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Raf
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No politics, please.

At age 18 you are old enough to enlist to fight and possibly lay your life down for your country.

You are trusted to use your judgement to elect the leaders of your city, your state and the free world.

You need no one's permission to move into a new home or get married.

But you can't order a beer.

 

WTF?

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Come join us in the UK.  You can buy a beer at age 18.  Do the other things you mention, too.  You forgot to mention, drive a car, a potentially lethal item.

 

Yes, it's a weird distinction, stemming from who knows what time; a distinction that, I suspect, is widely ignored by very many young people.

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At 18, I enlisted and immediately after bootcamp I was able to drink beer on-base.

I served on Active Duty for 20-years, on military bases it is up to the base commander whether or not he wishes to allow his underage troops to drink. The Navy's general policy is that if there is a nearby jurisdiction [within 40-miles or so] where troops could travel to and drink, then it is better to let them drink on-base. So like San Diego allows drinking on-base and Whitbey Island. Also Groton allows it. 

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3 hours ago, Galen said:

At 18, I enlisted and immediately after bootcamp I was able to drink beer on-base.

I served on Active Duty for 20-years, on military bases it is up to the base commander whether or not he wishes to allow his underage troops to drink. The Navy's general policy is that if there is a nearby jurisdiction [within 40-miles or so] where troops could travel to and drink, then it is better to let them drink on-base. So like San Diego allows drinking on-base and Whitbey Island. Also Groton allows it. 

Galen, I too am a Navy Veteran.  I didn't know this; thanks for the information.

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6 hours ago, Raf said:

No politics, please.

At age 18 you are old enough to enlist to fight and possibly lay your life down for your country.

You are trusted to use your judgement to elect the leaders of your city, your state and the free world.

You need no one's permission to move into a new home or get married.

But you can't order a beer.

 

WTF?

Raf, I think it was Reagan who raised the drinking age from 18, to 21.  Something about 21 year-olds are more mature, about drinking and driving.

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And here I thought the age for legally consuming alcoholic beverages was determined by each state. But in 1984 (under Reagan), federal legislation was enacted that apparently allowed the federal government to withhold funding that would otherwise go to states if the particular state allowed drinking by persons under 21.

State legislatures moan and complain when the federal government does things like that, but they usually comply, as it has been with this issue.

I was 18 when I took technical training at Keesler AFB, MS in 1973-74. I clearly remember drinking Miller Beer (not Miller Lite) during that time. Of course, off base strip clubs in Biloxi were strictly and officially off limits to impressionable youngsters like me at that time.

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I heard (when Reagan enacted that)  that it had to do with drunk driving, so it was a matter of limiting the driving, or limiting the drinking.  So, they limited the drinking, at least on paper.  I've heard people say that soldiers between 18-21 can drink when on duty (on base or in a theater of operations.)  In fact, someone once told me of how he joined the military and learned to drive, to drink, and to drink and drive...all on the same night.

Other countries seem to have 18 as a drinking age- in countries where drinking is allowed. I expect there's countries that are OFFICIALLY dry at all ages. (Thus the phrase "Today I drink, tomorrow Allah forgives.")    Frankly, I've never been a huge drinker, but the idea of getting away with something made underage drinking more interesting. When I visited the UK at age 20, it was perfectly legal for me to drink there- which took all the fun out of it since I wasn't going to drink beer for the taste. (So, I had 1 beer during my entire visit.)  

 

I think, in the US, people tend to have a view that some drinking is ok in their homes between 18 and 21, provided one isn't driving after that.  I've encountered that as a practice more than once, and it never seemed to have been articulated as some sort of official "rule of thumb." I think people independently came up with it.

 

In Switzerland, there's some limited alcoholic consumption even among early teens and soon-to-be teens. I'd have to ask someone to repeat what I was told before to get more specific.

 

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2 minutes ago, WordWolf said:

I heard (when Reagan enacted that)  that it had to do with drunk driving, so it was a matter of limiting the driving, or limiting the drinking.  So, they limited the drinking, at least on paper.  I've heard people say that soldiers between 18-21 can drink when on duty (on base or in a theater of operations.)  In fact, someone once told me of how he joined the military and learned to drive, to drink, and to drink and drive...all on the same night.

Other countries seem to have 18 as a drinking age- in countries where drinking is allowed. I expect there's countries that are OFFICIALLY dry at all ages. (Thus the phrase "Today I drink, tomorrow Allah forgives.")    Frankly, I've never been a huge drinker, but the idea of getting away with something made underage drinking more interesting. When I visited the UK at age 20, it was perfectly legal for me to drink there- which took all the fun out of it since I wasn't going to drink beer for the taste. (So, I had 1 beer during my entire visit.)  

 

I think, in the US, people tend to have a view that some drinking is ok in their homes between 18 and 21, provided one isn't driving after that.  I've encountered that as a practice more than once, and it never seemed to have been articulated as some sort of official "rule of thumb." I think people independently came up with it.

 

In Switzerland, there's some limited alcoholic consumption even among early teens and soon-to-be teens. I'd have to ask someone to repeat what I was told before to get more specific.

