Ostrich Report

- The Ostrich Report On: Being Part Of A Dying Culture
  
  Posted at 1:00 pm by ostrichreport, on March 1, 2019
  
  Cajuns are French exiles from present day Nova Scotia who refused to go under British rule after the French and Indian War, and decided to settle in Louisiana. I want to say we know them from the poetry and songs of Barry Jean Ancelet, but, realistically, the first person most of us associate with Cajuns is Gambit from the X-Men. But that’s actually not such a bad example as Cajuns are also part of a small minority that’s fighting for their identity in a world that’s not always very friendly to them. Keith, who is a Cajun from New Orleans knows a lot about it. This is his story:
  
  Research by Evan Symon.
  
  Continue reading →
  
  Posted in History | 0 Comments | Tagged cajun, cajuns
- The Ostrich Report On: Working At A Laundry Startup
  
  Posted at 1:00 pm by ostrichreport, on February 27, 2019
  
  Having someone else do your laundry for you isn’t exactly a new idea. “But what if we made it into an app,” asked some entrepreneurs. “HOLY SHIT, HERE’S A BLANK CHECK,” shouted a bunch of investors, and just like that, Washio was born. Washio was a San Francisco-based startup that picked up dirty clothes from your house, cleaned them, and delivered everything back to you. And because they couldn’t work “bacon” into their whole image, the company went with the internet’s second favorite thing: ninjas, which is what they called their employees. It was a cute concept to be sure, but it didn’t last. Tyler, who worked for Washio, explains why:
  
  Research by Evan Symon.
  
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  Posted in Business, Technology | 0 Comments | Tagged laundry, startup, washio
- The Ostrich Report On: AutoWorld – The Failed Theme Park That Was Supposed To Save Flint, Michigan
  
  Posted at 1:00 pm by ostrichreport, on February 25, 2019
  
  By my rough estimate, the city of Flint, Michigan must be built atop of at least 666 ancient burial grounds because it just cannot catch a break. Ever since GM (first founded in Flint) downsized its workforce in the 1960s, the city has been struggling with population loss, high crime rates, and, most recently, lead-contaminated water and outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease. THIS is what the US should be declaring a national emergency over. But back in 1984, people had a different idea. They actually thought they could save Flint with a car-themed amusement park called AutoWorld. Spoiler alert: it did not work out. Mike actually worked there and this is what he’s learned about it:
  
  Research by Evan Symon.
  
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  Posted in History, Technology | 0 Comments | Tagged autoworld, flint
- The Ostrich Report On: UHF Stations
  
  Posted at 1:00 pm by ostrichreport, on February 22, 2019
  
  Numbers. The letters of algebra. They’re a funny thing. Sometimes it’s good when they’re high, like with your bank balance, and sometimes it’s good when they’re low, like with the number of corpses under your house. When it comes to TV channel numbers, though, you want to go low. Low-numbered stations (2-13) operate in the VHF (Very High Frequency) range, which is usually reserved for big, multi-million-dollar broadcasting corporations. Everyone else uses UHF (Ultra High Frequency), which despite containing the word “ultra” is still seen as the ugly stepchild of broadcast television. In reality, though, UHF stations are the secret backbone of American broadcasting, which Peter discovered while working at a UHF station for 20 years. Specifically, he’s learned that…
  
  Research by Evan Symon.
  
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  Posted in Entertainment, Movies & TV | 0 Comments | Tagged uhf, uhf station
- The Ostrich Report On: Mad Hatter Disease
  
  Posted at 1:00 pm by ostrichreport, on February 20, 2019
  
  Have you ever wondered why the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland was, well, a hatter instead of something cooler that kids could identify with, like a Mad YouTuber or Mad Yeeter? It’s because he was eccentric, wacky, and generally two bananas short of a split, and back then that sort of behavior was associated with one profession: hatters. In the olden days, hatters used mercury to make felt, and over time, the mercury vapors they inhaled caused them to develop neurological disorders like memory-loss, irritability, erratic behavior etc. The disease is known more professionally as erethism and what’s really strange about it is that it hasn’t been eradicated even today. Modern people still get exposed to mercury and come down with Mad Hatter syndrome, like what happened with Richard, who suffers from a moderate form of it. This is his story:
  
  Research by Evan Symon.
  
