from the Valley Fire), destroyed 135 homes…”. The second fire, named ‘Rough Fire’, has burned through the counties of Amador and Calaveras in the Sierra Nevada. The Rough Fire has demolished 203 square miles of forest land and is 30 percent contained.

Combined the fires have displaced 23,000 people, Mark Ghilarducci, director of Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, stated at a news conference Monday. In an interview conducted by the New York Times Janis Irvin said, “I felt like it was the end times. It was red and black and boiling.”

The 30 mile per hour wind made it extremely difficult for the California firefighters to battle the ever growing blaze. The embers from the blaze rained down from the sky. Making it both dangerous for citizens but also increasing the chance that a flash blaze could start up in another spot.

Middletown, a small town with a population of only 1,300, was considered by locals as ‘part cowboy and part hippie’. Middletown was known for its nude Harbin Hot Springs, demolished by the blaze. The hot springs was a motivating cultural factor for many artists and liberal people from San Francisco.

According to Fox News, California Gov. Jerry Brown declared a state of emergency due to the two fires blazing across Lake and Napa counties. He also asked for help from the California National Guard and funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

One family was lucky enough to have their house still standing is the Barloggi family. Barloggi and her husband, Ken, were attending a party when the fire broke out. The bolted home to grab their dog and Ken’s heart medication. but found their way out blocked by downed power lines.
As the blazes continues to make its way across California, many more homes and family are in danger. Hopefully the fire will be contained soon.

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/presidential-campaign/254094-bernie-sanders-won-the-gop-debate

As a Bernie Sanders fan myself (#feelthebern), I was incredibly partial to this opinion article. But I do agree with everything that Brent Budowsky said. While the republicans are arguing amongst each other Sanders is sitting back defending his “Socialist” beliefs to large media corporations like CNN and Time magazine. The more Sanders gets his message out the more of a threat he becomes and the republican party continues to just write him off. I think that the big media corporations don’t want to cover Sanders because his opinion will not be in agreement with their core demographic, 40+ year old men and women. But now that Sanders is leading polls in New Hampshire and here in Iowa, the big media has no choice but to cover Sanders and allow him to speak his mind on their programming.

Moyer Quick, 65, passed away after his vehicle struck a truck while trying to pass it on Highway 20 early Wednesday morning.

Randy Radin, 17, was driving the truck that was involved in the accident. He was transported to Marian Health Center and is in “critical” condition, with a fractured skull and internal injuries

Dorothy Quick, 61, wife of Moyer, Maxine Steuerwald, 43, were also injured in the accident while in Quick’s vehicle. Dorothy and Maxine were also transported to Marian Health Center. Dorothy is reported in “good” condition and Maxine in “fair” condition.

Patric Stewart, an Iowa Highway Patrolman, reported that both vehicles were sent into the ditch after Quick tried to pass Radin but his rear-end struck Radin as he completed the pass. Quick’s vehicle rolled once.

This article is about the Iran deal and how senate Democrats achieved a major victory when they blocked a Republican plan to block the new Iran deal. The article goes on to explain how Pres. Obama has done in his, almost complete, two terms as the President. The article mentions how good Pres. Obama was at uniting the Democratic party when he needed it the most. One example of this is when he passed the Health Care Act with no Republican votes. The Iran deal has been the same way. The article says, “Pres. Obama may go down in the history as a president whose single biggest foreign policy and domestic achievements were won with no Republican votes”.

Even with a “do-nothing” congress Pres. Obama has still been a great president. It may of took 7 years but he has done what he said he was going to do. Unemployment is almost to a point where economist consider it “full employment”. The economy has been slowly growing for the last couple years and wage gaps between men and women are starting to close.

Iowa Highway patrol is no longer using hand-held radar guns because of the possible links to cancer.

The ban was ordered as a precaution while studies are conducted into the possible links between cancer and the use of such guns. This comes after three municipal officers in Cedar Rapids filed workman’s compensation, saying they developed cancer from the using of hand-held units.

Adam Berluti, spokesperson for the Iowa Highway patrol, stated, “The feeling here is to err on the side of caution until more is known about the issue. The whole situation is under review”. The move is considered to be the first of its kind by a state police agency.

The ban affects 70 radar guns that will be withdrawn from the service. State troopers will continue to use radar units with transmitters mounted on the outside of their cruisers.

The last person I talked to was a man known as Mega Shogun v2. Shogun is a 19 year old male living in England. He is a champion Kick-boxer and a semi-professional video game player. Shogun is going into his second year of university and getting a degree in sports analysis and coaching.

Our conversation was mostly filled with the words: “I’ve got it”, “Nice Shot”, “Amazing save”, “THE WALL”, and “Far post”. Shogun and I were running late night scrims against another Rocket League team.