Brendan I. Koerner's Blog, page 109

Bumps Make the Man

Staying on yesterday's Black Hawk theme, we found a major scientific curio related to the Sauk chief: an 1838 account of Black Hawk's phrenological characteristics, published in the not-so-renowned American Phrenological Journal and Miscellany. We're big lovers of old-time junk science, and this paper is chock full of such wrongheaded (though utterly sincere) treats. One of our favorite passages goes:

The superior-posterior part, or the back and upper portion, of the head, embraces the organs...

TR and the Nation's Health

As soon as President Obama invoked Theodore Roosevelt's name last night, we started digging through the archives in search of details about the Bull Moose's call for health-care reform. It was a tougher get than we expected, as the proposal amounts to little more than a single line in the Progressive Party's final 1912 platform; it was evidently a late add, as the language doesn't appear in the August version (PDF). Roosevelt's call-by-proxy basically goes as so:

The supreme duty of the...

Lagos City

Trust us when we say that Voodoo Funk pretty much defines the phrase "Internet essential." If you have even a cursory interest in vintage African sounds of the '70 and '80s, or even just plain ol' vinyl collecting, you owe this site many hours of your time. It's recently introduced us to a bevy of great Nigerian and Ghanian music, via mixes like this and this. The clip above shows Voodoo Funk's German impresario doing what he does best—digging through dusty crates in search of gems to share. ...

Chicken-Fried Steak, Cont'd

In response to our post below about Oklahoma's artery-mucking official meal, one of our favorite commenters chimed in:

This reads like every last meal I ever read about while I was growing up in the South. I guess Oklahoma death row inmates can save some time ordering– "I'll have the 'Official," they say.

Alas, the entire feast is not within reach for the state's condemned men. According to oddly addictive Dead Man Eating, H-Unit inmates are limited to a $15 budget for their farewell meal. And ...

Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak on Marriage

One of our big hobby horses 'round here is the natural rate of divorce—that is, the theory that a certain percentage of marriages are invariably doomed, and that policymakers should realize this when crafting divorce laws. If those laws are too strict, you just get a lot of miserable couples who become a drag on the economy; conversely, if divorce is too easy, society is roiled by more instability than it really needs to endure.

We bring this concept up again in light of a passage a reader...

Our Midwestern Reading

Apologies for the light posting today, a phenomenon which is sadly sure to repeat itself between now and Labor Day. We're scrambling to prepare for two major reporting trips—one to East Africa, the other to the American Heartland. On top of that, we've got a lecture to prepare for—next Tuesday, we'll be regaling Brooklynites about the history of Zima (the clearmalt beverage, not the Elm City-born actress).

We did want to note, however, that we've recently come into temporary possession of a copy

The Mysterious Mr. Mason, Cont'd

Not that we expect any of y'all to remember this, but we left you hanging a couple of months back. See, we dug up a copy of Lee Mason's "Shady Blues", which we first fell in love with as a much-used hip-hop sample. And at the conclusion of that long-ago post, we promised to "follow up soon with a couple of posts on contemporary cuts that rely on Mason's lazy groove."

But as is our occasional wont, alas, we forgot all about that promise—we blame an overly hectic summer of work, work, work. But n

"Take Up the Sword of Justice"

Every once in a while, we stumble upon an online resource that makes us wonder how we ever managed to get along without it. Such is the case with the clunkily named First World War Digital Poetry Archive, which features even more interesting historical tidbits than advertised. The main focus here, of course, is one the men of letters who found themselves ensconced in the trenches, and attempted to maintain their sanity by recording their experiences on paper. That means the there are plenty of g

An Easy Four Bucks

Legal wolf hunting has finally returned to the Lower 48, ostensibly as a way to control the species' population while also earning Idaho's state government a few bucks. The program obviously has some folks in a lather, as history shows that rapacious hunting was responsible for the gray wolf's longtime residency on the endangered species list. And that hunting was egged on by publicly funded bounties, which paid a tidy sum in exchange for each lupine scalp.

But, rather ironically, the gray wolf

"Kobayashi Steady Twitchin'…"

It gives us immense pleasure to announce Microkhan's favorite rapping competitive eater, Eric "Badlands" Booker, is back with his fifth album, Extended Play. As always, Booker's lyrical content focuses on his gustatory dedication, as well as the perks of being a minor celebrity. The cut above does an excellent job of conveying both the stress and glamour of life on the eating circuit, where Booker continues to hold seemingly unassailable records in both the burrito sprint (15 burritos in 8 minu