Josh Meredith's Blog


Story # 3

Posted in Uncategorized by Joshua on the December 16, 2011

my project #2 my news story i think i labled it wrong because it is really story article #3

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Story Article 4

Posted in Uncategorized by Joshua on the December 16, 2011

Josh Meredtih

Comm 208

Story article 4

The average college student’s day often times will go something like this: Wake up for lunch. After lunch, maybe decided to hit up a class or two if there is a drive to actually get up and go. Play some Call of Duty Modern Warefare 3 on the gaming console of their choice. Go to dinner. After dinner, drink some adult beverages while staying up way too late. Rinse and repeat everything tomorrow. As Kellen Wonder put it, “Ya, that sounds like a normal day for me.”

Unfortunately for Hailey Meredith, this is not how her college days are going. This is because on top of full time college work, she happens to be married as well as working every day. Her husband is rarely home either because he also is maintaining a full time job along with being a full time student.

Hailey’s average day usually starts by getting wet nosed by her wiener dog, Kaleb, at around six in the morning. Hailey commented that this is both a good and bad thing.

“The bad part is that it is six in the morning and no college student wants to be awake at that time. The good part is that if Kaleb didn’t wake me up, he would likely find a spot to do a number one and a number two in my bed.”

So, she generally will drag herself out of bed when Kaleb wakes her and she put the dog on the chain outside so he can relieve himself. The rest of the morning is spent getting ready for her day by doing her morning routines.  Michelle Kuester commented that, “Hailey seems to spend a lot of her attention on her dog…probably the best birth control.”

Hailey takes classes at Western Iowa Tech Community College in Sioux City Iowa where she is studying business management. She has mixed feelings about WITCC. She loves the cost of the school but hates the class atmosphere.

“Classes at WIT are pretty much a joke. Everyone there seems to be at least 30 years old and yet they act like they are ten year old age. But, you can’t beat the price.”

After her morning classes, she heads off to work at the Angel House Daycare to work her usual six and a half hour shift. When she was first hired at the daycare, she originally worked with four year olds. Unfortunately, she got moved to the two year olds soon after and has disliked her job since. She explained to me why she disliked the change.

“At first the two year olds were cute but then this cuteness was accompanied by crying and s@!# in the pants. Though the four year olds definitely had their bad days, the terrible twos are much worse and this is way I am looking for a new place to work.”

Hailey did recently get an interview at the Morningside branch of Great Southern Bank.

“Hopefully I get the job…I would be making more money, working better hours, and maybe actually working with adults.”

Jason Larson, who has also had the experience of going to college while working and being married explained his take, “It’s tough taking care of a house with a dog and husband while also going to school and work. But, if you make it through all the struggles, someday you can look back at the tough times and laugh.”

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The Next News Comment

Posted in Uncategorized by Joshua on the December 9, 2011

Virginia Tech was put on lock down again today due to another shooting. The third school shooting incident they have had since 2007. In 2007, a man killed 32 innocent people before taking his own life. Many people believe this number reached this high because the university did not warn the students of the shootings as soon as possible.

Today, a man strode up to a campus police officer who was making a routine traffic stop, and shot and killed him. As soon as authorities received the news of the shooting, campus wide texts, messages, and sirens spread across the campus calling for a lock down as hundreds of police officer searched and secured campus buildings. The gun man was latter found dead on a lawn where he committed suicide.

Va Tech’s swift actions may have saved lives this time but they were not so quick and decisive in 2007.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/police-officer-reportedly-shot-virginia-tech-campus-lockdown-183115715.html

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News Comment

Posted in Uncategorized by Joshua on the December 2, 2011

This one is for you Ross

Dear Mr Fuglsang,

If you had to had to sell your most prestigious and rare comic book, how much do you think you would get for it. Oo November 11, some very lucky gentlemen put a comic on comicconnect.com that sold this week for $2.16 million. The comic was a copy of the first issue of Action Comics which I guess is very famous because it contained the first appearance of Superman, kinda a big deal. The seller put a reserve price of $900,000 which the average person would consider much to high and outrageously ridiculous but the buyer, who obviously doesn’t have anything productive to spend his money on (he should look into charities.) decided he could more than double that.

