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07-20-2016, 08:27 PM
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A couple of people have made reference to the fact that an 18 year old can join the military and fight, but can't legally buy a beer. While this sounds reasonable, it proved to be impractical.
Some of the older folks here may remember, but this is for the younger members who don't know.
Back around 1970 or so, Viet Nam was still going and many folks believed that if you're old enough to fight, you should be old enough to drink. As a result, quite a few states (including mine) lowered the drinking age to 18, 19 or 20. I was 17 at the time and Tennessee lowered the age to 18. I was plumb ecstatic! Of course, me being me, I had been drinking alcohol since about age 14 and knew all the stores and bars that weren't too particular. But it was really good to hear that I could now do my drinking legally.
After graduating high school at 18, I joined the army.
Unfortunately, this new freedom for 18 year olds didn't work out too well. There was a dramatic surge in DUIs, alcohol related accidents and alcohol related deaths among younger people for years after these laws were passed. By the mid-1980s, every state had returned to a drinking age of 21 and the numbers dropped.
I should point out that military personnel have always been able to purchase and consume alcoholic beverages on base while off duty.
Yeah, we young soldiers drank heavily and partied hard. But military service forces maturity and responsibility on its members. We knew that there were harsh penalties for foolish actions. So when it was time to go to work, we made sure we were sober and alert. In short, we grew up fast because we had to.
Unfortunately the same could not be said for teenage civilians at the time. Many paid a high price for what seemed like good intentions.
Considering the current crop of teenagers in this country today, I would be more in favor of raising the legal drinking age rather than lowering it.
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07-21-2016, 12:40 AM
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I have a couple of beers or two glasses on wine with dinner just about daily. I hardly ever have any hard alcohol but I do like a good cognac on occasion.
I quit smoking 18 years ago after smoking for over 30 years. Each year I also buy a couple of nice firearms with no guilt and chalk the expense up to an alternate use of the money I would have spent on cigarettes!
Jim
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07-21-2016, 01:30 AM
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I never did understand how one gets hooked on smoking. I would think gagging on the first one would be pretty convincing that it isn't a good idea. It would take real determination to keep at it long enough to get addicted.
Drinking - sometimes it helps me relax, but most of the stuff tastes quite foul. I don't like it enough to keep at it until I'm drunk.
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07-21-2016, 01:36 AM
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I quit everything.....
I used to do everything and now I do nothing. Both a blessing and a curse. My health is better though, and I have fun doing different things. Like reloading and shooting.
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07-21-2016, 06:42 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Collects
Were guns to be complete banned (and taken away from the bad guys, which will not happen), around 11,200 people would not be murdered.
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I don't buy into most of what you posted but this is a complete crock.
Big trouble in River City and I'm out of popcorn.
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07-21-2016, 10:29 AM
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Always remember that staying healthy is the slowest possible way to die.
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07-21-2016, 03:57 PM
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Never took up either, came from a family of teetotalers, my mother was a nicotine fiend. My experience with smokers is that they're incredibly inconsiderate, will light up anytime, anyplace, and like all addicts when they can't get their fix they get nasty.
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07-21-2016, 04:18 PM
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Here's my take. Light a cigarette. Get a white tissue or thin white cloth. Take a puff of your cigarette and don't inhale but put the tissue or cloth up to your mouth and blow the smoke through it.
What you see is just from one puff. Do the math to imagine one whole cigarette...one whole pack...one whole carton...one whole lifetime of smoking only a little bit. What you see and can envision from this demonstration is exactly what gets into your lungs and blood.
Now Drink one beer. An hour or so take a leak and your done. Over a life time of EXCESS your liver will pay the price but the occasional beer wine or hard liquor will not be a problem
The material you see on the tissue or cloth that gets into your lungs STAYS THERE for years. Once cigarette a day adds up and stays with you.
That explained I'd say that the one cigarette is a lot more dangerous than one beer....a LOT more.
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07-21-2016, 04:32 PM
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Well first off age 71 and booze is not recommended mixed with the legal meds I take. I have a maximum of 5-6 drinks a year now.
That is a far cry from the gallons of beer and cases of harder stuff I put down way back when. Legal drinking age then was 18 and as big older looking kid I had no problem getting served from about age 15 on. Got married at age 26 had a couple kids and got much more responsible. FWIW still married to the same woman.
Smoking; well tried that when a teenager and said that's not for me. With that said as a construction pipefitter/welder I did a lot of work at chemical plants/oil refineries and figure I have inhaled much worse stuff than mere tobacco. Just the fumes from years of welding and as I worked in many chemical plants I got exposed to each plants " toxic cocktails'
Most of my relatives/friends/co workers smoked and I had/have no problem going into smoke filled rooms. I'm not one to complain about cigarette smoke, I feel smoke em if you got em.
Now my wife on the other hand lost 1/2 her family to lung cancer and she is rather outspoken on smoking.
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07-21-2016, 09:59 PM
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Probably not what the OP was expecting, but here goes:
Tobacco and alcohol are fine things to be enjoyed in moderation. Overuse, well... You know the old saying about too much of a good thing.
I stopped smoking because, frankly, I couldn't afford it any more. I especially can't afford it now that I have a mortgage. Alcohol, I indulge in occasionally, and never to excess. Again, can't afford to do more than that.
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07-22-2016, 09:25 AM
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Was standing in line at the super market checkout looking at the tobacco
counter. I was shocked. Packages cigarettes for almost 5 bucks a pack?
I haven't smoked since 1970 so I haven't paid much attention. You can
buy 5 rounds of pretty good ammo for 5 bucks.
I started smoking Lucky Strikes at age 17 in the military. Quit when I
was 35. Went to the Doc a few months after quitting and got a chest
xray. Crystal Clear. Happy Day!
