A supersized America

If you have looked in the mirror lately and wondered where those extra pounds came from, you are not alone.  A new study today showed what most of us already know… Americans are getting fatter… a lot fatter actually.

Last year the obesity rate in America rose in 23 different states, and did not decline in a single state. We have known for a while that American children are having a hard time with their weight, but adult obesity rates are on the rise as well.

Today’s report shows that adult obesity rates are greater than 25% in 31 of the nations states. This is up from 28 states the previous year. For children, it is even worse, with 30% of children between the ages of 10 and 17 being obese in 30 states. We are definitely becoming a fatter nation.

It is pretty easy to understand how it happens. Try to drive 5 minutes from your house and not pass a McDonald’s. Chances are, unless you are living in the woods, you will have a hard time not seeing the golden arches on your drive. American’s work a lot, and for a lot of us, we just dont have time to worry about eating healthy. It is much easier to grab that Big Mac than to go home and put together a healthy meal. We are a fast food nation, and it is catching up with us.

Of course it is unfair to blame it all on McDonalds. There are so many different fast food joints out there, but McDonalds just happens to be the biggest and most widespread across America and the world in general.

It is not a pretty picture, and with more and more fast food restaurants going up every day, it is hard to avoid the trappings of the fast and easy food. Maybe next time you decide to pull into a McDonalds you will think twice about what you are putting in your mouth.

I am not trying to preach… I love a good quarter pounder with cheese myself, but me and my wife are pretty good about staying away from the fast food, typically only eating it while we are on road trips and do not really have many other options. Having said that, I do realize that there is always a better option to fast food… so the next time you need something fast and easy, try to make it to a Subway instead, where you can at least get something that will not weigh you down quite as much as a Big Mac, large fries and super sized cola.

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Michael Jackson dead at 50 from cardiac arrest

Michael Jackson, the King of Pop has died today. Michael Jackson suffered from a cardiac arrest and died today in Los Angeles.

Jackson was 50 years old, and was hoping to rejuvenate his carrer this summer with a comeback tour. The King of Pop was once the biggest thing on this planet, but over the past 10 years he had definitely fallen out of the pop world. The last time Michael Jackson had a serious tour was back in 1997, and he had not released an album since 2001.

Through his musical career, Jackson definitely was on top. He sold more than 750 million albums world wide, and won 13 Grammys for his work.

Despite his amazing musical achievements, his carrer will always be tainted by all the accusations of child abuse that were made against him. In 2005, Jackson was acquitted of child molestation in California, and has rarely made his way into the public eye since.

Michael Jackson was divorced 2 times, and leaves 3 children behind.

Despite all the craziness around his personal life, Jackson was still very famous around the world, especially in Europe. He had scheduled 50 London concerts between July and March… and they all sold out in just a matter of minutes, proving that Michael Jackson was, is, and probably always will be considered the true King of Pop.

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Phish 2009 summer tour dates

Still upset that you weren’t able to get your hands on tickets for Phish’s 3 day run at Hampton this March? Join the crowd, but the band has announced some more tour dates this summer, so starting January 30 you will get your chance to buy some Phish tickets for a host of dates this summer.

Here are the dates:

June 4-5 at Jones Beach in Wantagh, N.Y.,
Comcast Center outside Boston June 6
Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden, N.J. - June 7
The Civic Center in Asheville, N.C. - June 9)
The Fox Theatre in St. Louis - June 16
The Post-Gazette Pavillion in Burgettstown, Pa. - June 18
The Verizon Wireless Center in Noblesville, Ind. - June 19
Alpine Valley in East Troy, Wis. -June 20-21

The band is also rumored to be among the list of performers for this year’s Bonnaroo Festival, and the lineup for that festival is due out in early February

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Grateful Dead reunion tour 2009

OK, so admitedly I am a little late in writing about this, but earlier this week the remaining members of the Grateful Dead announced that they are going to reform for a 19 day tour across America starting in April with a performance at the Greensboro Coliseum on April 12th. Since the death of lead front man Jerry Garcia, the members, when they have played together have just gone under the name “The Dead”.

Joining the original members Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Mickey Hart and Bill Kreutzmann will be Gov’t Mule / Allman Brothers guitarist Warren Haynes along with keyboardist Jeff Chimenti.

While the remaining Grateful Dead members have struggled to keep personal and artistic differences under control since the death of frontman Jerry Garcia in 1995, guitarist Bob Weir said that they have a “mind meld” going and look forward to bringing life back into the old material, as well as busting out new bags of tricks.

According to bassist Phil Lesh: “We’ve got some unfinished music,” Lesh clarifies. “We’re all still evolving in our own ways. You can always improve your playing. Let’s see what kind of a goulash we can make out of it. Besides,” he adds, “I just got two new electric basses.”

The tour comes following the group gathering earlier this year for an Obama benefit concert at the Warfield Theater.

Here is a list of all 19 of the Dead’s upcoming tour dates:

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Pandora : My favorite iPhone App

I must admit I am still learning my way around my iPhone 3G, and still have yet to scratch the surface on what this baby can really do, but I did manage to get a fantastic iPhone app for it earlier this week… Pandora’s streaming radio app.

I just love this application! It’s a free app, and it works just perfectly. Download the app, run a search on any of your favorite bands of tunes, and instantly get yourself a radio station set up to stream you music within that genre.

According to Pandora’s website they have over a half million songs cataloged, and Im sure that number is constantly on the rise.

I ran a search for a Phish tune, and then used that search to build a station, and it successfully pulls music from all my favorite bands.

The only downside that I have seen so far, is that you can’t listen to your Pandora station while you you move into other applications such as your calendar, email or whatever else you use on your phone. But that is fine.

For me, I just love that it beats have to download a bunch of songs to the iPod function!

What is your favorite iPhone application? Share what you use the most!

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