“If you love your family, celebrate it by contributing to your own early death.”
From the July 1962 Popular Science magazine.
I was impressed with how much Japan has changed in 20yrs. Smoking areas are very restricted. And everyone complies.
China — on the other hand — is much worse than 20yrs ago. More affluence means more chain smoking anywhere, anytime. It’s bloody awful. A good reason to avoid travel in China altogether.
I’m liking these new polls popular on Facebook lately.
One sample screen grab:
And I like the response to that poll. … Though I’ve one friend who answered “yes”.
Anti-smoking laws in France and Germany have met fierce opposition.
But those crazy Finns are pushing very strict legislation:
Finland’s government aims to phase out smoking completely within the next 30 years.
“This new law proposal says, according to paragraph one, that we will get rid of smoking once and for all in Finland,” said Ilkka Oksala, the Finnish state secretary of health.
Under the proposed legislation:
By the spring, smokers in Finland will only be able to buy tobacco by asking for cigarettes from under the counter.
Tobacco vending machines are also being phased out over the next three years.
It will be illegal to smoke in a car carrying passengers under the age of 18
details – Finland aims to eliminate smoking
In the 40 years since U.S. President Richard Nixon declared a “war on drugs,” the supply and use of drugs has not changed in any fundamental way. The only difference: a taxpayer bill of more than $1 trillion.
A senior Mexican official who has spent more than two decades helping fight the government’s war on drugs summed up recently what he’s learned from his long career: “This war is not winnable.” …
… Growing numbers of Mexican and U.S. officials say—at least privately—that the biggest step in hurting the business operations of Mexican cartels would be simply to legalize their main product: marijuana. Long the world’s most popular illegal drug, marijuana accounts for more than half the revenues of Mexican cartels.
“Economically, there is no argument or solution other than legalization, at least of marijuana,” said the top Mexican official matter-of-factly. The official said such a move would likely shift marijuana production entirely to places like California, where the drug can be grown more efficiently and closer to consumers. …
Wall Street Journal – Saving Mexico
California is one of 14 states that have legalized medical marijuana, anyway. It’s easy to be prescribed legal dope there.
Assembly Bill 390: The Marijuana Control, Regulation and Education Act … is the first bill ever introduced to regulate the sale and use of marijuana in the U.S. state of California. If passed and signed into law, marijuana would be sold and taxed openly to adults age 21 and older in California. …
Proponents are trying to take that to a statewide vote sometime in 2010.
I’m sure Arnold is thinking about it. An estimated $1.3 billion in revenue to the empty California tax coffers.
But the U.S.A. is one of the most conservative (backward) nations in the world. The romantic comedy “It’s Complicated” got an R rating, … “which experts say could limit the box-office potential of the Universal Pictures film — … largely from a sequence in which Steve Martin and Meryl Streep smoke marijuana.”
Producers have appealed.
This is a polarizing issue in a nation already split between Democrats and Republicans. It would be a gutsy move for Arnold to allow legislation to go ahead … if Californians vote to legalize. I think he should.
I should live in Europe.
The trains are fantastic. There are dedicated bike trails everywhere. It’s easy to live without a car.
But I can’t live in Europe. Why …
It’s OLD It’s EXPENSIVE Banker’s Hours People aren’t friendly Smokers
=== It’s OLD
No need to visit the potentially gorgeous Sagrada Família in Barcelona. There are no plans to remove the scaffolding until at least 2026.
I’m not sure how they ever made postcards of the great monuments of Europe. Photoshop?
Most are under construction. Constantly.
=== It’s EXPENSIVE
A sample of prices from December 2007:
Gallon of unleaded gas: $8.08
Gallon of bio diesel: $6.06
Wireless Internet: $6 for 30 minutes, $32 for 24 hours
Vienna public transport, 24-hours: $8.40
Berlin public transport, 24-hours: $8.97
Seat reservation, Brussels-Frankfurt train: $4.41
Overnight parking, Hotel Helvetia, Lindau, Germany: $14.40
Leopold Museum, Vienna: $10.30
I recently heard that a basic hotel room in urban Finland costs US$400 / night.
There are very few pressures to bring prices down in Western and Northern European countries. You need a HUGE salary to afford to live there.
