Welcome to the Spring Fever Garden Forms, and my name is Tom Kalb, and I'm an Extension Horticulturist in the Department of Plant Sciences. Let's get started and talk about the emerald ash borer. This is a very destructive insect that we've heard a lot about, but it's yet to be detected in North Dakota. Here to provide us with the latest information is Joel Zalesnik. Joel is the Extension Forester for North Dakota State University. He received his PhD at Michigan State, and Joel teaches prairie and community forestry on the NDSU campus. Joel leads the NDSU Extension activities in forestry, including our efforts in managing this past. Joel, welcome to the forums. Okay, well, thank you, Tom. Thanks everybody for joining us tonight. I will try to be brief and to the point, which is a little difficult because there's so much to discuss about emerald ash borer that we could discuss. Emerald ash borer was discovered in the U.S. in 2002 in the Detroit, Michigan area, and we still haven't found it in North Dakota. When I last gave an update, which was in 2015, six years ago, I really thought that was the year we would find it in North Dakota, and still we haven't. So that's a good thing. It's not that we haven't looked because we have. So I want to start out with this, where is EAB? Last I gave a presentation to this group was in March of 2015, and the closest place to us where EAB was found was in the Twin Cities area. And I think, oh, that's right, this is automatically advancing. By the end of 2015, it was found throughout the Twin Cities area and up by Duluth, although that entire county is shown. And then in early 2016, it's continuing to spread in southern Minnesota along the Wisconsin border. By the end of 2016, again, south, it wasn't really coming up our way anymore. 2017 was a big year, though. Early 2017, nothing new coming our way. But late 2017, it was discovered in Winnipeg. And that worried a lot of us because Winnipeg's colder than North Dakota even. And that was one of the things that a lot of people were hoping for was that cold temperatures would stop EAB, and they won't. They'll slow EAB, but they won't stop it. So that was late 2017, early 2018, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Also in 2018, in September, starts moving up the I-94 corridor from the Twin Cities to Clearwater. And by April 2019, Sock Center, Minnesota. And that was, and by the end of 2019, that's where it was that. 2020, they keep switching maps on us. 2020, at the beginning, it looks like it's spreading in southern Minnesota again. Kind of between Sioux Falls and Twin Cities is where I saw it most. And by the end of 2020, it's the same. And then they switched map formats on us. So there's not a whole lot new since 2021 or since December. It's still south of us or south in southwestern Minnesota. So EAB has slowly gotten closer. So let's look, where is EAB closest to North Dakota? Winnipeg, Sioux Falls, and Sock Center. And in the Sioux Falls area, it has spread to a second county. And what they've been finding there is that, yes, it's spreading, but slower than it did in the eastern US. So when will we find it? That is the million dollar question. I don't know. Nobody knows if I had a crystal ball. My crystal ball was wrong. I thought we would have found it six years ago. So just to let you know what we're doing about this, we, the royal we, NDDA, North Dakota Department of Agriculture, is leading trapping efforts for this in 2020. They had, I want to say it was about 300. I can't remember the exact number, 300 traps around the state. And this is where they were, and they did not find emerald ash borer. And that's great. In 2021, there's going to be about 250 traps. The locations are to be determined. They're still figuring that out. Over the course of the last six years, they've had anywhere from about 150 traps to as many as 800 traps around the state. So we're looking for it. And this is the actual official traps. That doesn't include the site visits that folks do. If you're looking, if you're worried about your tree, might have emerald ash borer, please contact your local county extension agent, or you can contact me, or you can contact Charles with the Department of Agriculture or Pete Gogg with the North Dakota Forest Service. We all work together. We communicate regularly and how is it? About a month ago, we were all out in the field together looking for some EAB. This was on the Red River. Charles had been out. Charles L. Hart had been out hiking or snowshoeing. And he saw this tree. He was worried, hey, does this tree have EAB? Look at all the damage that's on it. All the woodpecker damage. And the short answer is no, it was not EAB. Charles and Pete and I all went out there and we peeled bark back. And we looked for insect larvae. We found some insect larvae, but they were not EAB. So that's great. That was my first potential EAB for the year. I've since had a second site visit. And just this past week, two more email exchanges where we were able to do it over email just through photos and so far nothing. And I'm sure Charles and Pete and others get questions like this all the time. And we're happy to come out and check because this is really important to our state. We have a lot of ash trees, a lot of ash resources and our shelter belts, our cities and in our native forest. So what's new? Well, as of January 14th, the federal quarantine was removed. OK, the federal government had a quarantine that said EAB is in certain counties. From those counties, you cannot export firewood. You can't export lumber, timber or any actual ash trees. And that was removed in mid January of this year. We knew it was coming. We knew it was coming months in advance. Basically, the federal government has said, you know what, EAB is here. It's going to spread. There's nothing we can really do to control it, not majorly to control it. The federal government has put more efforts into parasitoids, parasitoids from Asia that actually do a pretty good job of controlling EAB. And so they're putting their money in that basket. At the same time as the federal quarantine was removed, North Dakota, a day or two later, announced the statewide regulations. And it says, we're going to have a quarantine that says, hey, you can't bring ash into North Dakota. You can't bring firewood into North Dakota unless, here's the wording of the regulations. Roughly, roughly, I don't have the actual regulations with. But preventing the movement of ash products into North Dakota from areas that are known to be infested, all hardwood firewood cannot be transported into North Dakota from a regulated area unless it's been treated or inspected by officials from that state. And firewood must be labeled to county of origin if it's from partially infested states. So there are certain counties in Minnesota where emerald ash borer has not been found. It's OK to bring firewood into North Dakota from those counties, but it has to be labeled. So those are the in brief, in brief. I'm sure there's a lot more details to this. But that's kind of a summary of the current regulations for North Dakota. If you're looking for EAB, I would suggest our EAB signs and symptoms or our EAB biology and integrated pest management document. Just look for E1634, NDSU extension E1634. I feel like I'm calling bingo. So there's a lot of good information in there. And I'm just going to hit a quick summary, some quick highlights here. One of the big things we look for for EAB is these D shaped exit holes and they are small. They're about an eighth of an inch across. So they're tiny, but it looks like a capital letter D. And it can be in a branch as small as half or three quarters of an inch. We used to think it was down to one inch, but they can be even smaller. It's pretty amazing what the insects can use. And under the bark, we look for the serpentine galleries. That's where the beetle larvae feed on the phloem and a little bit into the sapwood of the tree. And it's distinctly serpentine. It goes back and forth, back and forth, especially when the infestation is small or it's just started. Because later on, when there are dozens of these in the tree, that serpentine gallery kind of goes away. There are a lot of native boars and bark beetles of ash trees that have very unique galleries. And some of those boars, the galleries are curvy. They're curved. And I used to say about EAB that it has curved galleries. And it's, and I've since changed that it's really serpentine. That's really pretty characteristic of emerald ash borer. But sometimes it can be hard to distinguish these from native pests. Those D-shaped exit holes, there's one native ash borer we have that the exit hole, it's kind of oval. It is oval. And boy, it can look like a D-shape to the untrained eye, even to the trained eye. It raises your eyebrows. OK, so that's a little bit for EAB signs. Let's look at symptoms on an ash tree. Having general dieback from the crown, from the tips down, from the top down is one of the big symptoms. But we see a lot of dieback on ash trees in North Dakota. There are a lot of environmental stresses here and our own native insect pests. We often will see epicormic branches. Some people call these water sprouts. And this is also kind of a general characteristic of crown dieback. The crown dies back and the tree tries to survive by sending out these water sprouts. And we see this with a lot of pests, with a lot of health problems. One thing I have not seen with other pests are these bark splits. Above those larval galleries where the EAB larvae have killed the cambium, sometimes the bark will split like this. And I've seen this a few times. It's subtle. It's subtle. You've got to know what to look for. And the other thing is bark flecking. They call this bonding from woodpeckers. And it's interesting because woodpeckers, when they're going after EAB larvae, they don't go very deep into the tree. And so the way the hole is formed in the bark is actually different from EAB than it is from other insects. And it's really subtle. And I have a hard time training my eye to see that difference. To me, it's a woodpecker hole. I can't tell. But I'm starting to see it. It's a smaller hole and it's not very deep. And when the woodpeckers are going for those native pests that we have, the holes are bigger and deeper. And you've got to train your eye. My colleague Leslie Johnson with the North Dakota Forest Service, she's really good at it. She can tell the difference. So again, these are hard to distinguish from other pests. So what we really need to do is we need to find larvae and peel back the bark. And if we find the larvae with these bell-shaped segments, that's emerald ash borer. And it needs to be confirmed by an expert. Because then there are some larvae of our native insects that look kind of close. So every time we find larvae, we collect them. And if we're really suspect, we'll send them on to an