Hi Guys, I've been absent for a few weeks, (hooray, some of you cheer!).
I've been in Dallas, Texas visiting my brother who lives / works there.
I was struck by 5 things,

1- Great shops, very cheap, huge selection.

2- Nice people mainly, really friendly.

3- Didn't realise it got so hot.

4- Where did all those damn insects come from?.

5- What a lot of really very overweight people I saw, bigger than the biggest I'd ever see in Britain.

So my question is, having seen a lot about the US on TV, how come no-one ever mentioned all the bugs?. And where did all the fat folks come from?.

As you might know the US is the most overweight country and i used to live in Texas and trust me there way more bugs there than in other places like chicago.

The only overweight people allowed on television are those presented as wither comedy or sympathy figures. Fat guy = funny guy. Fat woman = woman who will never find a man.

It is the acceptable norm here that the only happy interesting or beautiful people are the thin ones.

Sorry for the grumpiness of the reply….I’ve already expended all my weight watchers points for the day.

Yes, when reeka was over here, she was stunned that some of the daytime TV presenters were 30 - 40 year old, plump women. She was astounded that in this country, we assume a plump woman can be attractive and confident and intelligent. She told me that would never happen in the USA. Sad, really.

Having said that, we're going the same way, with sub-teenage girls getting anorexic due to media pressure. Hell, the other day my 6-year old niece (who resembles a matchstick with arms and legs) asked me if I thought she was fat! Ouchy.

Believe me, we could rival Texas in the bugs department here in Alabama. Bardan is right. When I was visitng him in Britain, I noticed the ABSENCE of very obese people. In the mall one day, I saw two people who approached what is pretty standard for obesity here. I commented to Bardan that that is common here. You just don't see that many obese Europeans. And I was surprised to see 40-something, plump presenters on television. Wouldn't happen here.

thats just sick and wrong, I hate what happens when the media over-exargerrates pretty much everything it touches. connecting thinness with attractiveness is an entirely 20 th century north america thing, in nearly any other part of the world having meat on your bones is considered attractive and heathy.

and speaking of obeise people, inculding children, did you people hear about (you probably have) the man who sued McDonalds cause he claimed he didn't know their food had fat in it? so you didn't know that fat fried in fat had fat in it??? take some freakin resposibility for your own actions.

<font color='white'> The overweight problem came from our German heritage. :D

No really, it not just a problem in Texas, there is a pretty big problem with over weight in America. But hey, everything is bigger in Texas.

As for the bugs, Its just part of the enviroment here, its actually not too bad here, yet...It dies on in the winter and usually really picks really heavy in August. </font>

Fat is an ugly word. Use it less and appease the crowd.

I have been all over the states from east to west north to south and everywhere between and by far the worst bugs are in the central San Jauqean valley of California. I have driven through there in september and October when the bugs were so thick that you had to stop every 25 miles and refill the windshield washer fluid. You can drive 70 miles an hour and every 300 yards you are hitting the windshild washer over and over and over. Then every 50 miles you have to stop and wash and scrape all the butterflies,ladybugs and 5,000 other types of insects off of your radiator or, your car will over heat and explode.
Yes Texas has alot of bugs and may have more no see-ums than anywhere in the world. (For those that don't know what a "no see-um" is, that's what we call the little tiny bugs that are so small that, if 200 were in a group in front of your face you can't see them.) Those are no see-ums and in Texas they attack your face in groups of thousands. Now, in california they get butterflies that attack your car head lights at night in groups of thousands.
Alabama and Georga come in a close third but only because those states are only 1 fifth the size of Texas.
We won't even talk about Florida, they have bugs there that will carry away small childern just for a snack.

Fat is an ugly word. Use it less and appease the crowd. </font>[/QUOTE]Fat is only an ugly word if you're personally offeneded by it. Like it or not, "fat" is reality, and there aren't much terms to make it sound "nicer". Some people just feel the need to use that word to insult other people with it. Now that's the real ugly thing about that word.