Booze

 I worked once with a Air Force officer who'd gotten into a Soviet studies program in college (before he got into the Air Force) and right after the Soviet Union collapsed....he went off for one year in 'new' Russia to attend some university there.  

One day, we got into a chat about this period of his life, and this period of change in the Russian landscape.  

There were probably twenty interesting things that he brought out....but then he got onto booze consumption.  From day one (the arrival), he came to grasp that Russian men generally consume a lot of booze.  

The booze consumption rate advanced their health issues.  A guy who was forty....would look more like a sixty-year-old guy.

Car accidents and work accidents were more prevalent with men....because of the booze.

Decision-making often resulted in crappy decisions...because of the booze.

Women complained constantly over drinking habits of their husbands. 

If he walked around the corner and came upon several guys in some heated discussion/argument....it was better than a 50-percent chance that all of the guys standing there in this argument....were boozed-up and the argument made no sense.

At the end of this year program and leaving, he came to this rational view of Russia....that this booze tradition had been around for hundreds of years and it was a hard part of culture that could not be dismantled or fixed.   

Over the past 24 hours....I'd say we got a full glimpse of alcohol-effect and irrational behavior.