Smoking Log

I like the name of this log The Smoking Log. It sounds like a novel.
Enter comments about smoking (good, bad or indifferent) here.

<< 01/2006 < 11/2006 Calendar 02/2007 > 01/2008 >>Sign InView Other Logs
Mon 
01/22/2007 23:11:56
 becky  Over 5,000 people laid off in Vegas
Due to the smoking ban.
Bar owners are giving patrons menus from neighboring restaurants, but they say they are far from supporting the law.
According to the owner of the Inn Zone, "Its unfair, because the law is supposed to save children, but children don't go to bars, they go to casinos where they have movies, and play areas. It should have targeted casinos and not bars.".
Thu 
12/21/2006 17:47:15
 jim  The Smoking Law took Effect
Ahhhhh...I'm glad to hear it. That makes Nevada the toughest state in the US on smoking.
The law says smoking will be allowed in:
1) Casinos 2) Stand alone bars 3) Strip clubs/brothels 4) Tobacco stores 5) Private residences.
This law will hurt small businesses, and it will probably hurt big businesses too.
Smoking in hotel rooms will be banned.
Our chain smoking Asian and European tourist are going to love that!
Abraham Lincoln said the best way to get rid of a bad law is to enforce it strictly.
My biggest gripe is this law will mess up the only to places I go to relax at: The Blue Ox and The Copper Keg.
Thats okay. I'll just go to the casinos to relax.
It is interesting though, that the law was passed by 3% (12,000) votes, which is about .4% of Nevadas population.
Mon 
12/04/2006 12:43:09
 Jim  Big business, small business, and logic
Friday, the indoor clean air act takes force in Nevada.
In my mind, the law was put to vote without any thought about its corrupt nature or its consequences.
If the law included casinos and strip clubs, I'd be fine with it, but it didn't.
The point is:
- No thought was given to the people who will be over the DUI limit, because the bar couldn't serve food.
- No thought was given to the enforcement of this law.
- No decisions were given to the small businesses that have to declare themselves as "Supper Clubs" to exist.
- It is blatently illogical
You can smoke in casinos and strip clubs, but not in bars. What's the difference?
Small bars aren't throwing big money at the politicians? They can't afford it?
Any law that favors big business, and bullies small businesses into extinction should be, in itself, illegal.
However, the Nevada Supreme Court doesn't care about that.
It is a stupid law, that bullys over 50% of local bar patrons.
It also puts 8 hookah bars out of business who have business licenses here in Clark County.
My real fear is:
With a stroke of a pen, my business could be destroyed.

One possible action small bar patrons could take this Friday
- Go from one bar to another.
- In each bar, light a cigarette.
- When the bartender informs you its against the law, tell him to call the police (311).
- Move on to the next bar.
The facts are:
- Most smokers will never get cancer from smoking.
  The estimates run from 1% to 12% depending on who is giving the estimate. Look it up.
  My grandfather died at 93. My dad died at 83.
  I should mention that most smokers will almost surely develop emphysema.
  Smoking is very bad for your health.

In Nevada, there are enough stupid laws on the books.
- One of them is, if you want to get a business licenses as a limo service,
   you have to get approved by other limo businesses.
Thu 
11/16/2006 15:24:25
 Jim  I’ve read some good things about Chantix
Its supposed to help 1 out of 5 smokers quit, by both blocking nicotine absorption into the brain, and by satisfying the craving for it. It joins Zyban for quit smoking drugs.
Unfortunately, it costs $4 a day ($128 a month).
For me, without insurance, that goes up to $8 ($256 a month), due to needing a prescription.
When you consider we have two smokers in the house, its not a viable solution.
I can't find it in the underworld of  pharmaceutical drugs yet. Maybe in a few months it will be available for $1 a day.
Since Chantix's success rate is only a marginal gain over Zyban for smoking cessation
And its SO EXPENSIVE, I think I'm going to go with Zyban.
Zyban can be purchased from this link Offshorerx.com for what amounts to $60 a month.
An article by Phyzer says only 1 out of 20 smokers who try to quit smoking succeed without aid.
Thu 
11/16/2006 14:43:34
 Jim  Why Wear Seatbelts?
From :whyquit.com
Today there are nearly 50,000,000 smokers in the United States, which is nearly 20% of our entire population.
If 20% of the 42,191 who died in 1998 automobile accidents were smokers,
your chances of dying from smoking are 50 times greater than being killed in a car accident. 
With those kind of odds, why even wear a seatbelt?
With 220,000 middle aged smokers dying this year, each an average of 22.5 years early, wouldn't it make more sense to sell the seatbelts and the airbags and use the money for a down payment on a coffin.  Seriously!  Have you ever been coffin shopping?  It's a real eye opener - so many colors and lots of styles.  Save your family the hassle!  Plan and pay for your own early funeral now.
I just went to the above sight for some tips to quit smoking.
Instead, I find myself reading blatent propaganda.
That sucks!
Did I read that article right?
Are they telling, not only smokers, but EVERYBODY to not wear their seat belts.
I did some simple math on these numbers.
Lets to some math...what do you say?
- The average life span in the US is said to be 76 years old.
- There are 300,000,000 people in the US.
So, 300,000,000 / 76 = 3,947,368 people die every year. That was easy.
The article says 220,000 people die of smoking each year.
So, of the deaths that occur each year, what percentage is smokers?
Simple, divide 220,000 / 3,947,368 and muliply by 100...
ANSWER: 5% of deaths each year are caused by smoking.
Thu 
11/16/2006 09:38:02
 Jim  Smokers are beaten. Its hard to quit.
I'd compare the addiction to breathing. When you don't get oxygen, you go nuts!
Why did it get so popular in the first place?
I'd imagine the cause was greed.
Smokers have been over taxed and under compensated. That adds up to a lot of money.