The comic was published in 1938 at a time when it cost just 10 cents! There is believed to be about 100 copies of Action Comics Number 1 left on the plant and very few of them are believed to be in good condition. If you find one in your grandpas attic, please don’t do anything stupid with it and sell it while you can before on of the corners crease.

http://movies.yahoo.com/news/action-comics-1-sells-2-16-million-auction-010326975.html

News Comment 11

Posted in Uncategorized by Joshua on the November 18, 2011

This year, black Friday is going to be a little different. In fact, for most people, it is going to start on Thanksgiving day. This is because unlike in years past when the doors to stores opened around four or five in the morning, the doors to pretty much every store will be open at midnight. The early birds have lost their edge now.

Last year Wal-mart decided to open their doors at midnight, and places like Best Buy suffered because lot of people had gotten their shopping out of the way and were done by the five oclock opening. This new change has gone into affect for almost every store nation wide. Now, lots of families will spend a good portion of their Thanksgiving day out side of a store like Best Buy instead of around the table for a little food, family, and most importantly football. This also frees up people to get their shopping done before the Iowa Nebraska games kicks off. (Which both team suck so who really cares?)

If you have lots of time on your hands between now and black Friday you can start camping our already! According to the Miami Herald, a couple in Florida is already camping outside of a Best Buy. Of course, Florida has much nicer weather than Midwest Iowa, but go ahead and be my guest and start camping. I’ll wave at you every time I come in and out of work.

Sources:

I work at best buy

http://consumerist.com/2010/11/florida-couple-already-camping-out-for-black-friday-at-best-buy.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Very Rough draft of paper 3 (probably should get some interviews done eh?)

Posted in Uncategorized by Joshua on the November 10, 2011

 

Unfortunately, our planet has a major poop problem on its hands that it needs to wash off. Sanitation is neither a sexy topic nor the human races strong suit. As the population of the world continues to creep up, the amount of waste produced by humans will also continue to creep up, or should I say out.

Approximately 2.6 billion of the over 7 billion people on earth lack any sanitation at all and more than 200 million tons of human waste goes untreated every year. We high and mighty Americans are not as safe as we think either. 90 percent of sewage is discharged directly into lakes, rivers, and oceans and our developed cities still depend on rickety old sewage systems that are easily overwhelmed by heavy rain.

All this untreated waste and sewage adds up to equal a major public health crisis theat claims one childs life every 20 seconds. Though investing in sanitation for the world is not a top peope want to bring up, it is a topic that needs to be addressed before too many more lives are lost.

 

 

Santa Cruz is experience a whale of a problem because in Santa Cruz California, they are playing Moby Dick for real. Though we Iowans often get cold temperature and snow this time of year at least we are not getting almost man eating, boat crushing and capsizing whales! The lucky people of Santa Cruz have found themselves in an unlucky situation. A pod of Humpback whales has followed in a school of anchovies and are submerging from the water to eat. News Flash People, Humpback whales don’t care if people are on top of the surface when they come up for a bite to eat. The whales have made the waters of the coast of Santa Cruz a dangerous place to be. So, think again before you plan on getting away from these cold temperatures because even though every place in the United States may seem better than Northwest Iowa, at least we Iowa have people friendly cows that give us tasty things like milk and cheese and steak, rather than 40 ton whales that will give you a destroyed boat and a possibly even a lost life.

 

 

State College, Pennsylvaina has been shook to its core for the last few days by Jerry Sandusky despicable acts towards young boys. The fall out or Sandusky’s actions have resulted in Penn State University’s board of trustees deciding to fire their head football coach Joe Paterno. Joe Pa worked for Penn St. for over 60 years. Last week college football fans were celebrating Paterno’s 409th victory. This week Paterno will be watching the Penn St. Nebraska game from his home. The inability of Penn State’s authorities to do what was morally and legally right will result in Penn St. cleaning house and result in in Joe Paterno’s  and the universities reputation being permanently tarnished.

News Comment 9

Posted in Uncategorized by Joshua on the November 3, 2011

Anchovies are a type of small salt water fish that swim around in schools all day. They are also something that is extremely disgusting to put on pizza. Though I wouldn’t be surprised if they have claimed someone’s life before because they are just that bad tasting, Humpback Whales love themselves some anchovies. This has become a problem in Santa Cruz California where schools of anchovies have been swarmed close to the shore attracted more than a few humpback whales. If you are a whale watcher, this is awesome news for you. If you are a surfer or a avid kayaker, the already unsafe water has become an even more dangerous place.

