Quote from: TDoS on Jun 04, 2026, 03:35 PMI can believe that. Doesn't mean I understand their use however.

Well, at least part of the reason you can't understand it is because you never tried them.  How would you know if you liked Kidneys if you never tried them?  Even better, how would you know if you liked sex if you never tried it?

As a child, most kids when they see a couple of adults French Kissing are grossed out. "Eeeewwww!"  it seems alien and disgusting.  Later when they mature and get some sexual feelings and try masturbating, they start to understand and it's not so gross anymore.  Drugs are very much the same in terms of the feelings they engender, which is where the phrase "Sex, Drugs & Rock & Roll" comes from.  Generally speaking, if you like Sex & Rock music, you'll like drugs.  Perhaps you don't like sex and/or rock, so drugs have no appeal for you.

Anyhow, whatever the reason is, your inability to understand it probably goes back to childhood and you were grossed out by seeing people doing drugs or getting drunk and you couldn't understand it.  You never got over that initial impression, never tried it and so it hardened into your current opinion, which is rather childish.

RE

Quote from: K-Dog on Jun 04, 2026, 03:11 PMAs things progress, honesty about America's financial condition will be hard to find.[/color]

Well, for as many decades, centuries and millennium Apocalyptians have been around, I can only venture....what took so long to get to the point of....MAYBE this time?
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Psst....are there that many of us left to even notice? 🧐

Quote from: RE on Jun 04, 2026, 12:59 PM

Quote from: TDoS on Jun 03, 2026, 02:37 PMFloor hands and booze I get, smoking, sure, but the big type drugs among those generally considered intelligent?

This sentence implies you think people who do "big time" drugs are generally stupid.

"Stupid" isn't the right pejorative. Part of my off-kilter perspective with folks doing drugs is I don't understand it. The need for whatever it is to NOT be coherent strikes me as...alien.

Quote from: REI presume BT Drugs besides Coke include Opiates and Amphetamines, not sure if you include Hallucinogenics and Barbituates, Valium, Qualudes etc.

If they are needed for getting over surgeries and stuff I understand them. I had a root canal once that required some strong sold on the street for big bucks type drug. Can't say how I felt on it was anything special.

Quote from: REHowever, regardless of which classes of drugs you perceive to be BT, whether you do them or not has little to do with how smart or stupid you are.

Good thing I never said anything like that then.

Quote from: REAll drugs you take recreationaly carry the risk of at least a psychological dependency developing, even if they are not physically addicting, but in general the number of people who become dependent on any recreational drug is much smaller than the number who use them  without it significantly affecting their lives.

I can believe that. Doesn't mean I understand their use however.

Quote from: REAlcohol for instance, far more people drink socially than there are alcoholics.  Most of the traders at Drexel who sniffed coke were within reasonable bounds, though a few  lost control and ended up in rehab.  Much fewer than the number doing coke though, maybe 1 in 20 as a WAG.

Yeah, I don't drink either. I leave that to the folks or like it or need it or whatever.

Quote from: REAnyhow, smart people like drugs pretty much the same way and for the same reasons stupid people do.\
RE

Seems reasonable....not knowing what those reasons are or caring at all. But interestingly, during my time on this globe, I've never had serious problems with sober folks other than maybe a car accident or something. Boozed up or drunk ones? All sorts of trouble, trips to court, firearms being discharged, lawsuits, and so on and forth.

Another one of those weird correlations perhaps, like you never having insurance and getting away with it, and me always having it and occasionally needing it...in some cases because of those stoned, whacked or drunk smart non-smart people.

A crash will happen.  Is this tremor a prelude to an earthquake?





Are billionaires approaching peak prosperity?

As things progress, honesty about America's financial condition will be hard to find.

Quote from: TDoS on Jun 03, 2026, 02:37 PMFloor hands and booze I get, smoking, sure, but the big type drugs among those generally considered intelligent?