The following are some statistics I gathered from the internet
If you believe what you read, this is how statistics fit together.
Taxes: There are 44 million people in the US smoking 1 pack a day. They pay $1 a pack in taxes to the state.
So 44 million people x $1 a day x 365 days = Smokers pay $16 billion dollars in state taxes a year.
Social Security Retirement: The Average life span is 76 years. Smokers live 17 years less than non smokers.
So most smokers die by their 59th birthdays. Smokers rarely get Social Security Benefits.
Social Security and Medicare have taxed 15% of every dollar I've ever made. That will all go to non smokers.
This sad commentary is interesting:
From www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov
Despite a widespread cessation in smoking over the past several decades, there has been no significant decline in death rates from lung cancer among former smokers, according to a new study (Epidemiology 1999;10:500-12).
So, given my own collection of information from the web:
- I'm going to die early even if I quit.
- Insurance won't touch me.
- I won't get a job.
- I'll die before retirement.
- I won't get Social Security benefits
- I won't get that 15% in FICA paid throughout my life.
In short: I'm going to die poor, hated, sick, and cheated.
My course of action can only be one thing:
Quit smoking, and lie about ever having smoked.
Thu 
11/16/2006 07:59:40
 sae  Howling again....
Hate stoking the fire, but look at this Jimmy.... I think you just need to give up cigs, and you won't feel so upset over these laws: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Insurance/InsureYourHealth/HighCostOfSmoking.aspx
Mon 
11/13/2006 15:49:06
 Jim  Consumer Freedom - Put to a Vote
Can 20,000 votes out of Nevada's 2.4 million people take away individual freedom.
- take away a business's right to decide what his customers want?
- take away a consumer's rights to choose what he buys
There are 1.8 million people over 18 in Nevada. 20,00 votes allowed Question 5 to pass.

What really bothers me about Question 5 is what it does to free enterprise.
A line is being crossed here that is dangerous. Today, the smokers are the targets.
Do you like your steak medium rare? Do you like hot coffee? How about beer?
Its forseeable that fatty foods, drinking, obesity, even illegal immigration could all be construed as being harmful to your health. How many jobs have to be lost before Americans wake up?
Destroy freedom and you destroy what this nation is all about.

Free Enterprise - How it is supposed to work
The following is an excerpt from socialstudieshelp.com
The U.S. economic system of free enterprise operates according to five main principles: the freedom to choose our businesses, the right to private property, the profit motive, competition, and consumer sovereignty.

Freedom to Choose Our Businesses
In this country, the decision whether or not you should go into computer services or any other kind of enterprise (business) is basically yours alone to make. You will decide what fees to charge and what hours to work. Certain laws prohibit you from cheating or harming your customers or other people.
But, in general, you will be left alone to run your business as you see fit.

Right to Private Property
Private property is a piece of land, a home, or a car owned by an individual, a family, or a group. It differs from a public building, or public property, such as the city hall, a park, or a highway, all of which provide a government service for all citizens. In the U.S. economic system, people's right to buy and sell private property is guaranteed by law. People must use the property in safe and reasonable ways, of course. In setting up computer systems for your customers, for example, you do not have the right to interfere with the electrical, telephone, or computer systems of other people.

