• solsangraal@lemmy.zipEnglish
      0·
      3 months ago

      just about as many people smoked as didn’t, back in the day. if you didn’t smoke, you still had ashtrays in the house, for when people came to visit.

      when they first tried to have control smoking on planes, it wasn’t “no smoking at all” it was “let’s at least have a non-smoking section”–it was seen as absurd that there even be a corner of the plane where one couldn’t smoke.

      • i_stole_ur_taco@lemmy.ca
        0·
        3 months ago

        I’ve read that aircraft mechanics were sad when smoking stopped because the nicotine smears on the aircraft were such a good visual clue of where air was leaking and it made theirs jobs a lot easier.

      • TSG_Asmodeus (he, him)@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        3 months ago

        I was on a plane in the very early 90’s, and I remember being about 10 years old and the second the ‘smoking okay’ sign came on, a WALL of smoke rolled back through the curtains that separated the sections.

        • solsangraal@lemmy.zipEnglish
          0·
          3 months ago

          yea, the “non-smoking” bit was a complete joke, especially on planes. restaurants were slightly better, but the smoke still went everywhere

          they had to start somewhere though, and as powerful as big tobacco was at the time, it’s kind of a miracle that they got anything changed at all

        • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          3 months ago

          I first started eating out regularly in the '80s, and even now I will occasionally randomly ask to be seated in a restaurant’s non-smoking section. It’s surreal to think that was ever a thing.

          • Furbag@lemmy.world
            0·
            3 months ago

            I’m starting to forget that these things existed, because I’m old enough to remember a time when there was such a thing as a smoking/non-smoking section in restaurants but it feels like an entire lifetime ago that it was actually relevant to the point now where it would be a massive culture shock to see somebody light up indoors anywhere, let alone in a restaurant.

            I like to point to indoor smoking bans and seatbelt laws as actual evidence of how a culture war backed up with science and facts can be sustained and won even against seemingly insurmountable odds to the benefit of society as a whole. In both of those cases, the data eventually won out against the multibillion dollar industries that were resisting regulation as well as the “muh freedom” crowd.

  • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    3 months ago

    Even though he quit for 2 decades, his days of heavy smoking still got him in the end. Lung cancer got him in his 60s.

  • Serinus@lemmy.world
    0·
    3 months ago

    “and the British discover the child abuse hotline”

    … They sure did. Well done, Andrew.

  • aeronmelon@lemmy.world
    0·
    3 months ago

    Nothing shook me more than watching Tom Brokaw continuously fighting to keep his composure and struggling to find his words during 9/11.