Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: beet1e on July 25, 2004, 07:09:32 PM
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Just got an email from my brother: One of our friends from school days has recently collapsed and died of a heart attack. This guy, Roger, was a heavy smoker when we knew him – a 50/day man. He may have cut down, but we are told he continued to smoke heavily. Dead at 54. It really peeves me to see people die such unnecessary and avoidable deaths.
I can’t help but notice that the flightsim community at large includes a great many heavy smokers, at least at the cons and other social gatherings I’ve attended. I’ve already attended my first smoking-induced flightsimmer funeral. Wonder how many more there will be.
Seems like our whole sense of risk assessment is out of whack. For example, America has a sophisticated air defence system guarding its coastline against incoming aircraft, and yet it got caught with its pants down on 9/11. Similarly, some people spend hundreds of $ on weapons to defend themselves and their property against the 1:~50,000 chance of a burglary, but are utterly complacent regarding the much greater risk of being zapped prematurely by that time bomb ticking away in their chests.
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Originally posted by beet1e
Just got an email from my brother: One of our friends from school days has recently collapsed and died of a heart attack. This guy, Roger, was a heavy smoker when we knew him – a 50/day man. He may have cut down, but we are told he continued to smoke heavily. Dead at 54. It really peeves me to see people die such unnecessary and avoidable deaths.
I can’t help but notice that the flightsim community at large includes a great many heavy smokers, at least at the cons and other social gatherings I’ve attended. I’ve already attended my first smoking-induced flightsimmer funeral. Wonder how many more there will be.
Seems like our whole sense of risk assessment is out of whack. For example, America has a sophisticated air defence system guarding its coastline against incoming aircraft, and yet it got caught with its pants down on 9/11. Similarly, some people spend hundreds of $ on weapons to defend themselves and their property against the 1:~50,000 chance of a burglary, but are utterly complacent regarding the much greater risk of being zapped prematurely by that time bomb ticking away in their chests.
Sorry for your friend Beetle
By the way, I was digging the post until it veered into a gun issue again :mad:
It's ironic that in the UK, you cannot buy a gun to protect yourself against the 1 in 100 chance of being the victim of a burglary because the government dedided guns are too dangerous for the citizens. On the other hand, the government allows you to buy cigartettes and alchohol... both of which are responsible for far more deaths in the UK than guns ever could have been.
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Way to exploit the death of your friend to futher a politcal agenda!
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just a reply
Beetle you have to stop trying to control other peoples lives, the gov.has a duty to protect the country, as a man has a obligation and duty to protect his family. I dont care if it is 1 in 100,000 times chance it is a obligation and sometimes a gun is the only equalizer. btw so far I have had to protect my family twice.
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Originally posted by NUKE
It's ironic that in the UK, you cannot buy a gun to protect yourself against the 1 in 100 chance of being the victim of a burglary because the government dedided guns are too dangerous for the citizens. On the other hand, the government allows you to buy cigartettes and alchohol... both of which are responsible for far more deaths in the UK than guns ever could have been.
Except smoking usually kills the smoker, whereas guns kills others.
So we could turn this other way around:
More people dies to 2nd hand gun fire than 2nd hand smoking. :D
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Originally posted by Fishu
Except smoking usually kills the smoker, whereas guns kills others.
So we could turn this other way around:
More people dies to 2nd hand gun fire than 2nd hand smoking. :D
Not really... suicide..
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well.. increasing the number of suicides is one way to reduce crime :D
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My sympathies on the loss of your friend.
dago
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Originally posted by Fishu
Except smoking usually kills the smoker, whereas guns kills others.
So we could turn this other way around:
More people dies to 2nd hand gun fire than 2nd hand smoking. :D
take a look at the cancer statistics being compiled as a result of second hand smoke... it is staggering
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Sometimes it ain't smoking, it's defiance. In the movie Papillon, Steve McQueen was in isolation on Devil's Island for three years. He jumped up, grabbed the bars when the guard was there and said, "I'm not dead yet, you bastards."
Les
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Smoking is an epidemic worse than aids.
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"a 50/day man"
wow.
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quit on feb 1st and still clean..
wtg me
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Originally posted by NUKE
It's ironic that in the UK, you cannot buy a gun to protect yourself against the 1 in 100 chance of being the victim of a burglary because the government dedided guns are too dangerous for the citizens.
The surprise stems from the fact that your figure for the likelihood of burglary is incorrect. My age is about 18,000 - expressed in days. And nowhere I have lived has ever been burgled. So the odds of being burgled are, for me at least, 1:18,000 and getting smaller - if we assume for one moment that a burglary would happen only once on the same day.
