[thechat] Smoking in the US

[rudy]

> I heard somewhere that cigarette smoking
> is on the decline in the USA. Is this true?

correct, with an accuracy of 5 to 10 percent, 19 out of 20 times

> Asia, however, continues to see more and more people smoking.
> Pity, really.

dude, you obviously never smoked

it is a question of balance, a give and take, as it were

you trade the hit of each smoke for the reduction in life expectancy

asians, inscrutable and wise beyond measure, know this

let me tell you a story

there's this guy i've known since one sunny winter sunday some time back in
the 80's, who was with a few other guys playing pickup football on a sunday
morning, as was i, with a different group of guys, and on this day both
groups happened to go to the same field at the same time

since football players who are willing to go out and play in winter are hard
to find, we two groups of guys continued to play together each sunday from
then on, and that's how i met tobacco john, front row, second from left, in
the picture on this page: http://rudy.ca/Aaaaah2.cfm

john used to run with the hell's angels, has been in jail (he's hard to pin
down on the actual number of times, and nobody tries), has worked many
trades, including asbestos removal, for which, according to john, he has
the highest number of "contaminated hours" in the province of ontario, which
keeps track of these things, because of workers' compensation laws

asbestos, as you may know, causes various lung diseases, and workers whose
job it is to remove the asbestos insulation from schools and other buildings
are exposed to it in volumes far exceeding the occupants of those buildings
ever were

on top of this, john smokes three packs of Export A's a day (hence his
nickname, tobacco john), and drinks a two-four every two days, if that

he's over 50, he's had a couple of strokes, his doctors told him he's only
got half a kidney out of the two he started with, but let me tell you, even
if you are lucky enough to catch a pass when he's covering you, he will
chase you down ruthlessly as you run for the end zone, and more often than
not he will catch you

smoking kills?

not tobacco john

not yet


rudy