jgroome

You're not wrong. But that's the problem - it's not enough to say "sure X is harmful, but so's Y, so it's alright". Ingesting nicotine by itself is a hell of a lot less harmful than taking it with tar and everything else that comes in a normal cigarette. But it's still a highly addictive substance, and personally, my concern is that marketing something highly addictive to the public (and, dare I say it, young people) is really seedy.

Comment · 12 years ago

That's a shame. The "smoke" from e-cigarettes is just vapour, and no more harmful to the people around the user than steam from a kettle.

However, there's a discussion to be had here, and it's possibly more important than the one surrounding cigarettes and second-hand smoke. It's a brand new industry and a brand new habit that people are only starting to adjust to.

Ecig manufacturers are, at present, allowed to advertise their product publicly, and sell them as a lifestyle choice. They're even allowed to advertise on TV, something that the tobacco boys haven't been able to do for a very long time (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2517504/VIP-E-cigare...).

As an ecig user myself I find myself using it indoors regularly. I'm harming nobody but myself with it. But that's the problem - it's normalised the recreational ingestion of nicotine, and it's only going to become more popular.

Smokers, even reformed smokers like myself, aren't going to change their habits unless they're forced to do so. So while many people are put off by indoor ecig use, until the law changes to forbid it, you're just going to have to deal with it.

Comment · 13 years ago

http://www.reddit.com/r/HumorousReviews

Comment · 13 years ago

Veering off topic, but I wonder what people would say if analytics for websites required telling the user what data is being gathered about them before requiring an active opt-in.

Comment · 13 years ago

Sorry, but you can't seriously compare uptime of cloud-based services to hard-disk failure.

I've been using computers since I was 12, so about 17 years, and in that time I've had two hard disks break on me. I'm sure you're going to say you've had a lot more, but if your hard disks are going out of action at a rate even near to how often Google's core services drop out, well, you're doing something wrong.

"Shit happens" is never a valid excuse, even for a service provided at no cost to the user.

Comment · 13 years ago

He was out of phone as well as Internet contact. Maybe HN should send homing pigeons when a link gets popular?