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Pothead Ph.D. - This is most definitely not a cautionary tale

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Re: Pothead Ph.D. - This is most definitely not a cautionary tale

#51

Post by hugh »

Alex3917 wrote: post #36
hugh wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

teetotalism is as bad for your health as being morbidly obese That just sounds really unlikely. Got anything to back that up?

"In a study of more than 80,000 American women, those who drank moderately had only half the heart attack risk of those who did not drink at all, even if they were slim, did not smoke and exercised daily. Moderate drinking was about as good for the heart as an hour of exercise a day. Not drinking at all was as bad for the heart as morbid obesity." The overall risk curve for alcohol is J shaped. In other words, your t…

I actually meant the original article, not a quote from some New York Times summary. I wanted to know whether the study corrected for things like people who are teetotal only due to some other medical condition.

I'm prepared to believe that there's health benefits to a small amount of alcohol every day, but I really can't imagine it being anything on the scale of the health benefits of not-being-morbidly-obese. Morbid obesity is a huge risk factor for just about everything.

You see plenty of 90-year-old teetotallers, but not many morbidly obese folks past their fifties.

Re: Pothead Ph.D. - This is most definitely not a cautionary tale

#52

Post by astine »

josefresco wrote: post #38
tyn wrote: post #34

Marijuana actually impairs memory and learning http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn10607

All Marijuana studies actually funded in the US (they are rare and typically have 1 result) should be cautiously taken into account with the knowledge that our administration does whatever it can to spread FUD to the public about the drug. Follow the money trail ...

That's an ad hominem argument write large. You can't dismiss a study just because it was funded by someone you disagree with. You have to take it on its own terms. If the study is flawed, show the flaws, if not, it shouldn't matter who funded it.

Re: Pothead Ph.D. - This is most definitely not a cautionary tale

#53

Post by Alex3917 »

hugh wrote: post #51
Alex3917 wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"In a study of more than 80,000 American women, those who drank moderately had only half the heart attack risk of those who did not drink at all, even if they were slim, did not smoke and exercised daily. Moderate drinking was about as good for the heart as an hour of exercise a day. Not drinking at all was as bad for the heart as morbid obesity." The overall risk curve for alcohol is J shaped. In other words, your t…

I actually meant the original article, not a quote from some New York Times summary. I wanted to know whether the study corrected for things like people who are teetotal only due to some other medical condition. I'm prepared to believe that there's health benefits to a small amount of alcohol every day, but I really can't imagine it being anything on the scale of the health benefits of not-being-morbidly-obese. Morbi…

"You see plenty of 90-year-old teetotallers, but not many morbidly obese folks past their fifties."

That's true, but then again people also naturally lose weight as they got older. Lower testosterone causes muscles to atrophy, and reduced sense of smell leads to a loss of appetite. I'm not sure how many morbidly obese people live long enough to get to this point, but it's at least worth considering.

Re: Pothead Ph.D. - This is most definitely not a cautionary tale

#55

Post by neilc »

edw519 wrote: post #48
neilc wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see why the vehemence is warranted; I also don't think the author of the article is "whining". He's just talking about how and why he smokes pot, and how that connects with graduate school in the humanities. It is refreshing to hear something in the mainstream media about someone who smokes pot and isn't an intellectual vacuum. Which part of the article did you think was "whining"? Your rant about graduate sc…

I don't see why the vehemence is warranted You're probably right. If this hadn't made it to #1 so quickly (no fault of OP of course), I may not have even responded at all. But it did, so I did, and I didn't hold any punches. I just found it ironic that many of us who do good work 80 to 100 hours per week and come here for a break among our peers find a student who needs to resort to drugs to cope (or whatever) with h…

I just found it ironic that many of us who do good work 80 to 100 hours per week

You found it "ironic", did you?

and come here for a break among our peers find a student who needs to resort to drugs to cope (or whatever) with his difficulties at #1.

I don't see any evidence in the article that the student "needs" to "resort to drugs" to "cope with his difficulties" -- that seems entirely to be an interpretation you're reading into the article. He chooses to smoke pot, and apparently that annoys you -- fair enough, but your reaction doesn't appear to have much relevance to the substance of the article.

Re: Pothead Ph.D. - This is most definitely not a cautionary tale

#56

Post by edw519 »

neilc wrote: post #55
edw519 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't see why the vehemence is warranted You're probably right. If this hadn't made it to #1 so quickly (no fault of OP of course), I may not have even responded at all. But it did, so I did, and I didn't hold any punches. I just found it ironic that many of us who do good work 80 to 100 hours per week and come here for a break among our peers find a student who needs to resort to drugs to cope (or whatever) with h…

I just found it ironic that many of us who do good work 80 to 100 hours per week You found it "ironic", did you? and come here for a break among our peers find a student who needs to resort to drugs to cope (or whatever) with his difficulties at #1. I don't see any evidence in the article that the student "needs" to "resort to drugs" to "cope with his difficulties" -- that seems entirely to be an interpretation you'r…

I don't see any evidence...

