Drink Tank

English Drunkards

2010-03-29T23:35:00.001-04:00

Angry, bewildered and shame-faced these Edwardian drunks stare into the lens of the police camera.

They were 'habitual drunkards' whose offences included being caught while in charge of a horse, carriage and even a steam engine.

Issued a century ago, the drunks were given the equivalent of modern-day Asbos in that they were banned from being served in pubs because of their past behaviour.

Information was compiled by the Watch Committee of the City of Birmingham, which was set up by the police to enforce the Licensing Act of 1902.

The act was passed in an attempt to deal with public drunks, giving police the power to apprehend those found drunk in any public place and unable to take care of themselves.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1260872/Ancestry-Edwardian-Englands-drunkards.html#ixzz0jcyQTZOo

Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails

2009-08-19T20:58:00.004-04:00

Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails (LUPEC) is dedicated to the Gin Fizz, the Widow's Kiss, and the Singapore Sling – the drinks our mothers and grandmothers drank, the drinks we strive to save from extinction as a small measure of remembering those great women and their great cocktail parties.

Turtle v. Pigeon

2009-08-07T13:35:00.002-04:00

Thanks Thomas!

2009-07-31T20:32:00.002-04:00

Stephen

2009-07-14T17:45:00.002-04:00

Drinktank Drinktank Drinktank

2009-05-23T18:43:00.002-04:00

So Oded called me demanding that we start posting on this site again. Come on guys I know you can do it! We're better than keyboard cat.

2009-03-18T15:38:00.001-04:00

The Pres...

2009-03-01T00:40:00.002-05:00

"This is your victory!" Yes Drinktankers, it belongs to us all. After eight long years of a president that was (allegeldy) on the wagon we at long last have a president that's not afraid to enjoy a cold one at a Bulls game.

Happy Saint Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T11:43:00.001-05:00

At around 10:30 a.m. on St. Valentine's day, four men arrived at the warehouse in two cars: a Cadillac sedan and a Peerless, both outfitted to look like detective sedans. Two men were dressed in police uniforms and two in street clothes.

The US Economy

2009-01-28T22:47:00.005-05:00

Happy MLK Day

2009-01-19T20:00:00.004-05:00

Obama Cognac

2009-01-17T16:17:00.001-05:00

The maker of Hennessy Cognac, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, is using numerology rather than language in its promotion, selling 180,000 bottles, priced at $30 each, bearing seals and labels on the front and back emblazoned with “44” and phrases like “In honor of the 44th president” and “In honor of the presidential inauguration.”

The Obama Cocktail

2009-01-15T04:14:00.002-05:00

via BBC:

Desperate times call for an extreme make-over and the new president will have to walk a tightrope of managed anticipation and tempered optimism, without plunging into the abyss of despair.
I would not call the Obama cocktail "The Dream" - how about "The Wake-Up Call"?: two shots of vodka to numb the pain, a generous squeeze of lime and lemon to give a kick, and a dash of carrot juice to line the stomach.

let's test it out this weekend ^_^

Face!

2008-11-23T11:03:00.000-05:00

This has made me feel good all morning.

Back to the drawing board.

2008-11-06T16:15:00.001-05:00

Breasts Like Martinis

2008-09-25T11:49:00.001-04:00

The bartender at Caesar's tells jokes we've heard a hundred times.
A shoelace walks into a bar, for example. I whisper
Sarah Evers told me that joke in sixth grade and Josey says
My brother Steve, 1982. A whore, a midget, a Chinaman,
nothing we haven't heard. Then a customer asks
Why are breasts like martinis? and they both start laughing.
They know this one, everybody knows this one, except
us. They don't even bother with the punch line. The bartender just says
Yeah, but I always said there should be a third one, on the back,
for dancing, dancing with the woman-shaped air behind the bar, his hand
on the breast on her back. So we figure three is too many,
one's not enough. Okay; we can do better than that. I like my breasts
like I like my martinis, we say: Small and bruised or big and dry. Perfect.
Overflowing. Reeking of juniper, spilling all over the bar.
When I have a migraine and she reaches for me, I say
Josey, my breasts are like martinis. She nods, solemn:
People should keep their goddamn hands off yours. How
could we tell these jokes to the bartender? We can't. He'll never know.
I say it after scrubbing the kitchen cabinets, and she gets it:
dirty and wet. Walking in the wind, Josey says My breasts
are like martinis and I hail a cab, know she means shaking, ice cold.

