Most overweight states report: I escaped the midwest just in time

A new report from the CDC tells Americans something we already know: we're tubby. In fact, almost 70 percent of adults over the age of 20 are overweight or obese. Holy crap, 70 percent!!! That's almost all of us. Take a look at ten people around you, are seven of them obese? Not around me, but I'm in California, which apparently isn't on the top of the list of the fattest states in America.

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What are the states with the largest people in America? Those in the South, of course. And a couple in the Midwest. Go figure.

In order, the 10 fattest states in the union, are:

1. Mississippi
2. Louisiana
3. Tennessee
4. Kentucky
5. Oklahoma
6. West Virginia
7. Alabama
8. Arkansas
9. Missouri
10. Michigan & South Dakota -- tied for last

So what are all of these people eating down south and in the middle? Just one look at my family cookbook will tell you everything you need to know. A vegetable doesn't exist in that book that isn't fried or covered in cheese. The rest is all pies, cakes, and lots of recipes that include the ingredient of "shortening." Yum. And, that'll make you fat. My family proudly hails from three of the fattest states on the list: Oklahoma, Louisiana, and West Virginia. Where they like their grease.

More from The Stir: The Cookie Diet is Real!

Of course, a lot of these states are also some of the poorest, and we all know that poverty begets obesity. Sushi is expensive. So if you're choosing between KFC's .99-cent menu and a $10 lunch, you're not heading to the Japanese restaurant when you're counting your pennies. That is, if you even have healthy options to choose from in your area. Many of these states also have a large rural population, where fresh, healthy foods are scarce. Additionally, if you're surrounded by unhealthy people, you're more likely to be unhealthy as well. Living in one of these fat states could be harming your diet.

Do you live in a fat state?

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Google Bids $900 Million For Nortel Patents

lthough the timing may be coincidental, Larry Page’s new career as CEO of Google has gotten off to an interesting start. Google announced this morning that it’s bid $900 million for about 6,000 patents and patent applications owned by Nortel.

Before anyone gets too excited: this development shouldn’t signal that Google intends to either branch into telecommunications equipment or sue its biggest rivals out of existence. Kent Walker, a senior vice president and general counsel for the search giant, described the move as a precautionary measure.

Walker explained on the Official Google Blog, “The tech world has recently seen an explosion in patent litigation, often involving low-quality software patents, which threatens to stifle innovation. Some of these lawsuits have been filed by people or companies that have never actually created anything; others are motivated by a desire to block competing products or profit from the success of a rival’s new technology.”

Walker then observed, “But as things stand today, one of a company’s best defenses against this kind of litigation is (ironically) to have a formidable patent portfolio, as this helps maintain your freedom to develop new products and services.”

So Google – with its market cap of about $189 billion – made its bid of $900 million for Nortel‘s patents (the Canadian company is breaking up due to bankruptcy), and that bid will now be the starting point when an actual auction takes place.

Investors seem unimpressed with the maneuver at the moment, sending Google’s stock down 0.61 percent so far today.