Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Smoking around the world

ourworldindata.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 136 posts

Re: Smoking around the world

#111

Post by KozmoNau7 »

Kurtz79 wrote: post #103
mtrovo wrote: post #92

I remember one of the big chocks for me when I arrived in Germany from Brazil was to see how common is to see people smoking, not only in the street, but inside bars, clubs. My state in Brazil banned cigarettes inside buildings when I was very young so going out and coming back smelling like a chimney was like going back in time.

Not sure how it is now, but when visiting Germany a few years ago it was also weird to see tobacco normally advertised on billboards, while it is illegal in most EU countries.

Germany has toned it down a lot, but they still have cigarette vending machine at most train stations and randomly scattered around towns, at least in southern Germany.

Re: Smoking around the world

#112

Post by chosenbreed »

nvarsj wrote: post #94
notyourwork wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate to say it but generally people are overweight because they eat more than they should. Not much more to it for majority of the overweight population. Exercise is great but lack of it isn’t the obesity drover.

Well, there's a darker side to that as well. Obesity is a problem for low income people - because cheap food is usually terrible for you - high calories, high salt, high fat and easy to eat a lot of. Think of your typical fast food - the amount of calories that can be bought for a few dollars. Same with soft drinks. Shaming people who get large might be one strategy, but we also need to stop the fast food peddlers th…

> Well, there's a darker side to that as well. Obesity is a problem for low income people - because cheap food is usually terrible for you - high calories, high salt, high fat and easy to eat a lot of. Think of your typical fast food - the amount of calories that can be bought for a few dollars. Same with soft drinks. Shaming people who get large might be one strategy, but we also need to stop the fast food peddlers that make it so easy, cheap, and addictive.

Possibly...I see it more as a matter of education and at the end of the day personal choice. I suspect that for the price of a basic McDonald's meal you could get enough potatoes/pasta, cheese and frozen peas to feed an entire family.

I concur with your thoughts on the addictive nature of some of the foods. But that is slightly misleading. Generally speaking our bodies enjoy fat, sugar, etc no need to fight it. Again I'd rather focus on empowering (or at least trying to) people to make informed decisions regardless of what's being peddled at them ;-)

Re: Smoking around the world

#113

Post by manomanowicz »

Kurtz79 wrote: post #103
mtrovo wrote: post #92

I remember one of the big chocks for me when I arrived in Germany from Brazil was to see how common is to see people smoking, not only in the street, but inside bars, clubs. My state in Brazil banned cigarettes inside buildings when I was very young so going out and coming back smelling like a chimney was like going back in time.

Not sure how it is now, but when visiting Germany a few years ago it was also weird to see tobacco normally advertised on billboards, while it is illegal in most EU countries.

Going there recently, I was shocked by the mechanical cigarette dispensers by every checkout lane in the supermarket and the large bags of tobacco openly displayed on shelves for sale on the other side of checkout lane.

Contrast that with the UK where tobacco is hidden behind shutters and only available from a separate kiosk area.

I wonder if having it openly displayed at checkouts removes the mystery (and hence its appeal) or just serves to make it an impulse purchase?

Re: Smoking around the world

#114

Post by nkozyra »

dfee wrote: post #49
nkozyra wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well at minimum we mostly know that alcohol and tobacco are on the higher level on the "harm" spectrum than other illegal drugs. My takeaway is American drug usage has been shaped by a lot of socio economic factors that do not have human or societal health ramifications. There needs to be a total, science-backed overhaul of drug policy for this reason.

> Well at minimum we mostly know that alcohol and tobacco are on the higher level on the "harm" spectrum than other illegal drugs. I don’t know who “we” is, but don’t count me in that group. https://unitedrecoveryproject.com/10-most-dangerous-drugs/ And that’s by frequency. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/from-krokodi... That’s by potency. Sure. Don’t get me wrong. Nicotine is bad for you, so is Alcoh…

> I don’t know who “we” is, but don’t count me in that group.

Your article supports my premise.

If you need me to post people doing horrible things while drunk or tobacco related death statistics I'm happy to do so as a counterargument.

Re: Smoking around the world

#115

Post by KozmoNau7 »

elorant wrote: post #20

I quit the damn thing some 13 years ago and I've never looked back since. Best decision I've ever made. Earned back my life, I'm in my mid forties and my physical endurance is way better than what it was in my twenties. The thing that most smokers don't realize is that smoking is like taking heroin. You're addicted to a substance that's slowly and silently killing you. Just a couple of years ago I lost a very good fr…

My dad smoked from he was 16 until around 46 in 2003, when he suffered a (mild) heart attack. He had surgery and a stent put in, and completely quit smoking.

After a short recovery, it was like he was 10 years younger. Previously he would get winded just from tying his shoelaces, a combined effect of the smoking and constricted blood flow.

