On Monday, October 31, 2005 6:41 AM [PDT], Louis Proyect <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/10/2005103108n.htm > Matthew Carrington, 21, died in February of heart failure brought on > by the consumption of large amounts of water. The condition, > hyponatremia, or > water intoxication, is caused by depletion of electrolytes, > particularly sodium, in the body. It usually afflicts marathoners and > other athletes who sweat heavily and drink a lot of water. > > While most people are aware of the dangers of dehydration, the > consequences of too much water are poorly understood. Low sodium > levels combined with excessive water consumption can result in the > extra water being absorbed > into the blood. Eventually, fluid accumulates in the brain and lungs, > leading to organ failure, coma, and death. Yup, and more simply (and the reason it attracted these morons) you end up acting (being) drunk! Is this the result of suppressing the consumption of alcohol by college students (on and off campus) instead of looking at the root causes of college binge drinking? IS IT more prevalent among college students, than the general population of 18-21s that live outside parental influence? It would be an interesting commentary in and of itself if it were so. Here's something I posted to another list a while back... An explanation perhaps. How Capitalism Preys On The Youth Of America Example - New York Times: As Young Adults Drink to Win, Marketers Join In... New York Times: October 16 2005 As Young Adults Drink to Win, Marketers Join In By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN PHILADELPHIA - The bar is packed, the floor is wet, and dozens of glassy-eyed young people are squeezed around tables trying to lob Ping-Pong balls into cups of beer. It is the final round of a beer pong championship, sponsored by a maker of portable beer pong tables, and all across the bar, as one team scores points, the other happily guzzles beer. "It's awesome," said Chris Shannon, 22, a senior at Drexel University here. "If you win, you win. If you lose, you drink. There's no negative." Drinking games have been around since Dionysus. But a whole new industry has taken off around them, making the games more popular, more intense and more dangerous, according to college administrators who say the games are just thin cover for binge drinking. Some colleges have tried to ban the games on campus, but that has just driven them elsewhere. Many bars now hold beer pong tournaments like the one in Philadelphia, and some even have leagues and keep baseball-like statistics. Urban Outfitters stocks a popular beer pong kit called Bombed and boxed sets of rules for other games. In January, thousands of players are expected at the first World Series of Beer Pong, sponsored by a beer pong accessories company and held on the outskirts of - where else? - Las Vegas. This past summer, Anheuser-Busch unveiled a game it calls Bud Pong. The company, which makes Budweiser, is promoting Bud Pong tournaments and providing Bud Pong tables, balls and glasses to distributors in 47 markets, including college towns like Oswego, N.Y., and Clemson, S.C. Bud Pong may soon expand into more markets, said Francine Katz, a spokeswoman for Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc. "It's catching on like wildfire," Ms. Katz said. "We created it as an icebreaker for young adults to meet each other." More>> http://leighmdotnet.blogspot.com/2005/10/how-capitalism-preys-on-youth-of.html Leigh www.leighm.net Have you seen my newsfeeds?: http://leighmdotnet.blogspot.com/ Got RSS?: http://www.furl.net/members/leighm/rss.xml
