My argument wasn’t “vaping isn’t healthy” or “vaping is more harmful than cigarettes”. It was “more research is needed”, which each of those studies I linked support. Thank you, though, for proving my point in your attempt to build a lovely strawman to argue against.

The number of ingredients is irrelevant, especially since the idea that there are “at most” 6 ingredients is simply wrong: https://hub.jhu.edu/2021/10/07/vaping-unknown-chemicals/

A major area of concern for vaping is the fact that vaping generates much higher concentrations of nano-particles compared to regular cigarettes, and therefore may penetrate much further into the lung material (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6312322/ and https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0210147). There are also concerns about contaminants, variations in delivery devices (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6312322/), and other confounding factors that require a lot more research to ascertain the long term impact.

As for whether I have a study or information contradicting the conclusion that vaping is safer than smoking, it depends on whether you selectively ignore the parts of the studies that say “more research is needed” (because apparently that’s an “ignorant take”), but searching for “peer reviewed articles electronic cigarettes safer than tobacco” returns these top results (I did not cherry pick in any way, and instead took the top results sequentially):

• https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2042098614524430: “In conclusion, toxicological studies have shown significantly lower adverse effects of EC vapor compared with cigarette smoke. Characteristically, the studies performed by using the liquids in their original liquid form have found less favorable results; however, no comparison with tobacco smoke was performed in any of these studies, and they cannot be considered relevant to EC use since the samples were not tested in the form consumed by vapers. More research is needed, including studies on different cell lines such as lung epithelial cells. In addition, it is probably necessary to evaluate a huge number of liquids with different flavors since a minority of them, in an unpredictable manner, appear to raise some concerns when tested in the aerosol form produced by using an EC device.” Granted, it does go on to say that existing evidence shows that vaping is safer than tobacco, but clarifies that there still needs to be more research on some of the unquantified risks of vaping.

• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5469426/ This is an older study using a very small sample size. It focuses on e-cigs as a tool for smoking cessation, but also concludes “Similar to cancer risk, there are no published data describing the long-term lung function or cardiovascular effects of e-cigarettes; ongoing surveillance, especially once e-cigarettes are regulated and standardized, will be necessary.”

• https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0129443 This study was primarily measuring how likely e-cigs were to get people to stop using tobacco, rather than comparative safety (despite the title). The conclusion makes clear that it is not known (at the time; this was 9 years ago) if e-cigarettes could be considered “safe”: “Adding e-cigarettes to tobacco smoking did not facilitate smoking cessation or reduction. If e-cigarette safety will be confirmed, however, the use of e-cigarettes alone may facilitate quitters remaining so.”

I’m not sure what your Google search was, but its probably best not to cherry pick a single source to support your claim.

It is premature to declare vaping safer than smoking, as there is relatively little comprehensive research on the long term effect of vaping. The whole “vaping is safer” spiel is not that different than when doctors were paid to tout the health benefits of cigarettes: propaganda not based in conclusive science.

Yes, these are all part of an annual advent calendar released by Drinks by the Dram. They sell a variety of different calendars, including Scotch, World Whiskies, and Gin. Each day is a different 3cl sample.

I think it depends. I’ve had a couple at 43% that didn’t seem too diluted, like Laphroaig 10 and Caol Ila 12. I probably would prefer them a bit stronger, but its not objectionable at that level. Macallen 12 year double cask felt a bit bland to me, and it may have been in part due to the 43% ABV.

I’ve only had a couple that were above 55%. Most of them I alternate between adding water and drinking neat, except for a MacDuff IB bottled at 64.5%(!) that’s just too raw at that ABV.

Yeah, I didn’t love this one, but I didn’t hate it either. The nose was the best part.

That’s what I like about the advent calendar concept. I’m going to be trying a bunch of things i’d never pick on my own. If I find a handful of new drams that I enjoy I’ll count it a resounding success!

I had it shipped to the states. Cost me just a bit over $30 in shipping. They don’t ship to every state, though.

Removed by mod

Any time I see someone whining about seeing posts on a topic that they, personally, don’t like, I upvote the post to add visibility, then block the whiner. Thank you for your contribution!

“Anyone who disagrees with me is angry!” Okay, guy.

Hats off to the downvoter who read this and apparently thought to themselves “hell no! 556 million is a lot more than 3 billion, and definitely more than half of 8 billion!!!”

twitter is where most people are

Twitter is gone. There is only X.

According to Musk, there are 556m monthly active “users”. A year ago Musk commissioned a study that found at least 11% of active users on Twitter were bot accounts. There’s plenty of reason to believe that that percentage has only gone up, especially in light of the fact that there’s been a significant exodus of users due to Musk’s handling of the platform, and that at the time of the study there were about 368m users. So either 200m people who were previously uninterested in Twitter were so impressed by how Musk systematically made X less functional and more expensive, or bot accounts became massively more prevalant.

Regardless, with a global adult population of 8+ billion, in no world is 556m “most people”, even ignoring the bots. Facebook has 3b monthly active users. Tiktok 1b. Instagram 2b.

As for the rest of the argument, the idea that the only way for extremist voices can be held in check is to politely engage them in rational discussion is sadly nonsense. They’re extremists. They aren’t interested in rational discussion. The only way to hold them in check is to deplatform them, whether literally or just by the old fashioned method of social ostracism.

I actually am a developer who works for a hospital. I wouldn’t write articles or otherwise create materials discussing the “nitty gritty medical details”.

Manuel Vonau

From his bio on that site (https://www.androidpolice.com/author/manuel-vonau/):

Manuel studied Media and Culture studies in Düsseldorf, finishing his university career with a master’s thesis titled “The Aesthetics of Tech YouTube Channels: Production of Proximity and Authenticity.” His background gives him a unique perspective on the ever-evolving world of technology and its implications on society. He isn’t shy to dig into technical backgrounds and the nitty-gritty developer details, either.

So he’s a marketing guy with possibly zero tech background beyond watching YouTube videos, who isn’t afraid to discuss “nitty-gritty developer details” despite apparently not actually understanding them.

At this point, I think most people who qualify as merely conservative are Democrats. The Republican party in general has moved far right of “conservative” and well into “fanatical”.

I was being a bit sarcastic, because season 1 was fantastic, but season 2 was (IMHO) absolutely terrible. I couldn’t finish it.

altered carbon was a disaster

Personally, I loved it. I just wish they’d make a second season.

A limited release of High West Rendezvous Rye finished in both Tawny and Ruby Port barrels.

They had me at “port barrels”!

I’m hoping I can stay focused enough to do a brief review of my thoughts on each one. It won’t be a full review, because I find that I can focus on trying to identify tasting notes, or I can focus on enjoying the dram, but not both at the same time. Given the sample sizes I’ll be focusing on enjoying them :)

That holiday blend sounds delightful! I can’t wait for my next trip to Europe; I feel like I completely wasted my first trip to the Whisky Exchange (except for the Laga Special Release 2021 the clerk recommended).

Lemmy: “All of the ways Elon mismanaged Tesla brought the quality of the cars down to the point where the brand’s reputation is sunk. That hurt sales more than people not commuting to work.”

You: “Look at all you on Lemmy saying how you don’t need to own a car any more because you’re using your car half as much!”