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Leonard Nimoy: Smoking Is Illogical
An anonymous reader writes "My boyhood hero, actor Leonard Nimoy,
has developed lung disease. To those still smoking and in the grips of marketing induced denial, he says 'quit now.' Small acts of goodness make the universe a better place."
It is curious how often you humans manage to obtain that which you do not want.
--Spock in 'Errand of Mercy'
Nowhere am I so desperately needed as among a shipload of illogical humans.
--Spock in 'I, Mudd'
You're 82, Leonard. Holding yourself up as an example of the ravages of smoking after reaching the age of 82 is illogical. Refusing to accept death at 82 is illogical. Go with grace.
-1 Uncomfortable Truth
not supporting life extension is also illogical. Space fans really need to get their priorities straight, it's highly unlikely that any Star Trek-level of technology will ever happen, so if you want to explore the immense void out there, you'll have to live longer, a LOT longer. So never mind just quitting smoking; we'll need a serious, global, universal project to really understand life processes and extend youth.
As if marketing don't exploit your brain. Ever hear of "supernormal stimuli"? This post has some interesting info for you: http://ciotti.quora.com/Was-Yo...
`echo $[0x853204FA81]|tr 0-9 ionbsdeaml`@gmail.com
Exactly! Why would Slashdot ever carry a story about Leonard Nimoy? Wasn't he in some westerns, like Gunsmoke and The Virginian? Anything else that we should know about? Did he ever travel? Any famous treks to relate that nerds would care about?
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
Better link for The Virginian. The doctor with him looks familiar too, good old DeForest Kelly, another old hand in the Westerns.
much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
I think the well is drying up, because people are sick of beta or the arguments about beta, nobody is submitting any real stories.
So they are left with these useless stories.
The social oriented market segment that Dice is seemingly courting seems to be the only segment left.
All the tech and nerd types have left the building.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
Leonard Nimoy is 82 and he probably has a few more years ahead of him. Was he planning on living to be 1000 years old?
Smoking has pluses and minuses. News flash: people like to smoke, just like they like drinking alcohol and using other substances. Ask a heroin user whether he likes heroin -- he loves it. So it's not illogical to take heroin, but it's a choice that can have a negative long-term effect.
If you're already 82, like Leonard Nimoy, you might want to try smoking. Or heroin. The benefits are immediate. And you probably won't live to experience the consequences.
We got this from Yul Brynner in 1989. Should have listened to him then, Skippy. Anyway, like the South Park cheerful smoking song goes, "If it gives me cancer when I'm 80 I don't care, who the hell wants to be 90 anyway?" I guess the answer to that one must be "Leonard Nimoy."
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Considering that he is sort of an icon to nerds and is dying of a recently announced disease, I would considering it newsworthy.
Although I doubt that smoking is the main reason he has COPD now considering he stopped smoking so long ago, but it may have been a contributing factor. He was an avid Photographer, and if he did a lot of darkroom work, he could have contracted the disease from breathing in the Caustic Developer Chemicals.
In Soviet Russia, Trojan exploits YOU!
Until forced to stop, they not only claimed that it was safe, they claimed it was good for you. It reduced stress and improved digestion you see.
That was some time ago, but Nimoy is 82, so...
You do realize that many people, while possibly addicted to smoking, continue to do so because they want to, they enjoy it. When you tell them to get help or to quit, you are actually telling them not to do something that is legal and they enjoy.
What I'm getting at is the anger is not from the conviction, it is likely from someone saying you can't do what you enjoy doing. Imagine if your family members constantly berated you over using the internet or whatever it is you enjoy because of hyped up claims about how bad it is for you despite no apparent signs of the damage until it some distant future. You would eventually get angry too.
Nimoy didn't get lung cancer, he got COPD.
Smoking does heavily increase your chance of getting lung cancer but it's not the sole cause of it. Smoking does make you far more likely to suffer from one or more of a very large array of nasty illnesses during your lifetime. It also reduces your life span significantly.
