Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!sdcsvax!sdccsu3!ee163cz From: ee163cz@sdccsu3.UUCP Newsgroups: net.flame Subject: Smokers (a subject to flame about) Message-ID: <741@sdccsu3.UUCP> Date: Sun, 12-Jun-83 13:14:26 EDT Article-I.D.: sdccsu3.741 Posted: Sun Jun 12 13:14:26 1983 Date-Received: Mon, 13-Jun-83 19:41:18 EDT Lines: 40 We shouldn't really have to discuss whether second-hand smoke is hazardous--IT'S ANNOYING! Smoking is a disgusting practice which provides, at no extra cost, a considerable nuisance for anyone with a functional nose who has the misfortune to be downwind of the smoker. Smokers pollute not only the air but also the sidewalks--just look at the ground near any bus stop! This could provide considerable extra income for cities: most cities have laws against littering, and anyone who smokes in public without benefit of an ashtray is clearly littering, and should be fined. The world is full of clods who insist on smoking, playing radios loudly, etc., without regard for the rights of others NOT to participate. (Speaking of radios, have you noticed that those 'personal stereos' are often audible from the far side of a busy street?) As for Tim Marony's line about smokers going to jail if smoking were illegal: rubbish! The penalty would most likely be a fine. Actually, the penalty will most likely be nothing at all. The tobacco lobby is powerful. San Diego has three separate laws prohibiting certain common activities on buses: radio or tape playing ($500/6 months), eating ($500/6 months), and smoking ($15). Yes, folks, down here you can go to jail for eating, but never for smoking. (The penalties mentioned are approximate--I'm not on the bus right now, so I don't have the signs in front of me.) Creative suggestion time: smokers might be encouraged to quit in the same way that Tylenol users were. If an army of deranged anti-smokers were to start tampering with cigarettes and returning them to shelves... hmmm... cyanide wouldn't work; it burns (see, however, British patent 11419/1902). A trace of nickel mixed with the tobacco might have interesting results (nickel, hot carbon monoxide, ... nickel carbonyl...), but might not be promptly linked to the cigarettes. Organophosphorus pesticides, arsenical weed-killers, selenium (from old rectifiers?)... the possibilities are endless. Please *don't* write to me about this... I'll wait to read about it in the papers, and besides, I was only joking, and it's not my fault if some lunatic didn't realize that.... Randomly, F. J. Gumby sdcsvax!sdccsu3!ee163cz until ~6/17