___________
Listen to Jill McDonough read her poem.

The Jill Greenberg photos

2008-09-15T23:28:00.003-04:00

Recently Jill Greenberg was hired by the Atlantic Monthly to shoot John McCain for the magazines cover. She shot a few extra images and posted them on her website as well.

How I did it

2008-08-03T16:01:00.006-04:00

Miguel's 2008 prize-winning riboff recipe.

Rib selection:

Baby backs from Los Paisanos in Brooklyn.

Marinade:

Marinated overnight in equal parts apple cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, and saltwater. With chopped leek, fresh garlic, and parsley.

Rub:

Salt and pepper, applied lightly.

Smoking:

I used one half the floor of a charcoal grill for hardwood charcoal (provided by Paul - thanks!) and the other half had a pan filed with water which came to a boil quickly. The meat was then cooked over the water half in a closed grill for two hours, smoking it thoroughly.

Braising:

I set the meat in a pan filled with the marinade (sans veggies) and some beef broth, boiling on a grill. Covered in tinfoil the meat cooked here for 20 min after the smoking.

BBQ sauce:

I made a sauce by heating and mashing blackberries, and adding serrano peppers I pureed in a coffee grinder. The ratio for the sauce was: 2 hot peppers/ 20 blackberries/ 3 sugarcubes / 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar.

Serving:

After the braising I applied a pinch of the salt and pepper rub and a small amount of the BBQ sauce to each half rack, cut the ribs for single serving and set a few fresh blackberries on top. On the side, sauce for dipping, and some thin sliced potatoes I fried in bacon fat while I was braising.

Honestly it was great to participate and every other contestant had knockout ribs - I'd love to see those recipes too. See you in February for the winter contest.

Photo by Sam

Proper Nasal Cleansing

2008-07-07T00:12:00.001-04:00

We Want beer!

2008-06-10T10:25:00.000-04:00

Senator beer

2008-06-04T18:24:00.000-04:00

The War Nerd Book

2008-04-10T18:12:00.001-04:00

Lovely Ladies

2008-04-09T00:50:00.001-04:00

Putting your money where your mouth is

2008-03-13T13:08:00.003-04:00

I mean, your mouth is drinking a beer, right? For each Sixpoint Hop Obama sold, Pacific Standard will give a buck to my favored campaign. It's really good, I doubt if I can do better than Pacific Standard's copy in terms of using campaign talking points.

It's made with five different types of Crystal malts, and three hop varieties from the Pacific Northwest--a diverse collection of different strains, just like the man himself. It's a mixed style (of course), packing a big hop and malt punch, and checking in at a reasonable 5.2% ABV. I can't give you a fuller description at this point, but this beer isn't about details--this beer is about hope and a rejection of beer as usual.

interesting

2008-02-05T03:00:00.000-05:00

Drinktank endorses OBAMA!!!!

2008-02-04T00:45:00.000-05:00

Happy Superbowl everybody!

2008-02-03T21:05:00.000-05:00

I hope this gets traction before super teusday

2008-02-02T17:25:00.000-05:00

Feline Ballistics

2008-02-02T04:06:00.000-05:00

Here’s a straightforward question in ballistics:

What velocity do you need to launch a 350 pound object over a 12.5 foot barrier that is 33 feet away?

The answer, thanks to Raza Syed, a physicist at Northeastern University in Boston, and a pal is: 26.7 miles per hour at an angle of about 55 degrees.

Now let’s make a few substitutions. Replace 350 pound object with a female Siberian Tiger called Tatiana. And for 12.5 foot barrier 33 feet away substitute the dimensions of the tiger enclosure at San Francisco zoo.

