20 thoughts on “December 31, 2011: Highlights”

1. The boys at Freakonomics recently had a bit on the perils of drunk walking. They cite research suggesting that you are 8 times more likely to be hurt if you walk a mile intoxicated rather than drive the same mile drunk. Be safe tonight.

   1. It probably is more dangerous for the offender but I've never heard of any innocent people being injured by a drunk walker.

      1. Right. They also make that point at the end of the podcast.

   2. During the holiday season you have to be careful when you mix Booze and Beers.

      Just to be safe I am staying home.

      1. Heh. Stranger than fiction.

         I love those stories that make me think that if I wrote those character names into that storyline, nobody would believe it. But there it is.

   3. Be safe and be alert. Remember that just because you are driving safely, that doesn't mean other people are. As my dad always used to tell me, "Look out for the fools on the road."

      1. That's similar to the most useful piece of driving advice my dad ever gave me "never trust the other driver". That one's saved me from a lot of grief in my day.

   4. And of course, I'm sure the average distance per trip is the same on foot as it is by car.

2. Sad ex-Twins news: Bud Bloomfield, who played in a handful of games for the Twins in 1964, passed away last week in Arkansas at age 75.

3. ESPN isn't covering the Rose Bowl. They're broadcasting what they hope is the best game ever to 98 million households. The corporate giant is packaging the thing, prettying it up, and presenting it to viewers. But not covering it like journalists. Make no mistake. That's clear after seeing the way the network handled this college football season, promoting and packaging weekly BCS-ranking specials and bowl-game run-up in a manner normally reserved for the NCAA basketball tournament's "Selection Sunday

   someone is bitter because they were shooed away from practice while Kirk Herbstreit and his kids played catch with Oregon players

   1. In other breaking news, water is wet and the sun rises in the east.

4. wow, the Vikings need cash
   Wilf makes a capital call to investors

5. White Sox trade Carlos Quentin to San Diego for minor league pitchers Simon Castro and Pedro Hernandez.

   1. I guess no one wants to take that Alex Rios contract off their hands

6. Timberwolves G Malcolm Lee will miss the next six weeks after having surgery on Friday to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee.

   Yay. I guess that explains why he hasn't been playing much.

7. Now this is social science research, dog!

   Recently researchers from the Queensland University of Technology in Australia took a look at musicians deaths between 1956 and 2007, and concluded that there wasn't anything particularly dangerous about turning 27. After analyzing statistics on 1,046 musicians who had number one hits in the U.K. (which actually excluded Hendrix, Joplin, and Morrison), the researchers found that only 7% had died during that period. There were quite a few deaths between 20 and 40, but researchers determined the rockers weren't more likely to die young due to some evil sorcery. It seems the spike in early deaths can be attributed to a strange condition called "doing a fuckton of drugs."

   If I were a tenured full professor at a major research university, I totally would find a way to use "fuckton" in a paper.

   1. Brian Jones was 27, too. And Amy Winehouse.

8. Roy Halladay and Chris Carpenter help rescue a man bitten by an anaconda.

9. flipped over to the Chik-Fil-A Bowl for a moment, those Nike designed Virginia jersey are just awful

10. First LTE of 2012. I rule! Happy new year everyone!

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