Brendan I. Koerner's Blog, page 132

Speaking from the Fist

Perhaps Randy “Macho Man” Savage didn’t have quite the acting career of some of his fellow ’80s wrestlers (see: “Rowdy” Roddy Piper, Sgt. Slaughter), but you can’t fault the man’s instinct for licensing only the hottest fashion. When we came across the jacket above, via the somewhat NSFW THEM THANGS, we knew we had no choice but to post. Reagan Era nostalgia like this just blows our minds.

Also apt to shred your cerebellum this dreary Friday morning: Macho Man’s sadly slept-on single, “Speaking

Haa Blows the Happiness Curve

A few years back, Bhutan rather famously announced that it would no longer be a slave to the concept of Gross Domestic Product. Instead, it would measure its progress in terms of Gross National Happiness, as measured by a regular survey of its citizens. (The exact methodology can be found here).

This announcement attracted its fair share of gentle mockery, in part because we’re so accustomed to thinking of happiness as a purely subjective concept. But the lampooning hasn’t stopped Bhutan from r

Fish, Chips, Hips

With less than two week to go ’til the screenplay’s due, the rest of the afternoon’s gonna be all about tweaking dialogue. But Microkhan will leave you with a special treat: Chubb Rock, a man whose girth is rivaled only by his underratedness. Apologies for the five second commercial at the beginning of the clip; make it past that, and you’ll find yourself in awe of the Chubbster’s flow. Not to mention his affection for getting fanned with peacock feathers, Roman Emperor-style.

“It Was a Dark and Methodical Night…”

In the midst of researching a minor Batman villain named The Actuary—please, don’t ask why—we came across a rather curious contest held by the Society of Actuaries. In the spirit of stoking its members’ right brains, the Society annually puts out the call for fictional short stories that evoke the essence of actuarial science. This year’s winner, Chris Fievoli’s “No Country for Young Men,” can be read in its entirety here (PDF). A taste of what the Faulkner of actuaries produced en route to the

Cheerios and Johnny Reb’s Ersatz Dough

Like a zillion other toddlers, Microkhan Jr. loves him some Cheerios. And never more so when the circular cereal gives away toys—General Mills has recently been on a kick of offering a free Lego car in every box. For a fifteen-month-old obsessed with rolling objects, nothing could make that oat-y goodness any better.

Yet Cheerios’ freebies haven’t always been so obviously geared toward the Sesame Street set, as we recently learned after reading this tale of an Iowan auction gone awry. A man purc

The Secret Lives of Chemists

Allied troops in Afghanistan are celebrating a heroin bust reputed to be one of the biggest ever: Approximately 92 tons of street-ready horse, along with several tons more of “processing chemicals.”

Given our nerdly inclinations, our first thought upon learning of this seizure was, “Why no details on those chemicals?” Because the unsung villain in the heroin trade is acetic anhydride, a compound widely used in the production of film coating, aspirin, and treated lumber. It’s also key to turning m

Skulls and Nomads

We’re in bunker mode on the screenplay for the day’s remainder, so no semi-deep thoughts this p.m. We’ll just leave you with the above snippet of the classic documentary 80 Blocks from Tiffany’s, an account of gang life in the Carter-era South Bronx. The social background is ceaselessly tragic, the clothing style mind-blowingly great. And if nothing else, you’ll learn a valuable lesson—if a gap-toothed bloke named “Heavy” says he wants to buy your club, you really should consider selling.

(h/t K

Two Sticks Better Than One

There’s a movement afoot in the Senate of the Philippines to designate arnis the national sport. From the text of Senate Bill 1424 (PDF):

Arnis is a sport that is indigenous and uniquely Filipino. Among the many games in the country, it can be considered as one of our national cultural gems that completely originated from the Philippines.

This art was practiced primarily for self-defense by the Filipinos during the pre-Spanish period. While during the Spanish period, Arnis was used to fight again

Microtribe

Today’s New York Times features a fascinating account of the Shinnecock Indians’ three-decade quest for federal recognition—a quest that should finally be resolved this year, at least according to an Interior Department promise. At stake is the tribe’s right to build a casino, as well as its potential to lay claim to large swaths of the tony Hamptons.

What struck Microkhan the most about the Shinnecock’s bind is the relatively large size of the tribe—about 1,000 members. That got us thinking abou

“Like Some Large Grub”

As the great Jack Shafer has noted time and again, British-style obituaries are a zillion times more entertaining than ours. And that’s primarily because the Brits aren’t afraid of speaking ill of the dead when such treatment is warranted. Such is the case with The Economist’s recent farewell to Prabhakaran, the Tamil Tigers’ slain leader. The magazine’s acidic take on his life is nothing short of devastating:

No philosophy or ideology guided him, as far as anyone could tell. He did not like abs