worse than smoking


What's Worse Than Smoking? Mental Illness.

From the BBC ...

Serious mental illness can reduce life expectancy more than heavy smoking, Oxford University scientists have said.

They say the illnesses can reduce life expectancy by 10 to 20 years - a loss equivalent or worse to smoking 20 cigarettes a day.

The scientists from the Department of Psychiatry said the figures "should galvanise governments to make mental health more of a priority".

Dr Seena Fazel from Oxford University said: "Smoking is recognised as a huge public health problem.

He added the loss of years among heavy smokers is eight to 10 years.



Stu Pitt says:

Mental illness is more harmful to your health than smoking.

Smoking is banned in public.

If mental illness is more harmful than smoking, shouldn't the government also ban being mentally ill in public?


The above entry marks the 100th post of Stu Pitt's blog.



data caps suck

5GB data plans for mobile devices?
5GB of data a month is not enough!


OMG! I went over my data limit! I bought a new Kindle Fire HDX. 7 inches. It replaces an android tablet whose battery life has diminished substantially. I use AT&T's "traveling mifi" to connect when I go out during the evenings. I like my new tablet, and especially enjoy watching the free TV shows and movies offered by amazon, in ultra clear HD (no, this is not a plug for amazon. So, over the weekend I watched 2 free TV shows on my new tablet. Suddenly, I get a text message from my carrier, AT&T, telling me I am over my 5GB a month limit. Holy Moly! And I have more than 2 weeks left in the month. What!? My average usage is 3GB. For a month. And it has been that for years. How could I possibly and suddenly go over the 5GB limit??? In less than 3 weeks? I called AT&T immediately. They could not tell me why I suddenly went over the 5GB limit and suggested that I take my mifi device into an AT&T store to have it checked out. I then called amazon and asked them if they knew why I suddenly jumped from 3GB of data usage to 5GB of data usage ... in 1 freaking day! They were not s

I was stunned! Now I am sitting here with NO data usage left and over 2 weeks to go before a new month started. Plus, I had a brand new tablet, a tablet I would have to stop using, due to data overage OR I could continue using the device and pay $10 more per gigabyte. That would cost me like $40 more a month and I was already paying $50 a month for the maximum 5GB plan. Oy vay. What to do? I was severely upset, confused and depressed.

I set out to figure out why and how my data usage suddenly jumped up and over the limit, in 1 day. Eventually, I discovered the culprit. The TV shows. I discovered that the two TV shows I had watched via streaming HD video had used 1.8GB of data. Nearly 2 gigs. What? Watching two stupid TV shows put me over the data limit, in 1 day?! WTF? Upon further investigation I realized that watching almost any streaming video, like TV shows or movies, can use up a ton of data.

By my calculation, I normally use about 3GB a month. No TV, no movies. That leaves me 2GB for things like mobile TV and movies each month. The extra 2GB amounts to 2 1-hour TV shows or 1 movie ... a month! WTF? My paid-for TV and movie internet entertainment fun is being seriously limited! Limited to 2 measly gigabytes a month. THAT'S what I'm getting. For $50. Come on, AT&T, Verizon, etc - don't be so cheap!

Hey, here's a news flash for all you major mobile service providers, like AT&T and Verizon: 5GB of data is not enough! And using more than 5GB costs too much!

5GB data plans will SEVERELY curtail video streaming of internet content delivered via cell phone, tablets and other mobile devices. 5GB data plans will SEVERELY curtail the profits of giant internet content providers like Amazon, Netflix and Hulu. Less mobile viewing of advertisement sponsored content means less revenue for the content providers. That being the case, why isn't Amazon, Netflix, Hulu and others, at war with AT&T, Verizon and every other company that has a ridiculously low 5GB data limit? I don't know. Why are we, the consumers, consumers who want to use MORE data, being restricted and penalized from doing so. I don't know. All I DO know is 5GB data plans are not enough. Double it to 10GB ... at the same price!

ON BEHALF OF ALL US CONSUMERS, GIVE US OUR CONTENT! AT A FAIR PRICE!

UPDATE: adding insult to injury, when I went to cancel my att&t wireless plan they told me I would incur an "early termination fee". They billed me $116, and took it out of my checking account. WTF!


fat tax

Here comes the fat tax!


(Reuters) - Unhealthy diets pose a greater risk to global health than the increasingly regulated sale of tobacco and governments should move fast to tax harmful food products, a United Nations investigator said on Monday.