 

WW, I lived in Italy from 1988-1990, and I was surprised to see toddlers sip wine.  Italy doesn't have a legal drinking age, yet there is far less Alcoholism there, than in the US.  

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guys, "random thoughts." you were suppposed to chuckle and move on.

 

Why is it when you see a late night cable movie, it says it's intended for mature audiences? bull! it's intended for IMMATURE audiences! "Masterpiece Theater" is intended for mature audiences!

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I can start a thread called "The" and it will spark 40,000 posts over four threads in two forums.

 

But actually CALL IT Random Thoughts, and everyone is stuck on the point made in the opening post.

 

 

 

 

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On 11/2/2018 at 12:15 PM, Raf said:

No politics, please.

At age 18 you are old enough to enlist to fight and possibly lay your life down for your country.

You are trusted to use your judgement to elect the leaders of your city, your state and the free world.

You need no one's permission to move into a new home or get married.

But you can't order a beer.

 

WTF?

Well... you did INVITE response.

Random thoughts? You mean like... Ephesians 4:14?

Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves,and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.

Oh, nevermind. :shithitsfan:

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17 hours ago, socks said:

You can always tell when something "goes without saying" because that's what gets said next. Usually. 

Right?

 

It's like, "With all due respect" always comes RIGHT before a devastatingly disrespectful insult.

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1 hour ago, Raf said:

Right?

 

It's like, "With all due respect" always comes RIGHT before a devastatingly disrespectful insult.

(inserts LOL's)

Used in a sentence together - 

"With all due respect, it goes without saying that the proposed plan under review, well, it sucks donkey balls."

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On 11/2/2018 at 3:15 PM, Raf said:

No politics, please.

At age 18 you are old enough to enlist to fight and possibly lay your life down for your country.

You are trusted to use your judgement to elect the leaders of your city, your state and the free world.

You need no one's permission to move into a new home or get married.

But you can't order a beer.

 

WTF?

When I was 18, we could be drafted and go to Vietnam, but we weren't old enough to vote. Let that sink in for a moment.

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Actual commercial: Do not take pharmaceutical product x if you are allergic to pharmaceutical product x or the ingredients in pharmaceutical product x.

 

How would i even KNOW if i were allergic?

Is this advice someone needs?

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Ever run to the bathroom and get there at the last possible moment?

It wasn't. You probably could have waited at least another minute or two.

Otherwise, you'd have a lot more stories about not making it in time.

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15 minutes ago, Raf said:

Ever run to the bathroom and get there at the last possible moment?

It wasn't. You probably could have waited at least another minute or two.

Otherwise, you'd have a lot more stories about not making it in time.

"Taking this anti-depression drug might make you want to kill yourself."

(scratches head)

Isn't this a bit like an ad saying "Taking this anti-diarrhea  drug might make you crap your pants."??

Edited by waysider
punctuation
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Okay. I know nothing about this type of stuff. I seriously can be stupid all day about it.  But my recollection of what I remember learning about this, is that they did lower the drinking age during the VietNam War, and it was a freaking disaster. At least in the US. I know living in Illinois that the kids who were 18 here, would always do beer runs across the border to Wisconsin to get their booze, because beer and wine was legal to buy at 19 or something.

I have to say that I don't think it's quite fair to compare the US to other countries and their laws, because the US is just so BIG and populated. It's like 50 countries. But, like I said. What do I know?

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  • 3 weeks later...
On ‎11‎/‎6‎/‎2018 at 7:23 PM, waysider said:

When I was 18, we could be drafted and go to Vietnam, but we weren't old enough to vote. Let that sink in for a moment.

That was the reasoning behind the 26th Amendment.

 

On ‎11‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 9:50 PM, Rocky said:

And here I thought the age for legally consuming alcoholic beverages was determined by each state. But in 1984 (under Reagan), federal legislation was enacted that apparently allowed the federal government to withhold funding that would otherwise go to states if the particular state allowed drinking by persons under 21.
 

When I was in college in Boston, the drinking age was 18.  I went to graduate school in Illinois, where the drinking age was raised to 21, just after I turned 21.  I was very popular with my fraternity, whenever booze was needed for a party.  :evildenk: :drink:

George

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Some pet peeves:

When people say "literally" when what they mean is anything but literal.  "[Pick your favorite politician] is LITERALLY Hitler!" (No, that would be METAPHORICALLY.)

When people say "exponentially" when they mean "greatly" or. perhaps, "by an order of magnitude."  My savings in the bank are growing exponentially, but the exponent is pretty small.

The correct pronunciation of "processes" is PRAH-ses-es (or, if you're British, PRO-ses-es).  It is NOT prah-se-SEEZ.

George

Edited by GeorgeStGeorge
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On 11/7/2018 at 3:55 AM, Raf said:

Actual commercial: Do not take pharmaceutical product x if you are allergic to pharmaceutical product x or the ingredients in pharmaceutical product x.

 

How would i even KNOW if i were allergic?

Is this advice someone needs?

The lawyers say to add those.  My favourite warning was on a packet of peanuts.  "Warning: Contains Peanuts."   Yeah, I hope so, Sparky.

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