Very suspicious. The WSJ has a well-known anti-Dutch bias.

Self-reported surveys? Crap. If you look at the box at the bottom of the article you will see that the methodolgy is total crap. People were interviewed in person for some countries, over the phone in others and online in the Netherlands. GIGO - garbage in, garbage out. You can't compare countries where questionable methods aren't even the same. Not enough information on the methodology was given to dtermine if the so-called random surverys were properly random. I've had a lot of experience with this sort of thing and most of it is meaningless because of design flaws.

Some harder data to chew on

The comparison of alcohol consumption between countries is generally considered to be too unreliable to be used in statistical analysis.

-----------------------

List of countries by beer consumption per capita

Rank Country Consumption[1]
Consumption(L) Year-on-year increase (bottles) per capita
1 Czech Republic 156.9 -3.2
2 Ireland 131.1 -7.1
3 Germany 115.8 -3.2
4 Australia 109.9 -7.6
5 Austria 108.3 -3.6
6 United Kingdom 99.0 -3.6
7 Belgium 93.0 -4.7
8 Denmark 89.9 -9.8
9 Finland 85.0 11.7
10 Luxembourg 84.4 -0.5
11 Slovakia 84.1 -8.5
12 Spain 83.8 0.9
13 United States 81.6 -0.3
14 Croatia 81.2 -4.3
15 Netherlands 79.0 -2.7
16 New Zealand 77.0 -1.9
17 Hungary 75.3 2.8
18 Poland 69.1 -2.7
19 Canada 68.3 -0.2
20 Portugal 59.6 3.7
21 Bulgaria 59.5 4.4
22 South Africa 59.2 3.0
23 Russia 58.9 9.3
24 Venezuela 58.6 0.0
25 Romania 58.2 1.4
26 Cyprus 58.1 1.7
27 Switzerland 57.3 -2.2
28 Gabon 55.8 -0.9
29 Norway 55.5 8.7
30 Mexico 51.8 0.6
31 Sweden 51.5 -3.9
32 Japan 51.3 0.6
33 Brazil 47.6 1.3
34 South Korea 38.5 0.0
35 Colombia 36.8 0.3

List of countries by total alcohol consumption measured in litres of pure alcohol consumed per capita in a given year, according to the most recent data from the World Health Organization.Rank Country Volume per capita Year
Litres Gallons
U.S. Imperial
1 Luxembourg 15.56 4.11 3.42 2003
2 Ireland 13.69 3.62 3.01 2003
3 Hungary 13.60 3.59 2.99 2003
4 Moldova 13.18 3.48 2.90 2003
5 Czech Republic 12.99 3.43 2.86 2003
6 Saint Pierre and Miquelon 12.77 3.37 2.81 2003
7 Croatia 12.25 3.24 2.69 2003
8 Greenland 12.10 3.20 2.66 2005
9 Germany 11.99 3.17 2.64 2003
10 British Virgin Islands 11.98 3.16 2.64 2003
11 United Kingdom 11.75 3.10 2.58 2003
12 Spain 11.68 3.09 2.57 2003
13 Netherlands Antilles 11.55 3.05 2.54 2003
14 Portugal 11.54 3.05 2.54 2003
15 Cyprus 11.52 3.04 2.53 2003
16 Saint Lucia 11.48 3.03 2.53 2003
17 France 11.43 3.02 2.51 2003
18 Bermuda 11.34 3.00 2.49 2003
19 Austria 11.08 2.93 2.44 2003
20 Denmark 11.00 2.91 2.42 2005
21 Switzerland 10.83 2.86 2.38 2003
22 Belgium 10.63 2.81 2.34 2003
23 Nigeria 10.57 2.79 2.33 2003
24 Finland 10.45 2.76 2.30 2007
25 Bahamas 10.40 2.75 2.29 2003
26 Slovakia 10.35 2.73 2.28 2003
27 Russia 10.32 2.73 2.27 2003
28 French Guiana 10.13 2.68 2.23 2003
29 New Caledonia 9.97 2.63 2.19 2003
30 Lithuania 9.89 2.61 2.18 2003
31 Romania 9.74 2.57 2.14 2003
32 New Zealand 9.68 2.56 2.13 2003
32 Netherlands 9.68 2.56 2.13 2003
34 Latvia 9.61 2.54 2.11 2003
35 Niue 9.47 2.50 2.08 2003
36 Burundi 9.10 2.40 2.00 2003
37 Bosnia and Herzegovina 9.05 2.39 1.99 2003
38 Australia 9.02 2.38 1.98 2003
38 Guadeloupe 9.02 2.38 1.98 2003
40 Greece 9.01 2.38 1.98 2003
41 Estonia 9.00 2.38 1.98 2003
42 Serbia and Montenegro 8.59 2.27 1.89 2003
43 United States of America 8.44 2.23 1.86 2004
44 Argentina 8.40 2.22 1.85 2003
45 Haiti 8.30 2.19 1.83 2003
46 Martinique 8.14 2.15 1.79 2003
47 Poland 8.09 2.14 1.78 2003
48 Italy 8.02 2.12 1.76 2003
49 Gabon 8.01 2.12 1.76 2003
50 Canada 8.00 2.11 1.76 2006
51 Republic of Korea 7.87 2.08 1.73 2003
52 Aruba 7.83 2.07 1.72 2003
53 Uruguay 7.74 2.04 1.70 2003
54 Japan 7.59 2.01 1.67 2003
55 Dominica 7.50 1.98 1.65 2003
56 Iceland 7.10 1.88 1.56 2005

