Bugs, Burgers, and Bikes

Egypt is suffering from a plague of locusts of Biblical proportions. Millions of pink locusts have invaded Egypt scaring people and lowering visibility. While they are an enormous nuisance, they seem just to be passing through on the strong west wind and are not expected to severely damage agriculture. Saudi Arabia and Sudan have both been warned as the locusts, which have been arriving in medium sized swarms, seem to be traveling toward and will arrive there if they don't die first.

Hardee's has decided to speed the fattening of our society by introducing what they are calling the Monster Thickburger. It consists of 2 1/3 pound patties of Angus beef, 3 slices of American cheese, 4 rashers of bacon, and mayonnaise on a buttered sesame seed bun. The sandwich will sell for $5.49. I have to say that this is just ridiculous and goes to show how the people in big business are for profit at any cost. I'd just like to know what idiot thought that this was a good idea.
The tale of the tape: Serving Size: 1 sandwich (412 g) Calories:1420, calories from fat: 970 Total Fat: 107g (165% RDA) Saturated Fat: 46g (229% RDA) Cholesterol: 230 mg (77% RDA) Sodium: 2650mg (110% RDA)
The Centre for Scince in the Public Interest has stated that if the Thickburger was "food porn", the Monster Thick burger is the fast food equivalent of a snuff movie.

The Chicagoland Bicycle Federation had their annual volunteer party tonight. I went because I volunteer for them a lot and I have become friends with several of the people that work there. The party was at the West Loop Bar Louie which is also known as The Bluepoint Lounge. They served lots of finger food: wings, hummus, tabbouleh, pita chips, cookies and one beer ticket. They also had a raffle and gave away a bunch of bike stuff but I didn't win anything :( I did get a t-shirt and it was good seeing my friends though so it was a good night.

And now for the war in Iraq. The American death toll has climbed to 95 for the month and 1216 for the year, only four more than yesterday. It's a really sick thing when you can say that only 4 people died before their time violently in the last 24 hours. To continue the documentation of the American was dead in Iraq, we are up to June 2003. 30 people died in June and here are there names: On June 1: Sgt. Jonathan W. Lambert

On June3: Sgt. Atanasio Haro Marin Jr.

On June 5: PFC Branden F. Oberleitner

On June 6: PO3 Doyle W. Bollinger Jr., Sgt. Travis L. Burkhardt, PO3 David Sisung

On June 7: Pvt. Jesse M. Halling

On June 8: Sgt. Michael E. Dooley

On June 10: PFC Gavin L. Neighbor

On June 12: Spc.John K. Klinesmith Jr.

On June 13: Ssgt. Andrew R. Pokorney

On June 15: PFC Ryan R. Cox

On June 16: Spc. Joseph D. Suell, Pvt. Shawn D. Pahnke

On June 17: Pvt. Robert L. Frantz, Sgt. Michael L. Tosto

On June 18: PFC Michael R. Deuel, Ssgt. William T. Latham

On June 19: Spc. Michael T. Nakamura

On June 22: Spc. Orenthial Javon Smith

On June 24: Spc. Cedric Lamont Lennon

On June 25: SFC Gladimir Phillippe, Spc. Andrew F. Chris, Lcpl. Gregory E. MacDonald, PFC Kevin C. Ott

On June 26: Spc. Richard P. Orengo, Spc. Corey A. Hubbell, HMSN Joshua McIntosh

On June 27: Cpl. Tomas Sotelo Jr.

On June 28: Sgt. Timothy F. Conneway

At the end of June 2003, 205 American Soldiers had lost their lives as a direct result of fighting in Iraq. Details on these soldiers can be found at Iraq Coalition Casualties.