Is this kind of speed possible for a tiger? Apparently yes. Syed says tigers can reach speeds of 35 miles per hour with a run up of only a few feet so this enclosure was clearly no barrier to Tatiana.

After her leap for freedom, Tatiana killed 17-year old Carlos Souza and was shot dead after mauling two other victims.

Ref: arxiv.org/abs/0801.4407: Tiger Tales: A Critical Examination of the Tiger’s Enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo

_________________________________
From here. There are some good comments. My favorite is the first one:

By sir_flexalot on Feb 1, 2008
It wasn’t a leap for freedom, it was a leap for revenge.

Back In 2008?

2008-01-07T13:03:00.000-05:00

Drink Tank is dead! Long live Drink Tank

I don't like to drink Heineken

2007-10-16T12:31:00.000-04:00

But this is pretty cool!

Brick bottle

Kobayashi VS Giant Bear

2007-09-23T14:22:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Ivan.

Holy Shit Tetris

2007-09-16T22:05:00.001-04:00

In the end it's invisible!

Holy Shit Tetris

2007-09-16T22:05:00.000-04:00

In the end it's invisible!

MMMM

2007-08-18T16:45:00.001-04:00

New One?

2007-08-15T18:29:00.001-04:00

Survival Rates

2007-07-21T23:03:00.000-04:00

2007-07-18T16:42:00.000-04:00

Tsunami Second, Still My Hero

2007-07-04T18:36:00.000-04:00

2007: 63 hot dogs (2nd)
2006: 53¾ hot dogs (1st)
2005: 49 hot dogs (1st)
2004: 53½ hot dogs (1st)
2003: 44½ hot dogs (1st)
2002: 50½ hot dogs (1st)
2001: 50 hot dogs (1st)

I especially wanted Takeru Kobayashi to win this year's Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island because he had major jaw problems, and was dedicating his win to his recently deceased mother. Even with a messed up jaw, he out-did his old record by 10! Holy shit!

in the future when there are no women...

2007-07-01T15:53:00.000-04:00

Sweet Ink, Dude

2007-06-25T21:19:00.000-04:00

This guy must have balls the size of Pluto to be a felon fugitive. Isn't this what video recognition software was meant to do? I mean, couldn't they just tap every ATM camera feed down in Ft. Meade and tell the computer 'select * from atm where forehead = swastika'? The best part is that he was a fugitive on November 3rd and was just caught now. Way to go, Utah, you must all be drunk or blind.

Who did shots first?

2007-05-30T02:59:00.000-04:00

Don't Call Him A Lame-Duck

2007-05-26T15:11:00.000-04:00

500 Years In 3 Minutes

2007-05-25T10:08:00.000-04:00

Battle at Kruger

2007-05-22T20:03:00.000-04:00

A battle between a pride of lions, a herd of buffalo, and 2 crocodiles at a watering hole in South Africa’s Kruger National Park. Something like 300 in the wild life.

Japanese single malt whisky

2007-05-22T14:25:00.000-04:00

Whisky reviews, anecdotes, news and history at Nonjatta.

2007-05-22T08:55:00.001-04:00

Thanks Ivan.

2007-05-21T10:52:00.001-04:00

2007-05-15T16:49:00.001-04:00

Booze Related Expression Of The Week

2007-05-14T15:19:00.000-04:00

B.R.E.O.T.W.?

Q. How does the term three sheets to the wind denote drunkenness?

A. We ignorant landlubbers might think that a sheet is a sail, but in traditional sailing-ship days, a sheet was actually a rope, particularly one attached to the bottom corner of a sail (it actually comes from an Old English term for the corner of a sail). The sheets were vital, since they trimmed the sail to the wind. If they ran loose, the sail would flutter about in the wind and the ship would wallow off its course out of control.

