4 ms·

Our grandchildren will look at old films of people blithely walking around next to internal combustion vehicles and laugh in mild horror, much as we look back o

Our grandchildren will look at old films of people blithely walking around next to internal combustion vehicles and laugh in mild horror, much as we look back on images of parents puffing away on cigarettes next to a child.

annoyingnoob 6y ago
My dad smoked 2 pack a day, I hated it. He was an early riser and by the time I got out of bed there was a haze hanging in the kitchen/dining room, everyday for most of my childhood. On the bright side, I wanted nothing to do with cigarettes from a young age. I took the family to Europe in 2019, in terms of smokers and smoking it was like going back in time compared to the US.
- jacquesm 6y ago
  That depends very much on which country you visit.
  - samatman 6y ago
    It does, if you count Sweden at 8% of adults. I figure it's because of snus, which is smart on them; I'll always have a soft spot for the stuff, because it got me off cigarettes. Every other country in the EU has a higher adult smoking rate than the 14% in the US; second place is UK at 17%.
    - thatwasunusual 6y ago
      It also depends on where you come from. As an example, US is also 14%-ish smokers.
      - vitus 6y ago
        Well, it also depends where in the US you come from. California is 11%, West Virginia is 25%. I'm sure the disparities are even greater when you look at smaller populations (e.g. county, metro, city, etc). https://www.cdc.gov/statesystem/cigaretteuseadult.html https://www.cdc.gov/statesystem/cigaretteuseadult.html
    - tonyedgecombe 6y ago
      There has been a remarkable decline in the UK, I assume it's similar elsewhere: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/risk/tobacco#heading-Three https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-...
- Igelau 6y ago
  I almost took up smoking so I could get into a higher vaccine phase. The irony of smoking for my own health! Thankfully I was able to find a clinic that had an unexpected opening and no arm to put the thawed out shot into.
- peferron 6y ago
  > I took the family to Europe in 2019, in terms of smokers and smoking it was like going back in time compared to the US. Last time we went back to France, we took the kid to the playground and adults were smoking a few meters away from the slides. After double-checking that there was indeed a sign indicating that smoking was forbidden, I told them to step and they did, but apparently nobody else cared. I haven't see that happen yet in the SF Bay. Obviously though, we get wildfire smoke for several months, and right after that people start burning wood in their open fireplaces for winter, so it's not all rosy either.
floren 6y ago
Go to a car show and get a whiff of some pre-1970s cars driving around. Now imagine if every car on the road was like that. I can't imagine the stench of a city before the introduction of catalytic converters.
- ic0n0cl4st 6y ago
  Looking at pictures of highways from before caralytic converters and you notice that each lane had a pure black stripe from the exhaust.
- annoyingnoob 6y ago
  Worse the gasoline was leaded. Plus gas stations did not have vapor recovery systems and gas stations were pretty stinky places.
- fuzzfactor 6y ago
  You should have gotten a whiff Baton Rouge in the 1970's. With the large refinery making fuel for far more vehicles than this one moderate-sized city could ever use. And with orders of magnitude more emissions than the same noticeably smelly facilities today.

annoyingnoob 6y ago

My dad smoked 2 pack a day, I hated it. He was an early riser and by the time I got out of bed there was a haze hanging in the kitchen/dining room, everyday for most of my childhood. On the bright side, I wanted nothing to do with cigarettes from a young age. I took the family to Europe in 2019, in terms of smokers and smoking it was like going back in time compared to the US.

jacquesm 6y ago
That depends very much on which country you visit.
- samatman 6y ago
  It does, if you count Sweden at 8% of adults. I figure it's because of snus, which is smart on them; I'll always have a soft spot for the stuff, because it got me off cigarettes. Every other country in the EU has a higher adult smoking rate than the 14% in the US; second place is UK at 17%.
  - thatwasunusual 6y ago
    It also depends on where you come from. As an example, US is also 14%-ish smokers.
    - vitus 6y ago
      Well, it also depends where in the US you come from. California is 11%, West Virginia is 25%. I'm sure the disparities are even greater when you look at smaller populations (e.g. county, metro, city, etc). https://www.cdc.gov/statesystem/cigaretteuseadult.html https://www.cdc.gov/statesystem/cigaretteuseadult.html
  - tonyedgecombe 6y ago
    There has been a remarkable decline in the UK, I assume it's similar elsewhere: https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-statistics/risk/tobacco#heading-Three https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/health-professional/cancer-...
Igelau 6y ago
I almost took up smoking so I could get into a higher vaccine phase. The irony of smoking for my own health! Thankfully I was able to find a clinic that had an unexpected opening and no arm to put the thawed out shot into.
peferron 6y ago
> I took the family to Europe in 2019, in terms of smokers and smoking it was like going back in time compared to the US. Last time we went back to France, we took the kid to the playground and adults were smoking a few meters away from the slides. After double-checking that there was indeed a sign indicating that smoking was forbidden, I told them to step and they did, but apparently nobody else cared. I haven't see that happen yet in the SF Bay. Obviously though, we get wildfire smoke for several months, and right after that people start burning wood in their open fireplaces for winter, so it's not all rosy either.

floren 6y ago

Go to a car show and get a whiff of some pre-1970s cars driving around. Now imagine if every car on the road was like that. I can't imagine the stench of a city before the introduction of catalytic converters.

ic0n0cl4st 6y ago
Looking at pictures of highways from before caralytic converters and you notice that each lane had a pure black stripe from the exhaust.
annoyingnoob 6y ago
Worse the gasoline was leaded. Plus gas stations did not have vapor recovery systems and gas stations were pretty stinky places.
fuzzfactor 6y ago
You should have gotten a whiff Baton Rouge in the 1970's. With the large refinery making fuel for far more vehicles than this one moderate-sized city could ever use. And with orders of magnitude more emissions than the same noticeably smelly facilities today.