United States – land of the free, home of the fat…

I know what I think about this, however, I cannot even begin to express my emotion over the topic: Woman aims to become world’s fattest

Donna Simpson, from New Jersey, weighs 273kg but told the Daily Mail newspaper she had her heart set on reaching her goal weight of 1000lb (450kg) in two years.

The 42-year-old already holds the title of the world’s fattest mother after giving birth to her daughter in 2007 when she weighed 241kg.

“I’d love to be 1000lb … it might be hard though, running after my daughter keeps my weight down,”

Click through the link above and you’ll see a picture of Ms. Simpson.  Then you’ll understand that her last quote about running is lie.

There is no way she is running.

I’m devastated. Nick’s Fish Market loop location has shut down.

This was one of my favorite lunch time locations, and while it was a “fish market” they had one of the best kobe beef burgers and fries in Chicago. If you had a private room one could get virtually anything on or off the menu and the service was top shelf.

I have roughly 15 years of outstanding memories at Nick’s Fish Market with both family and friends; however, the closing of this location is yet another chapter that has come to end in my life.

Why did this close down? Revenue dropped 30% year over year and the bank, J. P. Morgan Chase & Co, was unwilling to work with management to restructure the lease.

Sad.

While the Rosemont location will remain open it will not be the same.

Man ran down ‘too Westernized’ daughter

Arizona police are looking for an Iraqi man who they allege ran down his daughter and her friend because he believed his daughter had become “too Westernized.”

Police say they’re looking for Faleh Hassan Almaleki, who they say struck two people with a vehicle Tuesday.

Peoria, Arizona, police said Wednesday that Faleh Hassan Almaleki, 48, struck his 20-year-old daughter, Noor Faleh Almaleki, and her friend Amal Edan Khalaf with a vehicle he was driving in a parking lot Tuesday afternoon.

Faleh Hassan Almaleki was angry with his daughter “as she had become too ‘Westernized’ and was not living according to [the family's] traditional Iraq[i] values,” Peoria police said in a statement released Wednesday.

Noor Faleh Almaleki is hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, according to the statement. Khalaf, 43, received injuries that are not life-threatening but is still in the hospital, police said.

Really?

Come on.

In honor of the pitchman who taught the world how to sell oxiclean on TV.

I now understand why The Orb had to call off their North American tour.

I’m sad to hear that long time Orb collaborator, DJ and producer, Andy Hughes, has passed away at the age of 44. No major details have been released, but it looks as if he had a short lived sickness that focused on his liver. A donation fund was established at King’s College Hospital.

A copy of his obit can be found at Synthtopia.

My thoughts are with Andy’s family and friends.

For several days now, I’ve posted updates regarding the events in Iran. I have a great amount of hesitation in posting this, however; if one really wants to know what is going on with the protests, one cannot look away simply because the truth is ugly, vile or disturbing.

That said, I give you a video of a young Irania protester by the name of Neda and the last seconds of her life.

This video is very disturbing.

If you have ANY hesitation, if you DO NOT want to see a graphic scene created – apparently – by the Basij, an Iranian paramilitary force, DO NOT watch (LAST WARNING) this video…

This young woman, Neda, is the face of the Iranian revolution.

UPDATE on 6/21/09: The LA Times is covering it now, and check out the action on Twitter about her and it appears the video is now being shown on CNN.

UPDATE #2 on 6/21/09: Here is the Wikipedia entry for her.

UPDATE #3 on 6/21/09: Apparently her name was Neda Agha Soltan (also going by Neda Soltani)

UPDATE #4 on 6/22/09: La Figa has an email from an individual apparently from one of the people who tried to help Neda (from Andrew Sullivan)> Not confirmed but worth a read.

At 19:05 June 20th
Place: Karekar Ave., at the corner crossing Khosravi St. and Salehi st.

A young woman who was standing aside with her father watching the protests was shot by a basij member hiding on the rooftop of a civilian house. He had clear shot at the girl and could not miss her. However, he aimed straight her heart.