Extend this idea to sailors on shore leave, staggering back to the ship after a good night on the town, well tanked up. The irregular and uncertain locomotion of these jolly tars must have reminded onlookers of the way a ship moved in which the sheets were loose. Perhaps one loose sheet might not have been enough to get the image across, so the speakers borrowed the idea of a three-masted sailing ship with three sheets loose, so the saying became three sheets in the wind.

Our first written example comes from that recorder of low life, Pierce Egan, in his Real life in London of 1821. But it must surely be much older.

This version given, incidentally, is comparatively recent, since the older one (the only one given in the big Oxford English Dictionary) is three sheets in the wind. However, online searches show that the to version is now about ten times as common as the one containing in, so it may be that some day soon it will be the only one around. The version with to seems to be gaining ground because so many people think a sheet is a sail.

2007-05-14T09:50:00.001-04:00

Look! Our fist May post!

Thanks Ivan.

Maps of War

2007-04-30T11:18:00.000-04:00

Let's play some Risk this week!"Sail through 5,000 years of middle east political history in 90 seconds with easily digestible animated maps. Maps of War, albeit on the reductive side, provides an informative pictorial narrative surrounding the history of conflict in the Middle East."

Cell phones suck.

2007-04-29T16:37:00.000-04:00

What Happens When You Get Hit In The Head By The Beam Of A Particle Accelerator?

2007-04-26T08:16:00.000-04:00

Anatoli Bugorski (Russian : Анатолий Бугорский) (born 1942) is a Russian scientist who was involved in an accident with a particle accelerator in 1978. To this day, he has not gained any super powers.

In 1978, as a researcher at the Institute for High Energy Physics in Protvino, Bugorski was checking a malfunctioning piece of linear accelerator equipment, when an accident occurred due to failed safety mechanisms. Bugorski was leaning over the piece of equipment, when he stuck his head in the part through which the proton beam was running. Reportedly, he saw a flash "brighter than a thousand suns", but did not feel any pain. The beam measured about 200,000 rads when it entered Bugorski's skull. When the beam exited, after colliding with the inside of his head, it measured about 300,000 rads.

The left half of Bugorski's face swelled up beyond recognition, and over the next several days started peeling off, showing the path that the proton beam (moving near the speed of light) had burned through parts of his face, his bone, and the brain tissue underneath. As it was believed that about 500 to 600 rads is enough to kill a person, Bugorski was taken to a clinic in Moscow where the doctors could observe his death over the following weeks. However, Bugorski has survived to this day; he is able to function perfectly well, save the fact that he has occasional petit mal seizures and very occasional grand mal seizures. The left half of his face was frozen, due to the destruction of nerves, and does not age.

Because of the Soviet Union's policy of maintaining secrecy on Nuclear power-related issues, Bugorski did not speak about the accident for over a decade. He would go to the Moscow radiation clinic twice a year, for examination, and to commune with other nuclear-accident victims. For years, he remained a poster boy for Soviet and Russian radiation medicine. In 1996, he applied for disabled status, to receive his free epilepsy medication. Bugorski showed interest in making himself available for study to Western researchers, but didn't have enough money to go to the Western countries.

Oldie But Goodie

2007-04-24T18:55:00.001-04:00

Thanks again, Ivan.

2007-04-23T16:45:00.001-04:00

Thanks Ivan.

2007-04-18T12:40:00.000-04:00

2007-04-18T02:09:00.000-04:00

Good Work, Oded

2007-04-17T01:22:00.000-04:00

Links

2007-04-16T13:24:00.000-04:00

1. Watch The Trap (instructions and longer summary here).

2. Some excellent cat websites Mark showed me:

I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER?

SHOCKING CATS

2007-04-13T17:02:00.000-04:00

"This is a difficult operation because we have to sew back his muscles, nerves and blood vessels, which are badly severed," one doctor told reporters.

2007-04-12T13:36:00.000-04:00

Researchers at Leeds University spent more than 1,000 hours testing 700 variants on the traditional bacon sandwich.