=== Banker’s Hours
Recall when the only reason we hated bankers was that they worked only 10:15AM-11:45AM. And 2:15AM- 3:45PM ??
Most businesses in Southern Europe still close in the middle of the day. Many are required to close by government legislation.
Shop keeps sometimes seem disappointed if you find their store open.
I’m surpised any commerce happens at all.
The tradition of siesta may have worked well in the small village decades past (when wives were stay at home chattel) but it’s bloody inconvenient in 2009. Especially for a tourist.
In the Dolomites of Northern Italy they have incredibly helpful tourist information kiosks. But they close from Noon Saturday until Monday morning. … The majority of tourists arrive by train from big cities further south, about Noon on Saturday.
In Andorra la Vella, the only city in the country of Andorra, none of the internet cafes were open on a Saturday morning. Not even 24 Hour Internet. (I did them the service of removing their “OPEN” sign. But my Swiss Army knife did not have the power tools required to remove the 24 Hour Internet sign.)
=== People aren’t friendly
Picture an arrogant, rude European.
That’s my preconception.
But when I finally found, in the summer of 2009, an arrogant French bus driver, I couldn’t stop laughing.
As he chastised me, the ignorant, smelly American tourist, I couldn’t help chuckling at his stereotype manner and accent. He seemed to me a Hollywood comic actor spoofing the role with a phoney accent.
Ever since I saw the wonderful 1967 Sidney Portier film, To Sir, with Love, I’ve had another bias … A disgust with the British class system.
Even today I picture a subculture of profane skin head soccer louts. And uncouth, unwed teen mothers. Spending their meager dole at the pub rather than at the dentist.
I did see them in Scottish pubs. But sucking fags outside the door of the pub. Smoking in restaurants and bars was banned in the United Kingdom July 2007. Thank God.
Infants and children are allowed in pubs, however. Drunks care for them while Mom and/or Dad step out for another smoke.
… To be fair, I was very surprised how friendly the Scots were to me, another dumb tourist. Far more friendly than any of the other 5 Western European countries I visited.
=== Smokers
The single biggest reason I could not live in Europe.
They are shameless. Unrepentant. Totally oblivious to others.
The phrase “second hand smoke” has never yet been translated into Italian.
They smoke indoors and out. I could not enter any cafe or restaurant. In fact, a guy lit up in the airport restaurant in Bilbao, Spain. There were no signs saying he couldn’t.
Worst of all, it was clear to me that smoking is still cool, in Europe.
I can’t live in Europe.
It’s uncivilized.
Love it.
In launching a $50-billion lawsuit against tobacco companies, Ontario is joining what many expect will eventually become a national battle to recover health costs linked to smoking.
The governments of British Columbia and New Brunswick have already filed claims against cigarette manufacturers and most of the other provinces have passed legislation enabling them to make similar cases.
“Let’s be clear: This is important for the people of Ontario who have paid a lot of money for health-care costs directly related to tobacco use over the decades,” Ontario Attorney-General Chris Bentley told reporters yesterday. “We believe the taxpayers should be compensated for the costs that they have paid. That’s what this lawsuit is all about.”
After years of legal wrangling in the United States, tobacco manufacturers agreed in 1998 to pay state governments $246-billion (U.S.) over 25 years to help pay for the costs of treating people with smoking-related illnesses. …
That $246-billion settlement is not correct. It turned out to be well over $300 billion.
… And why is it that smokers do not consider this littering? Most don’t toss anything else on the ground.
Much as I like Halifax, living in the Maritimes is a non-starter for me. (Sorry Anne.)
Why?
Too many smokers.
It’s disgusting.
As I toured Nova Scotia, one Tim Hortons to the next, I had to push my way through nicotine addicts lurking at each entrance. Yeesh.
Why can’t those Maritimers go work their short-term Summer jobs as mandated by pogie?
I fled the second hand smoke for Italy.
Doh!
Italy is even WORSE. (Remind me not to travel to Cuba.)
And why am I even in Italy? I’m one of the few people you know who doesn’t want to travel in Italy. It’s the last place I wanted to go … last except for the land of the cheese-eating surrender monkeys.
My Mom reminded me of my only other trip to Italy, over 30yrs ago. I wrote her this on a postcard:
… “Italy is Great…too bad it is run by Italians” …
Italian men back in 1976 were totally irritating.
