Defiantone.com

This particular post was not inspired by some random urge to write about the state that for the longest time I knew as my home. In fact, I’m only writing about Iowa because someone else did all of the hard work for me.

The Iowa State Fair is probably going full swing right now and it’s quite an event if you should ever happen to be stuck in the midwest in the hottest (and muggiest) part of the year. The fair, as far as I know, is probably the largest and most iconic in America - I may be incorrect but I’m not going to bother a google search to find out if I’m wrong - I’m going to rely on someone leaving a comment and pointing out the error of my ways. What you may not know about the state fair, aside from where you can find Iowa on a US map (when someone is unable to name a state based upon the shape alone I get annoyed - don’t they teach geography anymore? I can probably still name all of the state capitals to a 80% accuracy and I doubt that I will ever travel to Montpelier (the capital of VT)), is that they love to hold contests of all sorts - some of them quite bizarre. If you’re traveling to the fair from the east via I-80 you’re bound to pass another Iowa oddity - the worlds largest truck stop

I love Iowa - I just don’t think I could live there and maintain my sanity - I do like to visit when I’ve got a chance - They have great pies (thank you Amana colony pie lady), great vegetables (hooray for corn!), fantastic thunderstorms (the damn mountains greatly diminish the odds of thunderstorms in this part of the country), and…. oh yeah, most of my family still resides in Iowa.

I’m not in the mood to write a full post so I’m going to give you a file and a couple of links. First off is the best appeal to an Article 15 punishment that I’ve ever seen. Its well worth the read - I had a feeling that I wasn’t the only sarcastic ass in the Air Force.

Next up is an writer that looks at our nation and its productivity if we completely eliminated obesity. Its more editorial than fact but she does bring the work of a few economists into the mix. Its an interesting read thats worth checking out.

Last is an article about corn and how it is and isn’t impacting the cost of food and gasoline in our country. For some reason, as an Iowa native, I feel compelled to write about corn whenever I get a chance. My home state only stands in the spotlight once in a great while. Most Americans only hear about Iowa once every four years during the Caucus. It’s a shame that most of them are still unable to point it out on a map.