Profit Motive
The main reason why you or any enterprising person organizes a business is to make money. You do this by earning more money than you spend. The amount of money left over after subtracting your business expenses from your business income is known as your profit. In the free enterprise system, business firms try hard to keep costs down and increase their income from sales. The better they succeed at this, the higher are their profits. Economists describe the efforts by business firms to earn the greatest profits as the profit motive.

Competition
Just as you are free to start a computer business, so is everyone else. The rivalry between sellers in the same field for consumers' dollars is called competition. If your business is profitable, it is likely that others will enter the same business hoping to be as successful as you are. They will be competing with you for the same customers. To win a share of the computer business, other sellers may try to offer more and better services, or services at lower prices. Because of the pressure of competition, business firms must constantly try to provide the best services and create the best products at the lowest possible prices.

Consumer Sovereignty
In the end, it is the customers, or consumers, who determine whether any business succeeds or fails. In the U.S. free enterprise economy, consumers are said to have sovereignty-the power or freedom to have final say. Consumers are free to spend their money for Product X or for Product Y. If they prefer Y over X, then the company making X may lose money, go out of business, or decide to manufacture something else (perhaps Product Z). Thus, how consumers choose to spend their dollars causes business firms of all kinds to produce certain goods and services and not others.
Sat 
11/11/2006 12:01:00
 Jim  Will non smoking bars be great for Vegas?
Maybe a non smoking Vegas would be great...for the Indian Reservations.
In California and Florida, you can smoke in Indian casinos.
You can on riverboat casinos, and international waters too.
Vegas is assumed to be the Sin City.
I've been to Copper Keg and the Blue Ox...they think they'll be losing their jobs!
Here, you have a bar on every corner. Its not like that in California.
A lot of people doubt that the law will take effect.
Nevada is supposed to be the national test bed for legal challenges on the indoor clean air laws.
Anyway, I was thinking that being a bartender might be a good fall back if this notary/corporation thing fails.
Guess not, if the local bars close. Timing, it seems, is everything.
I was talking to 5 bikers at a local bar last night.
They said they won't be coming back to Vegas if it becomes prudish, like California.
They liked how Vegas has everything to do, all the time, and is laid back.
They come here every weekend to get away from all the suppressing laws.
Another customer got into the conversation...oh man, did he get riled.
We represented 8 out of the 14 people in that bar.
Fri 
11/10/2006 14:51:11
 Jim  Smoking ban won’t hurt tourism.
According to the American Cancer Society.
Thats funny! .
They also say there has never been a study showing that tourism was hurt by a smoking ban.
Now thats just plain dumb.
I've read at least a dozen such reports.
They are all over the internet. Don't they use the internet?
One report says New York lost 2,650 jobs, $50 million in workers earnings,
and $71 million in the gross state product after the smoking ban.
But this is Las Vegas. We have quite a few non-stop flights coming in from Japan, and all over the world.
Of course, a smoking ban will hurt Nevada business.
Its silly to say it wouldn't.
Many of the reports that measure no change in business, go by the taxes collected per year.
They don't take into account the national growth in income per bar is around 25% per year.
They say if a bar made $1 last year, and is still making $1 this year, there is no change in business.
The studies should reflect the national growth in revenues.
Its no different than investment thinking.
If an investment is worth the same thing it was last year, it is actually losing money by not keeping up.
Thu 
11/09/2006 09:11:11
 Jim  Question 5 passes - Smoking is banned
Free Enterprises has just suffered another blow.
Question 5 had some interesting implications to it.
Click here to read the legislation
Smoking will be allowed for:
- Casinos where minors are prohibited.
-Bars that don't serve food.
- Strip clubs and brothels.
- Retail tobacco stores.
- Private residences.
Smoking will be banned in:
- casinos where minors are allowed to loiter...almost all casinos
- bars that serve food...almost all bars
- In all public places
That sounds like it means everywhere.
This question was funded by the American Cancer Society.
Questions:
Can minors loiter in casinos?
Doesn't serving food at bars slow the intoxication rate?
The Health Department recomends eating for social drinkers. Is this a bad idea?
The Blue Ox says it has to serve food to satisify zoning requirements as a supper club.
Almost all its customers are smokers.
Its been open for over 20 years now.
PT's Pub and The Copper Keg are in the same bind.
Why are Strip Clubs and brothels excluded from the ban?
I've noticed you can smoke in Indian casinos.
Here's an interesting article on businesses effected by bans: Business ruined by smoking bans
It has been said that 25% of Americans and 40% of casino players are smokers
I think tobacco sales should just be banned, period.
However, it seems that no state has the balls to do that.
Why pussy foot around the subject?
We all know that's where we're headed.

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