Chavez Decrees Dry Holy Week

'A Nation of Drunkards' is the best episode: reviewers

(NEWSER) - Ken Burns' latest mega-documentary, Prohibition, starts a three-night run tomorrow on PBS. Reviewers are praising the 5 1/2-hour survey of America's war on booze, but warn that it's a bit slow and may reveal its best stuff in the first episode:

• "It's a great subject with many present-day echoes, as the war on drugs ever more loudly raises questions of legislated morality," writes Robert Lloyd in the Los Angeles Times . "The drama might flag or grow diffuse, but there is still a lot here to learn."

The 'Wall Street Journal' discovers ... it's kind of hard to tell

(NEWSER) - It's that magical line that we try to avoid crossing while out on the town: a blood-alcohol concentration of .08%. And as the Wall Street Journal reports, most of us figure a few glasses of wine over dinner won't put us over the legal limit. The paper set out to test our assumptions: It threw a "BAC party," in which guests enjoyed alcohol, then blew into three different models of breathalyzers throughout the evening. So what's the magic number of "safe" drinks? The Journal discovers, frustratingly, it's a question with no consistent answer. Because one's BAC is not just individual, it's dependent on changing factors. More»

Chavez looks healthy in new video and pictures

(NEWSER) - Rumors of Hugo Chavez's pending death have been greatly exaggerated—or at least somewhat exaggerated—as new video aired on Cuban television yesterday shows a healthy looking Chavez talking with Fidel Castro, reports the BBC . Reports have swirled that the Venezuelan president is in critical condition in a Cuban hospital, possibly with prostate cancer, although officially he is getting minor surgery for a "pelvic abscess." "To those of you who are speculating over the president's health, there he is... fine, recovering well," said a spokesman for the Venezuelan government. More»

Oh, and his blood alcohol level was 32 times the legal limit

(NEWSER) - What's the more jaw-dropping figure: that a drunk driver's blood alcohol level was 32 times the legal limit, or that said drunk driver was arrested with 15 sheep in his car? Both were true for one man arrested near Queenstown, South Africa, on Wednesday night. He had 15 sheep, allegedly plucked from nearby farms, five boys, and a woman in his Mercedes-Benz Vito when he was pulled over. His blood alcohol was at 1.6%, 32 times the .05% limit, reports News24 . More»

Energy watchdog exposes intoxicated nuclear weapons techs

(NEWSER) - Driving nuclear weapons around must be either tedious or stressful: While agents employed to do just that haven't been caught drunk behind the wheel, feds find that some have been boozing it up while on missions, the AP reports. A recent report by the US Energy Department's inspector general cites 16 such cases between 2007 and 2009. In one incident, two agents were detained by local police after an incident at a bar. More»