Marinus

NATO left Gaddafi in power for what? 4 decades? Because, you know, he sold his oil to the Western nations. Nothing changed that, not even G. blowing up a jet liner over Scotland. And then finally the Libyan people got sick of their dictator, and started a revolution. When it became clear the rebels had a real shot at becoming the new owner of the Libyan oil, NATO couldn't get on his knees to swallow the cock of this potential new owner of the oil fast enough. And don't get me wrong, I can relate to that, for the right price I'll probably swallow any cock too, but at least in that case I woudn't pretend to be anything nobler then a whore. It's a step in the right direction in comparison to (for example) Iraq, which simply was/is robbing a nation from it's oil under false pretences, but it's miles away from something that has the semblance of a noble cause.

Of course the only reason non-Libyans started meddling in Libyan affairs was oil, not the plight of the Libyan people. If NATO really gave a s*** about suppressed people, it would be fighting a lot of other wars.

Well, I only did one tandem-jump, and although I saw the light big time, I might decide to wait with buying gear till after I finish my AFF. @ LongWayToFall: Chewing gum indeed. My jaw muscles are burning at the moment. @ Katzeye: I actually stopped for 3 months after reading that book. And then I was going out with some friends, took one cigarette, and was puffing away 20-30 cigarettes again within a week.

Nah, I just cleaned my own house again and my dogs are exhausted again. Time wasted smoking could be used as time for exercise. I'm sort of thinking about buying some running shoes and pick up running again myself.

It's going great actually. The craving is mild, and while the trouble to concentrate is rather irritating, the hyperactivity part of it cleaned my house, ran a lot of errands and walked my dogs for 15 miles. I expected to feel like shit by now, but I actually feel good. I might have some trouble sleeping tonight, but if that's really an issue I just take a sleeping pill.

I don't think there's much to the physical addiction of nicotine, it's mostly a mental thing. The last time I tried to go cold turkey (More then a decade ago) was way worse then now. But at that time I "tried not to smoke", and this time it's more like "I don't have to smoke". It also helps that I don't think of a smoke-free future as scary any more. Hrm, this makes me both curious and scared. but If I say "yes, come over here" I'll probably end up on the bottom of a dry well, am I not right?

With me the atomizers on average lasted a week. Probably because I used one of the bigger battery packs. The more permanent parts had also a tendency to break down too. I think it wasn't as expensive as smoking though, just not very encouraging. It does a good job in imitating the experience of smoking. It's not exactly "it", but I comes damn close. @ Virgin Burner: there's a lot of different models out there, from completely crap to very good. Price doesn't say a whole lot, btw. It's best to join a forum or something, if you decide to go electronic/smokeless.

I did not have sexual relations with that goldfish!

It's far too early to cry victory, but up until now things are going great. Fortunately the S.O. decided to tag along this morning, so that makes things a lot easier for me because there's no tobacco in the house any more. I've the attention span of a goldfish ATM, and I'm hyperactive, but the cravings are minimal. I know that things will get worse for the next 3 or 4 days, but as far as I'm considered my start is excellent.

I'm off to bed in a few, that means this will be my last cigarette. I don't really enjoy it, so that's good. However, tomorrow I'll probably idolize this cancer stick. I didn't follow my own advise to get drunk, and that's probably a good thing. Well, we'll see what happens. Thank you all for supporting me in this.

I'M NOT A SLAVE! *smiles* *lights another cigarette* Well, I'll try that again tomorrow

I tried that too, and it actually worked great! You'll probably stay addicted to nicotine, but while it's not exactly healthy, the health hazards from smoking are only for a small part due to nicotine. Unfortunately, the things break down rather quickly in my experience....

Probably better then the Netherlands though. But Marijuana is at best a "Oh, well, why not" thingy when someone passes me a joint on a party or something. After taking a few hits, I am usually quick to remember "why not". I know few people that produce more verbal BS after smoking pot then I do.

