Today Pajonica posted a message for me on a thread in the rose cubit. Here's what it said:
Zuzu, I guess I owe you something of an apology for my comments last year regarding smokers. I have managed to quit a 40 a day habit and really can't say I don't miss a smoke, I do and possibly will do so for the rest of my life. However I feel it was the right decision for me and my young family. We now face radiation fears and sometimes I think why did I bother? I was a smoker that really resented myself for smoking and that is no reflection on others that do so, just a personal view of myself and the harm I may have done to my wife and kids.
I had no right to criticize other people and in that I am truly sorry.
I used to smoke. Didn't quit for health reasons or because it was what anyone said I should do. I quit because it was so darned expensive at the time, but nowadays the cost of a pack has skyrocketed well beyond what it was when I quit.
My husband still smokes. He doesn't smoke in the house, but I never made him feel guilty about doing it. The idea was his alone. He made the decision because one October about 15 years ago we spiffed up the house, big time! We painted every wall, got new furniture and new carpetting. New drapes. The works. (we got some money from an aunt who died)
Anyway, he had been the only smoker for about the past 20 years. He was shocked when he saw what the smoke had done to the inside of the house! He never realized that everything had a yellowish cast on it until he actually saw what "clean" looked like. He knew it was from the cigarettes. So he decided to smoke only in the basement, the screened in garage or outside. I was glad.
He smokes when I'm around, and it really bothers me when we're in the car. He is a very considerate smoker though. He holds it close to the open window so the smoke will mostly go out of the car.
Nowadays he's the only smoker in our circle of friends. He's considerate of them as well, and they are accomodating to him. We always arrange our chairs so the smoke doesn't waft anyone's way. No one makes him feel that they're uncomfortable. No one says a word to him.
I don't bug him about quitting. He likes it, and I can remember how much I did too.
That's it. I just thought I'd tell you guys because the Site is kind of lonely today and I'm wandering around.
I think that that brownish haze from heavy smoking indoors is why mens dens, studies and libraries were traditionally paneled in dark woods and the furniture was deep colored leathers.
Nancy, considerate non smokers are allowed to visit here But Zuzu will ban any who come in to attack us ... that is if she can get them banned before we torch them with our bic lighters
The site is lonely today and I appreciate the company, Nap. I appreciate your attitude too. If I ever have to stop smoking for some reason, I hope I'll be as thoughtful and generous as you.
Zany, I think you're absolutely right about the dark-paneled rooms for men. I never thought about it, but it makes perfect sense.
I often wonder too, about all those old sepia colored pictures. Some got their color from the processor but I wonder how many others started out as black and white but turned color from exposure to years of smoke. And how many of those cherised old smokey pictures are now proudly hung in non smokers homes, where they have no clue that the color is from the evil smokers of their ancestry.
The best place for a hamburger around here is the Washoe House, a bar-restaurant that's been here forever. It was once a Wells Fargo stagecoach stop and I think it was also a Pony Express stop before that. The ceiling of the bar is completely covered by dollar bills because through the years people have thumbtacked their business cards, attached to dollar bills, to the ceiling and walls. It's so easy to see which ones were added after smoking was outlawed in bars.
Name: Jamie R Zone 5, WI save the rainforest & habitat
No smoking indoors all of Milwaukee and many surrounding communities. Stooopid...in the frozen winter who is more likely to suffer the effects???....second handers or folks pending emphysema standing out in the dry frozen air 40' off property...OH!...and no loitering either soas you must do the Zuzu thing and march in circles. There is talk too of banning smoking in cars because "it is related to accidents"...no talk of banning putting on mascara, eating fast food, fooling with navigation devices or cell phones. But ultimately then, in too many cases, the news will say "the collision was smoking related".
Appears no one here learned statistics.
Woman on the eastbound train
...........................................Je Suis Désolé.
(also a mule lovin', Charley huggin' girl)
Smoking related deaths is an umbrella term that is used by statistical analysis to manipulate the facts. If you smoke and die from heart disease... it is smoking related. If you don't smoke but the neighbor down the street smoked one ciggy in his back yard and the wind was blowing toward you if you have a heart attack...it is smoking related.
If you die of pneumonia and were a smoker...smoking related. If you die of pneumonia and never smoked but bought a car that was previously owned by a smoker you death is still smoking related.
If over 500 people are hospitalized in a month from lung problems caused by mold spores in the air you will be sent home without care or prescriptions because you are a smoker while the other 499 non smokers are hospitalized and treated. They will recover in less than a week while you lay dying of the exact same thing. Your death will be called a smoking related death when in fact it was a case of mal practice.
If you are in a car crash and are a smoker, even if you were not smoking at the time of the crash and you were not the driver...it just had to have been smoking related...
Yep, ya gotta luv the people that put the spin on statistics...
I don't march in circles, Jamie. I wouldn't waste that much effort to comply with a foolish law. I stand in place and just slowly turn in a circle. It usually takes me two or three minutes to complete the circle.
They have banned smoking in cars parked in the parking lots of hospitals and clinics here, but that's mainly because all of the doctors and nurses were running out to smoke in their cars. It's hard to encourage patients to stop smoking when they've just seen a multitude of smokers wearing scrubs in the parking lot.
My favorite, Zany, is when they don't even know the cause of death, but they do know the deceased was a truck driver or a handyman or a Filipino or poor. Then, proceeding from the assumption that people of those categories usually are smokers, they'll say that death was tobacco-related.
There are no unknown cause deaths anymore because any death that is not caused by murder can be listed as "smoking related". and some murders can even be smoking related...the victim was burned from head to foot with a ciggy...=another smoking related death
Naw, them drunk drivers were probably smokin' when the crashed through a wall killing all those non smokers inside the bar...so all their deaths were smoking related.
I had to laugh one day last week when a young man came up to me at the park and started lecturing me about the dangers of smoking...with a joint in his mouth! He felt that it was okay though because his smoke was prescribed!
To Jon
I just thought I'd tell you guys because the Site is kind of lonely today and I'm wandering around.
But Zuzu will ban any who come in to attack us ... that is if she can get them banned before we torch them with our bic lighters 