Then why did he write it?

Re: Pothead Ph.D. - This is most definitely not a cautionary tale

#57

Post by neilc »

edw519 wrote: post #56
neilc wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just found it ironic that many of us who do good work 80 to 100 hours per week You found it "ironic", did you? and come here for a break among our peers find a student who needs to resort to drugs to cope (or whatever) with his difficulties at #1. I don't see any evidence in the article that the student "needs" to "resort to drugs" to "cope with his difficulties" -- that seems entirely to be an interpretation you'r…

I don't see any evidence... Then why did he write it?

Presumably he wrote the article to discuss the role that pot plays in his life as a graduate student.

What he did not do is "whine" about why he "needs to resort" to smoking pot to "cope with his difficulties" -- the whole "whiny and irresponsible" theme seems absent from the article and is just something you've dreamed up on your own, as far as I can see.

Re: Pothead Ph.D. - This is most definitely not a cautionary tale

#58

Post by jrockway »

edw519 wrote: post #47
josefresco wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm grown up, have kids, mortgages (3 in fact!) and car payments and this weed ignorant college kid didn't strike me as whiny. Just slightly ignorant as I pointed out above. Let me guess edw519, you probably drink, both coffee and alcohol, you probably also consume your fair amount of sugar and possibly (although unlikely) smoke cigarettes. Why is it that smoking weed (to help you work/play) makes you winy and a poth…

"Let me guess edw519, you probably...* You guess wrong, josefresco. But it doesn't really matter anyway because I never "advertised" my habits to the world. This guy did. Just slightly ignorant as I pointed out above. Ignorant I can live with. But this was also irresponsible. This is hacker news, where people post and learn and share together about doing difficult and exciting work. I realize that OP had no idea wher…

You guess wrong, josefresco.

You've never had a cup of coffee or tea, or a soda? Yeah right.

Re: Pothead Ph.D. - This is most definitely not a cautionary tale

#59

Post by jrockway »

edw519 wrote: post #11

Oh you poor baby! You have trouble reading and writing and 'rithmetic, so you need a little chemical help. You pussy. Get out of cocoon, er I mean school, get a real job, get married. have a couple of kids, get a mortgage and a couple of car payments, raise those kids without worrying too much about the evils around them, visit Mom in her nursing home, do things for others in need, and, if you have time, have a nice…

You have trouble reading and writing and 'rithmetic, so you need a little chemical help. You pussy.

You still get your name published, regardless of "chemical help" or not. Who are you again?

Get out of cocoon, er I mean school, get a real job, get married. have a couple of kids, get a mortgage and a couple of car payments, raise those kids without worrying too much about the evils around them, visit Mom in her nursing home, do things for others in need, and, if you have time, have a nice life too. But don't drop a single egg while you're juggling.

Why should he make the choices you did? From the tone of your comment, it looks like these choices are making your life miserable. Why should he do what you say?

And don't you dare miss a day of work, no matter how mind numbingly boring or lame it is, or how sleepy or depressed you feel.

Why not? Why is going to work every day so important?

The only thing worse than the whining of a student is the whining of a pothead student. Grow up.

Actually, what's worse is a whining adult. Nobody actually cares about your car payments or kids.

Re: Pothead Ph.D. - This is most definitely not a cautionary tale

#60

Post by jrockway »

mrtron wrote: post #18
edw519 wrote: post #11

Oh you poor baby! You have trouble reading and writing and 'rithmetic, so you need a little chemical help. You pussy. Get out of cocoon, er I mean school, get a real job, get married. have a couple of kids, get a mortgage and a couple of car payments, raise those kids without worrying too much about the evils around them, visit Mom in her nursing home, do things for others in need, and, if you have time, have a nice…

I am not a student (so, also not a pothead student). I do not agree that you need to have a real job+marriage+kids+mortgage+car payments+etc in order to have a 'real life'. Because if I did have all of those - I would be forced to do whatever bullshit job I had instead of trying my own path. I do agree this article was a poorly conceived article though.

I would be forced to do whatever bullshit job I had instead of trying my own path.

And, you'd have to post whiny comments here trying to get people to Follow Your Path to make yourself feel like you made the right choice.

Instead, most of the site already agrees with your choices ;)

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