Thanks for all the support, tips etc.. I’ve set the date for quitting which will be tomorrow. I’ve a couple of days off, so I can make the plunge without making too many enemies. I think I’ll take a couple of drinks too many tonight, cause I figured that nothing says “Welcome to your new life” more clear, then walking the dogs in the morning in the pouring rain with a hangover whilst hating the world and feeling sorry for one self. Save it, throw it away and throw myself away with it. A one-liner from the flick “300” comes to mind. Of course every DZ in the Netherlands is close, so distance isn’t that big of an issue when choosing one. But I’ve months to figure out which DZ suits me best. That’s completely true. I don’t smoke or I smoke all day. I’ve tried to quit before (not in the recent past though, I gave up on quitting years ago). and it really only takes one cig to relapse again. But today I realized that I’ve smoked for 17 years and 2 months, I’m almost 34 years and 4 months old, and the idea that In the near future I’ll be smoking for most of my life was particularly depressing, so I’ll give it a shot again. Being somewhat older and wiser might help this time... I’ll try cold turkey first. But I’ve a couple of sleeping pills ready to get me through the first nights. I know from experience that lying awake all night thinking of smoking is about just as fun as it sounds. @craigbey I remember one time I quit, I noticed something was different with the world. It took me hours before I figured that I actually smelled the world. As for exercise, that’ll come automatically. The dogs are in for a dog-walking marathon, and I’ll probably leave the car in favour of the bicycle for distances under 20 miles in the next weeks. Well, that’s how it will be if it goes down like the last couple of times. I probably won’t go exercising for real, but I’ll be burning off the excess of energy regardless. Who? Ah. Congrats on the 10 months. And If I’m not mistaken, sunflower seeds are horribly healthy. @ missbrz: I’ve never quit long enough to see if there was putting on weight. I don’t think my eating pattern changes much, but If I’m not mistaken, nicotine stimulates metabolism, so you tend to “waste” less energy which eventually probably leads to a higher wing load. That’s what I’m doing amongst other things with this topic. It sure helps when others know you want to quit. Unfortunately not all the improvements feel that good. I especially hate when the lungs start to get rid of 17 years of accumulated asphalt. But the real nasty phase will be over in a couple of (rather horrible) days. And then it gets better. I think I’ve the right mindset right now. While I really like some of the cigs I smoke, I hate the other 20-25 that’s just for keeping my addicted brain-cells at bay. It’s stupid, it’s not worth it, and I want to be free of it.

If I quit today, I'll be an irritating reformed smoker for 6 months before skydiving season starts again. By that time standing around idle without a cig will be much less of an issue. As for the DZ: for now I'm going with Teuge, (for no better reason then it being the nearest DZ) but I'm open to suggestions.

Thank you, and I'm going to need it I'm afraid. I smoke an AFF level 1 jump a month....

...so I think it's time to quit. Since that's a lot more interesting for me then for you, you may now all continue with you lives.

No they won't. Those will all run out sooner or later, and when that happens there better be an alternative, because if there isn't the death toll will be horrible. And since it takes a lot of time to switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy, we better start now.

Probably, but while my english isn't bad, it's sometimes a bit off. I've been known to accidentally insult people by f-ing up my English just a little bit.

Still don't get the joke, but at least my English is a little better now. Thanks

Go for the joke, but I doubt I'll understand it. I really don't see what's wrong with that sentence, but then again English isn't my first language. So you might have to explain the joke and effectively kill it afterwards.

Matt Ridley fails to answer the most important (and obvious) question: What are we going to do when all the gas is gone? It's probably true that methane is a good source of energy, but in the end it would be only a temporal solution and after that we would still need an alternative. It doesn't really matter that renewables aren't all that, but eventually we've got to switch to those any way.

There's nothing religiophobic in taking the bible literally and concluding the book is full of utter nonsense and discard it as a text that's only important because it's old and one third of the world believes it's special. It clearly wasn't inspired by some superior intelligence, it's just the rantings of a tribe of savages that were the lowbrows in a time were other people were much more advanced. But besides that, people indeed have the right to believe what they want, and as long as they keep it out of the lives of others, I don't really care. But I wouldn't expect me to respect the bible. It's one of the more disgusting books I ever read, and it's a blessing that most christians don't seem to know what their god wants and/or act on that.

Yeah, I know that argument, but people in the Bible could handle talking snakes, worldwide floods, rains of fire, emission free burning bushes, splitting seas etc. I'm sure that they could handle modern science too. And of course god didn't have to start with QM, he could have explained things from the basics. Things like the spherical shape of the earth, the true age of the earth and the fact that there were once dinosaurs aren't that hard to understand. This is also a good place to remind you that the bible contains a lot of claims that are scientifically incorrect. For instance: creation, the great flood, pi=3, the flat earth, bats are birds. It even contains claims that people could have observed as being wrong at the time f.e. : The moon being the light of the night. In fact the moon is visible both day and night, I think it's only visible at night around 50% of the time. Lastly the bible does contain passages that make no sense. Why not include basic mechanics, the laws of thermodynamics and the theory of evolution in Revelations? It's not like it would have made that book more vague for say the medieval reader.

Could you explain to me how Jainism, a religion that preaches non-violence to all animals, and to a certain extend to plants too, is evil?