I am a doctor, so I rushed to try to save her. But the impact of the gunshot was so fierce that the bullet had blasted inside the victim’s chest, and she died in less than 2 minutes.

The protests were going on about 1 kilometers away in the main street and some of the protesting crowd were running from tear gass used among them, towards Salehi St.

The film is shot by my friend who was standing beside me.

Please let the world know.

UPDATE #5 on 6/22/09: The “Guardian Council” is now admitting more than 100% of the vote was counted in a number of cities. Still does not help Neda at this point.

UPDATE #6 on 6/22/09: iReport has a picture of her grave, and it sounds like the government played the censorship card on this as well.

UPDATE #7 on 6/22/09: Neda’s fiance, Caspian Makan, spoke with BBC Persian about her Neda’s death. Good read. I find the following paragraphs to be sad:

On Monday afternoon, we had planned to hold a memorial service at the mosque.

But the authorities there and the paramilitary group, the Basij, wouldn’t allow it because they were worried it would attract unwanted attention and they didn’t want anymore trouble.

The authorities are aware that everybody in Iran and throughout the whole world knows about her story. So that’s why they didn’t want a memorial service. They were afraid that lots people could turn up at the event.

So as things stand now, we are not allowed to hold any gatherings to remember Neda.

Update #8 on 6/23/09: More from Caspian Makan, her fiance, saying Neda was caught up in the protest:

“She was near the area, a few streets away, from where the main protests were taking place, near the Amir Abad area. She was with her music teacher, sitting in a car and stuck in traffic,” it quoted him as saying. “She was feeling very tired and very hot. She got out of the car for just a few minutes.”

Update #9 on 6/23/09: Iran sent letters to mosques banning collective prayers for Neda.

Update #10 on 6/23/09: Now Caspian Makan, the reported boyfriend/fiance of Neda, is saying he asked her to not go to the protest:

“I tried to dissuade her from going out in the streets because I’d seen in my work as a journalist that, unfortunately, there are a lot of merciless behaviours,”

UPDATE #11 on 6/23/09: Jezebel has an outstanding wrap-up on the events surrounding Neda, including a bit I had not read before – the Iranian press is saying “incident was planned” by protesters.

Every once and awhile I hear about some organization/company that truly goes out of their way to help someone. Most times, these acts are done “under the covers” and the intent is not to gain some form of publicity. It appears Pixar has just executed one such act.

Colby Curtin, a 10 year old, was dying of a rare form of cancer. In recent months her condition went down hill rather fast, and from what her parents are saying, she was really living for one reason. To see the movie “Up”.

As Colby’s condition worsened, she was unable to travel to the theater for a viewing. Her friends of the family started to utilize every means possible in order to contact individuals at Pixar. Apparently, someone within Pixar understood just how important this was to the family and went out of their way to help:

The company flew an employee with a DVD of Up, which is only in theaters, to the Curtins’ Huntington Beach home on June 10 for a private viewing of the movie.

At about 12:30 p.m. the Pixar employee came to the Curtins’ home with the DVD.

He had a bag of stuffed animals of characters in the movie and a movie poster. He shared some quirky background details of the movie and the group settled in to watch Up.

Colby couldn’t see the screen because the pain kept her eyes closed so her mother gave her a play-by-play of the film.

At the end of the film, the mother asked if her daughter enjoyed the movie and Colby nodded yes, Lisa Curtin said.

The employee left after the movie, taking the DVD with him, Lynch said.

“He couldn’t have been nicer,” said Lynch who watched the movie with the family. “His eyes were just welled up.”

After the movie, Colby’s dad, Michael Curtin, who is divorced from Lisa Curtin, came to visit.

Colby died with her mom and dad nearby at 9:20 p.m.

Among the Up memorabilia the employee gave Colby was an “adventure book” – a scrap book the main character’s wife used to chronicle her journeys.

Notice the items in bold. Colby died 7 hours after watching the movie. Making the assumption this entire story is true, Pixar is one hell of a class act. It’s good to see that somebody still cares in corporate America.