Just ban cigarettes already. Please.

[hfojvt]

59. you ought to know that that is a ridiculous kind of "proof"

You know how the game Russian Roulette works? You put a bullet in the chamber of a revolver, spin it and then put it up to your head and pull the trigger. Now imagine that 100 million people are playing it once a year on lottery day. Obviously some of the players are going to die, but not all will. 5 out of six will survive each time (83%). 25 out of 36 will survive two years (69.4%) 125 out of 216 will survive for three years (57.9%) Some will live into their 90s even though the odds of surviving for 40 years are .0007 and the odds of surviving even ten years are .016.

Still, out of 100 million players, 1.6 million will survive for ten years and 70,000 will survive for 40 years. Yet you will meet a few of the survivors and think they are not playing a dangerous game with their health just because THEY happened to be one of the lucky ones who beat the odds. At the nursing home you will never see the much larger number of people who did not live long enough to goto the nursing home because they died of lung cancer. You will only see the ones who dodged the bullets.

Bubonic plague only kills 25% of the people who get it. Are you gonna expose yourself to those germs? Are you gonna know some people who were exposed, and yet survived and say that "plague germs don't cause bubonic plague"?

Ah well, you can feel free to put that revolver in your mouth and spin the barrel. Ya pays your money, ya takes your chances.