This sentence implies you think people who do "big time" drugs are generally stupid.  I presume BT Drugs besides Coke include Opiates and Amphetamines, not sure if you include Hallucinogenics and Barbituates, Valium, Qualudes etc.

However, regardless of which classes of drugs you perceive to be BT, whether you do them or not has little to do with how smart or stupid you are.  All drugs taken recreationally (as in not taken to remdy an illness) have in common that they are mood altering.  Whether you enjoy altering your moods utilizing pharmaceuticals and how a particular type of drug alters them isn't a function of your intelligence, it's a function of your personality type.  Perhaps you're generally inhibited or "uptight" and the drug loosens you up.  Perhaps your lethargic and it makes you more active.  Perhaps you are a conventional thinker and you get different insights.  whatever the drug does, if you enjoy the experience, you'll continue using the drug.

All drugs you take recreationaly carry the risk of at least a psychological dependency developing, even if they are not physically addicting, but in general the number of people who become dependent on any recreational drug is much smaller than the number who use them  without it significantly affecting their lives.  Alcohol for instance, far more people drink socially than there are alcoholics.  Most of the traders at Drexel who sniffed coke were within reasonable bounds, though a few  lost control and ended up in rehab.  Much fewer than the number doing coke though, maybe 1 in 20 as a WAG.

Anyhow, smart people like drugs pretty much the same way and for the same reasons stupid people do.  The biggest difference is smart people who are also rich can afford to do a lot more of them, so that probably puts them at greater risk of developing a dependency.  Most though are smart enough not to go down that road.

RE

Oops, sorry, I accidentally overwrote your post instead of replying to it.  Feel free to rewrite it, I won't delete it.

RE

Quote from: TDoS on Jun 03, 2026, 02:37 PM

Quote from: RE on Jun 02, 2026, 09:47 PMHowever, yes most certainly on any given day in the bathroom at Drexel for every trader that went in there to take a piss, half a dozen went in to stuff their noses with enough blow to build an igloo.  lol.
RE

Having never worked with scientists, engineers, economists, industry or government types who did this, I am unfamiliar with the ....why? Floor hands and booze I get, smoking, sure, but the big type drugs among those generally considered intelligent? An alien environment to me.

It's the nature of the personality type driven to do this type of work.  It's fast pace, high stress, high risk, high excitement and very ego driven.  The type of personality that likes to do stuff like rock climbing and base jumping in a wingsuit.  Adrenaline & Endorphin Junkies.


It's also about the social scene around clubs and sex, which requires gobs of money to participate in for most males who are not GQ models. The money buys the coke which you stuff up the girls nose before stuffing the other orifices of their bodies with parts of your anatomy or a variety of vibrating devices available on Amazon.  The only people inhabiting this scene are pro athletes, musicians, actors, IT entrepreneurs, venture capitalist and traders.  Occasionally Pro Poker players.  The last 3 types all are at least 2 sigma smart the athletes 2 sigma physical ability, actors 2 sigma pretty.

RE

Quote from: TDoS on Jun 02, 2026, 07:20 PMYou, as an exception, most certainly do not define the rule. 

Never said I did.  Just that for me as an individual it made more financial sense to take the risk.  Which as it turnhs out was the corredt decision.  It would have still been true with a few typical accidents as long as the costs came to less than $50K.  The only case not true would be a large liabilitty claim if I killed or hurt someone badly.  For me, I considered that chance negligible, and again I was right.  Had I been wrong,, well the injured party would have been shit out of luck.

RE

Quote from: RE on Jun 02, 2026, 09:47 PMHowever, yes most certainly on any given day in the bathroom at Drexel for every trader that went in there to take a piss, half a dozen went in to stuff their noses with enough blow to build an igloo.  lol.
RE

Having never worked with scientists, engineers, economists, industry or government types who did this, I am unfamiliar with the ....why? Floor hands and booze I get, smoking, sure, but the big type drugs among those generally considered intelligent? An alien environment to me.