------------------------

Question ... what the hell is Saint Pierre et Miquelon? French territory off the coast of Newfoundland? Who knew? I think I saw a movie with Juliet Binoche (mais oui) called the Widow of Saint Pierre.

---------------------------

Wine production by country 2006 Rank Country
Production
(tonnes)
1 France 5,349,333
2 Italy 4,711,665
3 Spain 3,643,666
4 United States 2,232,000
5 Argentina 1,539,600
6 Australia 1,410,483
7 China 1,400,000
8 South Africa 1,012,980
9 Chile 977,087
10 Germany 891,600

--------------------------

In France the government buys "excess" wine production for industrial use and destroys some (to keep prices higher?). In recent years they have proposed plowing under vineyards to lower production. You can guess how popular that was.

Is this the longest comment ever? Who knows.

---------------------------

Wilsnack and colleagues (2000), in an analysis that included 10 countries, found that Canadian men and Swedish women had the highest percentages of drinkers who had engaged in heavy episodic drinking (the definitions of this term varied among the countries) in the last 12 months. Conversely, Israeli men and women had the lowest percentages of heavy episodic drinking. (This analysis included current drinkers only.)

In a comparison between the United States and Germany including all respondents (Bloomfield et al. 2002), the number of days per month on which five or more drinks were consumed was almost twice as high in Germany as in the United States.

Wow Owl, you've been busy this afternoon!

I read the article and have to agree with Owl. Even the guy with the survey group admits some skepticism with the amount of abstainers:

"It's hard for me to accept that there are this many teetotalers in Europe," said Mark Hofmans, a managing director in GfK's Brussels office who analyzed the survey results.

I think some of the respondents may have been less than honest?

Hey, is it snowing up there? cool!

Owlie

You are a hoot.

Wake me up before you go go

I've been to the Netherlands, twice. They drink all the time. I bet the WSJ survey is right.

Owl, could you give a 25-words-or-less synopsis of what all that data means? Or at least what you think it means?

Scientific sampling is for losers.

It isn't how much you drink, it is what the drink does to you.

Bird, you need a hobby. Really, too much time on your wings. All those numbers set my dyslexia into overdrive.

Dyslexics Untie!!!

Where do I sing up?

Owl, could you give a 25-words-or-less synopsis of what all that data means? Or at least what you think it means?

Summary: The Irish drink a lot.

I didn't particularly care to analyze what anything means because this being December we all know that there is no meaning except for taxes and death. Plus I used to have a job analyzing international alcohol statistics and I don't feel like doing my old job for no money.