A motherfucking prick

2007-04-02T02:08:00.000-04:00

Snoop on O'Reilly

2007-03-27T21:15:00.001-04:00

Spiders on Drugs

2007-03-19T20:03:00.000-04:00

Ratatat music

2007-03-16T15:45:00.000-04:00

Ratatat are playing at Webster Hall on April 18. Anyone want to go with me?

There are two songs from the upcoming album Ratatat Remixes Vol. II at their website, one with Biggie and one with Devin the Dude.

Vote Different

2007-03-13T21:18:00.000-04:00

Guinness's Shame

2007-03-13T15:48:00.000-04:00

Ryan Fujiu over at www.calwineries.com has a great blog today on the Guinness Book of world records decade old anti-drinking stance. Mr. Fujiu does examine some of the old records.

Most Alcoholic Drink

* During Independence (1918 – 1940) the Estonian Liquor Monopoly marketed 196 proof potato alcohol. In the U.S., Everclear (190 proof) is marketed by the American Distilling Co. (1979).

Highest Documented Blood Alcohol Level (Oded I am looking at you)

* An unidentified middle-aged Latvian man was unconscious but stable after a blood test showed 7.22 parts per million (0.7%) of alcohol, police spokeswoman Ieva Zvidre said. “An average person would vomit at around 1.2, lose consciousness at 3.0 and stop breathing at a level of about 4.0 parts per million” Zvidre said (2003). Source.

Most Alcoholic Person (actual name of record) (Miguel I am looking at you)

* It is recorded that a hard drinker named Vanhorn (1850 – 1911) averaged more than four bottles of Ruby Port per day for 23 years prior to his death at 61. He is believed to have emptied 35,688 bottles (1979).

In other Guinness news...

"Recent figures show that sales of Guinness are losing their froth.

The 2006 figures for Ireland and Britain show a drop of 7%, continuing a trend that began years ago. " - From the BBC

2007-03-12T19:15:00.000-04:00

[more]

It was more than a feeling...

2007-03-10T11:33:00.001-05:00

"Brad Delp, the lead singer for the rock band Boston, was found dead on Friday in his home in Atkinson, N.H. The Associated Press reported that a police spokesman said Mr. Delp apparently died alone and that there was no indication of foul play. The cause of death is under investigation and a report is to be released Monday, The A.P. reported. Mr. Delp was 55.

Mr. Delp’s vocals, overdubbed into group harmonies and grand chorales for songs like “More Than a Feeling,” were a vital ingredient in the sound of Boston, a band whose multilayered tracks were created in the studio by its guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter and producer, Tom Scholz. Boston’s elaborate songs were ubiquitous on radio stations during the 1970s, and its 1976 debut album, “Boston,” largely recorded in Mr. Scholz’s basement, has sold more than 17 million copies in the United States." - New York Times

The drink makes the mayor

2007-03-05T01:56:00.001-05:00

Planet B-Boy

2007-03-04T20:42:00.000-05:00

This looks awesome. Drink Tank night out when it hits NYC?

System Of A Lego

2007-03-01T22:24:00.000-05:00

2007-02-27T17:20:00.001-05:00

Ah, Childhood

2007-02-25T22:31:00.001-05:00

Remember this?

Us Vs Them

2007-02-24T21:35:00.000-05:00

From an ad on my gmail

2007-02-23T18:12:00.000-05:00

Croatian Hitler-themed sugar packs.

Picture .

2007-02-21T19:39:00.000-05:00

If You Support Spider-Man, Support Obama

2007-02-21T19:19:00.000-05:00

Addressing a racially mixed crowd at a South Los Angeles park during the day, Obama talked of a government that is failing the country and a slash-and-burn political culture that stands in the way of significant change.

But with the support of the electorate, he added, he could work to resolve such issues as an unpopular war in Iraq and a public education system that he said leaves too many people behind.

"We can do all these things. I can't do it without you," Obama, sans tie and in shirtsleeves, exhorted the audience as supporters enthusiastically waved a sea of blue "Obama '08" signs.

The crowd, numbering in the thousands, was strikingly large for a rally a year before the state's expected February 2008 primary.

