different kinds of issue
There is no beneficial aspect to drink driving, there is no time at which it is appropriate. If you do it often enough you will end up hurting at least yourself.

Owning a sword, however, wont lead to you plunging it into someone eventually.
( CowJam, Wed 12 Dec 2007, 9:25, archived)

Those are opinions though.
Opinions I entirely agree with, but just opinions.
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Wed 12 Dec 2007, 9:29, archived)

I disagree
that there is any beneficial aspect to owning a sword, either, except personal freedom.

Assuming by "beneficial" you mean "beneficial to society as a whole" otherwise I could argue that on a purely personal selfish level drink-driving is entirely beneficial to someone who wants to get home from the pub and lives in the middle of nowhere with no public transport.
(loutre I've said too much, been too unkind, Wed 12 Dec 2007, 9:29, archived)

We're not necessarily assuming that though.

(rnuk http://flickr.com/rnuk, Wed 12 Dec 2007, 9:32, archived)

I'm confused, then.
that's what I read from the "beneficial" part of Cowjam's post. If he's saying there is nothing beneficial about drink driving he must mean there is something beneficial about owning a Samurai sword. Or have I missed something?
(loutre I've said too much, been too unkind, Wed 12 Dec 2007, 9:35, archived)

But does the chance of an accident outweight the warmth and lack of use of legs
that driving brings?
( CowJam, Wed 12 Dec 2007, 9:32, archived)

Does the chance of a mental chopping off your head
outweigh the tingy feeling in your belly that owning a sword brings?

I have no idea. Let's report both sides of the story with some objective statistics and see what The People think. Because of the unique way we're funded and that.
( Dr. Shambolic je suis charlie, Wed 12 Dec 2007, 9:35, archived)

I've no idea
It's a purely hypothetical standpoint, and not one I would ever subscribe to.

But if you approach the samurai sword argument from that direction, then the benefits "none" are always going to be outweighed by the miniscule risk "someone might get cut"
(loutre I've said too much, been too unkind, Wed 12 Dec 2007, 9:39, archived)