For the last couple weekends I had to take trips across the state of Iowa for various reasons.

It is really sad to see so many groves full of dead trees. Almost every stand of trees you see many dead trees.
The Emerald Ash Borer has decimated what is left of our states trees. Many of the trees planted to replace all the Elms after they all died were Ash trees, now all those are dead too. I remember specifically a time that Ash were recommended as replacements for Elms. There are complete groves or tree lines dead now. I would guess that most in Iowa are completely dead as of now, with those still hanging on, will be dead soon.

On top of that I seem many evergreen trees are dead or dying too, I dont know exactly what is causing that but it really is sad seeing so many dead.

I know this was coming for years, but this year is the first I really noticed just how many dead trees are showing up everywhere.

For those with Ash trees, what are you doing, are you still trying to fight and save your trees? What is the prognosis when treating, how successful is it? Are you going to just remove and replace? Then what about all these groves and tree lines full of dead trees? I guess those will eventually fall on their own and someday will be replaced by new growth of something else, but will be long after I am gone.

Just like the title says. I can't open the forums page or the login page on an android mobile phone. I've erased cookies and cache on the phone and rebooted already and no help. These are the screens it redirects me to.

In the least surprising results ever found, the "happiest" workers are in the e-vaping and marijuana retail sector.




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On Monday the Big 12 released embarassing "marketing" images of every school's stadium. They were created by Big 12 sponsor Microsoft's copilot AI. Each picture had eregious errors. Ex:

'V MUNTAINEERS
TEooF TFrn
TCU STANHIK
SILLI.WATER
KSU plays on a 55 yard field
ISU icon JACE IIIBCIGMANIA
HOUSTOS A(rocket)
BUFFAL DES
SPA KNIGHTS
8YU

and

* (Yes that's the Baylor logo)

https://bsky.app/profile/sickoscommittee.org/post/3ltfwfa6ad226

https://bsky.app/profile/smokingmusket.bsky.social/post/3ltfw5ijgl22r

There's more on twitter but I refuse to link there. Terrible look for the Big 12. If you're gonna take money from Microsoft, at least care a little bit? Modicum? Smidgen? It's bad enough that AI is ruining our environment and the lives of people, but for this crap?

*We have 9 shirts left to sell. Message me if interested.
5 small
4 large
My daughter is on the ISU cheer team and is selling the new 2025 football t-shirts to raise money for their travel to support the football/basketball teams and NCA college cheer nationals competition. Please consider purchasing a shirt for $20 that could be hand delivered near campus or at any home football game or sent to your home via mail for $25/ per shirt! Comment below, PM or email me at [email protected] to purchase!
️

My son will be starting at a new college next year. I meant to ask if we could use some of his college savings funds to buy a bike. But I mistyped and asked if we could use his savings to buy "bile". Here is the AI response:

I was really digging into the schedule for this upcoming year, and noticed that between byes and non-con some teams won't play their first conference game until 9/27 - nearly a month after Irish Farmagedon. There will only be 5 total Big 12 conference games prior to that week (6 if you count the weird KSU/Arizona technically non-con game).

Is that an abnormally long time to wait for conference play to begin? Have I just not been paying attention?

Single game tickets went on sale to the current Cyclone Club members and football season ticketholders Tuesday. Just went in this morning to see what is available for Iowa State/Iowa. There are lots of tickets available. Hopefully our fans step up and buy, don't want those mouthbreathers stealing our oxygen at JTS.

Just saw cyclone report that he signed with the good guys. Recruited as an athlete.

Her game is playing at the bar and I swear I have never seen any player in history get so many shots blocked. This isn’t a Clark vs Reese debate. She is actually terrible at basketball. It’s actually funny to watch.

Heading into Big 12 Football Media Days, here's one question for each team in the conference.

Was mowing my neighbor's yard yesterday and noticed the gal that lives behind him on a rider mower, taking the grass down to about golf green height. When she was finished, she brought out her weed eater and was cutting some taller grassweeds. I didn't see if she cleaned the mess up or not as I was done mowing. Just got me to thinking what other's do.

