including you? ... yeah. :)

Take a second look of your own avatar, Pookie. :) :) :rolleyes:

You do know that's not me?:rolleyes:

Pithy.

Yeah, but what made you choose it? The coolnesss factor of Beefheart smoking, perhaps?:o :p :rolleyes:

Yes, that's the reason I like Beefheart.:) :confused: :D :(

ONLY STUPID PEOPLE STILL SMOKE
******************************

That is not our words, but the words of one
of the most respected, credentialed lung
surgeons in the world.

And if a man who spends most of his time probing
around the interior cavities of chest
don't impress you, I don't know what to tell you.

But honestly ...
As a smoker, I'm sure you may have felt people
looking down at you

You've seen their eyes dart hesitantly from you
.. maybe you even caught that smirk of disgust
in their face when they saw a butt hanging from
your mouth.

Smoking just isn't cool anymore.
*********************************

Surveys have indicated, prospective employers, friends
and those whom have already quit ... view you as a
vile, inconsiderate, and certainly a cretin from a
prehistoric era ...

and as you know and it JUST isn't fair ..

but .. as you realize ... as much as we
wish we could live in an accepting world ...
people do judge you by the way you look and
your actions....

And many cannot see the distinction between you and
the offending actions of a homeless drunk who lights
up a cigarette and stinks up a subway car.

It just isn't fashionable anymore ....
*****************************************
That cancer stick that was once cool .... might
as well be a gross ...dog's stool.

Although being stupid, none of that will mean anything to a smoker.

who the fuck smokes to be "cool"?

Sorry. For those who do it for health reasons.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death and was among the first diseases causally linked to smoking.
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death, and cigarette smoking causes most cases.
Compared to nonsmokers, men who smoke are about 23 times more likely to develop lung cancer and women who smoke are about 13 times more likely. zSB(3,3)
Smoking causes about 90% of lung cancer deaths in men and almost 80% in women. In 2003, an estimated 171,900 new cases of lung cancer occurred and approximately 157,200 people died from lung cancer.
The 2004 Surgeon General's report adds more evidence to previous conclusions that smoking causes cancers of the oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, esophagus, lung and bladder.
Cancer-causing agents (carcinogens) in tobacco smoke damage important genes that control the growth of cells, causing them to grow abnormally or to reproduce too rapidly.
Cigarette smoking is a major cause of esophageal cancer in the United States. Reductions in smoking and smokeless tobacco use could prevent many of the approximately 12,300 new cases and 12,100 deaths from esophgeal cancer that occur annually.
The combination of smoking and alcohol consumption causes most laryngeal cancer cases. In 2003, an estimated 3800 deaths occurred from laryngeal cancer.
In 2003, an estimated 57,400 new cases of bladder cancer were diagnosed and an estimated 12,500 died from the disease.
For smoking-attributable cancers, the risk generally increases with the number of cigarettes smoked and the number of years of smoking, and generally decreases after quitting completely.
Smoking cigarettes that have a lower yield of tar does not substantially reduce the risk for lung cancer.
Cigarette smoking increases the risk of developing mouth cancers. This risk also increases among people who smoke pipes and cigars.
Reductions in the number of people who smoke cigarettes, pipes, cigars, and other tobacco products or use smokeless tobacco could prevent most of the estimated 30,200 new cases and 7,800 deaths from oral cavity and pharynx cancers annually in the United States.

I do of course know that not all smokers are stupid.

It's more about denial and in particular, optimistic bias, ie people know the risks of something, but don't see it as applying to them.

Hence, you're doing something that will definitely have an adverse affect on your health, and will quite possibly kill you, and yet you will still have discussions about which brand you smoke.

A form of stupidity I suppose.

damn pleasure...

See.

i remember a previous thread about smoking or smoking habits and Pookie made a comment similar to the first one he made here... at that time, he had this avatar:

And your point is...?

Well, I wrote the first sentence, put the picture, started to think about what my point was and what I would put as a conclusion under the picture, but then my boss came into my office and i hit "submit reply".

Don't worry, as soon as I have found a point to my post, I will come back to you.

I guess my "point" was that you always seem to be the only one with a guy smoking and looking cool while smoking in you avatar when you are ranting against smoking in a thread about smoking and full of smokers, and i thought it was funny... (if the verb to rant has a negative connotation, you can replace it with a more neutral word).

At least, I can assure you that I'm not implying that you like Hazlewood because of the coolness factor of him smoking.

The good thing about Pookie is that you can joke with him. If i had asked that question to certain other posters, no doubt it would have turned into a slanging match, and all because they would have failed to notice the humour.

I'm boring and smoke Marlboro Lights.. sorry, Golds.. I think they're not legally allowed to be called "Light" any more.

No, I definitely rant when it comes to smoking:) .

I think it's quite funny that the two smoking threads where I've had my biggest rants have occurred the two times I've had somebody smoking in my avatar. Both pictures I think are very cool incidentally, but that has no bearing on my opinion of smoking.

What I get annoyed about is how unnecessary smoking is, and again how much denial is necessary for you to continue. Of course people are aware of the dangers, otherwise there wouldn't be need for denial.

My mum's friend died recently from lung cancer, and her wish was to stay alive long enough to see her granddaughter born (she did, only just). If she hadn't smoked, she could possibly have watched her grow up as well.

The mind boggles at the pointlessness of it, as if you don't have enough chucked at you throughout your life, you have to inflict suffering on yourself (and others, but we'll leave passive smoking...for now;) ).

You were joking?

In that case, apologies for the neg rep I gave you.:o