Afterward, Obama spoke to a star-studded audience at a closed-door fundraiser in Beverly Hills arranged by three of the industry's biggest names -- DreamWorks studio founders Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. He pulled in $1.3 million.

He told an audience that included Spielberg, Oscar nominee Eddie Murphy, actress Jennifer Anniston and singer Jackson Browne that they have "enormous power" that comes with "enormous responsibility" because of their impact on American culture.

"Don't sell yourselves short," he said in a 25-minute address. "You are the storytellers of our age."

Links

2007-02-21T09:43:00.000-05:00

A happy Return Shopping Carts to the Supermarket Month to everyone, but especially Idiotorod fans.

Have you seen the video of the squid using glow-in-the-dark tentacles to attack his prey?

Also:

They have been known to terrorise food-sellers, get drunk on stolen whisky and break into public buildings

Not the bloggers of Drink Tank (this time), but the crazy monkeys of New Dehli. They are being expelled from the city for their uncivilized behavior.

What I learned from Werner Herzog

2007-02-18T13:40:00.000-05:00

Study: Fellatio May Significantly Decrease The Risk Of Breast Cancer In Women

2007-02-17T11:29:00.000-05:00

Sake

2007-02-14T09:24:00.000-05:00

Sake
Originally uploaded by bigbabymiguel.

IEM 2008 Presidential Election Winner Take All

2007-02-13T10:04:00.000-05:00

Might as well start early.

POTD

2007-02-09T19:59:00.000-05:00

Projection of the day: Dymaxion Projection

WOTD

2007-02-08T00:09:00.000-05:00

mic·tu·rate (mĭk'chə-rāt', mĭk'tə-)
intr.v., -rat·ed, -rat·ing, -rates.

To urinate.

[From Latin micturīre, to want to urinate, desiderative of meiere, to urinate.]

______________________________________
...been a while. I'd never noticed this word before.

another amazing video

2007-02-01T10:58:00.000-05:00

The.. Greatest.. Video.. Of.. All.. Time..

2007-01-31T19:02:00.000-05:00

In honor of Vista's release.

Rye-view

2007-01-31T17:26:00.000-05:00

(New York readers will be interested in this New York Times breakdown of where to go to try lots of scotch, published a few days ago.)

Check out this article on the subject of a Rye revival. My San Francisco hosts Trevor and Camille (thanks!) took me to the Alembic where without knowing much about the subject we tried the Best Tasting rye and two of the three Best Values (only to head home and have the third). The article is right, they're all really good. Furthermore it was lots of fun to drink them all together and compare.

Old News, Neat Graphic

2007-01-29T19:57:00.000-05:00

whiskey and water

2007-01-24T15:20:00.000-05:00

Snake News

2007-01-23T17:28:00.000-05:00

An escaped python strangled a 51-year-old woman to death at a zoo in Stavropol in southwest Russia, Interfax reported, citing the local prosecutor's office.

The woman's body was found Monday morning with traces of snake skin embedded in strangulation marks in her neck, Interfax said. The woman may have worked in a small zoo attached to a circus and may have been attacked while drunk, Interfax said.

The two-meter-long snake has since been caught and returned to its cage.

_________________________
I considered manipulating this newsbite by placing it in Japan.

I still may.

Japanese exceptionalism month continues

2007-01-22T11:36:00.000-05:00

Dateline: NOZAWAONSEN, Japan

Every Jan. 15, the village's 25-year-old men consume impossible amounts of alcohol to buoy their courage ahead of a violent rite of passage. Using only pine branches, they defend a 65-foot-tall wooden shrine from the older men of the village, who attack it fiercely with torches lit from a sacred bonfire.

Thanks to Sam for the tip.