Quit smoking if you care at all about the risks of illness and disability that smoking causes. Or accept that you are a nicotine junkie and that you are lying to yourself about your habit because you can't face withdrawal.
I use something like this -> http://i.imgur.com/ciomNzs.jpg
Only nicotine - none of the tar or any other 500 chemicals which burn in a cigarette.
Not true. I smoked for several years and quit for a little over a year and started smoking again. People like the smoke sensation entering their lungs, they like the relaxation afterwards and they like the way smoking steadies the hands and increases dexterity slightly. When I went back to smoking, I had absolutely no withdraw effects but I went back because I liked it. I only quit smoking (cold turkey) to get in a girls pants and she stuck around after I started back up despite being dead set against it when we first met.
I still smoke today because I enjoy it. If you do not smoke, I guess you will never understand but you have it all wrong. Sure there is addiction, but there is also other positives about smoking that people like and enjoy much the same as people who like to drink alcohol or toke on some weed or even do other drugs occasionally. All that can be done without addiction and is often done because people enjoy it.
It's fairly uncontroversial that smoking was not safe. There is some evidence that nicotine can help with irritable bowel syndrome, but for most it doesn't seem to do much for the digestion (and smoking is a hell of a way to take nicotine). It may have helped with stress.
There is evidence that nicotine can help the negative symptoms of schizophrenia with far less side effects than approved drugs, but again, smoking is a hell of a way to take nicotine.
She's dead Jim., Dice filling the pipe with Slashvertisements (because they thought they could get paid for Slashads AND for regular ads) has killed the revenue, they took a complete writedown on the site already. Frankly at this point all one can do is move to Alt when its ready because Dice considers /. a BRAND and by "rebranding" they think they can make it into another Digg/Gawker/Fark. Hell the comments section might as well have "powered by Disqus" for all the ripping off they did.
As for TFA, as someone who smoked for 30 years and tried everything,patch,gum, pills, the only thing that worked was the "Ego style" ecigs, the ones with the separate tank and the 510 threading. Thanks to those I've been cigarette free for going on 3 months and have gone from a 30mg to 24mg to 18mg, although I'll probably stay on 18 a couple months as I tried 11mg in a VG and couldn't tell I was smoking the thing, maybe an 80/20 PG to VG will let me drop below 18Mg.
But as TFA shows the sad thing is you WILL get COPD, doesn't matter how long ago you quit as you WILL get it if something else don't get you first. So if you are quitting do it because you don't want to be smelling like smoke or be out of breath, because if you have smoked more than a couple of years you might as well accept COPD is in your future regardless.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
TFA says he has COPD - Cardio Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder. This is essentially emphysema and congestive heart failure. The disease is terminal. My father died from this disorder, so I've seen it personally. Not a nice way to go (not that any of them are).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C...
Still, Nimoy said that he'd quit smoking thirty years ago. While it's possible the smoking is a contributory factor, COPD is also commonly diagnosed in those who've never smoked. And Nimoy is an old man.
Of course I wish him well and hope he is cared for by the best doctors available.
Our friend Leonard Nimoy is probably feeling very mortal these days. So would you if you were 82 years old. I hope he enjoys every day he has left, spending as much time as he can spoiling his grandkids and telling Zachary Quinto more about the Zen of Spock.
One of the things I learned in a certain Twelve Step program I've worked the steps in for many years is that death is just another part of life, only the final part, and one that comes to everyone at some time or another. There is not much point in being concerned about the how and when of that final moment in this existence. It just wastes energy and brain cycles that can be better spent on other endeavors. While I do have plans for the future, never want to retire, and my fondest wish is to drop dead at my desk at work, I will accept when it's my time to go. I will probably be disappointed in some ways since there are some things I want to do in life, but that's just human.
And since it seems to be obligatory these days, FUCK the BETA, it really is bad.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
I have also seen Leonard Nimoy on the old "Sea Hunt" TV series ( Lloyd Bridges ) and "Highway Patrol" ( Broderick Crawford ). Old black-and-white TV of the 50's and early 60's. I really enjoy those old shows - when it was about acting and not so much special effects. Those old stars are what made Hollywood so special. Even to this day, I enjoy seeing re-runs of *some* of the old 50's shows ( however, I feel most of them were crap - no different from today ).