expert. So again, talk to your local county extension agent, call me, call Charles, or call Pete, or send us an email. OK. Very briefly, because I know this is really short tonight. How do we control the AB? Well, it's hard to control directly. But in terms of forest, our forest and maintaining ash trees, I want to say diversify, diversify, diversify. And if you're looking for, and I don't know, shoot. I don't know if that is showing up. I don't know if that's showing up, the ND tree selector, the North Dakota tree selector, www.ag.ndsu.edu slash tree dash selector. You can look for what species are generally available in North Dakota. Sorry, generally recommended for North Dakota. Because of their cold hardiness, you can change the characteristics you want if you're looking for tall trees, or looking for medium trees, deciduous versus conifer. There's all kinds of things you can do on the tree selector to narrow down those characteristics that you're looking for. No guarantee that we might have something. If you're looking for a tree that's low maintenance or no maintenance, well, you may be disappointed there. A lot of maintenance is needed. And I see there's some questions coming in. We'll get to those at the end here. So diversify, plant something other than ash. Biological, there are some parasitoids that will control EAB. And those have been released in Minnesota. They've been released in South Dakota. And they do a fairly good job of keeping numbers low. I'm not going to say they get rid of every single EAB, because they don't, but they help to keep numbers low. And the cold temperatures have slowed EAB down. And I want to share this with you. Back in 2019, we did a workshop down in the Minneapolis area with a bunch of tree professionals from North Dakota. And one colleague from Minnesota, I think it was DNR. It might have been Department of Ag, Anthony Hanson. He had built this map based on low temperatures from January 2019. How cold did it get at the end of January 2019? Well, in the Dakotas and Minnesota, in some places it got as low as 40 below. And the colder it gets, the more EAB larvae will be killed. But it's never quite 100%. So based on these temperatures and based on the death curve, this is what he came up with. That in terms of dieback of emerald ash borer larvae, well, in central Minnesota, where it was 40 below, we expected 90% of them to be killed. That's really good. This is predicted EAB mortality if it were here. If it were here. So yes, the colder it gets, the better the mortality, the higher the mortality, but it's never quite 100%. And as part of this, there was a paper that came out in 2013 that said, hey, based on the cold temperatures and based on where ash is and how cold it gets for how long, maybe EAB will be controlled naturally. That populations will rise, it gets cold, the population drops. Populations rise, it gets cold, population drops. So they came up with this idea that maybe ash trees will not completely get wiped out. And it's possible. So in theory, I've come up with this. It's rock, paper, scissors. If you're familiar with that, I call it ecological rock, paper, scissors. And the theory is this, that EAB beats the ash trees, which is true, they do. But the ash trees can survive the cold temperatures, which they do, clearly. And the cold temperatures, well, they don't really kill all the EAB, but they do kill quite a few, can and help to limit EAB. And along with that, the parasitoids, those parasites that will kill EAB, help to limit EAB. So it's ecological rock, paper, scissors. In theory, we could possibly, we'll cross our fingers, maintain some level of ash in our forests, in our windbreaks, in our urban areas, but it's hard to know for sure. So that's the theory. Okay. Chemical, and chemical control of EAB, you know, since 2015, the main three are still the main three. Emidocloprid, dinotepheran and anemonectin benzoate, just very briefly, emidocloprid, very common. It is available for homeowner use. There's a whole bunch of generics out there. I say 70 to 80% effective. You know, effectiveness isn't necessarily about killing a certain percent of larvae. It's keeping numbers down where the tree can fight back. The tree can survive about 10 or 11 larvae per square meter of phloem. And emidocloprid will help the tree do that. Whoops, how did that go ahead? Dinotepheran, which is also in the same chemical class as emidocloprid. This is, there is a homeowner use, a formulation that's available for homeowners, Zilam, there may be some others. This one is very interesting because not only is it available as a soil drench, but also you can spray it on the bark. This chemical is very mobile within the tree. So if you spray it on the bark, it'll go through the bark into the phloem, into the Zilam, and move through the tree very easily. So, and there may be other formulation, I'm sure there are other formulations as well. Okay, emimectin benzoate is kind of the gold standard, but it's professional use only. This is sold professionally as triage. And there's at least one more that was, oh, came out a year or two ago, I can't remember. Anyway, it's a stem injection, and it's professional use only. It's 99 plus percent effective. It's very effective for at least two years, eight to $16 per inch of diameter of tree trunk. The last I heard, that could have changed. And it's highly, highly effective. Now, we don't recommend injecting trees yet because EAB hasn't been found, you could spend a lot of money that's not necessarily gonna help the tree. So we recommend waiting until EAB is found within 30 miles. And then you should probably start injecting if you so choose. With that, I think I'll just list our contacts again. And I think that's where I'm gonna end it because I know we have a lot of questions and we'll go forward from there. Okay, thank you, Joe. How about that map by DeSantis where it was mainly white, but it had some green and red flaking on it. What did the green and red indicate there? Green is there, red is where they believe ash will be totally wiped out. Green is where they think there may be some ash in the future. Obviously, North Dakota is mostly prairie, so it's mostly white, it's mostly not forested. But that's their estimate. Okay, there was a question early on about why does the EAB larvae produce or why does when the pest come out of the tree it makes a D-shaped hole? Why does the adult do that? That's just the, yeah, that's the characteristic. Boy, I've got some great pictures of that just not here in this presentation. That's a characteristic of that genus of beetle that when they exit the tree, the adults come out, they chew this exit hole and it's in the shape of letter D. If you look at birch trees that are suffering from bronze birch borer, which is a native pest of our birch trees, you'll see those D-shaped exit holes. It's very closely related to emerald ash borer, though each is specific to its own host. So you'll see that D-shaped exit hole on those species that are closely related. Okay, we do invite questions from the audience. Just put your question in the question and answer box. Here's a question, Joe. What is the emerald green insect or pupae? They're not sure. It's prevalent in western North Dakota ash trees. They find it under the bark layer. They see it in firewood often. Okay, I actually see that question right now. I'm thinking in here if I've seen a green larvae or green pupae under the bark on ash trees, I'm not sure. What I've often seen in western North Dakota is, well, all over North Dakota really, is ash bark beetle. It's a very distinct. It's a very distinct gallery. It's a very distinct, yeah, larval gallery in ash bark beetle. I've seen redheaded ash borer, ash lilac borer. Those are pretty common as well. We do see the six-spotted tiger beetle, which is very green, nice and emerald green like the EAB. But I'm not sure if I've seen something like this in western North Dakota. They're on a blank. How about are all varieties of ash affected by the borer? All of our native varieties native to the US. That's in North Dakota, we have green ash and black ash. There's a tiny little pocket of black ash native to North Dakota in the extreme northeast, kind of between Wahala and Cavalier. Mostly we see black ash in the swamps in northern Minnesota. There's a white ash, which is in southern Minnesota, which sometimes people have planted as an ornamental, and that is also killed by EAB. There's a Manchurian ash that people have planted in North Dakota that is not native, that is actually fairly tolerant of the insect. Not 100%, but it can fight it off pretty well. Okay, so that addresses one of the questions we had is how the different species are affected by the ash borer. So you say that Manchurian is somewhat resistant or shows a little resistance. Well, I think it's pretty resistant. I'd say it's got high resistance. It's more a question of how much pressure it gets. They found in the eastern US that it was getting so much pressure from the EAB because of our native ash trees. We're building up these huge populations that the Manchurian ash wasn't surviving terribly well, but in other areas where there's fewer of our native ash trees, it's done okay. I also want to point out mountain ash is not an ash. The name is mountain dash ash, and that dash is really important. That tells you that it's not an ash tree. It's not a true ash tree. It's actually in the Rose family, it's more closely related to apples than it is to ash. Joe, what's the size of EAB? The adult EAB, there's this classic photo, and I don't even think I have it here. There's two EAB mating. It's less than a penny. So probably maybe a dime across. There's a classic photo of an EAB on a penny and it's much smaller. When would you see that adult? The adults come out while they emerge in the late spring 450 degree days, no 1100 degree days. I can't remember the exact number. There's been mathematical models that were built, but I want to say like mid-June, it would be mid-June up here, maybe early June, but they kind of emerge starting then and then slowly throughout the rest of the summer. Okay, Joe, a person has, the neighbor has an ash tree, and they see like these green silk-like caterpillars that hang down in web-like things. Yes. Is that the evil ash borer? That is not the ash borer. In the last two years, especially in central North Dakota, we've had canker worms.  