Notes From The Week Magazine Early 2012: Samuel L. Jackson on Obama, Chipotle is the New Apple, UNtouched Lakes in Russia and more....

Enjoy some highlights of a magzine full of notes. It's like The Week but even shorter.

• An excellent opinion piece by Frank Bruni on the ignored drug problem of this country, alcoholism, in the wake of Whitney Houston's death.
• Samuel L. Jackson was quoted in Ebony and I'm shocked these kind of quotes haven't EXPLODED. Sam said "I voted for Barack because he was black... That's why other folks vote for other people - because they look like them. That's American politics, pure and simple. His message don't mean shit to me... I just hoped he would do some of what he said he was gonna do." Implying that Obama has not yet been able to behave like a "scary" "n*gga," Jackson said he hopes Obama will be more "scary" in his second term, "cuz he ain't gotta worry about getting re-elected." "I voted for Barack because he was black," Jackson said. "Cuz that’s why other folks vote for other people — because they look like them." I'd vote for Sam for president, wouldn't you?
• Police in Zurich confiscated $6 trillion in counterfeit US bonds which equates to nearly half the US national debt (via BBC). Now, that sounds pretty fucking serious.
• According to The Economist, in 2012 the number of federally mandated categories of illness and injuries for which hospitals may claim reimbursement will multiply from 18,000 to 140,000 including "nine categories for injuries caused by parrots and three relating to burns from flaming water skis. What I really want to know is who got paid to compile a list like this?
• Confidence is what you have before you understand the problem. - Woody Allen AKA The King of Winning Absentee Oscars. Do you think someone will hand deliver the trophy to him in NY?
• The Russians have broken through 2 miles of solid ice into a lake in the Antarctic that has been cut off from air and light for about 20 million years named Lake Vostok. While they claim to be doing testing for microbes, how long until they try to drill for oil?
• Why do zebras have stripes? According to scientists in Sweden, the stripes exist as an optimal way to deflect eyes. May I recommend this idea to Floridians?
• New Mexico State University Scientist have identified the world's hottest pepper, the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion rating 1.2 million Scoville units in hotness in comparison to 5,000 for a jalapeno. My butt just yelled at me for writing about it.
• How Chipotle is the Apple of the causal dining world in innovation and growth? (via Slate)
• According to CNN.com, a woman in the military is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than being killed in action.
• The US Postal System lost $3.3 billion in the last 3 months of 2011, 10x more than the same period in 2010.