I just kept getting cognitive dissonance, as they usually had Nimoy playing the bad guy... and all the time I kept seeing him as Spock. Star Trek was by far my favorite TV series of all time.
My condolences to him and his family. His acting career brought a lot of us into technological interests. The only person that ranked beside Leonard in my book was James Doohan ( Engineer Montgomery Scott ).
Both were role models to me.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
Not only will there be fewer stupid comments when these guru types leave... there will also be fewer of the gems these guys also leave. If I wanted social chitchat - I would go to facebook. Try asking a technical question over there.
It will be a lot easier to destroy Slashdot than it was to build it. I just really hate to see it go. I just lost my other favorite site, TheOilDrum, not too long ago. Sure, there are other similar sites, but they are not the same. It was like having my favorite watering hole burn down.
There is only one Slashdotter I know personally, the rest of you I only know by your presence here, yet in a way I feel I am among peers and friends here. You have been very generous to help me when I had problems, as well as give me sanity checks when I go overboard. I do not want to see this go away.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
Leonard Nimoy is probably one of the most influental actors the last century. He may not have intended to be, but that's how things are - you can't control every aspect of your life - accept what you have become. As a person that have a rather iconic status he can reach more people than many others. He has at least not abused his position in life given by his characterization of Spock, which means that people will listen when he do say something.
The sad thing here is that the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a very slow and agonizing thing to experience - you know that you eventually will die from it. Cancer is another high risk for smokers. Of course people can die from lung cancer or COPD anyway - but smoking increases the risk considerably. Be it passive smoking or active - it increases the risk.
I'd rather die quickly than have a slow agonizing death.
If builders built buildings the way programmers wrote programs, then the first woodpecker would destroy civilization.
" But as TFA shows the sad thing is you WILL get COPD, doesn't matter how long ago you quit as you WILL get it if something else don't get you first. So if you are quitting do it because you don't want to be smelling like smoke or be out of breath, because if you have smoked more than a couple of years you might as well accept COPD is in your future regardless."
Negative thinking is a large part of what causes the addiction to be so difficult to break. Beat me it feels good syndrome. IT IS NOT true that you are doomed even if you quit. Also the only attitude to take is that you will be tempted for the rest of your life to smoke. The difference is that you need to make a habit out of not smoking. Don't get all sweated up there is no doubt that in the first week after quitting it will be difficult, such is the nature of the drug. Another misconception about tobacco is the fact that it calms your nerves. THE BULLSHIT fact is that it is essentially a speed ball concoction, at first the carbon monoxide brings you down as does the reduction of 02 in your blood stream. Yes it calms your nerves and the nicotine acts initially as a sedative as well, but the fact is that then after about 4 minutes it actually increases your heart rate and in reality nicotine is a form of speed as well. Most people are not aware of these facts and think that they are actually settling their nerves by havin' a butt. BUT IT IS A LIE, and you fool yourself into believing the soothing tones of the Marlboro Man lighting up on horseback.
Remember dada, dada dada, --dada, dada dada. As Yule Brynner rides off into the sunset. The tobacco companies up in Canada actually own part of one of the largest drug store chains, they did not suffer, but their victims do every day.
DON'T GIVE UP THE FIGHT and roll over and play dead, it can be beaten. Besides the more you try to quit the more you will learn how not to smoke and also reduce the insult to your body. But don't be negative to others about quitting it is just plain wrong and I am sure Mr. Spock and even the Marlboro man would agree.
This message was not sent from an iPhone because Peter Sellers really was a deviated prevert without a dime for the call
What about Europeans and people from other parts of the world where tobacco products can't be marketed, cigarettes and nicotine products have to be hidden from view? People still smoke, people still start smoking. No marketing happening to them though. All the current evidence suggests that hiding tobacco products and banning smoking in certain places is not stopping people smoke nor reducing the number of new smokers.