And it's been really bad the last two or three years, especially in central North Dakota, hasn't been quite so bad in eastern North Dakota. And I expect those populations to tank, hopefully this year, maybe in 22. Joe, let's say an arborist comes to a homeowner and they offer to treat their trees for emerald ash borer. Would you recommend they do so prophylactically? Not unless EAB is within 30 miles. Right, yeah. Save your money, people. Can you speak a little bit more about those parasitoids? What are they and where in Minnesota are they being released? OK, let's see if I can get those photo the parasitoids. The parasitoids. Spatheus, a tannicolus and Oobius. There's no common names. They go by their scientific names. And the Oobius, I can't remember which is which in these photos, is an egg parasitoid that the insect lays its larvae there on the lower left. The Oobius lays its eggs on the EAB eggs and kills them that way. And the Spatheus and a tannicolus, they infest EAB larvae. And I know they've released them in the Twin Cities area. I'm not sure where else they've been released. These there was a lot, a lot of testing before these were released. These were from China or well from Asia, I should say. And there was a lot of testing before these were released to make sure that they were specific to EAB. And the long and short of it is they were specific enough to EAB. They might attack our our native bronze birch borer a little bit or our two line chestnut borer, which hits oak trees a little bit, but not much. They really focus a lot on on on on EAB. Oh, how far can an emerald ash borer travel from tree to tree, for example? Tree to tree, it can travel as far as 10 miles. Usually it's no more than a half a mile, though. Well, really one buck and go 10 miles. It can, you know, under the most extreme circumstances. Well, they did a good win. Well, there's that, too. But they did this research using flight meal where they put a tether on an insect and then blow air across it and make it fly and see how far it goes before it finally gives up. Up to 10 miles. OK, that's pretty far. Yeah. Just have a question. It's just a general question about ash tree in the backyard. The ash tree's got a lot of suckers and should that be a concern? It has a lot of small branches that are dark and fall to the ground whenever there's a big windstorm. Well, it sounds like there's general dieback on that tree. And yeah, I would be concerned if the little branches are dead. They're not certainly not helping the tree. And if the tree is producing suckers from the stem, that tells me that the top, the crown, is either dead or highly stressed. So yeah, I would be concerned about it. So maybe this person can send you a photo of the situation to get you a good feeling for the. They should contact the county extension agent first. There you go. OK, contact your local county extension agent. Send them some photos so they can get a good looking at the entire tree, including the environment where it's planted. Joe, do the parasitoids survive winter in North Dakota? Would they survive winter in North Dakota? Or do they release them every year when they do that in Minnesota? It's those two aren't mutually exclusive. They do survive winter. There's that spathious. There's actually two species of spathious because there was one that was not wasn't cold hard enough. So they went back to Asia and found a different species that was more cold hardy. And yes, they they can survive and and the populations build up. So there's this balance between parasite and EAB. But they do keep releasing a few more every year just to help build the population. It's kind of like stocking fish. OK, sounds good. You know, some of them are going to survive. Some of them are going to not get caught. And yet they still need to stock and add some more. Yeah, it sounds good. Maybe that's not a great analogy. I'll work on that. OK, OK, there's no more questions. Joel, thank you for your presentation. And thanks for going to us off to a great start tonight. OK, OK, thank you.


Hibajitak, Gordo the Texar here, Andrew's still not back. He's off somewhere, I don't even know anymore when he's gonna be here. He should be back next week. Anyway, grab yourself a libation, grab yourself a chair, join us again for another exciting episode of Hibajitak. We have a thematic theme today, it's football. So our guest today is Corey Rasmussen. Hey Corey, nice to see you buddy. How's it? Yeah, Corey is the former defensive lineman for the University of Hawaii football team. And he's gonna give us some secrets of some of the things that go on on the line between the lines and such. But it's great to have you on board. So thank you for being here. So we always ask our guests when they first come in. The first question is, so where did you go to school? Kamehameha. Kamehameha? Yeah. Right, Imua. So what year did you graduate from Kamehameha? 2012. 2012. And did you play football for Kamehameha?  No, I think I did. I think you did too. So you played football for Kamehameha. So my first question would be, so how old were you when you first got into football? First started right around three and a half, four years old, playing flag football. Playing flag football at four. Did you know then that you liked the game? Like what was the thing that motivated you to get involved in football? I think just going to practice, it was fun. And my dad was my coach, so. Yeah, so your dad helped a little bit. Oh yeah. So yeah, we have a slide. I have pictures of you somewhere. I couldn't find them, but when you were somewhat smaller than what you are now. So growing up, your dad played football for Damien? Damien, yeah. Right, what was his position? He was a linebacker. He was a linebacker, yeah. So the focus when you were three and a half, four years old, getting into this game was defense. No, I played O-line. Oh, interesting. I played an offensive line all the way through the park league. Really? So I see, I can't even recall that. So all the way through the park league, you were playing offensive line. So now, your family was very much involved in football growing up, because your brothers got involved with it as well, right? They played as well, both of them. They decided to take other approaches to their careers. But they're all sixed and changed like you. Oh yeah, they're all big. They're all big. So how did that happen? Because I know that your grandparents weren't even five feet tall, or your great-grandparents. Good deans. Good deans. Good deans. They came down the line somewhere. We should be like all the green bananas here or such. Anyway, I got a picture of you and your family who had a lot to do with you growing up in your career. So how important do you think family is in all you, not only you, but your brothers and such and having such a solid upbringing? Family is everything. I mean, they support you no matter what. So even if you mess up, they still, they're always there for you. And you can just always count on them. Yeah. Yeah, and you never got into trouble. No. Not at all. Never. No lickens, right? Oh, never. Never, right. Never. So what did you enjoy most about football in the younger, in the younger, in your earlier years? Just that it was fun. It was a game. I guess as you move up through the different levels of playing, it turns more to like a job. So when you're young playing, it's all fun and games. You're not really worried too much about the wins and losses. And as you get older, it kind of gets more and more important. But when you're young, you're just having fun out there with your friends pretty much. So do you learn a lot about teamwork and things that start early? Yeah. In the younger levels, you're basically trying to have a bunch of kids work together. And I guess it plants the seed for teamwork, which you need as you move up. And do you think bringing this forward in your career is going to help? Oh, yeah. Most definitely. Yeah. So the teamwork aspect and so on.  The thing I like the best is just the camaraderie and the friends that you make. I don't think the worst is getting injured or the off season. That's about it. Yeah, the off season. Yeah, getting pounded. So over the course of your career in football, figuring it out at four, well, there's a nice picture. Look, you have a tux on. I think that was when you were. That was the high school hall of fame, the one with Mufi. OK, I have a picture with you in Mufi coming up later. So that high school hall of fame. So you were in the high school hall of fame? Yeah. You know what, I just went sidetracked on me because they had the Polynesian Bowl. Wait, that's high school. That's high school. Right. So I was going to say, wait, can you go to that? But only as an observer. So the camaraderie part, now how many of the kids now that are young adults like you, do you still see around? Oh, a lot. I mean, we all went separate ways as we got older. But when we see each other, we're always like, oh, and get us together and we'll talk forever. And you talk forever. Oh, yeah. So now your dad was your coach? Yeah, coming through the park leads. He coached me all the way to, I want to say, 7th grade? 7th grade. But he didn't coach just you? Yeah, not just me. He was his coach on the team. And but we did have a lot of private practice sessions. Oh, I'm sure. Well, you're close at hand. Oh, yeah. So and was your mom involved in the league at all? Yeah, she was the president of the Everbeesh Cardinals. So she was the president for how long? Do you think she did that? Years. Years? A long time. I don't know where they're. We all came up through that. Me and my brothers, we all came up through that program. They were there for a while. So I would have to venture to say that programs like that, whether it be the football or the baseball soccer or whatever, they're pretty good at keeping off the street. Oh, yeah. I think that's probably part of their goal. And I think it gives kids the opportunity to go do something, keep them busy. And I think by staying busy, they'll stay out of trouble. Right. And there's more to it than just out there playing the game. You've got to study this game. Oh, yeah. But I think that comes later in your career. I think when you're young, it's just about having fun. And then it's a good way for you to get tired and go to sleep and keep you out of your parents' hair. So you've got to fit your homework into all that as well. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. So I got another shot here. So this is kind of a shot that was taken of, I think it was you guys this year at the University of Hawaii. And you met a lot of good guys, right? Oh, yeah. That's a solid crew right there. Yeah. So the solid crew, tell me how it was. So you went from the public school, not public schools, from the Ever Beach leagues. And then you ended up at Command Man. And you ended up playing for Command Man. But I thought you played baseball. Yeah, I played in the offseason of football when I was young. I think I stopped playing right around my freshman year. And then the sole focus just went football. Purely onto football. So now did you know at that point in time, was there any point in time in this where you said, I'm going to focus on football and football is going to enable me to go to college? Yeah, right after I stopped playing baseball, I was kind of in a decision-making process with my parents. And we all knew that I had a brighter future, or felt that I had a brighter future in football. And I just loved the game. So I made the decision to just focus on one sport. And focus on the one sport. So you focused on the one sport. And then you saw this as a vehicle for you to be able to go to college, to university. You're not exactly the richest family in the world. So it's not like you're sitting on a boatload of money. And lo and behold, you started to get some scholarship opportunities. And you mentioned Mofi earlier.  