Day: January 2, 2012

The McBournie Minute: Analyzing America’s drunkest cities

Now that we’re into the new year, it’s time to take an honest look at ourselves, namely, our drinking habits. Guys, did you drink five our more drinks in two hours on New Year’s Eve? If so, you were binge drinking, according to the CDC, and for the ladies, it’s four drinks in the same period of time.

The Daily Beast recently named their top 25 drunkest cities, based on average drinks per month for a citizen, as well as the percentage of heavy drinkers and binge drinkers. In the lower ranks, there are some surprises, like Buffalo, N.Y. and the quiet little town of Las Vegas.

Let’s take a look at the top ten. Continue reading The McBournie Minute: Analyzing America’s drunkest cities

The end of a quiet era?

As the nation’s parents, teachers, daycare-providers and Gwyneth Paltrows finished nursing off their post-New Year’s hangovers, they found their first crisis of 2012: we’re running out of ADHD medication.

Pharmacies are unable to keep up with growing demand for Adderall and Ritalin due to rising prescription numbers (18 million Adderall prescriptions in 2010 alone), DEA restrictions on surplus production of the controlled substance and drug manufacturers’ hesitance to provide generics when their namebrand designers drugs are more expensive.

Members of the child-interacting community are nervous, wondering how they will be able to stimulate undrugged children in the future should this problem continue unabated.

It’s the crack pipe of caring

Vancouver, one of the many but few parts of the U.S.’s neighbor of the north, Canada, has decided that crack smokers are people too. In order to facilitate this concept, the city’s health department will now be giving fancy new crack pipes (along with other items to make sure you have an optimum crack session) to any addicts that stop by the east part of downtown Vancouver.

The glass pipes are heat-resistant and shatterproof, which experts say should reduce injury to the users’ lips and mouth — wounds that can make them more susceptible to diseases such as HIV and Hepatitis B and C.

You think you have a better idea on how to spend 60 thousand Canadian dollars?

The War on Animals rings in the new year

No one ever said it was going to be a short war.

Here we are in 2012, and our animal foes still walk the Earth, unrepentant and refusing to bow to us as their masters. Luckily, some people in Arkansas got the year off to a great start with a sneak attack when the clock stuck midnight on Jan. 1. About 200 blackbirds were found dead in Beebe, Arkansas after becoming disoriented by some New Year’s fireworks.

The attack wasn’t as successful as last year, when 5,000 were killed, but at least it’s a sign of good things to come in 2012.