Besides, what ever happened to people doing what they enjoy? Some smokers do feel trapped sadly, but not all. Many do it because they enjoy it.
If this is the average quality of future stories, I don't need a beta to keep me away.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
Looks like some moderators are participating in the protests by modding on topic comments "offtopic".
As to quitting smoking, it depends on your genes and when you quit. My mother and her husband quit 30 years ago when he developed emphysema, he died from pretty much all his organs shutting down last year, Mom's only now starting to get COPD at age 85, but all but three of her twelve siblings are alive and in their nineties.
Generally, though, they say if you quit before you're 40, by the time you're 50 your lungs will be as healthy as a 50 year old who never smoked. And the more you smoke, the more damage there is to the lungs.
If I get COPD it will probably be from reefer, all smoke is bad for your lungs. But at least pot doesn't cause cancer.
Free Martian Whores!
But as TFA shows the sad thing is you WILL get COPD, doesn't matter how long ago you quit as you WILL get it if something else don't get you first. So if you are quitting do it because you don't want to be smelling like smoke or be out of breath, because if you have smoked more than a couple of years you might as well accept COPD is in your future regardless.
I don't know about that.. I smoked in my early 20s, during the 8 years I was in the Army, and for about 2 years after I got out, for a total of about 10 years. One day, I reached into my shirt pocket, by habit, to grab a cigarette, and I had an epiphany.. I asked myself.. "WTF are you doing to yourself???" I wadded the nearly full pack up and threw it away.. All of my friends smoked heavily and when I told them "I QUIT!", they laughed and said "nah, you'll be back..." .. Well, here I am, 40+ years later, and I've not had another cigarette since... Thanks to the "cold turkey". In fact, the smell of burning tabacco so revolts me, I get sick to my stomach when I have to negotiate the flocks of smokers puffing away outside many stores/coffee shops today.. In my last physical, last year, nothing about any COPD or emphysyma or .. (shudder) cancer... Guess I'm the exception...
THANK YOU, Edward Snowden!! Americans owe you a debt of gratitude (whether they know it or not..)
Hairy, admit to yourself that you have not quit consuming nicotine. If anything you have moved on to the pure drug. Hardly a progressive step.
Your positive future involves the word QUIT. Your negative future involves that river in Egypt.
Someone tries to support you, you call it a rant, and totally miss what they are saying. Epic indeed.
I come here for the love
Let's hope that his level of COPD is something he can live with comfortably. If not help may be on the way as medical breakthroughs seem to be increasing in effectiveness for those with enough money to get the best care. Entertainers can be real life savers as people who are suffering often survive due to some pleasant entertainment while they wait to heal. We owe these people a lot more than most people realize.
Or, start using electronic cigarettes
Electronic cigarettes are about a million times better than the regular kind. However isn't it better not to be chemically dependent and to not suffer the mood swings and chronic withdrawal pains?
I see plenty of smokers. They don't enjoy smoking, they enjoy being without the withdrawal symptoms for a short while.
This isn't a direct quote from Nimoy. It's insulting.
Anyone who has ever smoked knows the true grips of nicotine addiction.
Nimoy was a long time smoker. Don't wait to quit. Get help. Most states offer free cessation aids including gum and patches.
Off topic: /., please ban the beta spammers. I'm totally ok with you blocking entire IP blocks to accomplish this until things quiet down. Let the ignorant bandwagon jumpers whine about censorship. It's petty and wrong that the rest of us suffer.
Why don't you offer feeback on the changes? I did, and next thing I see is those exact issues being acknowledged. Now that there is a proper news article to comment on, I do not see how disrupting unrelated articles is in any way useful. Quite the contrary.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
I did, in topics about beta, and I emailed them. I'd be fine with beta if I could ignore it, but the problem is they're running full speed ahead with getting rid of classic.
Just tried to get to the altslashdot site, got a 404.
Free Martian Whores!