Brendan I. Koerner's Blog, page 150
March 23, 2009
“A Prohibition So Divine…”
A couple of weeks ago, Microkhan delved into the apparent link between literacy and suicide—the more literate a nation’s population, it appears, the likelier it is to have a high suicide rate. This theory might explain in part why so many post-Soviet nations have serious suicide problems—their citizens are well-educated, but also struggling economically (at least compared to the West).
A commenter on the post, however, had a different take, which merits addressing:
How about the legacy of the erad
Turtle Farming on the Bayou
Our nation’s turtle farming industry recently received some rather unwanted attention, courtesy of Operation Shellshock. The multistate investigation uncovered a clandestine network of reptile smugglers, whose dastardly deeds included the peddling of rare turtles to both collectors and Chinese diners. The scheme was allegedly abetted with “the help of a corrupt Louisiana turtle farm,” which hid endangered specimens amidst its more ordinary residents. (A meat processor on Maryland’s Eastern Shore
March 20, 2009
Greatest Team Nickname Ever
I’ll confess to getting a bit choked up when watching the closing seconds of any March Madness game. CBS always pans across the defeated team’s bench, revealing a bunch of dejected seniors whose careers have suddenly evaporated. Most will move on to high-level rec leagues, and to boring their children with exaggerated tales of their hardwood exploits.
Yet a few lucky souls will earn a living playing the sport they love. To make that happen, some will bid farewell to the U.S. and journey to The Ph
What Was Lea Thompson Thinking?
Another Friday, another end-of-week paean to terrible movie reviews. This time, instead of digging though the proverbial crates, Microkhan would like to cite the A.V. Club’s recent take on the Howard the Duck DVD release:
Finally, the book can be closed on the DVD era: Howard The Duck, a George Lucas production every bit as ignominious as Jar Jar Binks, has now been made available to the tens of fans clamoring for its release…More than 20 years later, Howard The Duck remains a black hole, unsalv
The Miracle of Concrete
Sometimes the simplest measures can improve public health in the most remarkable ways. Want to save hundreds of thousands of young lives each year, while improving those kiddos’ IQ scores to boot? Cover their floors with concrete.
The Risks of Prison Wine
If you’re looking for proof of mankind’s inveterate need for altered states of consciousness, look no further than pruno. Long created beneath the bunks of prison inmates, and often consisting of such odious ingredients as ketchup and sauerkraut, pruno is notoriously unpalatable, even for the most hardened toughs. According to a participant in a harrowing 2006 taste test, the stuff is reticent not of black currant and cinnamon, a la Spain’s finest riojas, but rather “a rotten compost heap of tro
March 19, 2009
“Supply…and Demand”
I’ve got to buckle down for the rest of the day and focus on the Now the Hell Will Start screenplay, so this’ll be my outro post for March 19th. If you’ve never experienced the ecclesiastical comedy stylings of Father Guido Sarducci, you’re in for quite a treat. Here, he discusses his million-dollar idea for the Five Minute University—an institute of higher ed that teaches you only what the typical college student remembers five years after graduation, and thus packs four years’ worth of book le
Vermont’s Baby Bust
The most widely discussed aspect of the latest national birth figures is the sheer number of babies that dropped in ‘07—more than in any year since the late Eisenhower administration. Well, that and the fact that 40 percent of those births were out-of-wedlock—the result of more and more women getting preggers without getting hitched.
But what struck me about the figures was Vermont’s position in the birth-rate cellar. I figured that, given the egregiously long winters in the Green Mountain State,
March 18, 2009
Light Rail in Lagos
After a lengthy bidding process, the two-line Lagos Rail Mass Transit project is set to break ground in September. This comes on the heels of the successful revamp of the city’s bus service, which now carries 180,000 passengers per day.
Can the rail project ever come to fruition in a city as chaotic (and chronically misgoverned) as Lagos? There are plenty of skeptics, given the recent failure to build two regional lines amidst charges of corruption. And, of course, whenever I hear about transpor
From the “Where Are They Now?” File
It’s frightening to think how many hours I’ve spent listening to WEFUNK Radio over the past seven or eight years. I’ve doubtless heard every archived show at least twice, and several of them close to a dozen times. (Neophytes should start out with Show 170.) WEFUNK, broadcasting weekly from Montreal’s famous CKUT, never disappoints, and has introduced me to many an obscure musician even my vinyl-collecting ass might otherwise have missed.
One recent WEFUNK discovery i
