Brendan I. Koerner's Blog, page 70
June 17, 2010
Asha on the Beach
Once again, a fresh track has led us to discover a gem from distant shores. In this case, Gonjasufi's haunting "Sheep" inspired us to seek out its source material, "Yeh Hawa Yeh Fiza" from the 1983 Bollywood classic Sadma. To our great delight, the singer is one of our all-time favorites, Asha "The Enchantress" Bhosle, whose ethereal voice we've long imagined on the soundtrack for the Now the Hell Will Start movie. The music doesn't entirely jibe with the scenery, which seems inspired by the ...
Capture the Flag, Cont'd
In response to the previous post regarding a biker gang's seemingly childish obsession with stealing their rivals' sew-on patches, a few sharp readers pointed out that this game was once the essence of warfare. One, in particular, mentioned the following:
I'm definitely no Civil War expert, but I believe more medals were awarded during the Civil War for capturing or saving flags than for any other reason.
We're no Civil War experts, either—we always defer to more learned scholars of the...
June 16, 2010
High-Stakes Capture the Flag
If you've ever been curious about the day-to-day operations of outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMGs), the recent federal racketeering indictment against the Outlaws is an absolute goldmine. The lengthy document lays out exactly how a multi-chapter "one percenter" organization generates revenue, enforces discipline, and has a raucous (albeit morally objectionable) good time.
What struck us most, however, was the Outlaws' strange obsession with a seemingly childish game: Seizing the sew-on patches of ...
When Splits Get Greased
Our adopted home state may have a progressive reputation, owing chiefly to its principal city's joie de vivre, but it's also been woefully behind the times on certain political matters. The notorious Rockefeller drug laws, for example, are just now being scrapped, though vestiges seem certain to remain. And over three decades later than most of its neighbors, New York is finally within striking distance of adopting no-fault divorce.
This is a positive, as it means an end to the charade that c...
June 15, 2010
A Proud Tradition Betrayed
To our tremendous relief, the 65-day blockade of Manipur appears to be over, thereby allowing much-needed food and medicine to flow into the Indian state. (Microkhan's backgrounder on the crisis can be found here.) Now, perhaps, the local government can focus on what strikes us a problem of only slightly lesser importance: the long decline in the quality of Manipur's storied arm-wrestling team, which the Koklata Telegraph attributes to official neglect:
Manipur Armwrestling Association...
Playing the Drug War Odds
The ship above, the gargantuan M/V Dole Chile, was recently found to be carrying $2 million worth of cocaine into Delaware's main port. The drugs were stashed in the ventilation system of a container loaded with bananas, which the ship delivers weekly to the Port of Wilmington. All in all, a nice little catch for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, whose officers routinely inspect fruit shipments for evidence of invasive insects.
But the seizure also underscores the utter futility of...
June 14, 2010
A Company Town's Sudden Death
While researching the economic feasibility of a Bering Strait tunnel, we came across this recent dispatch from the Edmonton Journal. In addition to alerting us to the manner in which the residents of Little Diomede were used as Cold War pawns, the article made us aware of the callow manner in which the Russian coal industry tends to treat its laborers. Case in point:
On a cold January day in 1998, nearly 1,000 residents of the Russian coal-mining town of Pyramiden were surprised by the...
June 11, 2010
The Sacred Exchange of Knucklebones
We've been lassoed into some emergency parenting today, and Microkhan Jr. is tugging on the hem of our deel as we type these very words. So let us just quickly share with you two things that bring much gladness to our collective heart: the above Donny Hathaway gem, an Afro-Cuban spin on "The Ghetto," and the following account of the childhood bond that Genghis Khan (née Temujin) forged with his pal Jamukha:
When they first became bond-brothers, Temujin was ten years old. They were playing...
June 10, 2010
What Sand and Cocaine Have in Common
Despite a government ban, Cambodian dredgers are once again raking the floor of the Koh Pao River in search of vast quantities of sand. The risk of running afoul of the authorities is apparently far outweighed by the riches to be gained from exporting sand to Singapore, which desperately needs the granular commodity to expand physically. If anything, the ban on dredging in Cambodia—which followed the example set by Indonesia and other sand exporters—will simply drive up the price of sand to e...
June 9, 2010
Manipur on the Brink
A grim report from North-East India, where Manipur has been under seige for two months:
Manipur faces an acute shortage of food and medicines with supplies of essentials cut off for the 60th day Wednesday following an indefinite economic blockade by several tribal groups.
"The food crisis is simply acute and also there is a severe shortage of life saving medicines with the blockade entering the 60th day and still no chance of breaking the deadlock," N. Biren Singh, Manipur government...