Did he ever pay it? The answer is yes. He did. So you ended up getting a scholarship there. And then you ended up getting other scholarship offers from other universities. So what other universities started talking to you? There was multiple schools that talked to you. They sent you a bunch of mail and stuff. And then the schools that offered me were Utah, Colorado, Hawaii, UH, UW, and Arizona. Yeah, I think that's all of them. Yeah, those were the full right offers. Now, you have an interesting story about Norm Chow. Because wasn't Utah recruiting you? So give us a story about Norm Chow and how that unfolded. Coach Chow was actually the, I want to say, the OCI Utah. And so when I was getting recruited there, I was talking to him and talking to him. But I ended up going to Colorado. And when I decided to come home, he was one of the people I called. With open arms, welcome me to come back home. So how long was it after you interviewed with him? He announced that he was going to go to the University of Hawaii. Oh, I think it was in a one-month span. I went up there on my visit, committed to Colorado. And then right after that, I found out he was going away. It was kind of funny. It was kind of funny. So yeah, it's like he was there. He never said anything to you either, but the potential of coming to Hawaii. So then you went to Colorado. You got redshirted there. And then the home was calling you back. So it's time to get back home. And lo and behold, here you got Norm. Yeah, Coach Chai is a man. I still love him. Yeah. So was he recruiting you for O-line or D-line? No, I was getting recruited as a D-lineman. OK, shifting over. So it must have been nice to come back and see him. Yeah, it was. I mean, I'm just glad he gave me the opportunity to come play at home. So then when you came back, because you transferred back. I had to sit one year. You had to sit one year.  You didn't know if you would get another one with UH, but you were willing to take the risk to come back home. Yep. I think it was just the right fit. Yeah, yeah. I think I personally think it was the right fit, too, because it worked out very, very well. So you came into that. You came into the Chau era. And when Chau was new, and you were new, and totally rebuilding, and you were left Colorado, which was doing the same, right? They were in the rebuilding station. I think after you left Colorado, or no, before you left Colorado, most of the coaches all left the. Oh, yeah, there was a switch in staff. They fired the head coach, and they brought in almost a whole new staff. So anyone that was involved in your recruitment wasn't there anymore? Yeah, nobody. Everybody was gone. So everybody was gone, and they were starting to rebuild. Even the athletic director, I think, was gone. Yep, the AD went maybe, I want to say, a few months after the head coach. Yeah. So what do you learn from that, with that kind of thing happening? It's like the entire management team in a company being let go, right? And all the workers that have been hired and brought on are now sitting wondering what's going on. How did that hit you? That's just, it was the first time for me seeing that kind of thing. But it just shows you what kind of career that is. And if you choose it, it can be rough. And a lot of coaches really love the game, and they're willing to stick that stuff out. Right. And then many of them moved on and have done well where they've gone. Oh, yeah. So it's just, it's an interesting thing. So that's a management 101 that I don't think you can get at school. No. You got it because you went to play football, but you never got that by going studying that in a class. Right. Right? Yeah. Oh, that's cool. So anyway, we're going to take a break in a minute, and we'll talk about the next generation, and then we're going to talk about between the lines. Give us some inside scoops and some of the things that happen when you actually play this game. So anyway, this is Gordo the Tech Star here with Corey Rasmussen, former defensive lineman captain of the University of Hawaii football team. And we'll be back in about a minute. Rolovitch is going to kick butt this season. In case you didn't understand me, University of Hawaii football team is going to kick butt under Rolovitch this season. So be sure to follow us on Think Tech Hawaii and Yobachi Top. I'll be at every game. And remember, aloo. I've got a new show here. You've got to tune in. Check out my topics on sensitive provocative female issues. So Tuesday mornings, 10 o'clock, don't miss it. It's going to be fun and dangerous. Aloha, this is Kaili Akina with the weekly Ehana Kako. Let's work together program on the Think Tech Hawaii broadcast network Mondays at 2 o'clock PM. Movers and shakers and great ideas. Join us. We'll see you then. Aloha. This is Gary Rasmussen who's talking about his life in football from age 3 and 1 half on up to how old are you now? Make 23 on the first one. 23. So 20 years plus you've played this game. Not too shabby. Not too shabby. So you've played it for 20 plus years. Now, what about the next generations of Rasmussen? Do you think they're going to be? First of all, explain this picture to the viewers. What is it we got going here? That's me kissing my son before our game. That's what that is. So next generation, three and a half, what do you think? You're going to be coaching him? I hope so. I don't know. Got to talk to his mom about it. But I hope I am. I mean, I look forward to it. Now that me playing is over, I look forward to watching him grow up and hopefully play. Yeah. It'd be kind of fun. It'd be kind of fun. So now we're going to talk about the game itself and some of the inside stories and things that go on within the game. But you played on that line for 20, 20 years. And now you get up through high school and you get into the college ranks. And it's pretty heavy duty when you're in the college ranks. And you played some amazing schools.  Ohio State, Michigan, down the line. So what are some of the things that viewers should be watching for when they watch this game at the line? Because everybody's usually looking for the pass, the quarterback, or whatever. But I think Super Bowl was a good example of how defense can really upset the card. So what kind of things should they be looking for? I think they just got to watch the mentality. If you watch those linemen, they're what, a yard and a half, a yard apart. And they're fighting out every play and just hitting each other. That's where all the action is at. People watch the widescreen cut-ups. You see all the receivers going out, DB's covering. But if you just watch in that box all the aggression and emotion going on and the fighting, that's where all the action is pretty much on a football field. Yeah, and you guys don't talk smack to each other at all, right? That's just one part of the game.  So what kind of things do you do to prepare? You've got a 300-pound lineman across from you. You were a 300-pound lineman.  A lot of practice. That position, a lot of people think it's just about brute force and all that. But it's mainly technique.  And if you can become a master of your craft, then you can pretty much take on anybody. And if they're a master of their craft, it makes for a good show. Right, right. So they don't necessarily have to be all that big. No, I think the way the game is evolving now is there's a lot of speed into it. It's not just big guys hitting each other. I mean, they're big, but they can move. So I think the way the game is changing now, you'll see guys who aren't as heavy, but they're twice as fast. Right. Yeah, running those four something, 40s, and their linemen. So what about hand techniques and things like that? I would see you, or a lot of players, their fingers are all taped up. Some are taped a certain way. Yeah, again, your coaches preach that. You've got to have quick hands when you're playing. A lot of people will tape up our fingers and stuff just because they're constantly getting jammed. They're stuck in jerseys, stuck in helmets. And it's just part of the game, I guess, really. So now speaking of jerseys, and this is kind of like an untold story. I know you're going to do this. Some things happens with jerseys because you can kind of grab one and pull on it. So what kind of things would someone might do to prevent that from happening? Some people might double-side duct-tape their jerseys to their shoulder pads, but without crow. But that's, I don't know about that. I just heard about it. You just heard about it, right? So how much film do you think you watched over the course? Oh. Every day, I mean, really, it's kind of like a game with yourself, trying to figure out. It's like a game of chess. You're trying to figure out what they're doing, when they're doing it, and why. And you want to be able to know what they're doing before they even do it. And that's how you win football games now. And coaches will preach, preach, preach about watching film. And it's ours. It's ours. So have you ever maybe the way someone moves their hands? Yeah, I mean, when you're watching film, you're watching for schemes and stuff like that. But what you're really watching for is little cues that can tell you when they're going to do certain things. And that's just, it takes time, but it helps in the long run. Give an example of some of the cues that you've observed with some opponents across the line from me. There was a center we played against. And when it was a pass, his hand was up, and he would wiggle his hand. And when it was a run, it was on his knee. Just little things like that. Yeah, that's what you just, it'll help you. It'll help you. You pick that up in the film. Yeah. Right. So you watch film by yourself? Or you guys do it together, or how does that work? A little bit of both. We usually get together as a defense. And then we'll get together as a d-line. And then a lot of us older guys will watch with the younger guys. Then we'll watch with ourselves. Then we'll go home and we'll watch by ourselves. And then one-on-one of the coaches, it just all depends how much time you really want to put into it. OK, so now we're talking about commitment here. This commitment is a, that's something else, right?  