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The Disappearance of the Ashtray

clivethompson.medium.com

661–668 of 668 posts

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#661
post #654
post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This narrow view of addiction is also missing the fact that smoking has many positive effects. I smoked from age 13 to age 38, and I’m pretty sure smoking made my life better overall. Besides allowing me to socialize more easily, it’s an incredibly potent stress reliever which allowed me to deal with sensory overload and other stressors (I’m autistic). Nothing comes even close to how quickly it can defuse stressful s…

Is the benefit specific to cigarettes, or does gum/lozenges give you the same stress benefit reduction?

Cigarettes, 100%. gums are not fun and really just help avoid the withdrawal.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#662

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the other hand, being constantly ostracised from public spaces isn’t great either… something I find infuriating when I travel abroad. If there were at least a few smoking bars where you don’t have to go out into the cold to smoke I think that would be nice.

[flagged]

Please don't break the site guidelines like this. You may not owe cancer-causing habit-holders better, but you owe this community better if you're participating in it.

If you'd please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules when posting here, we'd appreciate it.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#663
post #465

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll never forget the cigarette vending machines that were in the entrance area of every supermarket around here in the 1970s and 1980s. They had very distinctive clear acrylic "knobs" attached to long metal rods, that you would pull to dispense a pack of cigarettes after depositing money. It was a design unlike any other vending machine I've ever seen.

Something like this: [1]? Not sure if those are in fact not clear acrylic, or just grimed up. [1]: https://whereandwander.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Vintag...

That's it, though those knobs do look a bit different from what I remember.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#664
post #192
post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The 60s is hardly the birth of passenger aviation. Just among currently operating airlines… KLM 1919, Qantas 1920 Aeroflot (and several other European flag carriers) 1923, Delta 1925

Like, this is what the actual early days of the airlines looked like; https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ab/St...

What a beautiful picture, thank you.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#665
post #7

It's tough to portray just how ubiquitous smoking was to a modern audience. You would go to a restaurant and the first thing your hostess would ask is "smoking or non"? I remember standing in a checkout line in the 80s as a child and being fascinated with the billowing clouds of smoke an old lady blew. I remember coming home from bars reeking of smoke, even though I didn't. Even teachers had their own lounges that re…

Yeah, smoking was everywhere. I remember flying when you could smoke. But the main thing is the smell of stale cigarette smoke was just like this undercurrent of any public place you went. Everyone's car. Churches. Everywhere it was that smell. Also at least where I was in KS, store clerks didn't give a crap. We could buy smokes in middle school if we wanted. Thankfully I never did more than a brief fascination with…

I was a kid during that time and even though I didn't smoke I only started to smell this when I was out of contact with cigarettes smoke for a week. My senses adapted quickly back in smoking environment and I couldn't smell the stench any more.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#666

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Red herring. It's an explicit right to own firearms in the US. No one has a right to smoke next to a child explicitly listed in a founding document. This is why any gun related restriction gets stiff resistance. Contrast this with smoking - generally seen as a social blight. They're not comparable issues at all.

Both speak to the ignorance and "closed-mindedness" Americans are known for, however I see your point. That said, it's worth noting that those who fight for gun rights "because it's in the constitution" are themselves engaging in logical fallacy (appeal to tradition, I believe), and ignoring relevant facts such as the ever-decreasing relevance of firearms in everyday life, and the reduced ability of mere firearms to…

There aren't that many people who fight for gun rights "because it's in the Constitution". The vast majority of guns rights advocates own and enjoy using their guns. Their argument is "don't take my rights away". The "It's in the constitution" line is a talking point. There's more to this issue than our news organizations would let us believe.

Firearms have an important role for people who live in remote places - security and food being the most important.

Aside from these reasons, there are many ethical reasons to participate in hunting seasons. Just one example, look up chronic wasting disease in Northern Wisconsin - this prion disease among white tail deer happened because the population became too large in those areas.

The ten most populous cities in the US are where the majority of gun violence occur. Perhaps it's better, then, that these places have more gun restrictions than the people who live in remote places.

In a sense this is actually a cultural issue

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#667
post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Commercial aviation in the 60's was quite safe. Of course there were plenty of issues but the truly dangerous era was the preceding decades. The 747 dates from the very late 60's for example and that's an extremely safe plane. Conversely the 50's was a much scarier decade as commercial jet engines were in a fairly experimental decade.

The 60s is hardly the birth of passenger aviation. Just among currently operating airlines… KLM 1919, Qantas 1920 Aeroflot (and several other European flag carriers) 1923, Delta 1925

Fair enough. I was thinking purely of the jet era, since that's what we're still in, of course, and where the most passengers could be disturbed by smokers. Since you meant the real early days of aviation, I would of course agree that the concerns of passengers back then were much greater than someone smoking.

Re: The Disappearance of the Ashtray

#668
post #49
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm glad I got that choice of breathing my dads secondhand smoke growing up! Um...

he made that choice for you. children have choices made for them in droves. children rarely have the ability -- or are given the opportunity -- to make choices for themselves. Not a lot of infants going around asking for circumcisions and ear-piercings, but...

> Not a lot of infants going around asking for circumcisions and ear-piercings, but...

Those are wrong too, what's your point?

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