Clear the Air?

The Sacramento Bee reports (do Bees really report? For that matter, do they spell, either?) that CA lawmakers want to regulate the air in your vehicle. If you have children present, that is.

California lawmakers are considering a bill that would make California the first state in the nation to prohibit smokers from lighting up in a private car when children are present.

The proposal by Assemblyman Marco Firebaugh, D-South Gate, has drawn the ire of Republican lawmakers who say it goes too far in attempting to police personal behavior.

Supporters, however, call it a crucial stride toward protecting the state's children from the damaging effects of second-hand smoke.

Okay - anyone not see this coming? I'd leave this for possible-but-not-likely evening blogging if it weren't for the next part.

Assemblyman Dennis Mountjoy, R-Monrovia, called the measure "big brother government." "Government is going to raise our kids for us because parents don't know what's best? That's a very scary thought," Mountjoy said.

Uh, Dennis, darling, while I agree with you in principle, on this one regarding "what's best," I'd have to side with the government. Anyone want to challenge that car full of cigarette smoke contains better air than car lacking cigarette smoke? The pollution's the ONLY issue I have with the product. Otherwise, adult users, if you wanna rot your bodies, go ahead. It's legal.

I'm certain Mr. Mountjoy had more profound things to say - I'll give him the benefit of a doubt, and it's possible da Bee's point was to make him sound idiotic (Success!). I would posit that smokers who smoke using their children's air are not exactly thinking about "what's best" for their children on that particular issue. I believe that they're probably not thinking it's an issue at all, merely smoking because of whatever it does for them. Mine were. I certainly bitched up a storm (I know you're so surprised).

But back to the issue at hand...if it's the car now, it'll be any building next because in many places all that's left is the home. In my mind, there are plenty of conclusive studies that show that the product harms the self (and others and certainly provides no benefit to the others) and should not be on the market. But there's that big agricultural tie-in and all...it'll never be illegal. Prohibition failed and failed miserably. There's no reversal of legality on such a supercharged issue.

So lawmakers pick at citizens regulating they can, I guess. I can't imagine working next to someone who is smoking. Glad I was born no earlier than I was.

And on a side note, the people who compare food items to tobacco, I spit on you. Humans have to eat. Period. They don't have to smoke. Go look up "need" versus "want."

hln

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Imminent Heat Preparation..And Some Rambling

It's just April, but Reuters warns soon-to-be summer exercisers of the danger of heat.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - As summer approaches, people who exercise or play sports outdoors can reduce the risk of heat stroke by giving themselves a chance to adjust to rising temperatures and humidity, according to a sports medicine expert.

"When it gets hot and humid, you see the risk go up," said Dr. William O. Roberts, who is the president-elect of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).

When people who are not accustomed to hot and humid weather exercise outdoors, they run the risk of developing exertional heat stroke, Roberts said in an interview with Reuters Health.

Exertional heat stroke differs from traditional heat stroke, which occurs when a person is exposed to extremely high temperatures, such as during a summer heat wave. Victims of traditional heat stroke are often elderly people who do not have air conditioning.

I read this as "fill the Hydrapack (holds 2 liters) full of water once an hour or so." I had problems with heat on a metric century last year (no wind, riding up on a levee, almost outta water). 95+ degrees. I don't recommend that. This year I'll have an extra bottle cage for more warm previously frozen Gatorade. That levee won't get me this year. I like the cycling drinking game - if someone in your little peloton takes a drink, so do you. Whaddya think of that one, Blackfive?

An article like this is a bit humorous so early. Today was gorgeous - about 76, 12 mph wind (so I felt it). Did my little 14 mile jaunt after work. Slower today because of the wind and tired legs (yesterday was leg day at the gym, and I blasted them. What's that mean, you say? Figure 5 sets on an incline sled working from 160 up to 200 pounds. Figure another five on a sled that targets your hamstrings and rear - worked up to 270 on that. Then inner and outer thigh work, targeted quads (leg extension - 3 sets, 6 reps at 95 (this after all of that), 8 reps at 85, and 8 reps at 75, targeted hamstrings (65, 75, and 80, I believe) and seated calf (worked up to 110 pounds plus body weight). So, yeah, they were tired. Downright weary now.

In other news, I will be entering the IMAO t-shirt contest. Too many of the judges nudged. I'm having problems choosing a picture (have a few from Florida and will probably take a few this weekend to have a wider variety from which to choose). Is the "not safe for work" (as deemed by the Bonfire) one too improper? It's not an especially good picture of my face, and it's not like legs are gonna win me a t-shirt contest.

So many difficult decisions. So much pressure. So much potential promise. So much melodrama.

hln

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Smokers At Risk!

Why someone thought to study this, I'll never know, but researchers have tied smoking to increased risk of frostbite.

Smokers, who already risk cancer and heart disease, are more susceptible than others to frostbite because their blood vessels do not expand fast enough to warm chilled fingers and toes, researchers said on Sunday.

The nicotine in cigarettes seems to be to blame, slowing the body's normal responses to cold, the team at Yale University in Connecticut found. Dr. Kichang Lee and colleagues immersed the hands of smokers and nonsmokers in water at 41 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 minutes.

I mention this because of Owen's post noting that a county in Norway declared smoking to be a "right" last week.

If that lung cancer doesn't getcha, well, there's always the pulmonary disease, the cardiovascular disease, the breast cancer...so many ways to die. And now, a cheery chilly way to lose phalanges.

Everybody buy a carton today! And move to Norway.

hln

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