Josh Meredith's Blog


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