Yukio Mishima

2007-01-20T19:41:00.000-05:00

The posts referring to political hari-kari and the Emperor's honor remind me of Mishima, one of Japan's most celebrated writers at the time of this incident:

On November 25, 1970, Mishima and four members of the Tatenokai (Mishima's "Shield Society" of young martial artists loyal to him) under a pretext visited the commandant of the Ichigaya Camp - the Tokyo headquarters of the Eastern Command of Japan's Self-Defense Forces. Once inside, they proceeded to barricade the office and tied the commandant to his chair. With a prepared manifesto and banner listing their demands, Mishima stepped onto the balcony to address the gathered soldiers below. His speech was intended to inspire them to stage a coup d'etat and restore the Emperor to his rightful place. He succeeded only in irritating them and was mocked and jeered. As he was unable to make himself heard, he finished his planned speech after only a few minutes. He stepped back into the commandant's office and committed seppuku. The customary kaishakunin duty (the "Second's" duty: after seppuku the Second decapitates the suicide, so he won't suffer too greatly from the pain of self inflicted disembowelment) at the end of this ritual had been assigned to Tatenokai member Masakatsu Morita. But Morita, who was rumored to have been Mishima's lover, was unable to perform this task properly: after several failed attempts, he allowed another Tatenokai member, Hiroyasu Koga, to finish the job. Morita then attempted seppuku and was also beheaded by Koga.

...Make It A Quartet

2007-01-20T17:28:00.000-05:00

Matayoshi Mitsuo is an eccentric Japanese politician with the conviction that he is the God and Christ. According to his program, he will do the Last Judgement as the Christ but the way to do this is totally within the current political system and its legitimacy. His first step as the Savior is to be appointed the prime minister of Japan. Then he will reform Japanese society and then the United Nations should offer him the honor of its General Secretary. Then Matayoshi Jesus will reign over the whole world with two legitimate authorities, not only religious but also political.

He has presented himself in many elections but he has not won yet. He has become well-known for his eccentric campaigns where he urges opponents to commit suicide by hara-kiri.

Completing A Wacky Japanese Triad

2007-01-20T17:26:00.000-05:00

Shoichi Yokoi (横井庄一 Yokoi Shōichi, March 31, 1915 - September 22, 1997) was a Japanese soldier and celebrity. Born in Saori, Aichi Prefecture, he was conscripted into the Imperial Japanese Army in 1941 and sent to Guam shortly thereafter. In 1944, as American forces reconquered the island, Yokoi went into hiding.

On January 24, 1972, Yokoi was discovered in a remote section of Guam by two of the island's inhabitants. For 28 years he had been hiding in an underground jungle cave, fearing to come out of hiding even after finding leaflets declaring that World War II had ended.

"It is with much embarrassment that I have returned alive," he said upon his return to Japan, carrying his rusted rifle at his side. The remark would later become a popular saying (in Japanese, 「帰ってまいりました･･･恥ずかしながら、生きながらえて帰ってまいりました」).

After a whirlwind media tour of Japan, he married and settled down in rural Aichi Prefecture. Having lived alone in a cave for 28 years, Yokoi became a popular television personality, and an advocate of austere living. He was featured in a 1977 documentary called Yokoi and His Twenty-Eight Years of Secret Life on Guam. He would eventually receive the equivalent of $300 in back pay, along with a small pension.

In 1991, he received an audience with Emperor Akihito. He considered the meeting the greatest honor of his life. He had even prepared a speech of regret to read to the emperor. Months later, Yokoi told a Japanese journalist that he had in fact had a deeply personal reason for remaining isolated:

"I had a tough childhood, among many unkind relatives," he explained. "I stuck to the jungle because I wanted to get even with them."

Yokoi died in 1997 of a heart attack at the age of 82. He was buried at a Nagoya cemetery, under a gravestone that was initially commissioned by his mother in 1955. Visitors to Guam can take a short ropeway ride to 'Yokoi's Cave' a (very rundown) tourist attraction/monument to Yokoi's life. The cave itself is sealed off; only the entrance and airhole are visible.

