E A Poe Drunk, Poor. Just like me!

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- In a letter acquired by U of Virginia, Edgar Allan Poe apologizes to his publishers for drinking too much and asks them to buy an article because he's "desperately pushed for money"

The 1842 letter blames a friend for his drinking too many "juleps" and for misbehaving on a visit to New York.

"Will you be so kind enough to put the best possible interpretation upon my behaviour while in N-York?," Poe asks New York publishers J. and Henry G. Langley. "You must have conceived a queer idea of me - but the simple truth is that Wallace would insist upon the juleps, and I knew not what I was either doing or saying."

He closes the letter expressing his hopes that he'll see the Langleys again "under better auspices." The enclosed article was rejected, but published elsewhere later that year.

What does a Hobo need with Batteries?

MANCHESTER – A homeless man was arrested for shoplifting rechargable batteries at a Home Depot store, police said.

Thaddeus Dejong, 41, was charged with robbery and a parole violation. He also has two outstanding warrants for theft and driving while being an habitual offender, authorities said.

Store security detained Dejong around 11:30 a.m. yesterday after he allegedly attempted to shoplift six 18-volt rechargeable batteries, valued at $537.70 total, police said.

Dejong was being held for police when he tried to break free, knocking over an assistant store manager and a store security officer, police said.
Security personnel grabbed and held him until police arrived.

My state, the alcoholics.

Union Leader- Apparently unphased by the looming financial crisis, New England Alcoholics are flocking to the Live Free or Die state to buy cheap spirits. Liquor sales in New Hampshire are up -- about 4 percent higher than last year at this time, according to Mark Bodi, chairman of the New Hampshire State Liquor Commission. And profits are up even more, about 8 percent.

Bodi says that's partly due to out-of-state customers -- who represent nearly half of NHSLC annual sales -- taking advantage of the state's value pricing.
"Just as consumers are moving from Macy's to Marshall's and the like, and are seeking more value, so, too, is this out-of-state segment who shops in our stores," Bodi said.

The liquor commission is "aggressively marketing" its products, he went on, "so we can capitalize on this opportunity, and to leverage this unique value position that a down economy presents."
Of course, fine wine sales are down. Beer sales are trending up after being flat for 5 years.

Says Bodi: "Beer is now seeing a slight reversal in that trend, as many consumers kind of come back home to their favorite brew ... because of the price advantage that beer holds over spirits and wine," he said.

you can't be serious.

VIENNA (Reuters) - An Austrian man, charged with drink driving, drove to a police station to complain about the charge whilst drunk, officials said on Monday.

The 65-year-old had his driving license and car keys first taken away from him on Sunday after driving while over the alcohol limit in the northern city of Linz.

He then went home, picked up his spare car keys, went back to the abandoned car and drove to police headquarters to explain why he was unhappy with the charge.

"When the driver tried to show police officers what had happened the first time, they detected he was still under the influence of alcohol," police said in a statement. The driver was charged a second time.

Story of the Day pt. 2

MillerCoors ends production of Zima :(((((((((((

7 hours ago

MILWAUKEE (AP) — MillerCoors LLC says goodbye to Zima.

The joint venture between SABMiller's U.S. unit and Molson Coors Brewing Co. told distributors in a letter Monday that production of the malt liquor beverage was discontinued as of Oct. 10.

Chief Marketing Officer Andy England says the decision was due to weakness in the "malternative" segment and declining consumer interest.

He says distributors can get remaining Zima inventories most likely through December.

Distributors are being asked to put products from caffeinated alcoholic beverage Sparks on retail store shelves to make up for Zima's absence.

The brand came to the joint venture from Molson Coors, maker of Coors Light and Keystone.

What tragedy, what disaster.

What's worse than a drunk pilot? An alcoholic drunk pilot preparing for a 9 a.m. transatlantic journy.

A United airlines pilot was arrested in the cockpit of his plane on suspicion of being drunk before take-off Sunday morning. The 44-year-old man was led off the plane by police following a breath test at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 1.
The flight was headed to San Francisco.

Police became involved after being tipped off by a member of the airport's ground staff, who suspected the pilot had been drinking before the 5,300-mile flight.

The legal limit for pilots is nine micrograms of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath - more than three times stricter than the drink-drive limit which is 35 micrograms. Whatever that means. NO ROBOTUSSIN!

Google Street View captures drunken Aussie outside his home

A man who fell asleep in a drunken stupor on the grass outside his home was horrified to find his embarrassment posted on the internet.

He had been drowning his sorrows over the death of a friend and collapsed after climbing out of a taxi.

As he slept off his excesses, a car-mounted video camera passed by to record pictures of the street for Google's StreetView website.

Within days a photographic record of the neighbourhood and its unusual presence was available for worldwide viewing.

The new Google service has been at the centre of controversy over claims it represents a breach of privacy.

