Salmonella Cost-Benefit Analysis
Stuart Buck notes that the 130 hospitalizations that resulted from the 943 reported cases of salmonella poisoning caused $100 million in losses to the U.S. tomato industry (and untold damage to the industry in Mexico). He calculates this at $770,000 per hospitalization and asks, simply, "Worth it?" Before you answer, you might want to factor in another variable: "The U.S. ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on July 7, 2008 11:21
Mugabe Re-Elected in Landslide
OTB projects, with 0% of the precincts reporting, that Robert Mugabe will be re-elected as president of Zimbabwe by a wide margin. Exit polls reveal that the prime factors in motivating voters are a fear of being murdered and the lack of opposition candidates on the ballot. Security was also a prime concern: "I've got no option but ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on June 27, 2008 10:33
OTB Caption JamTM
Weekend Caption Jam Linkfest. . . Rodney can't decide between the red or blue pill. Wizbang has stumped the stumper. Wyatt Earp wants fries widdat. Public Pondering has a visit from Barbarella. Cowboy Blob has and idea with a Twist. Willisms ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on June 14, 2008 08:58
Marijuana 2.0 - Not Your Daddy’s Old Weed
The marijuana sold in the United States is nearly two and a half times stronger than it was in 1988. The marijuana being sold across the United States is stronger than ever, which could explain a growing number of medical emergencies that involve the drug, government drug experts on Wednesday. Analysis of seized samples of marijuana and hashish showed that more ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on April 26, 2007 15:08
American Mind Takes the Short Bus to Iowa
Sean Hackbarth has announced that his blog has been bought ought by the folks who own rottentomatoes.com to inject MySpace with some "gravitas" and that he would be moving to Des Moines, Iowa to cover the primaries. No word on whether his site will feature a garish color scheme, poorly coded HTML, and annoying music blaring at readers. I ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on April 1, 2007 07:53
Iraq’s Cycle of Violence
Sabrina Tavernise reports that the violence following Tuesday's mosque attacks has stunned Iraqis and radically changed the public mood there. After a day of violence so raw and so personal, Iraqis woke on Thursday morning to a tense new world in which, it seemed, anything was possible. The violence on Wednesday was the closest Iraq had come to civil war, and ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on February 24, 2006 06:44
Nigeria Cartoon Riot Kills at Least 15
Nigerian Muslims have murdered at least fifteen Christians in protests over cartoons published in a Danish newspaper five months ago. Nigerian Muslims protesting caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad attacked Christians and burned churches on Saturday, killing at least 15 people in the deadliest confrontation yet in the whirlwind of Muslim anger over the drawings. It was the first major protest to erupt ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on February 19, 2006 07:24
Farm Diversification
Turns out there is a way to make money farming, after all; According to Gretchen Shappert, U.S. attorney for the western district of North Carolina, "the Warren Farms investigation is literally the mother of all crop fraud investigations. It was a result of a perfect storm of individuals who were involved in fraud." Robert and Vicki Warren are among eight people who ...Posted in Outside The Beltway | OTB on November 13, 2005 13:44