I mow 4 yards in our neighborhood for elderly people. It's been a challenge lately with all the heat and rain to stay ahead of the game. I will usually weed eat first then mow.

Hear from Matt Campbell on what he expects out of the defensive line. Rocco Becht talks about the strengths of transfer receivers Chase Sowell and Xavier Townsend.

Hits the shot to force overtime, The dude is CLUTCH.

Ok this looks kinda badass and great
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I am looking for a central Iowa LO. I am a lender in Colorado, so not looking for a loan, it’s a new thing I’m working on and want to explore DSM area as an expansion market. Thanks!

Preface: Fast approaching retirement, my wife desires to relocate nearer our young grandchildren in south-central MN. We're getting the house ready to market and our realtor has indicated we need to declutter. We're going thru rooms picking things to sell on FB Marketplace, and come across a 1950's desk which my wife wants to price at $50 to facilitate a quick sale.

I've had this desk forever, so I know it's a high quality piece of furniture with a solid walnut top slab. It's small but heavy. The manufacturer's name is in a drawer, American of Martinsville.

I do a quick web search and much to my surprise, find American of Martinsville is known for their quality MCM furniture which is "highly desired by millennials". I see their desks on-line priced between $1500 and $4000, with the name of a specific designer (Merton Gershun). I'd like to determine the model of my desk and whether or not it was designed by Mertun Gershun, but I can't find any American of Martinsville catalogs on-line. Mine appears to have some design elements in common with the Gershun desks, but I don't know what I'm looking at!

Is anyone here knowledgeable about MCM furniture, how to research it for the purpose of establishing a fair price, and where best to market it? Suggested prices would be well received!

Thanks in advance for any assistance. I'm not looking to make a mint off this, but don't want to sell a $1500 collectible for $50 either!

The entire football program still feels the 2024 Big 12 Championship loss, Matt Campbell is confident in the linebacker depth and Rocco Becht is ready to spread the wealth. Jake Brend has more in his report from Texas. All coverage is presented by Fareway Meat & Grocery.

Using Bill Connelly's Returning Production Stat, I was curious to see the correlation between returning production and (W/L record): P4 schools only. General take aways were.

If a team has less than 60% returning production, there's a high likelihood of having a rough season. Looking more closely at Duke and Pittsburgh there's a reason why they did better with little returning production.

Duke's final Sagarin 2024 SOS rank was #64 and Pitts was #62. There are 67 P4 teams.

Nice article about where she’s going now and her basketball career.

Anyone else invest in cryptocurrencies yet? I'm just starting out and wondering if anyone had advice for buying and trading.

Chris Williams and Brent Blum dive into the decision from the Big 12 to no longer use a media poll before CW gives his idea for how to fix it. The guys give their mid-July Big 12 Poll and more. Presented by Mechdyne.

RECRUITING: Iowa State's 2026 QB commit picked up an Alabama offer a month after announcing the Cyclones as his choice.

He caught up with @cfchangs9 to talk about it.

Voting is open for the Cyclone Fanatic Movie Villain Final 4.


How to vote:
To select the favorite (the show seeded highest), choose the Heart emoji.
To select the underdog, choose the Rainbow emoji.
No other emojis will be counted.

Deadline to vote: Now through Tuesday at 10 PM

The annual ranking of breweries in Iowa was released today:

https://iowabeerblog.blogspot.com/2018/12/the-10-best-breweries-in-iowa-2018.html

JUST MISSED THE CUT: SingleSpeed, Madhouse, Fat Hill, Iowa Brewing Company, Franklin Street and 515 Brewing.
10. Backpocket
9. Jackson St.
8. Exile
7. Lion's Bridge
6. Confluence
5. Alluvial
4. Barn Town
3. Big Grove
2. Topling Goliath
1. Pulpit

I haven't had Pulpit, Barn Town, and Jackson St, however all of the others are legit, except for Exile. I'd knock them off and add Iowa Brewing or 515 on it.

The article didn't mention 7 Hills in Dubuque, which was decent, and Third Base Brewing, which puts out excellent seasonal beers.

Odd that it has Thew on its watch list, as when we went there a few weeks ago, I'd say they're the worst microbrewery in the CR area.