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in the news today (not comedy, sorry)
May. 11th, 2004 07:46 pmPeople are worried that longer drinking hours won't lower binge drinking and the associated violence. I can see why. Initially, there will be a period while people get used to it, so they will still be rushing around half ten, but then they won't stop until twelve. Secondly, Ireland introduced longer hours, and they just got longer drunk periods. Is our culture more Irish or French? I think we all know it's the former.
I think there's a really easy way to lower binge drinking, or at least violence. Legalise pot. I think binge drinking is people trying desperately to have a good time, and/or forget how shitty their everyday lives are. Legalising dope will mean that some of the people who would have been pissed out of their heads will now be stoned instead. Instantly, less violence.
Also today, rising oil prices might mean that flights are more expensive. This is a good thing. Flying is the least fuel efficient means of travel, and the amount of fuel is finite. Flying should be rationed, or if you prefer market forces it should at least be really expensive. For some reason our crazy society taxes other fuels but not aircraft fuel, hence flying is effectively subsidised! You know there's something fucked up when it's cheaper to fly London to Amsterdam to Liverpool than to get a train.
Yet somehow all those short term minds are worried about is that they can't afford to fly abroad. The idea that every human being can have a holiday with a flight is as dangerous as the idea that everyone can have a car. These ideas will kill us all. We can see the impact from less than a third of the world doing it. What's going to happen if everyone in Africa gets a US style SUV doing 9 miles/gallon, as equality would suggest? Answer is, those of us that aren't flooded out by the rising sea will choke to death. Nice.
On a more personal note, I've got a new toy. It's a wooden flute, and it's difficult to play.
I think there's a really easy way to lower binge drinking, or at least violence. Legalise pot. I think binge drinking is people trying desperately to have a good time, and/or forget how shitty their everyday lives are. Legalising dope will mean that some of the people who would have been pissed out of their heads will now be stoned instead. Instantly, less violence.
Also today, rising oil prices might mean that flights are more expensive. This is a good thing. Flying is the least fuel efficient means of travel, and the amount of fuel is finite. Flying should be rationed, or if you prefer market forces it should at least be really expensive. For some reason our crazy society taxes other fuels but not aircraft fuel, hence flying is effectively subsidised! You know there's something fucked up when it's cheaper to fly London to Amsterdam to Liverpool than to get a train.
Yet somehow all those short term minds are worried about is that they can't afford to fly abroad. The idea that every human being can have a holiday with a flight is as dangerous as the idea that everyone can have a car. These ideas will kill us all. We can see the impact from less than a third of the world doing it. What's going to happen if everyone in Africa gets a US style SUV doing 9 miles/gallon, as equality would suggest? Answer is, those of us that aren't flooded out by the rising sea will choke to death. Nice.
On a more personal note, I've got a new toy. It's a wooden flute, and it's difficult to play.
