January 30, 2006

another annoying reason to cut down on the booze...what a bummer.
  • This is the IARC monograph on alcohol and cancer. It dates from 1988, so I'm not quite seeing where this is news. They conclude that heavy drinking incurs a 2 - 4 fold increase incidence in some forms of cancer. To put this in perspective here are the rates of cancer in the US for 2002. The age adjusted rates for most of the oral cavity cancers are around 1 to 2 per 100,000. For context, the rate of prostate cancer runs 161.2 per 100,000. If you are a heavy drinker, there is a pretty good chance you are also a heavy smoker. Which makes controlling for other effects on cancer (such as smoking) pretty tough. There are other health effects to heavy drinking too, which I would think are much more pressing as a cause for worry than cancer.
  • God, this is depressing. I need a drink.
  • Fuck that, and hello, chemo!
  • So wait, this was posted to make up for the fact that regan posted two posts to the same site? And it isn't even news? And it's a link to CNN? I think I'll be keeping an eye on this account.
  • I think I'll keep an eye on my drink. Capt. Renault is not noted for keeping his hands to himself.
  • Especially after a few drinks.
  • There really ought to be some sort of cocktail called the "Banhammer." Preferably vodka-based. Used in a sentence: "I went out last night, had a few Banhammers, then I wake up this morning with 'Round up the usual suspects, homeslice!' Sharpied onto my underpants."
  • You can have my beer when you pry it out of my cold, dead hands.
  • I'll just use a straw
  • One word: hemp.
  • I think I'll go into my local bar and just order a Banhammer like it's the most common drink in the world. If they ask me what it is, I'll blink and look down my nose until they just give me something.
  • *hands the Cap'n a Sharpie*
  • It is interesting that drinking, but not too much, has cardiovascular benefits. My understanding is that alcohol fucks with the liver's ability to create cholesteral.
  • Lara, I've done that and its REALLY fun. I was in some despicable yuppie bar waiting forever to get waited on...so I ordered a Liz Taylor, and rolled my eyes in the greatest distain when the bartender admitted ignorance... of course my friend Kevin invented the drink during his time as a mixologist. Its a cosmo with a splash of Blue Curacao, VERY pretty in a martini glass. I had nearly everyone at that yuppie bar ordering one after I got mine!
  • EarWax, you had me at "alcohol fucks with the liver-" but I hate my liver, so I am going to kill it before it kills me. someone pass the bourbon!
  • I once invented a drink called a 'Nickelixir'. Mix: 2 parts Creme de Menthe 1 part Mountain Dew 1 part Crystal Pepsi. Of course, having Crystal Pepsi means it can no longer be made properly. If you could keep it down, it was amazing. You could feel the alcohol duking it out with the caffeine. And the saccharine overload to your stomach led to this massive energy boost. It was like your belly contained a fire at the candy factory. Wow. Vile, but -- wow. No wonder my liver wants cancer, thinking of what I've put it through over the years... all that pre-emptive chemo.
  • I quit drinking eleven years ago and have no forms of cancer that I know of. Ladies and gentleman, I give you: The Pudding!
  • A documentary about some friends of mine premiered at a local film festival last fall, and instead of the usual champagne-and-popcorn reception before the show, they served moonshine mixed with Mountain Dew Code Red. Let me tell you, that shit'll curdle your nipples.
  • Pardon me, s/b "Let me tell you, that shit'll curdle your nipples, homeslice."
  • yes!
  • I can't imagine nipples curdling. On a scale of curdlability from 0 to 10, nipples rate a -1. They are incurdlable.
  • But if anything could curdle a nipple, it'd be moonshine.
  • So, let me get this straight, bernockle. You gave up drinking AND bananas?
  • Okay I was going to comment on this but then I skimmed the comments on the quick scroll down to the bottom and I am pretty much speechless. Seriously though - when with friends in private, do yourself a favor and smoke up instead of drinking. Alcohol is really bad for you. Not to say I don't drink to excess regularly, but weed is way better (not that it doesn't have its drawbacks, such as buying it).
  • Not to point out the obvious. Sorry for treating you like 15 year olds, everybody.
  • I have to admit that I am currently craving a banana daiquiri right about now.
  • Don't smoke pot, it fucks up your lungs! Pot brownies, on the other hand, are heavenly.
  • I really don't enjoy the way marijuana makes me feel...bourbon, on the other hand, is like a beautiful cashmere sweater that wraps itself around your soul and muffles all the pain.
  • Seconding the bourbon. Old Grandad and Wild Turkey are my best friends. Everything gives you cancer, so I might as well get it from something I like doing. Drinking booze and smoking cigars.
  • 'tis said a wee drop now and then clears fatty plaques out of each vein but this is a specious reason to pour cheap blue hootch inside of you some drink to forget sorrow or cancel out the work they botch but me, I simply drink because I like the taste of Scotch
  • Banananananas!
  • The only reason I don't have sex with bourbon is its annoying lack of a vagina. That, and I don't like drinking cloudy liquor.
  • *applause*
  • Yeah, but how important are my mouth, larynx, oesophagus, liver, colon, breasts, pancreas and lungs anyway? I mean, when it really comes down to it.
  • Welcome! And please be good to your breasts! I beg of you!
  • What if they are man-breasts?
  • I will have to try that Liz Taylor thingum. Sounds nice and purple-y. That said, a good burbon, taken judiciously, makes for a good evening. A good burbon, taken injudiciously, makes for a bad morning (with many fun ideas preceeding it).