corrections

• In the United States, the suicide rate is about four and a half times the homicide rate, not 'about ten times', according to information I found from NationMaster and the census.
• For most forms of Herbal Ecstasy, the key ingredient is ephedrine, not caffeine.
• I'm still unsure why caffeine causes stomach aches.
• You do not pass by Salisbury on the way to Lewes. It is likely I was thinking of Denton. Denton's population, at less than 3,000, is a little bit more than a tenth of Salisbury's.

corrections

• Darius the Great was Emperor of Persia from 521 to 485 BC, which is pretty long after 'Something like 2000 or 1000 BC', which is what I remember saying.
• While O's pitcher Bruce Chen is ethnicly Chinese (his parents were Mainlanders), he was born and raised in Panama.
• Russian male life expectancy has already dropped below 60.

corrections

• TIGER data is provided not by the USGS, but by the Geography Division of the Census Bureau.
• A martini is gin with a splash of vermouth.
• Alcohol freezes well below -40 F, actually about -173.

People I get or used to get confused (feel free to suggest more)

• Anita Baker and Josephine Baker
• Rex Reed and Ralph Reed
• Neil Diamond, Neil Simon and Paul Simon
• Mary Queen of Scots and Mary Tudor
• Anna Paquin, Natalie Portman and Julia Stiles
• Julia Stiles and Claire Danes
• Ted Demme and Tony Scott
• William Wyler and Billy Wilder
• Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Ruffalo and Rufus Sewell
• Warwick Davis and Kenny Baker
• Chloë Sevigny and Scarlett Johansson
• Dave Eggers and David Sedaris
• Daniel Clowes and Chris Ware
• T.E. and D.H. Lawrence
• Luis Bunuel and Bernardo Bertolucci
• Takashi Miike and Takeshi Kitano
• Boy George and George Michael
• John Hughes, John Landis and Harold Ramis
• Aesthetics and Ascetics
• Madame Butterfly and M. Butterfly
• Nicole Kidman and Michelle Pfeiffer
• Todd Field and Todd Haynes

words I don't know what mean

Or, more specificially, I think they mean something else.

• praetorian
• tyro
• idyllic

Lunch Corrections

• Well, I obviously confused/conflated Anita Baker and Josephine Baker.
• Then, I somehow called 'Covenant Marriages' 'Contract Marriages'...
• ... while introducing the dubious concept of the 'Starter Marriage', something based on a bad statistical analysis with no real basis that I could find, at least not from an unbiased party. However, introducing it did derail the conversation, so my heart was in the right place.

corrections

• According to the imdb's trivia page, it is a common misconception, one which I held, that Happy Days is based on American Graffiti. Happy Days is really a full version of a Love American Style sketch from before American Grafiti's release.
• Saipan is an island in the Marianas. Japan controlled it during World War II, but only from 1914 until the United States invaded. Before that, it was controlled by a series of European occupiers, who wiped out the native population.
• While the Magna Carta did establish limits on the regent's power, and specifically states that legal judgetment or law breaking is required for punishment or imprisonment, there is no specific reference to Habeas Corpus, with the term first appearing in use 90 years later.
• Paper Moon was released in 1973; Tatum O'Neal was born in 1963. That is pretty different from what I said (1970/1978, I think).
• The hottest outdoor ambient temperature was recorded not at Death Valley, but in Al'Aziziyah, Libya, at 58.0 C (136.4 F).
• The Charge of the Light Brigade was during the Crimean War, not the Franco-Prussian War.
• Crimson and Clover is sung by Tommy James & the Shondells. I was never going to guess that; if anything, it makes me want to find some of their stuff. When asked who sang it, I said 'Some supergroup, I think, you know, like Fleetwood Mac, but not them', not a category in which I would place the Shondells.

Words I Don't Know How To Spell

• separate
• embarrassing
• impossible
• vicious
• paraphernalia
• weird
• cinnamon
• whether
• questionnaire
• liaison
• labeled

More Corrections

• As near as I can figure, I was thinking of the murders in Ciudad Juárez, and probably had just read an article about the levantón. I can't find the article about the drug lords hunting the most dangerous game, but which may have been in the Post. I did find some refernces, though, to the larger state of affairs that would allow what people know as the 'Juarez Murders' to continue. (Although information from someone who actually registers the domain 'marxist.com' is obviously suspect.)
• Umami is the flavor indicated by MSG. Fat may have its own flavor, but it is definitely not umami.
• MSG may be a 'salt of an amino acid', but does not contribute to high blood pressure.

corrections

• 'Ballyhoo' is 'a noisy attention-getting demonstration', while 'shenanigans' are 'high-spirited or mischievous activities', and 'tomfoolery' is simply used for 'playful or foolish behavior'. While all three mean 'foolish behavior', ballyhoo presents the connotation of arrogance, while shenanigans presents mean-spiritedness or violence.
• Henry Lipkin was played by George Plimpton, not Tom Wolfe.
• The Hoff put on 'Good Will Hunting' last week, not this week. This week's free showings will be: Drunken Angel (Akira Kurosawa!), a night of Adult Swim cartoons, Oceans 12, Lemony Snicket and Clue (!).