Brendan I. Koerner's Blog, page 101

The Perils of Blowback

If we were betting khans, we'd wager all our loose change on the eventual failure of the Communitarian Nation of the Moskitia. There's just no way that Nicaragua will ever let its northeastern coast secede, no matter how legitimate the grievances of the Miskito people who've called it home for centuries. And while the separatist Miskitos can certainly cause a bit of bother, their numbers and financial backing are far too small to cause any lasting impact. Sadly, the forecast probably calls...

The White Rose City Awaits

Not much Microkhan'ing today, alas, as we're heading out of town once again—our last trip for the foreseeable future. The destination this time? York, Pennsylvania, for a costume ball honoring the nuptials of a Dirty Doll. We know nothing about York, save for the fact that it's got a thorny racial history. We'd be much obliged if someone could recommend a notable watering hole or downtown sight worth seeing, as we'll have some time to kill on Saturday. Is the self-guided Utz factory tour

The Shisheh Problem

Given Iran's reputation for dispensing harsh justice, it surprised us to learn that the country is home to a thriving crystal-meth industry—one so big, in fact, that it's now exporting to Southeast Asia. As the United Nations graph at right makes clear, use of the drug (locally known as shisheh, or glass) has exploded since 2004. An Iranian expat gives a first-hand account of the problem here:

Every time I come to Iran I am shocked by the rather open and public use and sale of illicit drugs...

The Universality of Whaam!

We'll confess, we often scoff at university courses that focus exclusively on contemporary pop culture—as much as we would have liked to have taken "The Simpsons as Satirical Authors," for example, we're not entirely convinced those classroom hours couldn't be better spent slogging through Ulysses.

But we'd make an exception for a comparative literature course on comic-book superheroes. The way in which various cultures have adopted and tweaked the Marvel/DC model is a source of endless...

First Contact: Hawaiians and the Written Word

With your kind permission, we'd like to try something a little different with today's installment of our occasional First Contact series: an account of a civilization's initial experience with written language, rather than its introduction to an alien people.

We initially planned on posting something about the development of the Hawaiian alphabet—we've long been fascinated by exactly how missionaries of the 1820s arrived at their elegant (and occasionally controversial) twelve-character...

Desperate Times, Desperate Measures

We recently argued that symbols do, indeed, matter. Is it possible that someone in the administration of Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki read our screed? Because the Nairobi regime has suddenly decided to make a rather brilliant token gesture, obviously designed to indicate a willingness to tackle government excess: it's forcing officials to give up their precious limos:

Ministers and Permanent Secretaries are set to surrender vehicles with over 1800cc on Wednesday as they receive new ones with...

"Under My Heart, Three Clouds of Pain"

Seriously, basketball gods? We finally have an inkling of hope that our beloved Los Angeles Clippers won't totally self-immolate this season, and then you see fit to break Blake Griffin's kneecap? Ah, cruel deities—can you do nothing to reward our years of steadfast devotion? Or are you so incensed with owner Donald Sterling's botched facelift and casual racism that you'll keep punishing us innocent fans 'til approximately the end of time?

A friend of Microkhan tries to make sense of the...

Drought and Drugs

Australia's epic drought could end up being something of a boon to neighboring New Zealand, at least in terms of aboveboard narcotic production. Half the world's legal opium crop is grown on tiny Tasmania, largely under the auspices of Tasmania Alkaloids—a company that operates under the all-time most intentionally innocuous slogan of "Value Adding in Tasmania." The lack of rain has been a killer for TA's poppy crop, and so they're experimenting with moving production to South Canterbury.

But...

Farewell, Sonny Jim

Sad news out of New Mexico this morning: Sonny Jim, a true legend of the , was gunned down during a property dispute. A man of Modoc descent who'd long lived in Navajo country, Sonny Jim was the nation's top Indian cowboy during the early 1970s, renowned for his long, luxuriant hippie hair as well as his bull-riding skills. In 1982, he reinvented himself as a champion steer wrestler—dangerous work for any cowboy, let alone one entering the sunset of his career.

A 1974 piece ...

Permission Slips…for Failure?

Pity the poor children of Jinja, who have lost one of the great privileges of the grade-school years: the right to periodically spend a day at the zoo, museum, or box factory in the name of education. The field trip is no longer welcome in Uganda's second city, having been blamed for declining grades and test scores:

Mr Kamwana said head teachers have a tendency of concentrating on pupils' tours in third term instead of making final touches in preparation for the Uganda National Examination...