Comment on other Blog

I commented on Value from capitalization of Innovation's post called "Monster Children and Happiness vs. Quality of Lifestyle".

Internet Poker

Around the United States thousands of people gamble online.  This new rage blew up big and fast.  Within a few years of the World Series of Poker being televised, the recognition of poker and other forms of gambling grew rapidly.  This is evident as many more people began participating in the World Series of poker and online.  Over the past couple years I have watched new poker websites sprout up all over the internet.  It seems like every week I have another friend putting their money into a new sight.

            Now Congress is trying to make it illegal.  Not just place restrictions on internet gambling, but make the practice entirely illegal.  Should they have the right to do this?

            Many people believe that gamblers know what they are doing and spend their own money so they should be allowed to gamble.  But do they really know what they are doing?  Many gambling sites, while still random in distributing the cards, make there be bigger hands.  It is much more common in online poker to get straights or full houses or four of a kinds.  Why do these sights do this?  Because many of them take a small portion of each pot, so bigger pots result in more money for them.  These websites also make it so players hit streaks and win hands they shouldn’t win.  When a player hits a streak many of them keep betting even when it is over, because they think they can win with bad hands.  And once they go cold, other players start beating them when they have worse hands.  Then once a player loses their money they turn around and buy back in, because they remember the hands they won and think they can do it again.  While they also remember the bad beats hey justify them in their minds and think that it won’t happen to them again. 

It’s a vicious cycle that engulfs many of Americans.  But one could still make the argument that the government still shouldn’t ban internet poker, because it is those people’s fault for being ignorant.  This is true, however, I don’t believe the government wants people not to gamble so they save their money.  The government would prefer that these people invest their money in the economy, especially in times like these.  I agree with this as I feel that the people who are willing to gamble their money could do it in ways that would be much more beneficial to the economy.  

Should the drinking age be lowered?

The US has the highest drinking age in the world.  Should the drinking age be lowered?  Some people argue that the drinking age should stay at 21, because it gives people enough time to mature both physically and mentally before consuming alcohol, while others feel that if you can die for your country you should be able to enjoy a beer.

I’m in support of lowering the drinking age, but not just because 18 year olds enlist in the military.  I feel that every kid that wants to drink under age can and will and the people that don’t want to won’t.  I don’t think many more kids would drink even if the drinking age were lowered.  Most teens that choose not to drink make that decision based on their parents or their own moral feelings, not because they think cops are going to arrest them if they take a sip of beer.  The law doesn’t have much of an affect on who drinks; it just has an affect on how they drink.  In many ways the law just forces those who consume alcohol to do it in a more dangerous way.  Teenagers trying to get away with drinking are more likely to binge drink.  If the drinking age were lowered it would change the approach society would take on alcohol.  Drinking still wouldn’t be acceptable to those who feel drinking is morally wrong, but it also give parents a chance to sit down with their kids and teach them to drink responsibly before they go out and binge with their friends. 

Many adolescents go off to college having never consumed alcohol and some of them take their first sips on a college campus.  I feel like these kids are the ones that don’t know their limits and end up in hospitals.   According to the Department of Health and Human Services, “there were 145,000 emergency room visits for youths between the ages of 12 and 20 in 2005” (http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/quickstats/underage_drinking.htm).  I feel that the only way to stop this binge drinking among teens in America is to allow them to drink.

My post to GETSOMEYEAH

I posted on GETSOMEYEAH's blog, "Death Spiral".