Dago - your thoughts are appreciated.
Demaw said " Beetle you have to stop trying to control other peoples lives". I'm not trying to do that. I just wish some folks would change their habits so they would at least HAVE lives.
I don't know the mechanics of it, but cigarettes cause fat deposits to accumulate within arteries. When the artery becomes completely blocked. A heart attack is the result.
(http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/39978000/jpg/_39978237_bhfad203.jpg)
British Heart Foundation campaign poster: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3579313.stm
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- "Hi, y'all. You know, they've asked me to come on here to talk to y'all about smokin'. But I figure if you can't say anything good, then don't say anything at all." [/color] - Larry Hagman, US network TV anti-smoking campaign ad c1981.
[/size]
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Sorry about your friend, Beet.
The rest of the stuff you mentioned... can you write it on a vibrator and insert it rectally?..into yourself that is.
P.S. I don't smoke... you need to buy me a beer.
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My handguns have killed fewer people than Ted Kennedy's car.
Why no calls to ban Ted Kennedy?
Sorry to hear about your friend. At some point the individual has to accept the responsiblity for the concomitant effects of their lifestyle choices.
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Originally posted by SunTracker
Smoking is an epidemic worse than aids.
And Bush is worse than Hitler.
How exactly are you coming to the conclusion that tobacco use is somehow worse than AIDS?
Is this actually what you believe or is this some sort of snappy one liner that sounds heavy, dude but isnt based in fact - ala "No war for oil?"
I only ask because given the choice between smoking a cigarette and ****ing an HIV+ dame on the rag... I'd have to go with the cigarette, cheif.
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If the numbers are to be believed about second hand smoke then smoke definitely kills more inocent peple than guns do (war excepted). Guns mostly kill the right people. smoke never kills the right person.
That being said... I don' muich believe in the second hand smoke deal any more than theh new one that 1.5 hours of BBQ is the same as a life of smoking... I don't believe in regulating smoking on private property if it is a legal activity..
my take is that the only solution is a good war or plague that takes about 1/3 to one half the populatioon and then.... guys like beetle won't have time to worry about who is smoking or not.
overpopulation breeds this kind of busybody thinking... At some point we will breed a plague or people will riot and revolt. It is inevitable.
lazs
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Lazs, if I was just a little bit dumber, youd be my hero.
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lol Saur :D
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sour... if you were just a little smarter you could figure out what it is that I say that you don't agree with..
If I was a lot dumber I would want people to hero worship me.
lazs
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Originally posted by beet1e
I just wish some folks would change their habits so they would at least HAVE lives.
Sorry for your loss.
Does it occur to you that perhaps he did live the life HE wanted? One that included smoking excessively?
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Sorry about your friend.
Isn't it wonderful that he had most of the freedom necessary to assess his own risk? And to live by that assessment.
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Originally posted by Saurdaukar
Lazs, if I was just a little bit dumber, youd be my hero.
I have to put that in my sig. That's 2 from Saur.
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sorry for your loss
but your friend died doing what he liked to do .. his choice, coulda stopped at anytime if he so desired, not the cig ppl
just like the big mac munchers, their choice to be fat arses with clogged arteries, not McD's
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Sorry to hear about your friend Beetle, my condolences to his family and loved ones.
Nilsen, WTG:aok
As for me, well I am a smoker. Although I am getting closer and closer to quitting every day. (my youngest is 17 and she pressures me daily)
If tobacco had just been discovered today, it would most likely be illegal. Nicotine is one of the most addicting drugs there is.
Unfortunately the governments (Canadian anyway) don't really want you to quit. The taxes they reap from cigarettes is enormous, and they never seem to equate it to the cost of medical care. (just my opinion).
It's like tripping over a $5.00 bill to pick up a nickle to them.
*cough* *hack* *wheeeez*
RTR
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Thx RTR
Start by making the pack you have now your last. The sooner you start, the sooner the worst of it will pass. :)
Think about it... Quit today and in mid- august you wont even think about smokes every day..
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Originally posted by lazs2
sour... if you were just a little smarter you could figure out what it is that I say that you don't agree with..
If I was a lot dumber I would want people to hero worship me.
lazs
Shoulda put a smily in, I guess. ;)
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I don't believe in smileys. They are for people who don't believe what they say.
lazs
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LOL. If the Boroda/Grunherz exchange wasnt so good that'd be in my sig.
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Originally posted by lazs2
I don't believe in smileys. They are for people who don't believe what they say.
lazs
true m8 :)