When I see a lot of meaningless numbers like the WSJ article, I just feel comforted by some real numbers. X people bought Y booze. Y/X = per capita alcohol sales. Sales is roughly equivalent to consumption if you neglect to count bootlegging, homemade alcohol, spillage and people who buy things and then lose them or throw them out.

Rather than a summary, how about a little play:
Dialing...
What?
Hello, I'm calling from the Smither-Jones Market Reserach Group, may I ask you a few questions about how much alcholol you drink?
Go stick it up yer bum!

There's no such thing as truly random telephone surveys. People don't even tell their doctors the truth (or even themselves) about drug and alcohol use. They are not going to tell a stranger the truth. It's total garbage. Not worth one look at all.

My summary was four words: Self-reported surveys? Crap.

Scientific sampling is for losers.

Most definitely. Total population data is the only way to go.

Bird, you need a hobby. Really, too much time on your wings.

Umm, this is my hobby.

No kidding. Nothing to do this weekend again. Hate December. Thanksgiving, birthday, everything Christmas on TV, Chirstmas, New Years -- it's like one giant depression machine -- people constantly bitching about shopping, how much their bonuses will be, office parties and family obligations. It's like a joy-destroying month and a half. I can't wait for January. My energy comes alive then with the amount of sunlight increasing and society is not bashing me for my lack of family and materialism. That being said, I'm a lot farther back from the ledge than usual this year. If not for this miserable lingering cold I would be just average (which is excellent). And I possibly enjoy wallowing in sorrow just for the fun of it when I'm too tired to romp through the leaf piles of rage in my soul.

There's a 0-14% chance I might go to the country today (that's the area from Charles Village north) to help someone pick out a Christmas tree. I think the custom is weird and disgusting but I do like the smell of real pine trees instead of the cardboard air freshener in a cab. I even bought a special ornament for my friend's tree to get into the spirit of things (just don't tell her). I have discarded my annual Christmas bashing in favor of surrednering to other people's joy.

I've found that the blog can be a reasonable substitute for anti-depressants with fewer side-effects.

And in keeping with my intent to neither poison my own or anyone else's mind in your prefab season of revelry, I am endeavoring to replace Schadenfreude with schimpfliche Freude in true Catholic atheist fashion.

P.S. Navel oranges are horrible. They have no flavor. Pretty vacant.

Mr Owl,

Take comfort in the fact that Baltimore has already reached its earliest sunset of the year. It will begin getting later on December 12.

Owl wrote I've found that the blog can be a reasonable substitute for anti-depressants with fewer side-effects. Truer words were never spoken.

Baltimore has already reached its earliest sunset of the year

How is that possible? The shortest day is around Dec. 21. Or SO THEY SAY! Liars! Oh yet another lie exposed.

I checked timeanddate.com (awesome site) and found that you are correct, but I don't know why. Astronomy is a weak subject for me. I also found that the sunrises continue to be LATER for three more weeks and doesn't start getting earlier until Jan. 7. I think I'm more sensitive to sunrises than sunsets after living in the topics and becoming very attuned to the tiny differences in light there.

Hold onto your wigs and keys, because here comes the data:

Rising and setting times for the Sun Length of day Solar noon
Date Sunrise Sunset This day Difference Time Altitude Distance
(106 km
Dec 1, 2008 7:08 AM 4:44 PM 9h 36m 04s − 1m 12s 11:56 AM 28.8° 147.492
Dec 2, 2008 7:09 AM 4:43 PM 9h 34m 55s − 1m 09s 11:56 AM 28.7° 147.468
Dec 3, 2008 7:09 AM 4:43 PM 9h 33m 49s − 1m 06s 11:57 AM 28.5° 147.445
Dec 4, 2008 7:10 AM 4:43 PM 9h 32m 46s − 1m 02s 11:57 AM 28.4° 147.422
Dec 5, 2008 7:11 AM 4:43 PM 9h 31m 46s − 59s 11:57 AM 28.3° 147.400
Dec 6, 2008 7:12 AM 4:43 PM 9h 30m 50s − 56s 11:58 AM 28.2° 147.378
Dec 7, 2008 7:13 AM 4:43 PM 9h 29m 57s − 52s 11:58 AM 28.0° 147.357
Dec 8, 2008 7:14 AM 4:43 PM 9h 29m 08s − 49s 11:59 AM 27.9° 147.337
Dec 9, 2008 7:15 AM 4:43 PM 9h 28m 22s − 45s 11:59 AM 27.8° 147.318
Dec 10, 2008 7:16 AM 4:43 PM 9h 27m 39s − 42s 12:00 Noon 27.8° 147.299
Dec 11, 2008 7:16 AM 4:43 PM 9h 27m 01s − 38s 12:00 Noon 27.7° 147.282
Dec 12, 2008 7:17 AM 4:44 PM 9h 26m 26s − 35s 12:00 Noon 27.6° 147.265
Dec 13, 2008 7:18 AM 4:44 PM 9h 25m 54s − 31s 12:01 PM 27.5° 147.249
Dec 14, 2008 7:19 AM 4:44 PM 9h 25m 27s − 27s 12:01 PM 27.5° 147.235
Dec 15, 2008 7:19 AM 4:44 PM 9h 25m 03s − 23s 12:02 PM 27.4° 147.221
Dec 16, 2008 7:20 AM 4:45 PM 9h 24m 43s − 20s 12:02 PM 27.4° 147.208

Thanks LEC.

Dahlink, when the world gets you down, at least you got your blomeys¹ to ease the blues.

Notes:
¹ Blomeys - slang for "blog homeys".

I tried that one out on JM but he didn't bite. I think some of his flock get the Jake leg when I show up with my supa-phresh mintied words. I drink their scorn like whiskey.

LEC,
While that is true, the sun continues to rise later in the mornings and will continue to do so until after the solstice.

I know, its a technicality. And most people don't see the sunrise because they are still asleep. Not me though, I have to ensure I leave before sunrise (or only a few minutes later) or it is directly in my line of vision pulling out onto a busy highway. Not good.

At least I get off work early and can enjoy some of the daylight hours this time of year.

Well, guess all those who are apt to be seasonally affected are now seasonally affected! sigh,...dreaming of palm trees (and money falling out of the sky)...

I don't like mass-produced holidays any more than I like mass-produced cookies.

So, I will tell you about the holiday that my friend Alice Karlsdottir invented, Grackle Day.

On Grackle Day, which can be Shakespeare's birthday, or could be not on Shakespeare's birthday, you get together with a few folks, eat junk food (the worse the better) and read bad poetry to each other. Bonus points if you wrote said bad poetry.

One year, we added a spam carving contest, judged by one of the dogs. The winner kicked her spam sculpture towards the dog when he came in from the yard.

Grackle Day is wonderful.

Lissa,
Grackles! Those are the pesky birds that hang out on the 10th and 11th holes of Rocky Point golf course. They like to steal food from those who stop after the ninth hole to grab a snack. They are pretty smart though, and rather ingenious.

Owl,
yes, timeanddate.com is good, but this site sunrisesunset is better.

You can click the link to get a custom calendar and a printable calendar pops up with the sunrises and sunsets for each day, plus moonrises/sets. You can also have it give you the three different types of twilight as well.

Baltimore is in that drop-down link. I have to go farther in to get the info for PCB.

Grackles!

That reminds me of a weird poem about grackles that I read once. I will put it on my resurrected blog:
http://owlmeat.blogspot.com/

It's wild and a little disturbing.

Ms E

According to PCB Rob's link, you will have a lot of daylight during your visit Buenos Aeris.

Don't miss the opportunity. Last year, we were invited to a New Years Eve wedding on Long Island. If we hadn't gone, we would have missed the best reception experience ever. And, the other guests were nice too!

Owl: that article about Jake Leg was interesting. I really enjoyed reading it.
Where do you find all your fascinating trivia/information?

It's wild and a little disturbing

Good description of your blog. Its still a great read.

Owl: that article about Jake Leg was interesting. I really enjoyed reading it. Where do you find all your fascinating trivia/information?