I know it's hard to quit. It helped me to watch a lung cancer operation
in living color. I knew an old gent who died at 95. He had quit smoking
at about 45. His last words "I would sure like a cigarette."
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07-22-2016, 10:13 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by crazyphil
Was standing in line at the super market checkout looking at the tobacco
counter. I was shocked. Packages cigarettes for almost 5 bucks a pack?
I haven't smoked since 1970 so I haven't paid much attention. You can
buy 5 rounds of pretty good ammo for 5 bucks.
I started smoking Lucky Strikes at age 17 in the military. Quit when I
was 35. Went to the Doc a few months after quitting and got a chest
xray. Crystal Clear. Happy Day!
I know it's hard to quit. It helped me to watch a lung cancer operation
in living color. I knew an old gent who died at 95. He had quit smoking
at about 45. His last words "I would sure like a cigarette."
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On a troop ship on my way to The Rock early 1963. out in international waters the ships store sold American cigarettes for 10 cents a pack and foreign (mostly Japanese) for 7 cents a pack.
Even if I didn't want to quit smoking, which I did in 1974, I would most certainly quit when they hit the dollar-a-pack price. I have seen vending machines lately that charge 8 bux a pack. Crazy!
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07-22-2016, 10:36 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chud333
This conundrum reminds me of a law, and lack of a law,
requiring motorists here in Indiana to wear a seat belt
at all times but there is no helmet law for motorcycle riders
in this state....??????
To each his own.
Chuck
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Seatbelt use has no downside, and clearly has a very significant effect in reducing injuries. The same can't be (accurately) claimed for motorcycle helmets.
If they could mandate helmet use on motorcycles, they could use the same logic to mandate them for cars and bicycles too.
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07-23-2016, 07:14 AM
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Full disclosure: occasional cigar smoker, social drinker; less than 1 per week of either. Yes, I'm underachieving
For adults, I'm in the libertarian camp on the double standard. Most anything to excess can be bad for you, and for some, 1 is too much. For most, moderation is sufficient. When the nanny state regulates matters, well... the FDA is about to do that to the cigar trade.
The parallels to gun ownership, alcohol and tobacco are not lost to me.
Big safe, big humidor, big liquor cabinet. Just sayin'
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Last edited by S42N8; 07-23-2016 at 07:15 AM.
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07-23-2016, 12:43 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by johngalt
Seatbelt use has no downside, and clearly has a very significant effect in reducing injuries. The same can't be (accurately) claimed for motorcycle helmets.
If they could mandate helmet use on motorcycles, they could use the same logic to mandate them for cars and bicycles too.
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Full disclosure...ex-smoker (quite 25 years ago), bourbon drinker, motorcycle rider, Sturgis in two weeks
The libertarian in me opposes mandatory helmet or seat belt outlaws, outlawing cigarettes and other "consumables".
Not that I am pro cigarettes or opposed to helmets and seats belts, I do use them but but by choice. The problem I have with mandates is the same issue I have with most gun laws, carry permits instead of constitutional carry, ect. is the government mandates.
I am a free educated adult, I will make my own decisions thank you very much.
Last edited by Kevin J.; 07-24-2016 at 12:22 PM.
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07-23-2016, 03:12 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Collects
My motorcycle helmet saved my life the first day I owned my first motorcycle, back in 1969.
I dumped the bike on a curve, having hit sand and gravel, and hit my head on the blacktop hard enough to actually break the helmet I was voluntarily wearing.
Had I not been wearing the helmet, I suspect that my head would have cracked open just as the helmet did, but with far worse results to me.
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Not really interested in starting a helmet debate but here we go....
If I were to ride a motorcycle, I probably would wear a helmet. But I don't ride. I have a cousin who rides. He does not, and refuses to due to the downsides. He lives in Illinois, which has no helmet laws of any kind.
I ride a bicycle, and I hear the same "the helmet saved my life..." stories. I used to, and due to the downsides (yes, the downsides are significant) and their dubious protective ability, I quit. Had a few minor crashes, no major ones, and my noggin has never touched the ground.
The motorcycle helmet is much larger than your head. It is possible that in your crash a bare head would not have touched the ground. Of course no one knows and it is impossible to duplicate the same conditions.
Since I don't ride motorcycles, I have no experience with the strength/protective abilities of motorcycle helmets. I have heard stories of people showing off their broken bicycle helmet as evidence that it "saved their life". However, a broken helmet has failed, and did not much reduce the impact to the head.
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07-23-2016, 03:23 PM
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Booze vs Smokes
I used a helmet when I bought my first bike.After a year I stopped wearing it and really preferred riding without which caused a lot of friction with the mrs.After about five years and a huge increase in traffic along with cell phone usage,I figured it was just a matter of time before I was killed and sold my bike.Great fun,but an earlier era would have been better.
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07-23-2016, 03:41 PM
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I don't wear a seatbelt.
If I was asked, I'd say using a seatbelt is smart. If I was asked, I'd say it's none of government's business. Curiously, the times I've been pulled over the officer never mentioned anything about not wearing a seatbelt nor asked about a gun. I guess I gots one of them faces that folks don't bother asking questions.
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07-23-2016, 03:55 PM
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I just read through the whole thread. I'm about ready to toss a New York steak on the grill. After lunch I'll pour a second glass of Merlot and light up a good cigar and contemplate what I have read.
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07-24-2016, 02:01 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Arik
I do both and wish I didn't smoke. I can drink or not drink, it doesn't matter to me (aside from a cold beer on a hot day ). On the other hand I have to have a cigarette. I've managed to quit before but for only a few months.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
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This is exactly my story too.
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