Brendan I. Koerner's Blog, page 130

“This Belly Does Not Discriminate”

Although we realize that gluttony is one of the Seven Sins for a very good reason, we can’t help but be fascinated by the sport of competitive eating. We previously marveled at the gustatory prowess of Juris “Doctor Bigtime” Shibayama, a Tennessee orthopedist who can put away T-bones like nobody’s business. Today our adulatory gaze turns toward Eric “Badlands” Booker, a New York-based subway conductor currently ranked 13th by the International Federation of Competitive Eating. The heartfelt docu

The One Thing You Can’t Fix

We’ve been so wrapped up with parenting and screenplaying these last two weeks, we’ve had scant time to ponder the tragic demise of former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun. As longtime Microkhan readers know, suicide is one of our great topics of interest. And so we were struck by the means with which Roh chose to take his own life—by leaping from a cliff near his ancestral village. This is an extremely rare method of suicide, most likely due to the natural human fear of heights. It is also o

Sprinting to the Finish

We’ve literally got less than 24 hours ’til the Now the Hell Will Start screenplay draft is due, so once again, no time for deep afternoon thoughts. Instead, take a mental load off and enjoy an unfortunately attired Debbie Harry doing “Call Me” with a bunch of super-funky Muppets. The extraordinarily brief, theremin-like synth solo at the 1:35 mark will haunt your dreams.

“Survivor Dosimetry”

We could easily spend the rest of the year—and probably a fair chunk of 2010—blogging exclusively about Cold War nuclear testing. But since doing so would certainly lead to a mass exodus of readers, we’ll spare you the endless geek out. For now, content yourself with this short-yet-fascinating report (PDF) on the Nevada Test Site’s “Japanese Village,” built in 1956 to help researchers understand why some people managed to survive Hiroshima’s radioactive fallout. The village’s construction was pa

Man’s True Best Friend?

One of Microkhan’s most faithful correspondents wrote in yesterday regarding our recent Taiwanese landmines post. Our piece quoted from a report on Mozambique’s mine removal program, which suggested that dogs were doing much of the detection. But our reader, who obviously knows Mozambique better than the Average Joe, points out that giant pouched rats are sharing much of the detection burden. (Video here.) And should you be so inclined, you can even pony up to adopt one of the heroic critters.

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A Ray of Sumo Sunshine

These are somewhat dark days for sumo, with a celebrated trainer about to serve six years in prison for the bizarrely violent hazing death of one of his pupils. (It involved beer bottles, metal bats, and rubber hoses.) And the sport’s still reeling from a drug scandal, albeit one that would cause little outrage in virtually any other country.

Riding to the rescue, though, is Mongolian-born up-and-comer Harumafuji, who formerly grappled under the name Ama. The 25-year-old just won his first Emper

Conan the Philosopher

Jammin’ on the Now the Hell Will Start screenplay ’til quitting time, so we’re gonna leave you with an invaluable bit of barbarian wisdom. To be perfectly honest, we sorta find ourselves more in agreement with the nature-loving warrior who speaks first, and is promptly shouted down by the master. We’re just not that into hearing the lamentations of women, though we do enjoy seeing our enemies turn tail.

Oliver Stone wrote this screenplay amidst an astonishing creative run that also included Midn

Esperanto of an Earlier Age

In our all-too-fleeting free time, we’ve been researching the development of Nigerian Pidgin (primarily so we can better understand the comedic stylings of Basketmouth). This exploration recently led us to another mash-up language: Solomon Islands Pijin, which shares some English influence but not much else with its Nigerian cousin. According to a leading Pijin scholar, the language grew out of something called Beach-la-mar, an archaic 18th-century trade language used in the South Pacific. It’s

Duplin County Blues

We were grateful to come across this tale not only due to its sordidness, but also because it answered a long-standing question we’ve had: What’s the going rate for a serving of moonshine nowadays?:

A Duplin County couple is facing multiple charges after a shocking discovery at their home daycare business.

Authorities confiscated a stash of guns, ammo, gallons of alcohol, marijuana, and moonshine early Saturday morning from Johnnie and Judy Wilson’s home business.

“People have a right to live in t

A Nation of Homebodies

Yesterday we came across an alarming factoid: Only 30 percent of our fellow Americans hold a passport. That strikes us as absurdly low, especially now that all travel to Mexico and Canada will require the precious document. And while one could argue that the expense of international travel is a factor in our exceptionally low passport rate, we suspect that a combination of laziness and lack of curiosity are the real culprits. We are, alas, not a nation of travelers—the anti-Australia, basically.