Yeah, that's why when you're going into college, they'll tell you it's going to be a lot of work. They're going to be a student athlete. And they really push the student part because you never know when the career is going to end and you've got to fall back on something. Right. Well, football was the vehicle for you to get your college education. Speaking of which, you graduated already. I have a bachelor's in communications and a bachelor's in sociology. And I'm going to ask you, what was your GPA? Right around 3-3.  You're not supposed to be that. So 3-3, double major. And you graduated in when? December. In December. Wow. Now, you look pretty good on that shot. Who are the guys that are there with you? That's Penetrito, McConey, and Remy. That's our D-line right there, the D-line seniors. That's your D-line seniors. So where did they all go? Where are they now, do you know? Well, Kiko, he's a senior, but he got one more year. He just graduated. I think he's a VAMAR major. McConey, he's training up in Seattle for the pro day coming out. And Remy is enjoying time with his family. Now, so only Kiko's here on island. Yeah, so Kiko will have, he's going to play this season. So this will be his last year. This is going to be his last year. How does that, you mentioned how that feels? Oh, yeah. So let's talk about this last year. So last year, the first game was in Australia. Second game was in Michigan. I mean, how was that at the end of those first two games? It was an experience. I think it was good for the team in general, just to experience playing in that kind of atmosphere. And the traveling to Australia was awesome. That was cool. And I think that just, I think it set us on the right track for the year just because it showed us the caliber of players that are out there and what we need to get up to. And kind of helped us put our head on the street and get us on track for the season that we had. So you think that's the right thing to do? People say, why are we putting University Way up against teams like Michigan and Ohio State and such? But do you think that's the right thing to do? I think that all depends on how your team feels and how the coach feels. I mean, when Coach Rolo came in, the schedule was set already. We were playing Michigan. We were playing Cal. We were playing whoever. But I think, as a team, we had that mentality. We don't care who we're going to play. We're just going to go. And I think that's the good part about having a lot of these, having local kids stay here and play because a lot of us are raised in that attitude where we think we can take on anything. And that kind of blended help with the whole team because now everybody felt like they could take on anybody. And Coach Rolo was on board. And we weren't going to back down. And with Rolo on board, you went once again through another management change. So what year was this in your career now? How much time did you have left to play? I had one spring that I didn't play in because I was going through rehab and stuff. And then I had this past season. In the past season. And so you went from now Chow was the head coach. And then you shifted over to Rolovich, who you didn't know. I don't think. Did you know him at all? I knew him. I knew of him. And then he transitioned. And it was a big shift for everybody. He had all new assistant coaches and things like that. So how was Rolo? Oh, he's great. I think they're lucky to have him there. And I'm excited for the seasons to come. And shout out Coach Lange, who's the new DC. Just found that out today. Yeah, you got it here first or second. No, they're going to have a great season. And now I can say, as an alumni, I'm more than excited to watch. Well, you have family come, but you're alumni. But isn't there someone in your family who's also going to be playing for UH this year? There's my little cousin, Manu, will be playing a corner, I believe, down here. So how big is your little cousin, Manu? Maybe 5'11. He's one of those speed guys. I look forward to watching him, too. And I'm just excited. Just excited for the game and for what he's having. So we'll talk a little bit about the bowl game. Because coming up on that bowl game, we're coming up the game before the bowl game. Well, you guys were hanging by a thread there to bring this one out. Yeah, I think that was our MO this year. Cut it close to the end and win it. But a win is a win. We took it however we could. And I think that just showed that our team had a lot of fight in it. And I credit that to a lot of the seniors, all the seniors. Because all of us pretty much came through the program together. And we all tried our best to keep the team together. And we wanted to set a foundation for all these years to come. And I think the bowl game was a great way to end up. I got to ask you, you guys were down two touchdowns very fast in that first quarter. I mean, how do you pull a rabbit out of the hat on that one? Just I would say resiliency. Our offense came through and our defense, as soon as we get the ball rolling, we were usually pretty good. So as soon as it got rolling, we were. Now, what did you say to the defense or any of the defense?   You just got to stay positive. You learn that coming through. You got to keep everybody motivated, stay positive. And people will respond. And basically, you just got to lead by example. So speaking of that message going forward. So just closing circles. This is a shot we took at the end of the bowl game. There's a lot of family members there. There's a whole bunch in that place. So nice shirts. So anyway, so now the message going forward. So a message that you would give to young adults, kids getting into the sports, whether it be baseball or football or whatever. What message would you give to them? Just stick with it. When things get hard, don't give up. Just keep going. And everything happens for a reason. And if you stay focused, keep working at it, positive things will come out of it. And I think sports is a great way to get your education no matter what it is. And it'll teach you lessons that you can't learn from any book or parenting. So it's a different experience. All right, and we're going to leave that close out on that message. And I gave you the heads up on what we do at the end of every show. So one, two, three. As remember, the end of what, I bought you talk. How are you doing?


Baryon Mode Naruto, the final form of one of my favorite main characters to ever do it. And now, thankfully, with the new release of Naruto Storm Connections, I can finally play as him in a storm game. Of course, I wanted to spend the whole day actually grinding, learning the new game mechanics before trying it, but now that I have, I feel I'm ready to see just how sick this character can really be. And what better place to test it out than in Ranked? If you like these Ranked Connections video, definitely let me know down below by liking the video and letting me know what characters you want to see. But with that said, let's see just how good Baryon Mode really is in Ranked. This guy's a student with two wins! Alright, they brought us a freebie. He's gonna cook me. Alright, let's go! Hula-dashin! Oh, freebie? Free combo? I'll take- And I dropped it. Oh, Baryon Mode Naruto is cheap! That little circle does impact a lot more than you think it would, honestly. He catches people off guard. Wait. Don't sub now. Oh, bro, he's a student to the game! He's still new! He's gotta learn! He's gotta learn, and I'm gonna be his teacher. I am the Geni General, after all. Knock him down to the grad.   Alright, I need some chakra back, though. Oh, I forgot. Gotta tilt move that. Wait! Let me hit the ultimate. Let me hit the- Oh, the team ultimate for the one time! Early on, I don't think we actually have one. Nope. Just Naruto and Kuruma. Oh! Let's go! Speed Blitz! This is what it means to be speed blitz, by the way. Ugh! Take him to space. That looks so good. That looks so good. Damn! My goodness! They did not have to do all that! But actually, that was pain, so I actually advised that. Nope, dodge that. It's my second Jutsu. Okay, just a big beam. I don't think the Kudai are making it through that. Water Dragon? No. No, no Water Dragons. Bro, if you wanna play range, we'll play range, bro.  No! See, I told you, brother. Nope! No, oh, oh, he's good, he's good, he's good. He's good. Heavenly Handpower.  This is gonna be my most devious trick yet. Don't do it, bro.  Oh, Sakura, help, Sakura! Please! Bro, I relied on Sakura to save me. Sakura. Ah, we still got this. I'm gonna take it a little slow. Heavenly Handpower? Grab! Oh! A little something sneaky! A little something for the fans! Fans of the anime and manga got a lot to appreciate with that one. Hold on, let me get something that's fun for the whole family in here. Are we really doing this Projectile thing again, man? Are we really doing this right? Nope, you're not. Look, I know you're Minato, bro, but all right, you know what, Heavenly Handpower? God is that. Oh, he's, okay, now he knows, now he knows. Damn. All right, now, what are the odds that I'm just throwing to get my awakening? Could that be true? All right, I'm taking into space again, bro, I'm done. Nevermind, nevermind, he's not going to space. Heavenly Handpower, into a grab. No, it didn't work again! Oh, let's go, awakening, it's over. It's over, bro. Count, count it. No way. He's dead. Joe Shirley, he's dead after that. Damn, this character is sick. Now, do we get our rematch?  Do we get the rematch? We do! Now, this is any on, bro, respectable opponent. How do I honor? He deserves it. All right, let's go, let's play the range game, bro. I like the range game. I like the range game.   Oh, my God. All right, all right, that really Toby Rama for real. That was lower accurate Toby Rama. I've never seen that one. That one was different. That one was a jump scare. That one was a jump scare to me. I'm not going to lie. All right, that was new. But you can only, you can only surprise me once. Heavenly hand power, grab! You got to be more prepared than that. Do I have a dash? I don't have a dash to get there in time. You know, Sakura's moves are a lot less impressive when they happen over open water. That just looks like a normal person doing a dive. Multi-hit attack, launch him in the air, hit him up. Damn, the moves are so huge that we can just swing through pain. Oh, and he's right back in the combo. Heavenly hand power. Just to make the combo look a little different. Heavenly hand power. Damn, you love to see him. Barry on mode, going crazy. I'm going to do a laser beam just to say I did it. Oh, he tried to sneak up on me again. Hold on, do I need to play Toby Rama? That looks, he tried it again. He tried it again. Oh, range attack. All right, hold on. Heavenly hand power. Oh, he's running from it now. He's running from it out as he should, to be honest. Let me just do a normal combo. I keep dropping now. Sakura, there we go. Finally looking out. Love to see it. Get back to the ground so I can catch up. I'm just going to do a normal combo. I want to see it. I want to see it. Let's go. Now I got to see my down combo. I still got one more combo I got to try out. Let's see. Oh, hold on. Heavenly hand power. Damn, I missed. Damn, the Rasengan is so cheap. It's so cheap. Sakura, appreciate the backup. Oh no. Am I dead? Am I dead? Oh, you almost got me. GGs. A Ross and Shuriken for a grab is a little bit of an overkill. I feel like it's not talked enough about how Ross and Shuriken is just a poisoning technique. Anyway, how do I cheer? Oh, let me give them some cheers. Thank you, bro.  