This Week's Aging Japan Story: The Silver Scourge

2007-01-17T09:35:00.000-05:00

Poor financial planning, inadequate pensions and a feeling of immunity to the law are driving Japan's swelling ranks of old people into a life of crime. According to the Tokyo-based National Police Agency, 10.9% of all crime recorded in Japan in 2005 was committed by people over the age of 65. Most incidents involved shoplifting, insurance fraud or minor scams. But the figures, released in early January, did not include arrests for injurious traffic accidents, most of which involve elderly drivers (particularly of taxis). With a quarter of Japan's population projected to be over 65 by 2014, the government is planning to unveil in March a series of proposals for beating the superannuated crime-wave.

News of Japan's criminal pensioners coincided with new statistics about its greying population. The Internal Affairs Ministry revealed in January that the proportion of citizens aged 20 had fallen to a record low of 1.09%.

100 Person Flashmob Randomly Chases After People

2007-01-14T19:09:00.000-05:00

...with bonus Japanese laugh-track.

After The Hanging, The Body Remains

2006-12-30T00:55:00.000-05:00

While the verdict and death sentence for Saddam Hussein were swift and unambiguous, it was much less clear on Saturday what would be done with his body.

Privately, both American and Iraqi officials say that the subject has been raised at the highest levels, but no decisions have been made. There is wide disagreement on the subject of his body, according to interviews with several top Western and Iraqi officials, nearly all of whom insisted on anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

The most discussed options include sending his body out of the country to his family in Jordan, where two of his daughters live; burying him in a secret location never to be made public; burying him in a secret location but, after a period of time, having him disinterred and sent to his family or tribe; or sending him immediately to his hometown of Tikrit to be buried with members of his tribe.

In fact, a top Sunni politician even raised the prospect of holding a state funeral for Mr. Hussein. That idea, a Western official said, had very little chance of becoming reality.

Salahedeen Hamad Humood, the governor of Salahedeen Province, which includes Tikrit, said, “We demand an official funeral for Saddam Hussein; he is the ex-president of Iraq, and he should be buried next to his sons.”

Mr. Hussein’s sons, Uday and Qusay, were killed by American troops after the invasion of Iraq. To convince the public that they were actually dead, graphic images of their bloodied faces were made public.

Similarly, Iraqi officials had said that the hanging of Mr. Hussein would be taped, although it was unclear on Saturday whether that had been done, and if so, whether the tape would be made public.

If Mr. Hussein were allowed to be buried in Tikrit, which had been his main base of support, it would be out of character with the way the remains of some of the 20th century’s other most notorious tyrants have been treated.

From Mussolini to Ceausescu, the vanquishers of the once powerful rulers have sought to ensure that memorials to them do not inspire the kind of passions they did in life.

Tojo, Japan’s leader during World War II, was unceremoniously cremated after going to the gallows. The location of the ashes was kept secret for nearly three decades, until the urn with his remains was secretly placed in the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, where it remains today. The former Romanian dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu, was buried secretly in a nondescript public graveyard. Although the grave markers bore fake names, the site was public knowledge within a year. He was killed by firing squad on Christmas Day in 1989.

Hitler’s bones, the source of endless morbid fascination, were buried in secret, dug up, moved across East Germany, buried again and dug up once more only to be cremated. A piece of his skull is kept in Russia.

Mussolini’s body traveled far after he was shot by a firing squad and then hanged upside down in a public square. Slivers of his brain were taken by American doctors to see if he had been driven mad by syphilis, while the rest of him was buried in an unmarked grave outside Milan. The site was soon discovered and a young neofascist dug up the remains, stuffed them in a steamer trunk and hid them in the mountains. Eventually, Mussolini was recovered and reburied in the Adriatic Sea town of Predappio, his home town.

Iraq’s leaders are obviously wrestling with the same questions as the victors who deposed other rulers. But in this case, it is complicated by the state of lawlessness that rules this country.

While many people here seem more concerned with just staying alive than worrying about the resting place of Mr. Hussein, government officials in this country built on the worship of martyrs are keenly aware of death’s ability to transform.

These look nice!

2006-12-27T14:51:00.000-05:00

Any readers on VT snowboarding vacations are encouraged to steal a few for me.