Humpback Whales surface lunge feed on the anchovies meaning that they come from the bottom of the ocean and come up through the surface with their mouth agape collecting all the oily anchovies they can. Unfortunately, the whales don’t really care much if a human on a surf board or in a boat is on the other side of the surface. A sail boat has already been struck by a whale, and multiple kayakers and surfers have been capsized. The Santa Cruz Harbor Patrol has been trying to keep people off of the dangerous parts of the water. Some stupid people have been harassing the whales. Unfortuanely for them, the whales are protected by federal law so those people who need to get their brain checked will be paying hefty fines anywhere from $2,500 to $32,000.

Humpback Whales weigh as much as 40 tons, and they grow well over 50 feet in length. So it is hard to get our of the way of these huge mamals when they start coming to the surface. The key to getting out of the way is to watch the birds. Humpbacks will herd the schools of anchovies to the surface which also brings opportunistic birds to the water trying to get an easy bite of anchovies. So the birds are giving away the presence of the whales. If you see birds dive booming into the water near you, get away fast.

 

http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/30915/lunging+humpback+whale+nearly+swallows+up+surfer+kayaker/

A Happy Wedding

Posted in Uncategorized by Joshua on the November 3, 2011

My World’s Sanitation Story

Posted in Uncategorized by Joshua on the November 1, 2011

News Comment 8 I think

Posted in News Comments by Joshua on the October 19, 2011

On Sunday, during the IZod Indy Car race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a driver’s small mistake on the 12th lap resulted in a 15 car, fiery pile up. One driver, Dan Wheldon, got caught up in the pile up and his car flew through the air and into the safety net that surrounds the track. Unfortunately, he received major head trauma and was rushed to the hospital where he was pronounced dead two hours later.

I know I have gotten into the habit of writing about people who have died with previous post of Steve Jobs, Al Davis, and now Dan Wheldon but this is big new for a couple of reasons. For one, before the race, many drivers were voicing their opinion that the track was unsafe for Indy cars and that the banks were to steep and there were to many drivers on the track. Ill try to explain these valid complaints. Indy cars have the potential of reaching speed of 240 miles per hour on speed ways. Which is 20 mph faster than on a road course or track. Also, on speedways, drivers have the ability to drive three wide. So imagine driving 240 mph with a car on either side of you going equally as fast as all three of you go into a turn with cars in the same formation just split seconds behind and ahead of you. The steepness of the track just make it that much faster. When the drivers said that there were too many cars on the track their complaint made more than a little sense. Every race this year in Indy car had 19 or 20 drivers except for the Indy 500. For some reason, the Indy Car series governing body thought that since it was the last race of the Indy car season, that they should put 34 drivers in the race.

All of these factor contributed to the perfect storm for the already unsafe Indy cars. So on lap 12, one driver got loose and clipped another driver, which started a chain reaction which had 15 cars crash including four that literally flew and flipped over 200 feet through the air. One of those cars that flipped and flew through the air was Dan Wheldon’s.

Now the Indy car is already unsafe as it is. It has an open cockpit and they have it build so low to the ground to make it as fast as possible that they get air born quite easily. Ironically, Dan Wheldon was the main test driver for the new cars that the Indy series will be driving next year. The race was cancelled but the 19 drivers still in the race decided to do a 5 lap salute in honor of Dan Wheldon after they heard the bad news. Dan Wheldon will be miss tremendously by the sport.

My own thoughts the issue:

The Indy Series is trying to hard to catch up to NASCAR in popularity that they are willing to throw safety on the back burner. They probably shouldn’t even race on the speed ways much less put 15 more cars than normal on one. But, the more cars, the more exciting for a TV audience. Dan Wheldon was one of the most recognizable names in Indy racing. If you asked me to name as many people as I can in the series he would be one of the three names that I would have been able to produce off the top of my head. Danica Patrick and Dario Franccini are the other two. Dan Wheldon left behind a wife, and two you boys. They were able to be there in the hospital at his side when he passed when he passed. Indy has a long off season a head of them where they are going to be pushed to make some decisions about speed ways and the type of cars the drivers are driving. It seems that ever 5-10 years another driver is killed. Though I can’t remember their names, I know a driver was killed in 1999 and another one in 2006.

My only source for this news comment is really that I watch ESPN all the time so I don’t really have a web link for you. If you do want to read more on this tragic crash then you can just google Dan Wheldon. I will provide one of the youtube videos of the crash though so feel free to check it out. It hard to make out which car is Dan Wheldon’s, which can be a good or bad thing depending on how you want to look at it, but he is in one of the cars that flies through the air. There are so many videos of the crash on Youtube so I hope this is a good one.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsataYtOJfs&feature=related

 

 

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