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  Posted in Health | 0 Comments | Tagged erethism, mad hatter disease, mercury
- The Ostrich Report On: Losing A Twin
  
  Posted at 1:00 pm by ostrichreport, on February 18, 2019
  
  The loss of a close family member is one of the saddest things that could ever happen to a person, and there are no family members you can be closer to than your twin. Literally. Twins quite literally start life and come into this world together (although are you really twins if you don’t constantly remind your sibling that you’re X-minutes older than them?) and that creates a special bond which non-twins can never truly understand. Sadly, it also creates a profound, unimaginable feeling of sadness in the event of your twin’s passing, which Whitney would know all about. This is what she’s learned from losing her sister Wendy:
  
  Research by Evan Symon. Continue reading →
  
  Posted in Family | 0 Comments | Tagged twin, twins
- The Ostrich Report On: New Age Stores
  
  Posted at 1:00 pm by ostrichreport, on February 15, 2019
  
  New Age stores are one of the great success stories of the modern age. When the people behind them looked at the world, they saw an untapped market for crystals that can realign your vagina’s moon charts and herbal tarot cards for dogs. Then they looked at it like six more times to make sure that their eyes were working right, and after that they went to work to fill that market need. Since then, New Age stores have popped up all over the world, and eventually Craig managed to land a job at a one in Birmingham, England, where he learned that…
  
  Research by Evan Symon. Continue reading →
  
  Posted in Health, Money, Religion, Science | 0 Comments | Tagged new age, new age store
- The Ostrich Report On: Crohn’s Disease
  
  Posted at 1:00 pm by ostrichreport, on February 13, 2019
  
  An adult’s digestive tract is about 30 feet long. It takes a piece of food up to 66 hours to traverse it all, making it the shittiest (literally) slide ever constructed. Given the length and inevitable complexity of such a system, it’s no surprise that a lot of things can go wrong with it. One of the worst, non-lethal things on that list is Crohn’s Disease, a subset of IBS with a variety of unpleasant symptoms. Holly knows about it all to well because she suffers from the disease, which manifests itself in the form of mouth sores, cramps that go on for hours, fatigue, anal fissures, diarrhea, joint pain, brain fog, and migraines. Put them all together and you end up with one of the most pain-in-the-ass diseases you could ever come down with, especially seeing as… Continue reading →
  
  Posted in Health | 0 Comments | Tagged crohn, crohn's, crohn's disease
- The Ostrich Report On: War Reenactments
  
  Posted at 1:00 pm by ostrichreport, on February 11, 2019
  
  Hey do you love history? “I may still haven’t gotten over the burning of the Library of Alexandria, yes.” Do you want to get out there and share your passion with similarly-minded people in an exciting and immersive way? “YES! Unless this is another scam to get free waiters for your Civil War-themed plantation wedding because I’m not falling for that a third time.” Do you mind occasionally dressing up as Nazis or Confederate soldiers? “Umm… will it make me racist if I say no?”
  
  Actually no, which is just one thing I learned from Shane, an avid Civil War and WWII reenactor who also told me that: Continue reading →
  
  Posted in History | 0 Comments | Tagged war reenactments
- The Ostrich Report On: Driving A Small-Town Taxi
  
  Posted at 1:00 pm by ostrichreport, on February 8, 2019
  
  Much like dating and porn, you don’t really think about taxis in rural parts of the U.S. because you just naturally assume that all those things are done by horses. But believe it or not, people living somewhere between Los Angeles and New York have actually mastered fire and routinely use it to explode liquid dinosaurs that power their steel horseless carriages. Some even make a career of it, like Allen, who drives a taxi in eastern Montana, which is wholly different than driving a cab in the big city. How so? This so:
  
  Research by Evan Symon. Continue reading →
  
  Posted in Money, Travel & Leisure | 0 Comments | Tagged small town, taxi
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