Happily I can report they’ve improved over the past few decades.
In fact, it seems the young Italian men have collectively opted into a 1980s George Michael look-alike contest. Pretty funny. I don’t speak Italian, but I’d estimate at least 6 million young men, so far, have voluntarily joined into this amusing competition.
It’s great to see that those (formerly) arrogant pricks are now able to laugh at themselves.
The detested Italian machismo seems to be fading.
Of course I’m in Italy for hiking. It was a complete surprise to me. One minute I was searching the internet for cheap flights to Iceland. The next I’d bought a $100 ticket Gatwick to Venice.
Here I am in Bolzano, no guidebook. It’s like the blind leading … myself.
Fortunately 6 of my 10 words of Italian from the distant past have returned to me.
Oh, … I should add that there are only 2 good smokers in the World. And one of them is trying to quit.
XLNT.
Smoking is stupid and unhealthy. I applaud this action.
Bill Gates and Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced on Wednesday that they would spend $500 million to stop people around the world from smoking.
The World Health Organization estimates that tobacco will kill up to a billion people in the 21st century, 10 times as many as it killed in the 20th.
This time, most are expected to be in poor countries like Bangladesh and middle-income countries like Russia. In an effort to cut that number, Mr. Bloomberg’s foundation plans to commit $250 million over four years on top of a $125 million gift he announced two years ago. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is allocating $125 million over five years.
Since 1999, the Gates Foundation has spent more than $2 billion on AIDS programs and about $1.2 billion on malaria. Mr. Gates has just left his Microsoft post for full-time foundation work and said he intends to form partnerships with other philanthropists. …
NY Times – Billionaires Back Antismoking Effort
I first got so tremendously angered when I saw what Big Tobacco was doing in South America to addict a new generation: enticing third world youth to smoke (2006)
I was in healthier-than-thou Vancouver, Canada recently. They still allow smoking in public places indoors.
YUCK.
One of the proofs that we may not be doomed — that the world is getting better — is a reduced smoking rate.
According to Torontoist: “An American study showed that, worldwide, smokers toss at least 4.5 trillion butts on the ground every year, and that’s not only revolting to look at, but causes significant environmental damage. Cigarette filters are made of non-biodegradable polymer acetate (read: plastic), and discarded butts start fires, kill small animals, and are the most common item washing up on beaches. A 2006 City of Toronto litter audit found that cigarette butts were the fourth most common small litter item, after chewing gum, paper, and glass pieces.”
What?
I thought smoking litterbugs were lashed in Singapore. This doesn’t go far enough:
“To maintain the clean and green city, there are strict laws against littering of any kind. First-time offenders face a fine of up to S$1,000. For repeat offenders–it’s a fine of up to S$2,000 and a Corrective Work Order (CWO). The CWO requires litterbugs to spend a few hours cleaning a public place, for example, picking up litter in a park. The litterbugs are made to wear bright jackets, and sometimes, the local media are invited to cover the public spectacle. Naturally, the authorities hope that public shame will make diehard litterbugs think twice about tossing their scrap paper or cigarette butt on the roadside.”
• nuclear war
• civil wars worldwide
• potential pandemics
• child hunger
• overweight and obesity
• increasing gap between richest and poorest
I would spend time and money NOT on solving global warming, but rather:
• education of girls and women
• population control in those parts of the world that need it
• making available safe water to those who need it
• youth work experiences in the developing countries
• anti-smoking measures (those proven to work)
• protecting wilderness
• promoting “voluntary simplicity” and “reduced consumption”
• improving migration of workers to parts of the world that need workers
My main motivation in writing this post is:
“the hypocrisy of western concerns over future global warming disasters, while ignoring the extreme misery and suffering being endured right now in developing countries.”
This guy agrees: Priorities – Can you worry about global warming while your children are dying? » Celsias
Global warming may or may not exist. May or may not have been caused by industrialization. May or may not be changed by future technology.
Don’t talk to me about it until these greater, more urgent global needs are getting more attention.
I’m especially ticked off with those making MONEY by being global warming alarmists.
Those are just a few of the issues more important than global warming to me. Leave a comment if you want to add to the list. Or refute me with hard, reputable scientific evidence that I am wrong. (Don’t mention Dr. Suzuki, please.)
