Big Tobacco's Comeuppance

Yesterday there was some interesting coverage of the first decision in a series of suits against tobacco companies that will be tried in Florida. Elaine Hess was awarded 8 million dollars in compensatory and punitive damage from Philip Morris for the death of her husband. Stuart Hess died at age 55 after years of chain smoking.

The crux of the smokers' argument in these cases is that the companies knowingly hid information about the addictive and harmful effects of smoking. Of course, a long appeals process awaits these awards, which have "often been reversed or reduced" upon reaching the higher courts.

It strikes me as a difficult endeavor to mete out responsibility for the deaths of smokers, especially since there is still some debate about when exactly the knowledge of just how harmful smoking is became available and to whom. The jury in this case had a lot less trouble than I would, declaring that $8 million was the appropriate award in spite of the fact that "Hess was 58 percent responsible for the cigarette addiction that led to his death."

I'm hoping this is an AP typo for "50 percent". It's one thing to say "well, he was misled by the companies, but isn't he halfway responsible for his addiction?" and quite another to say "58 percent". What does that mean? What multitude of factors are weighed to arrive at such a specific proportion of blame? Maybe the lawyers in the audience want to chime in on this one. 

Of course, the issue of valuing Mr. Hess's life is an altogether separate problem. I'm in the unique position of having recently studied both economists' and philosophers' valuation of life (unsurprisingly, economists say 4-14 million dollars and the philosophers that I respect think that putting a number on the intrinsic value of life is foolish). Even if we accept that the tobacco companies "owe" Ms. Hess for 42 percent of the balance of the life her husband would have lived, I'm interested to know how exactly our legal system has decided to put a sticker price on that. I definitely think she deserves a judgment and that finally holding these companies accountable can only be a good thing; I'm a little less sure of the relevance of the $8 million dollar award, considering how many people have died due to tobacco whose loved ones undoubtedly need compensation as much as Ms. Hess does in this economic whatever-we're-calling-this.

Halfway Post

As of this past week, I'm officially halfway through my year abroad. I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, the halfway mark makes the end seem much more real, and there are a lot of things I wanted to do in Europe that I haven't done yet. On the other hand, I miss home and am looking forward to senior year at Brown, so I think by the time June rolls around and I head back to the States I'll be ready.

Also, I already have a lot of travel plans for the coming months, so I'll definitely get to more places on my list in the second half of the year than I did in the first. At the end of the month I'm going to Athens, in March I'm going to Paris at least once, and at the end of Pesach I'm going to Rome. All incredibly exciting! I also can't wait to see the friends and family that I'll be making these trips with.

I have a couple of other things to post about, so another post will probably go up today or tomorrow.

My First Post About Jesus

There's something I've been pondering lately and I felt the need to get it off my chest. Maybe some of my readers who are more familiar with Jesus' life can lend me a hand.

According to Andrew Lloyd Weber (whom I take to be authoritative), during his final days Jesus was criticized by Judas for frittering away the JC Club's resources, using a "fine ointment" which could have been worth "300 silver pieces (or more)" instead of, you know, feeding babies.

That exchange seems reasonable enough, but here's my question: Didn't Judas later betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver? I had always assumed that thirty pieces was a relatively large sum of money. So, was the great betrayal financed with silver worth one-tenth the cost of a jar of ointment? Was this the most expensive ointment in history (maybe the diamond cream from Arrested Development) or was Judas bought off on the cheap?

Your input would be appreciated. I hope my Christian friends know that my flippant tone isn't meant to be offensive; I am genuinely curious about whether the thirty piece payment was a large sum or a token one.

On a related note (sort of...money?), I accidentally ruined my leather wallet by putting it through the wash yesterday. At first I was upset, but to be honest, I enjoy wallet shopping and it's not something one gets an excuse to do very often.

Funniest Series EVER!

So, the BDH reported on an alum who works for Comedy Central today, and I ended up taking a look at his website. Why? A web-based live action parody of The Legend of Zelda (NES). There are only 6 short episodes, but he's working on a second season. (This video is inappropriate, and the series becomes increasingly inappropriate, so don't watch it if you're not cool with that.)



Watch the rest here.