And we got the rematch.  Oh my God, thank you, rematch. All right, back at it. Dash. All right, no range game this time. We are all in there, Sakura. All right, Sakura. See, the thing is Naruto connections is so different that now I feel like I'm not a storm player. I'm a connections player, bro. Now I know the game. Heavenly hand power, got to get... Oh, I tried to do that to give some distance, but he did not care about that. Ouch. All right, let me get up. Let me get up real quick. Range attack. All right, he was ready for that. All right, he had a range attack too. That's cool. Range attack. Heavenly hand power, grab. Oh, I thought I had him, bro. I thought I had him. Woo, that is crazy. Yo, Tobi-Rama kind of a sick character in this game. Could he do that in the old ones? I don't think so. All right, pain. We're used to fighting pain. Honestly, I prefer fighting pain over having him on the bench. Ooh. Guard's not looking too healthy. Grab him. Okay, we'll take the grab. No subs. This might be the combo. Oh God, that was a mess. Miss input.  Okay, I'm going to die here. Unless, unless he drops it. Ah, sub. My sub came back. My sub is gone. I subbed and died. Ah, childish. Not needed. Round two, I'm back up. Let's go. That's it enough. Damn, heavenly hand power code went crazy.  Don't sub. I do want to see this down combo. So let me see it. I'm doing the down combo. This is not optimal. I just want to see it. Woo, oh, the entire nine tails. That was sick. That was sick. Hold the phone, dude. Damn, this game is sick. Damn, that orb is crazy. I'm just going to start mashing and see what happens. Okay, we're almost got the win here. I'm going to call in soccer to try to break the garden. Go for a grab. Oh, got him. Oh, don't ever try me ever again. Mach speed, taking the space. Houston, we got some problems. Let him hit the voice line and everything, bro. Let him hit the voice line and everything, man. This game is crazy. I forgot that's only my first round though. All right, maybe we shouldn't have done that. Oh, damn, it didn't work. It didn't work. We're saying, go and sit him down, get him in the air. Damn, almighty push. I'm not subbing that, though, respectfully. I'm going to go into a combo, get the orb up. Protection orb. Oh, hold on, let me get Sasuke out here. I know it's a Naruto video, but I had to get Sasuke out here. It was just optimal. It's just optimal. Now I'm going to be cheap. He's only just now getting serious. Damn, his Jutsu hit me no matter what. Wait, I wanted to tag into Naruto. Oh, definitely not Sakura. No, I've never played this character. Is Sakura just going to have to pop off? No. I know they're big Rosengon. Oh, that might be the game winner because we're playing Connections. I can combo that. Is this the game winner Rosengon? It's not going to kill. Let's play that range game though. You remember that range game we used to play? I can't believe it. I missed. No, no. No beam, got him. And it's just as simple as that. I'll take it. Great games to my opponent. We're on to the next one. We've done it. We've got to win. We're back with our second match and a customized pain with bunny ears and bat wings, bro. I have not used to seeing custom characters online yet, man. This is crazy. Oh, whoa. Was that his heavenly handpower? All right, hold on. I need to focus. I forgot. This is a new opponent. We can't just rely on old Intel. Oh, God. All right, he's going to stop right here. We'll take that. Heavenly handpower? Grab all my backflip to get the grab and raise. That was sick. I need the dash. Let's go. Get him on the ground. Get him on the ground. We've got a full extension here. I didn't want to blow that combo just yet, so I'll have to take him in the air first. Damn, Biju Bomb? For a basic air combo, I'll take it. Call in soccer in case. Oh, he landed his grab first. Chewed up and spit out, bro. Oh, they were saying on in the air, not the move. Oh, mighty push. We'll keep our two subs. I'm not subbing that. Grab. Yes, we grab first. That means we get to go. He's pretty much going to want to sub. Unless I drop it. No. Oh, damn. Wait, Heavenly handpower, I'm away from me? That is pretty cheap. Oh, my God, the grab is so nuts. All right, I have an idea on what I want to do. We'll see if he lets me do it, though. Stop. OK, he's not going to. Something tells me he's not feeling especially generous today. We're down around. We're down around. I wanted the awakening bad. I wanted the awakening bad. Oh, God, it caught me. All right, let's have that. Oh, terrible sub. Terrible sub. He gets away with it. Oh, throw in some ninja jewels. Now it's a ninja jewel game. There we go. Oh, no subs on either of us, though. Oh, the grab strat is risky. No, I ruined it. Oh, I wasted that sub. Oh, my God, we better pop off from now on, because I just put myself in the worst predicament. Can he combo off this one? Thank God. Thank God, we're back. We're back in the driver's seat. We're back in the driver's seat, baby. Who's round one? Damn. Oh, my God, bro, run that back. All right, we're back in it. Heavenly handpower. All right, I saw that we're saying on, so I wasn't really trying to compete. He subs? How? How did you not get hit there? Oh, God. God, doing my massive worth saying on. Huge misplay. Damn, we're already down to our last bar of health. It is not looking good for my chance to win in this one. Not looking very good at all, but we've got our full subs back. The only question is, are we dead? And I got grabbed. Is this a combo grab, though? Yes, it is. But he didn't do it. I didn't even mean to heavenly handpower that one. Let's go, cash out. You know what? No, I refuse to just accept that we lost this one, because we didn't lose. If we lost, the game would have been over already. So I don't think we lost this one. I'm going in. Let's go. Somebody knock him back. Somebody knock him back. Damn. No. No. No, I was out of subs. I didn't know what Shaskia was. Why I switched to the same character I'll never know. I like how their color tint was slightly more purple. No, block it. Hash in. We got to block that. Hold that. Grabs? No grabs. You went heavenly handpower. Double sub. Triple sub. Oh my god, he's spending the whole, he's spending everything. Are we going to hit now? It's over. It's over. This is too big of a lead. This is too big of a lead. Let's go. Knock him back down to the ground. Pick that up. We dodged the beam. Combo finished. Hit the Rasengan out there. Get a bar. Get a bar health gone. Straight with that. Thank you, Sokrem. Appreciate that. Oh, damn. Rasengan, oh, how did Almighty Push beat that? There's no way. Heavenly handpower, go. I did the dragon flame. OK. Heavenly handpower on the ground to flex. That was crazy. Bro, he go have to get rid of me somehow. Oh, wait. I think he found his way. There's a lot of dashing around. No, paper ball. That was huge. Oh, wait. Why did I choose to not combo that? Oh, god. Just do it. Please. No. No, Sasuke, help me. Heavenly handpower, I'm away. Sasuke, he's back. Sasuke, he's back. Sasuke. Oh, my subs are back too, though. My subs are back. And my subs are gone. Damn, I spent them so fast on that Almighty Push. Sasuke, let me out to dry, man. Sasuke. Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Is there another rematch? There has to be, right? Give me one more. Need that rematch. No. Oh, not the mirror match, bro. I already struggle with separating the characters when we're all different, unique characters. They have final match in the Baryon mode video, and I'm not going to be able to know which one I am. But it looks like I got OG colors. It was, wait, never mind. I know which one I am. What is he wearing? They all got different, unique masks. Hold on, let me code. Wait, this guy, this guy might know how to play the game. This guy might know how to play the game. No, wait, hold on, meet them. He forgot how fast Baryon mode is. I'm right there. I'm over here now. It is the combo. Why not? We got him low. He's awakening. He's awake. Really, we going to do it. Wow, that was crazy. We're staying on. Hold on, every Jutsu has a weakness. His is that it's going to run out eventually. Oh, wait, never mind. In the air, no subs. We just combo there. We just combo there. We're going to take it. We're going to take it. Ash in. I thought he might counter me there. It's, man, it's a different game. Having to think about what assist they're going to use and react to it is crazy. Heavenly handpower into the same spot. That was a wild bad use of the assist on my part. Oh, the wind one. I was trying to jump the other. Bad read. We do have a roundup, so it's not the worst thing in the world if we lose this, but it would be pretty sad. I think we should just push for the wind now. Dragonflame, dodge that. That's the one I wanted to read last time. No, God.  I'll take that. I'll take that. His subs are back, but at least we got to use it before he got all of them back. Now he's, now he's on low. How did that hit me? Can't get grabbed. Have to watch the screen very closely. We've got, we've got, we've got it back. We've got our subs back, boys. We're ready to go on the offensive again. Oh, is he out of subs? He's out of subs. He might just be out of time. I needed Sakura to come back. Can somebody knock him back? Oh, God. Sakura. I really hate power into the grab. He didn't see me cooking. He didn't see me cook. How is he not dead? No, no, no, no, no, no. You know what we're saying, God? Oh, he had the same idea that I did. Oh yeah. How about this? No, how about this one? What is happening? I couldn't tell, bro. I couldn't tell. I couldn't tell. I won. I won. Let's go, bro. I'm out here. Let's go. Oh, he get one single clap? I'll give you one clap, bro. That is, that is toxic that you can clap once for somebody. Oh, a lot of points for the getting in general. Two rematches left. Will we get all of them? And will they all be wins? Actually, you know what? I'm just going to start with this.  Heavenly handpower. Not my best use of it. I won't lie to you. What's that, God? Oh, the beam shut me down from that height? Hey, bro, stop. Only I can do that. I'll do a beam there. Why not? He's down to one sub already. Heavenly handpower that to get him off me, except they got him behind me. So that was a terrible use from this is. Damn. I would call your character cheap if I wasn't playing it myself. He mopped me. Oh, he got me. Sasuke. Sasuke. No. Oh, I'll take that. What is he doing? He didn't have the chopper for that. He was just wailing on him. Oh, the aura. He's got one sub left. No way he used it. He used it. You used yourself. What am I doing off the ground? Finish it. Oh, God. I barely saw that coming towards me. Awakening.  