In a statement issued on the opening of the annual summit of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Belgian professor Olivier de Schutter called for efforts to launch negotiations on a global pact to tackle the obesity epidemic.

"Unhealthy diets are now a greater threat to global health than tobacco. Just as the world came together to regulate the risks of tobacco, a bold framework convention on adequate diets must now be agreed," he said.

In a report to the rights council in 2012, de Schutter said a similar accord on food should include taxing unhealthy products, regulating food high in saturated fats, salt and sugar, and "cracking down on junk food advertising."

Yes, that's right. The government will soon tax everything that tastes good! What's next, a tax on stupidity?




HP tech support too slow




It's Saturday morning, early. My HP Touchsmart computer is making a loud whirring sound. Like the fan is working overtime. Hmm. I decided to call HP tech support and have them check it out. I looked up the phone number and the hours of operation on HP's website. The HP website said that tech support for my product was available 24 hours a day/7 days a week. Good. I called the number. I pressed "1 for English" and proceeded through the voice tree. After 10 minutes on hold, having spoken to no one yet, I wondered if HP tech support was actually closed on the weekend and had not updated their website info. If that was the case, I was going to be on hold until Monday! Finally, after endless waiting, someone picked up the phone. From India.

I had been on hold for 29 minutes!

Unacceptable! I had stayed on hold just to see how long it took for a tech support person to answer. It took nearly 30 freakin minutes!

HP. You can't have your loyal customers waiting 30 minutes to get help! They will no longer be loyal.

And, what about my whirring fan issue? Did they fix it? Turns out my computer was out of warranty, they would not deal with my problem, and wanted to switch me to a different department. I hung up the phone.




Global Warming?


Daytime Global Warming?

Today, May 15, 2014, in Los Angeles, California, it will be 99 degrees. Overnight, in L.A., it will go down to 68 degrees. That is a day/night temperature variance of more than 30 degrees. 99 during the day, 68 at night.

Thus, according to my scientific observation, in Los Angeles, global warming happens only during the day!




CRAZY CALIFORNIA

The State of California has added a very stupid addition to a very stupid proposed law (called AB1500). It's regarding the online sale of e-cigarettes to adults in California.


The proposed law has been amended to adversely affect those adults in California who buy e-cigs online. The amendment would "Require that delivery be signed for an adult and that the adult provide proof of age via a government-issued identification bearing a photograph"

Is the government of the State of California CRAZY? This amendment interferes with my rights as an adult consumer in California, which last time I checked, is STILL in America! If I buy e-cigs online, as an adult consumer of a legal product I should NOT have to be FORCED by the government to sign for delivery and PROVE I'm well over the age of 50!!! That would be CRAZY! And stupid. And un-American. Not to mention that will make the post office letter carrier's job a lot more difficult and time consuming.

This is a stupid amendment. No, you can't fix stupid but you can vote it out. I plan on doing that at the next election!



P.S. thanks solely to using e-cigs, and buying them online, after 50 years of smoking, I have not smoked a cigarette since December 7, 2011.




L.A. City Council trunk show


(Reuters) - Los Angeles has banned the use of bullhooks, pitchforks, baseball bats and other goads that circus trainers use to control elephants and other exotic animals, delighting campaigners and angering showmen.

According to Carney Anne Nasser, an attorney for PETA: "There's nothing stopping them from presenting the Ringling Bros. circus without elephants." Yeah, right. A circus without elephants? Are you serious? "We're not going to come to L.A. without our elephants," said Stephen Payne, vice president of corporate communications for Feld Entertainment, the parent company for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. "The Asian elephant has been a symbol of Ringling Bros. for 144 years. We cannot bring them without using USDA-approved husbandry tools."

Congratulations, L.A. City Council, in passing this law, you have now deprived all the children in and around Los Angeles from enjoying the wonderful childhood experience of the circus!

The city of Los Angeles faces serious problems. Lack of jobs, illegal immigration, poor education, gangs, high taxes, high cost of housing, and the worst traffic congestion in the nation. Yet, the Los Angeles City Council is spending time, TAXPAYER TIME, passing laws for ELEPHANTS? WTF? Yes, elephants and other animals should not be abused. Neither should taxpayers!

Elephants first/residents last? This is yet another example of government not being accountable to the people, being completely out of touch, and being completely unresponsive to the primary needs of its residents and citizens.

Laws for circuses? Laws for elephants? Instead of addressing the city's very pressing very critical problems? If the Los Angeles City Council (and the mayor) thinks passing laws regulating elephants in the circus is so important and such a priority, perhaps they should be part of the circus, as clowns!