After recovering, it was like he got a new lease on life, he started getting into cooking healthier food, he started exercising and he even started playing the drums again. He's never been particularly open about his feelings, but I think it was a real eye opener for him, to face his own mortality and realizing that he'd been working way too much and not taking proper care of himself. His own dad died around the same age, also from a heart attack, which also made me realize that I have to watch my cholesterol and exercise more.

My dad turns 61 this October, and he's doing better than ever, fit as a fiddle, goes running and swimming every week. I'm glad he got a relatively mild warning and heeded it, otherwise he probably wouldn't be here today. And I'm glad medical technology had advanced to a point where they could save him, unlike his dad.

Re: Smoking around the world

#116

Post by KozmoNau7 »

eadmund wrote: post #75
ams6110 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My dad was a smoker most of his life. He quit in his 50s. Years later I asked him if he missed it, and his answer was "every single day."

I love tobacco. It smells wonderful (no, not cigarettes: tobacco itself, as anyone who's ever smelt pipe smoke will confirm). It tastes delicious (albeit not as good as it smells). It feels wonderful. It even cuts down on appetite, which is a plus in this day and age! I quit smoking for love, but I miss it every time I think of it. Nonsmokers have no idea what they're missing. It's sheer bliss. The sooner we can figu…

I really enjoy the smell of pipe tobacco, and some pipe smoke is actually rather pleasing.

Personally I would still never smoke, if nothing else because I've had to clean out the tar and gunk from old televisions and stuff. That shit is nasty.

Re: Smoking around the world

#117

Post by chosenbreed »

point78 wrote: post #74

Very disappointed in EU here! Such a disgusting habit that kills and leads to large quality of life loss later in life. Needs to be severely reduced or banned altogether. Seeing 15 year olds smoke is a huge societal failure.

> Very disappointed in EU here! Such a disgusting habit that kills and leads to large quality of life loss later in life I agree in part but the libertarian in me thinks that people should be free to do what they want to their bodies provided it is not at the expense of society as a whole. For example banning smoking in offices, public buildings, spaces, etc is a good thing. Banning people from smoking in their own garden is not.

> Seeing 15 year olds smoke is a huge societal failure. Yes and no. General trends suggest they are smoking less and drinking less alcohol compared to previous generations. It probably just stands out more relative to the general population. Alas, youth is lost on the young :-)

Re: Smoking around the world

#118

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

geomark wrote: post #84
TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Colour me highly in accurate! I sit not just corrected, but fairly shocked.

I was also a bit shocked when I saw how high the Personal Belief Exemption was in some counties. Above 5% unvaccinated pretty much destroys herd immunity. So most of northern California is a no-go zone for people who appreciate the value of herd immunity. What I have not seen, but would like to, is data for other states.

I’m in Australia so:

One in 10 Australian parents believe that vaccines can cause autism, and a another 30 per cent are unsure

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-08/children-without-va...

Re: Smoking around the world

#119

Post by hfdgiutdryg »

nvarsj wrote: post #94
notyourwork wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate to say it but generally people are overweight because they eat more than they should. Not much more to it for majority of the overweight population. Exercise is great but lack of it isn’t the obesity drover.

Well, there's a darker side to that as well. Obesity is a problem for low income people - because cheap food is usually terrible for you - high calories, high salt, high fat and easy to eat a lot of. Think of your typical fast food - the amount of calories that can be bought for a few dollars. Same with soft drinks. Shaming people who get large might be one strategy, but we also need to stop the fast food peddlers th…

high calories, high salt, high fat

None of those are bad things (except salt if you have existing health conditions, and even then it may be a lack of potassium rather than an excess of salt). The single worst part of fast food is probably the sugar content. Mostly soda, but it's also added to nearly everything (a fast food bun I had the other day was ridiculously sweet).

Before WWII, the US was primarily an agricultural economy. People worked hard, without much automation, and food was comparatively expensive. IMO lack of physical exertion is a huge part of the problem, if only because of the discipline it builds and the reduced opportunities to snack.

Re: Smoking around the world

#120

Post by hfdgiutdryg »

pg314 wrote: post #72
briandear wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except people have no problem making snide comments to smokers when they are smoking outside of a building, but there’d be all sorts of #meTooImFat outrage if you started tsk-tsking fat people eating ice cream. However, it really isn’t anyone’s business if I’m fat. You could argue health insurance is a shared risk pool, but under that logic, we’d be giving the government the right to dictate every aspect of your life…

> It could get absurd, but the moment you let the government control even something small, it just keeps growing until we are quite literally Nazi germany where only “ideal” people are allowed to breed or receive permission to open businesses or get desirable jobs. You are making a non-sensical slippery slope argument. Heroin has been prohibited for a long time in the US, yet it hasn't turned into Nazi Germany.

On the other hand, many of the worst parts of our society have come about as a direct result of drug prohibition. Police corruption and empowerment of drug cartels to name two.
Post reply on HN