Keep my eyes and ears open and drink with more interesting people than me. Seriosuly I have no idea where half the stuff that I type comes from. I just load up my brain with as much as it can handle and things dribble out. And a subscription to the New Yorker and the Economist. Mostly I watch sitcoms, especially Two and a Half Men. I find that it has a certain gnostic quality that enlightens me. (4U,BG)

Contributing knowingly to topic drift ... I have long been amused that December 21 (which is still usually the shortest day of the year) is the Feast of St. Thomas. He was an apostle, so the Church pretty much had to give him a feast day. But because he doubted the other disciples' account of seeing the resurrected Jesus, they gave him the shortest day (as it were). I am probably the only person around who thinks this is the height of ecclesiastical hilarity ... but I do.

Meanwhile, thanks to the OMG for all the good data. It's nice to know that it will lie safely here in cyberspace until I need a factoid or two.

I didn't know that, MD Canon, and I think it is pretty hysterical, too.

Isn't Thomas the apostle who went to India? Kerala, IIRC?

Lissa, RE: Thomas --

Same one, according to popular accounts.

St. Thomas, shorted. That's very funny.

I'm not ROFL about the St. Thomas news, but I'm saving it for future use.

While we're on the topic of the Bible and calendars ... If the calender starts with the birth of Christ, why is his birthday the week before the year begins? Would that make his birthday December 25, 0001 BC?

Actually, St. Lucy, whose feast day is Dec. 13, held the title for shortest day of the year until Pope Gregory reformed the calendar. (See Donne's "A Nocturnal on St. Lucy's Day, Being the Shortest Day.")

Once again history kills a good joke. Oh, well.

Since Herod the Great died in 4 BC what does that tell us about the date of the birth of Jesus?

Yes I know the year and the date are not possible actual birth dates of Jesus. My question is, given that they made up the date why not have his birth as the first day of the year?

Eh. Christmas was put on that date to screw with Saturnalia. The RC Church was the original Borg when it came to religious practise.

Okay I usually save this to mess with people's New Year's Eve. The calendar starts on the eighth day of Jesus's life because that's when he was circumcized.

I understand that the Christians put Jesus' birth on Dec 25 to have their big holiday in between Hannukah and some other (perhaps pagan?) holiday.

Besides, the Immaculate Conception is celebrated on December 8. So the Virgin Mary conceived then and bore a child 17 days later? Wow, speed gestation.

I'm sorry, I was raised Catholic and did 12 years in Catholic schools.

Since Herod the Great died in 4 BC what does that tell us about the date of the birth of Jesus?

That Herod died a slow, lingering death?

That Herod was still alive, making his the longest-lasting "(Insert name) is still alive" conspiracy theory?

That the electricity went off and somebody forgot to go to "Time/Date" on the control panel and reset everything?

Jesus was probably born in 6 B.C. or 4 B.C. Dionysius Exiguus, 6th-century monk who worked out the dates, got them wrong.

With all the calendar changes in the last 2000 years, it is a miracle it didn't take 2500 years to do it.

When I can't sleep, I think about the arguments in the early English Church over the date of Easter. In Anglo-Saxon. Very, very boring, especially since I'm not Christian, so I don't have a horse in that race.

Which, come to think of it, has a lot to do with the taboo on eating horse we (and the Brits) have.

Oh Rob del Sol, rookie mistake on the Immaculata. Mary was the Immaculate Conception, the OG Madonna.

wiki wiki wiki...
The Immaculate Conception is, according to Roman Catholic dogma, the conception of the Virgin Mary without any stain ("macula" in Latin) of original sin. It is sometimes also called the Immaculata, particularly in artistic contexts. The dogma thus says that, from the first moment of her existence, she was preserved by God from the lack of sanctifying grace that afflicts mankind, and that she was instead filled with divine grace. It is further believed that she lived a life completely free from sin.[1] Her immaculate conception in the womb of her mother, by sexual intercourse, should not be confused with the doctrine of the virginal conception of her son Jesus.

the taboo on eating horse we (and the Brits) have.

By "we" you must mean Americans because you sure don't mean Icelanders.

Owl Meat Grace,
D'oh!