He's serious. All right, if we just wait, the thing about Barry on mode is if he runs out of time, we are just going to instantaneously win. I'm going to stall out the timer as long as possible because this is Canyon, bro. As soon as he runs out of time, it's over for him. Go, hurry, hurry. Man, he tagged. So actually, he played around that pretty well.  I kind of forgot about that system mechanic. He might be a better Barry on mode than me. That was pretty smart. I'll give it up. Oh, God. Oh, I'm out of subs. Oh, I'm playing terrible. I've given him too much props. Whoa, whoa, whoa. How'd you slip over here, buddy? Out of no subs. Just need one more good read. Oh, that was a good assist. Tosuke, get him off me. Tosuke, thank you, Tosuke. Appreciate that. Shout out to Tosuke always on the lookout. That's my guard right there. That's my use to go. Appreciate that. Sets off a huge combo for us. Now, if I was him, I would have just waited. He's open and opening. This could be game here, I think, if we do this right. You know what it is game? I've just decided it's game. Team Ultimate, it's game. Finish it. Well, it's round, I should say. Take him to space. Take him to space. High speed. That looks so good. That looks so good. All right, one more round to win, and then we get the game. He turned. He turned my own heavily hand power against me. Sakura, Sakura. I'll take a grab. Oh, wow. We got a sub out of it, though. I think that's enough. Wow. Wow. Sosuke, get him off me. He tried to counter it. I'll take it. Knock him down to the ground. Continue the combo down here. Connection's exclusive. That was a little bit of damage right there. I'll take that. Get a sub out. Back on the ground again. No, we're not taking that. We are not taking that. Do I have enough to dash? We do. Which means we probably haven't. Somebody dropped a square on my head. His guard's broken. Finish him. The subs came back. Oh, god, we're almost dead? Why am I almost dead? Broken off me. Range attack. It wasn't enough. Dragonflame bomb is enough. We took it. That was a lot closer than I thought until the very end when I had to clutch up. I think we have one more match possibly if he did. Oh, multiple claps. All right, I'll give you multiple claps back. That's fair. The Gening General has become a tuning. We're moving up and he left. So that's going to be the end of this video. Hopefully you enjoyed it. If you didn't leave a like, stick around for more Naruto Storm connections. And I'll see you in the next one.


There's a new peloton for every new you. Every time you change and grow and upgrade, you definitely need somebody else in your life. Or you will default back to the comfort of the old you that you just felt familiar with.


My phone, my sugar lipstick, and yeah, a nice smelling bottle. My shoes? I can't leave my house without my backpack, which has my iPad and all the trash in it. Car, ease.


The battle between Manchester United start Marcus Rashford and Downing Street over free school meals has resumed this week So in round one Rashford campaign for free school meals to continue over the summer holidays So normally free school meals are something you get when you go into school because of the lockdown because schools were closed They were introduced as vouchers The government had argued that they wouldn't be giving out those vouchers during the summer term because it's not during the summer holidays Apologies because it's not the normal time When kids would get free school meals Rashford launched a really successful campaign against that got loads of against the fact that they'd be cut For the summer holidays got loads of traction and ended up getting support from the Labour Party who put forward an opposition motion Which looked like it it was going to win and the government had to u-turn so people on low incomes got vouchers for free school meals throughout the summer What Marcus Rashford has noticed now and why we're in round two of this fight It's because whilst the government were willing to pay for free school meal vouchers in the summer For for students on low income sort of accepting that in the coronavirus crisis People are short of cash and you shouldn't let kids go hungry in the summer during a global pandemic I mean in my mind you shouldn't let them go hungry any time about I'm putting you in the head of the Tory logic on this But they don't want to do the same for this half term and for the Christmas holidays, even though as You know anyone can see we're still in the middle of a global pandemic and loads of people are out of work And it's a it's gonna be a really difficult Christmas for for many people Marcus Rashford has rightly come out and said You know you need to do this again You need to provide school meal vouchers for people over half term and over the winter He's been promoting a petition and let's get up the tweet from Marcus Rashford, which was from late last week So this is sort of really sparking and the next round In this in this battle and so Marcus Rashford tweeted the British public care 225 K and rising and then I linked to the petition Which at this point 225 K people have signed we will accept no less than the free ask. There are 1.5 million children We are not reaching with the free school meal scheme because of the universal credit cap 1.5 million children in the UK in 2020 with no support and then we can go take a look at those free demands And so it says the expansion of free school meals to every child from a household on universal credit or equivalent Reaching an additional 1.5 million seven to 16 year olds Expansion of holiday provision food and activities to support all children on free school meals reaching an additional 1.1 million children and free increasing the value of the healthy start vouchers to 4 pound 25 per week and Expanding into all those on universal credit or equivalent reaching an additional 290,000 pregnant women and children under the age of four now I mean something that Marcus Rashford is very good at doing I mean obviously using his platform to try and achieve, you know, great ends is he put stuff in, you know It's so difficult to disagree with that. How can you disagree with giving enough money so that kids can have Good meals throughout the school holidays. How could you possibly oppose that? Well, there was a vote on it today in Parliament So just like last time Labour have sort of backed up Marcus Rashford's campaign by putting forward an opposition debate This time it went to a vote and it lost So conservative MPs voted against the free school meals for a for a million children It was defeated at 322 to 261 votes Appalling tragic if one of your MPs voted against this write them a letter now because they're a disgrace But what I do want to show you now is is how they are Defending this because obviously you have to tell yourself quite a quite a complicated story to justify You know withdrawing meals from people from kids on low incomes, but they do manage it So this was Tory Minister Paul Scully Defending his plan at that time to vote against extending free school meal vouchers over the holidays Do you want to feed hungry children or not? That's a simple question some of the conservative colleagues have already come out and Marie Morris has tweeted she'll be supporting us I think Robert Helfman is on his way to supporting us. This is a matter of conscience It's about principles before party Are you going to put money forward to feed hungry children in one of the toughest winters of our generation or not? Oh, if you're not going to you have to go back to your constituencies and face the music We've had a situation where Children are in been going hungry in and there are Labour government and for years what we've done We've put a universal credit system in place which allows Flexibility of people to go back to work and on then topping up their their incomes So they don't have the cliff edge of the old benefit system that we saw under the previous Labour government So so we are have been starting to tackle those issues of the people that are at that point On the on the pay scale and making sure that their children can get fed Oh, did you think that the children have gone hungry for years? Is that? No, it's not which is why I'm saying that we we're actually been looking at how we can help parents over a long Over the long term rather than the kind of Situation that tulip is sorting out. What can we do that's actually going to mean that the lowest paid can can actually Help feed their children for weeks months and years to come that will be increasing the national living wage That we've been doing introducing the flexible universal credit that allows them to top up and go back to work Which ultimately is the best way of of making sure that you can work with your children and give them the Children have gone hungry for years. That's his That's his justification to the country, but also to himself why he's happy to vote to take away Free school meal vouchers for Children on low incomes when they're out of school term. So we say no no people have gone hungry for years during half-term So this is a normal year. So kids should go hungry again. I mean for one. It's not a normal year I mean there is unemployment and people struggling with incomes to a much greater degree than they have, you know In recent memory because of this coronavirus pandemic, but also how is people have always gone hungry? So now they should go hungry. You know, how is that a good argument? It's it's unbelievable The way that their arguments work as conservatives, you know, it's kind of on a par with you use an iPhone there for you Therefore, you can't criticize capitalism. So well, you know, you could have thought that there were children who couldn't find food in 2009 if you looked hard enough, we know the data is around 2.3 2.6 million children were in relative child poverty in 2009-10. That was the last year of the Labour government Before this pandemic I last year that had come up to 4.1 million. So it's it's almost doubled Clearly with COVID it's it's going to Go far higher still and the idea that well Parents going into work having the minimum wage topped up some living wages minimum wage will help them It is categorically untrue. Anybody who wants to do their research, and this is more than welcome to do so Come online look at the data regarding in work poverty You're more likely to be in poverty now if you're in a household with somebody that works and that doesn't that's quite New development and you can basically map on the rise of child poverty within work poverty, and this isn't new This has been this has been out there for a very very long time So