<p>hahahahahaha. how MODEST and humbling for you to say that!</p>
<p>Thank god at least I’m not a pregnant woman. If my kid turned out in any way damaged I wouldn’t be able to ever get over the fact that it might have potentially been mercury poisoning from tuna.</p>
<p>What’s really disturbing though is the omnipresent contamination in our ecosystems now…it’s ambient. I have faith that we’ll save ourselves, but our lifestyles will change dramatically in the next few decades (not that it wasn’t going to regardless). Maybe I should stock up on canned tuna now before mercury levels rise…</p>
<p>^ “I have faith that we’ll save ourselves,”</p>
<p>I’ll take the other side of that trade …</p>
<p>i was straightedge and hung out with a group of sxe kids for like 3 years.</p>
<p>i don’t really do that anymore, but still, probably not drinking in college.</p>
<p>There’s also a significant chance that anyone who would say yes wouldn’t post it on a public message board.</p>
<p>I’m not attending Harvard next year, but I do not drink alcohol. I will probably not do so any time in the near future, as there are potential health effects (as mifune has noted) and I am prone to addiction.</p>
<p>This thread pains me on so many levels (exception: JHS’s awesome post).</p>
<p>natim1 - I’ve already said this to you, but stop worrying + calm down. Seriously. You’ll feel an immediate difference between Harvard + Princeton when you visit. The campuses will feel different. The student body will feel different. The parties you go to will be different. One will feel much more like home.</p>
<p>EDIT: And for what it’s worth, I came to Harvard with a bottle of 151 stashed in my suitcase. I drank myself to vomiting two or three times, before orientation ended. By all means, drink! But don’t be a dumb freshman like I was.</p>
<p>you cannot seriously think I have a drinking problem</p>
<p>Alcohol causes permanent brain damage by killing cells due to dehydration. </p>
<p>Tuna DOES NOT cause any brain damage unless you eat way more of it than you’re supposed to. Nobody eats tuna every single day. Cases of mercury poisoning are rare. A definite safe level of tuna consumption is around once a week, and that’s if you have a tuna steak or something. Don’t be stupid.</p>
<p>I would avoid King Mackerel and shark, though.</p>
<p>@natim1 It’s kind of pathetic that you would actually use alcohol consumption as the deciding factor between two schools.</p>
<p>How so? In terms of academics, both are on the same level. I’m now turning to the environment and specifically, the party scene to choose. How is this any different from making sure the school you go to has Greek Life?</p>
<p>The permanent brain damage from dehydration that you’re talking about only occurs in people who are reckless about drinking. Who drink way too much, throw up, and don’t drink enough water and so they get dehydrated. Basically, those who get hangovers. I have never thrown up, never blacked out, never had a hangover, never not remembered anything. So learn the facts before you lecture me.</p>
<p>The key difference being that Greek Life is actually something that you could benefit from. College is for growing as an individual and learning, not drinking.</p>
<p>You yourself said, “It’s not possible to go wrong with either of them. Both of these schools are the absolute best.” So, why is my using their party scenes as the deciding factor pathetic? What should I do instead, flip a coin? I’m a very adaptive person. I don’t believe in a single “right” environment. But for those who always preach, visit and you’ll know where’s right for you, well, you know what, the school with the bigger party scene is “right”(er) for me.</p>
<p>So you maintain that there is no benefit from a social scene involving drinking? Well, greek life is exactly that. A social scene which involves drinking.</p>
<p>Also you say that tuna doesn’t cause damage unless you “eat way more of it” than you’re supposed to. Same thing for alcohol. </p>
<p>"Is wine good for you?In moderation and as part of an overall healthy diet, the short answer is yes!</p>
<p>Thanks to its alcohol content and non-alcoholic phytochemicals (natural occurring plant compounds), wine has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease, certain cancers and slow the progression of neurological degenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease.</p>
<p>However, the amount of wine you drink matters tremendously. Drink more than what’s recommended, your health benefits are lost and your health risks go up."</p>
<p>Read more: <a href=“http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/21478144/#ixzz0kZa0T9zA[/url]”>http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/21478144/#ixzz0kZa0T9zA</a></p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Eat grapes instead.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Magic wand–></p>
<p>
</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Grapes =/= wine. Read the article.</p>
<p>Dwight Eisenhower, do you bear any relation to Dwight Eisenhower?</p>
<p>^ Probably not. My impression is that every single one of Dwight Eisenhower’s relatives is an army brat. I honestly do not know why :)</p>
<p>The fermentation process does indeed increase the antioxidant capacity derived from the plant compounds, but red wine – or any alcoholic product - is not a uniformly safe and efficacious health supplement. Moreover, resveratrol (the beneficial compound found in red wine) is required in a relatively thin dosage window to have any positive salient effect on health. Overconsumption may reach a point at which the both the alcohol and resveratrol could potentially erode any health benefits ([Resveratrol</a> - Recommended Dosage | Resveratrol](<a href=“resveratrol.info”>resveratrol.info)).</p>
<p>Red wine may also trigger migraines (particularly in those susceptible to them) due to the accumulation of certain inflammatory biochemical compounds during fermentation. </p>
<p>Wine also increases triglyceride levels, which are associated with health problems such as diabetes. </p>
<p>Moreover, wine leads to weight gain (which, in turn, creates a host of other health problems), assuming no corresponding increase in physical activity. At 120 calories per glass, two per day will accumulate to over 25 pounds of weight gain over the course of a single year, perhaps more given the evidence for alcohol’s appetite stimulation ([ScienceDirect</a> - Physiology & Behavior : Dose-dependent effects of alcohol on appetite and food intake](<a href=“http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T0P-4C232D2-5&_user=10&_coverDate=03%2F31%2F2004&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1288878538&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=7e69cfbaa57a0ac430269f661c0903c5]ScienceDirect”>http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6T0P-4C232D2-5&_user=10&_coverDate=03%2F31%2F2004&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=1288878538&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=7e69cfbaa57a0ac430269f661c0903c5)).</p>
<p>Globally, drinking causes about as much harm as smoking (Source: World Health Organization). The agency calculates that approximately 1.8 million deaths are caused by alcohol each year. Further, alcohol causes or substantially contributes to approximately 30 percent of all instances of difficulties in motor control, speech and visual impediment, impaired memory, liver cancer, cirrhosis, esophageal cancer, traffic accidents, homicide, and epileptic seizures.</p>
<p>In the United States alone, over 30 million individuals are suffering physical, emotion, or social ills due to the effects of alcohol – truly a very sobering statistic.</p>
<p>[CBC</a> News - Health - Red, red wine: Health pros and cons](<a href=“http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/07/04/f-redwine-proscons.html?ref=rss]CBC”>http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/07/04/f-redwine-proscons.html?ref=rss)</p>
<p>ANY food/drink will lead to weight gain if “no corresponding incrase in physical activity” occurs. Because you’re increasing your caloric intake. So moot point. </p>
<p>Drinking does not cause anywhere close to the amount of harm smoking does. SMoking kills 5 million people a year. [BBC</a> NEWS | Health | Smoking ‘kills five million a year’](<a href=“http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3099936.stm]BBC”>BBC NEWS | Health | Smoking 'kills five million a year')</p>
<p>Where are you getting the 30 million number? What’s your source? Also, you fail to mention what comes first. The “physical, emotion, or social ills” or alcohol consumption.</p>