All these years and I had the wrong perception.

Guess that is why I'm a recovering Catholic. 12 years of Catholic schooling and I still don't get it.

virginal conception of her son Jesus.: the Incarnation. The Kalendar puts it on 25 March (9 months before Christmas), except when Holy Week causes the celebration to be moved.

The other thing to remember is that when all these dates were getting picked, New Year was 1 April. It got moved and those who wouldn't go along were April Fools (as memory serves me.)

Owlie, I'm not an Icelander, just a fan.

Yes, Icelanders eat horse. It was a condition of their conversion to Catholicism that the ban on horsemeat that applied to other Germanic peoples when they converted not apply to them.

I like the writer (Tom Robbin's?) take on the whole holiday placement thing, especially Easter. They took people who were happily celebrating the spring with lots of drink and partying with the somberness and sadness of the death of Christ, but when they flew up the flagpole, they couldn't get anyone to salute. Hey, not my words, I'm not even Christian!

Why would the Catholic Church ban horsemeat? Based upon no information I always go to economics, which means they didn't want starving poor people to eat their sweet rides.

I thought I was an Iceland fan, but you're almost a fanatic. When I travel I tell people I'm from Iceland and it stops them in their tracks every time. It's a good way to shut up the kid on the street who knows "My uncle has good leather coats for cheap" in 20 different languages.

Well, yes. My alma mater's unofficial motto was, "The challenge to excess."

Horsemeat was forbidden by the Church in most Germanic areas because the largest and most serious sacrifice that could be made to the Germanic gods was a horse. Which was then eaten.

The Church doesn't like competition.

Christmas and Easter? Jim Gaffigan has a hilarious bit on holidays:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjJCIbC9sxA

The other thing to remember is that when all these dates were getting picked, New Year was 1 April. It got moved and those who wouldn't go along were April Fools

Sounds apocryphool. The early calendar tended to drift later and later since the astronomy was off a little.

I understand that the Christians put Jesus' birth on Dec 25 to have their big holiday in between Hannukah and some other (perhaps pagan?) holiday.

I doubt that Hannukah was celebrated back when Christmas was assigned a date. Although the event with the Maccabees and the Oil seems (I am, by no means, a religious historian) to be quite ancient, the celebration thereof is relatively new.

I just saw this on the huffpo. Astronomers calculated that Jesus' birth was June 17.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/christmas/3687843/Jesus-was-born-in-June-astronomers-claim.html

Hannukah seems like a weak holiday to me. Most of my tribal friends have Christmas envy. I doubt that it would be celebrated if Christmas wasn't so popular. After all, what are you celebrating? That you stretched some lamp oil out for a week? Eh.

jen2 - Hannukah Rocks! It's just not Christmas, nor was it meant to be. It's a holiday celebrating the liberation of the temple and the miracle of the oil. It is celebrated with amazing food like potato pancakes, so I wouldn't call it lame. It was here long before Christ was born, and I'm sure he celebrated it in his lifetime. If he arrived in Baltimore during Christmas/Hannukah week, he'd be looking for a menorah and latkes, not trees and Santa Claus. I'm only sayin...

Christmas envy? Yes, it's shiny and nice when you are young, but once you get older but when you get to my age, it's all a lot of work and a lot of money going down the drain! (am I sounding like I want to yell "hey you kids get off my GD lawn!"?)

Jesus ate laktes???

Solitary Bob's explanation about the New Year being once in April sounds pretty good.

am I sounding like I want to yell "hey you kids get off my GD lawn!"?

Joyce, you made me laugh out loud.

Properly, that should have been G_d d_mned lawn.

Lissa - I stand corrected - lol!

No latkes for JC. His Dad hadn't discovered potatoes yet.

No latkes for JC. His Dad hadn't discovered potatoes yet.

How about NASCAR?

I like to think of Jesus as wearin' a Tuxedo T-shirt, 'cause it says, like, "I want to be formal, but I'm here to party too." I like to party, so I like my Jesus to party.

Ricky Bobby,

that movie you were in kinda stunk.

... winners get to do what they want ...