rise in child poverty aren't because people haven't got jobs It's because they have jobs and they're not being paid enough or they can't get the hours And this is now going to be exacerbated with COVID are the people having hours cut or they're going to be on furlough Or they've lost their job altogether So it just seems utterly ridiculous thing to say How many children we live in relative poverty by the end of this year, you know We might be looking at six seven million We don't know that that could be the ballpark even as four point one million at the beginning of last year That would be you know in order of four times greater than the last Labour government So for every kid in poverty then you've got four now. Let's be real That's a that's a really shambolic way to run a country. That wasn't a hundred years ago It was ten years ago and the money's there, you know was was Eat out to help out was that creating a dependency culture the fact I could go to Nando's and eat a lunch for five pounds No, because they assumed you were already middle-class and middle-class people can't be dependent It's only working class people who can be dependent on the state. It's only their benefits. You have to be cut I want to go to some more Tory justifications of this and I mean stupidly Decided that they were going to express their opposition to the free school meals campaign And by getting into a Twitter hour with one of the country's most popular people Marcus Rashford man United striker So to introduce this I want to first start with the tweet that both of them were responding to so it's Ben Bradley and Steve Baker Who respond but they're responding to this tweet from Marcus Rashford this morning So paying close attention to the Commons today and to those who are willing to turn a blind eye to the needs of our most vulnerable children 2.2 million of them who currently qualify for free school meals 42% newly registered not to mention the 1.5 million children who currently don't qualify So we say I'm paying close attention to the Commons because there was going to be that debate and that vote It has been lost because the Tories voted against it, but let's go to these responses So Tory MP Ben Bradley Decided to wade in and give his sort of justification for why or his explanation of why he believed Marcus Rashford was wrong on this Government has a lot of responsibilities Supporting the vulnerable helping people to help themselves balancing the books not as simple as you make out Marcus Extending free school meals to school holidays passes responsibility for feeding kids away from parents to the state it increases dependency We've already said, you know Dependency is something in this Tory ideology that only applies to working-class people middle-class people who are dependent on the state That's fine Industries which are only viable circle because the government will hand them huge contracts 12 billion contracts and not do that job properly I mean, that's dependency culture but even you know apart from that even if you Deeply if you take away the politics from this and just just look at this from a human level what he is suggesting there That and even even if you think that you know People should be disciplined to go back to work otherwise They'll have financial difficulties whatever even if you buy into that sort of neoliberal neo classical ideology You have to incentivize people to go back to work by making them poor He is genuinely suggesting that we should leverage Hungry kids to discipline their parents. We're saying how do we get parents to work harder? Not to I mean We're obviously in the middle of a pandemic. There aren't jobs if even people decide. Well, it's not a decision anyway But what we don't want them to want the point that we don't want to make because yeah That was spread the virus But the point I want to make is that he there is genuinely suggesting the way we get parents to behave in a way that we like which is you know, it's rational Utility maximizing workers is to leverage the suffering of their kids and Also, I mean an important point to make about dependency here, right is and this is sort of like a standard sort of Marxist or social democratic idea about dependency, which is that workers are dependent on their bosses to some extent and The more that the alternative to working in any job is, you know Complete horror the more dependent they are. So if you live in a decent welfare state in Sweden in the 1970s I mean to an extent it's still decent.  Oh, no, I don't want that job because they don't treat me, right? I'm gonna hold out and wait till I can get a job Which I feel is more suited to me where I'm treated better where my dignity is respected Now that's possible if you've got this sort of safety net behind you But if a worker is told you either keep this job, you either take that job or your kid starves How much power does that give that boss, you know If that boss is someone who's committing sexual harassment in the workplace and you tell them Well, if you if you don't have a job, then that's your responsibility and your kid should starve That is making that person so much more dependent on a boss Than anyone will ever be dependent on the state It's crazy, isn't it?  That's not how it works I mean, it's just we're looking at people with absolutely no ethical compass whatsoever Who are more likely to get upset about being called scum in the House of Commons than voting for a you know voting against the proposed piece of legislation which would Keep a million kids away from hunger over the next several months. Which do you think is more important? I know I'm we're gonna get up another another this this this tweet exchange is even Dumber and this is from Steve Baker who Marcus Rashford wholly owned so Stephen Baker is a sort of Steve Baker Sort of a hardcore Brexiteer back bencher and so in response To that particular tweet and from Marcus Rashford, which I read earlier Baker Steve Baker quote tweeted it No one will be turning a blind eye and it is wrong to suggest anyone would not destroying the currency with excessive QE is Also one of our duties now. This is Bananas so the he is crazy and he's the craziest MP of on the Tory benches The policy before sort of extending free school meals over the summer holidays cost 120 million pounds now half term in the Christmas holidays Are only three weeks one week at two weeks. So it's half of that So that we're talking about 60 million pounds and he thinks that 60 million pounds is gonna mean we have to print so much money That it destroys the pound Well, presumably he's talking about the fact that we are gonna run at least a 200 billion pound deficit this year probably significantly higher But in any case like you say more's the reason if we're spending a deficit of 200 billion What difference 120 million gonna make and by the way, you're not particularly productive if you're starving Right. There are some basics that we need to we need to think about here But he is the most crazy. He wants Britain to go back to the gold standard Michael.  He says at least turn on your comments and let me respond Steve I very much welcome conversation on this And then the most surreal bit is Steve Baker's response to this Do you have 3.4 million followers Marcus to my 96k the power is yours here Everyone knows feeding hungry children is a top priority I'd like to see universal credit boosted But if the economy and currency collapse the poor will be devastated Alleging a blind eye is just wrong now We've already talked about why it's ridiculous to suggest that paying 60 million pounds first and poor kids to have free school meals Is not going to collapse the currency this is someone who wanted a no-deal Brexit by the way He's spent the last four years fighting for a no-deal Brexit, which is I mean I don't think it would be the worst thing to ever happen But one thing it's not gonna have a good effect on it's the value of the pound So this guy thinks that a no-deal Brexit which has already cost billions in preparation is gonna be more damaging to the currency than 60 million pounds to make sure the poor kids the more ridiculous bit here though is Is this idea that you have more power than me? Like only one of you there's Marcus Rashford and then there's Stephen Baker Only one of you got to vote today in Parliament on the motion to extend free school meals over half-term and the winter holidays It was Steve Baker Steve Baker voted against it. So he said I might be elected an MP I might be the person who makes the law But if you've got more Twitter followers than me, you're more powerful than me Such an online comment, isn't it? I may have you know, I may be one of 650 legislators in this country But you know, how many engagements did I get this month compared to you not much? People are saying by the way people are saying in the comments this story is a bit too online I don't think that's I don't think that's fair and I'll tell you why Normally, I agree that it's important not to obsess over social media stories I agree with that entirely But I think clearly that the scope for pushback in terms of the government's mismanagement on COVID It's quite limited because people can't protest people can't go into meetings People can't do all the things the associated things that would normally happen in a political crisis That's that's that's how people respond collectively. And so I think in a moment like that Yeah, this is going to be one of the primary ways we're going to see Rifts and you know Pushback whether it's through local politicians like Andy Burnham, you know, and that was incredibly Mediatized of course, I'd prefer a hundred thousand people on a demo or a general struck Of course, I would but realistically in the context of a pandemic That's not what happened these kinds of stories in that context. I think really matter The obvious thing in in response to it's very online is that there was a vote in Parliament today on it, right? So so there was a material opportunity for the Tories to change their policy They did change it last time which shows that this kind of thing matters I mean obviously him being a top man United in England striker means that he does have a lot of influence And I think there are many Tories who worry that this is doing them damage the fact that they haven't you turned again this time And as to the tweets, I mean Why I like looking at Tory MPs Twitter feeds is is not so much because I think you know, obviously the electorate doesn't read Tory MPs Twitter feeds But what they do expose is their justifications for doing things because I think often, you know Sometimes they get caught out when they go on TV But in their official communications normally they've at least got you know a PR person to say I'm not sure you should say that you know, that makes you sound like a psychopath but when it says that on Twitter, they're like Poor kids should go hungry.