But the latest victim, who gave his name only as 'Bill', is not planning an official complaint.
'I'm not too happy about it' said Bill.
'What do you do when you lose a mate like that?' he said of his pal, with whom he had been planning a motorbike holiday around the island of Tasmania.
'I know what he would have done if I left - he would have partied, too. That's what I would've wanted him to do so that's what I did with some friends.'

Police missing ``beer goggles''

BUFFALO GROVE, Ill. - Police in the Chicago suburb of Buffalo Grove are asking for the public's help in returning a $150 pair of special goggles that are used to simulate the effects of intoxication.

Officers say the goggles disappeared this week from a table at a National Night Out event at a local park.

Officer Hector De La Paz says police believe the goggles were taken by accident.

Sometimes called "beer goggles," the special glasses are used by police to demonstrate to high school students and parents how alcohol impairs a driver's vision and judgment. They look like safety glasses.

BikersfuckDrivers.com

SEATTLE (AP) - critical mass. critical breakdown.

A mob of bicyclists riding in Seattle with the monthly Critical Mass demonstration injured a motorist after an altercation.

Seattle Police spokesman Mark Jamieson says that on Friday between 100 and 300 bicyclists were riding down a street in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, blocking traffic on both lanes, when a man and a woman in a Subaru station wagon tried to pull out of a parking spot.

But some of the bicyclists blocked them, sat on the car and began banging on the vehicle. Words were exchanged between the male driver and the bicyclists.

The driver feared being assaulted and backed up, but bumped a biker and enraged the group. In response, some of the bikers smashed the windshield and rear window. He tried to drive away but hit another bicyclist.

The car stopped a block down and the bicyclists surrounded the car. One biker punched the driver through an open window and another used a knife to slash the tires.

When the driver got out of the car a male suspect struck him with an unknown object in the back of the head. The driver was later taken to the hospital. His female companion was not injured.

According to the Critical Mass web site, every month, bicyclists ride to promote bicycle use and assert cyclists' right to the road among many reasons.

Tips from a professor on how to be drunk the RIGHT way:

PhD and Psychology professor at University of Wisconsin Kevin Strang
is lecturing across the country...about how to get the most out of
being drunk.
This nontraditional approach to teaching safe drinking to high school
students is gaining much attention. But Strang says that it's more
important to teach kisd what happens to the body when you drink,
rather than preaching abstinance to a group that is interested in
quite the opposite.
He figures they're gonna drink anyways, so let's just be honest with
the kids and make sure that theyr'e safe. In Strang's words, this
isn't a Just Say No lecture, but "Just say Know."

"I'm not anti-alcohol. This is not an anti-alcohol lecture," Strang
assured the students right away. "But alcohol does have some weird,
unpredictable effects."

With that, Strang took off on a science-heavy discourse that covered
cell structure, neuron signals and brain synapses.

He encouraged students to admit that alcohol is a drug, saying it will
help them understand it better. It's not a negative approach, he said.
It simply acknowledges that, like other drugs, alcohol has an effect
we desire -- a mood upswing -- and side effects we want to avoid, such
as vomiting and loss of coordination and memory.

By sipping slowly, you will get just as much of a positive mood effect
as slamming drinks one after another, while reducing greatly the
letdown once you stop, he said. That's because of something called the
"rising phase effect. "

Alcohol lights up the brain's pleasure center, Strang said. So as long
as a person's blood-alcohol level is rising, the level of pleasure
will, too. But the minute the blood-alcohol level begins to drop, the
pleasure level plummets, triggering a craving for more alcohol. This
is why people binge drink, he said.

Sipping a drink allows a slow rise in blood-alcohol level and
sustained activation of the pleasure center, without reaching levels
at which unpleasant side effects occur, Strang said.

Mean or happy drunks: "It's a very simple idea, but very profound,"
Strang said. "The context of your drinking determines which aspect of
your personality is exaggerated."

This beervangelist hopes not to make decisions for students, just to
make sure that they have all the information possible to make the
right decision for themselves.

L.I. man accused of running over girlfriend: Couple reportedly arguing over how much bf drank

(New York- WABC, September 3, 2007) - A Brentwood, Long Island man has been arrested for running over his girlfriend when they argued he was took drunk to drive.
Suffolk County Police say 22-year-old Yudith Garces of Bay Shore was driving a Toyota Corolla with her boyfriend 21-year-old Paulito Lorenzo of Brentwood in the passenger seat. Police say they argued because she wouldn't let him drive. This was around eleven last night.

Police say Garces parked the car on Merrill Street and began to walk away. Lorenzo got into the drivers seat and began chasing Garces. Police say witnesses told them, Lorenzo hit Garces as she ran. After striking Garces, Lorenzo drove the car into a fence. He tried to run but was caught by police.

Garces was taken to Southside Hospital with a broken right leg and abrasions to her arms. Lorenzo is charged with assault and DWI.