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3775. anomie - 4/15/2006 11:58:53 AM I drove a 1.6 liter Toyota Corolla for 10 years and it did just fine w/o a hybrid boost. Many cars in the UK have only 1 liter engines. I think we drive around with way too much unused power in our cars. I share the blame with my current car, so I'm not pointing fingers. But I think we can work to change some of expectations about what we need a car to do. 3776. wonkers2 - 4/15/2006 2:59:34 PM The car companies have wasted most of the improved engine technology they have developed on heavier, higher horsepower vehicles rather than improved fuel economy. SUV's now accelerate as fast as the sporty cars of the 1970s. Increasing U.S. gasoline taxes gradually to bring at-the-pump prices up to the level in Europe would be the best way to reverse this trend. Diesel engines are a better solution than hybrids in my opinion. In the long run hydrogen fuel cells appear to be the most promising solution although driving around with a tank of hydrogen might make some people nervous. 3777. TheWizardOfWhimsy - 4/15/2006 3:00:11 PM Scrotum Scrub (WMV)
3778. robertjayb - 4/21/2006 9:48:31 PM 
(via bartcop)
3779. Jenerator - 4/27/2006 9:58:53 PM I remember a flight to London when I was seated next to a woman who was a professed chainsmoker and "PROUD OF IT!"
She kept trying to engage me in discussion the entire way there, which was fine because she was smart and funny. But then she asked me if I smoked and I said no. It went downhill from there.
According to her, smokers created their own sub-culture. The bandits, the rebels, the intellectual mafia, the true workers, yes - the HEROS all met outside periodically during the day to smoke their camels and bitch about things.
They were part of an elite club that us non smokers just didn't understand.
This woman gave me a long, hard look and said something to the effect of, "I just don't trust non-smokers. They don't get it." 3780. wonkers2 - 4/27/2006 10:23:30 PM Smokers are losers! 3781. judithathome - 4/28/2006 1:04:51 AM Had no idea one could be hired and paid to be a smoker. 3782. Jenerator - 4/28/2006 1:21:33 AM ?? 3783. Adam Selene - 4/28/2006 2:57:14 AM Lol! I've never heard of the smoker 'elite' club... and I was a 2 pack a day smoker for 15 years! I quit about 10 years ago (only took me 2 years of trying) and I don't miss anything. Ok, I still smoke about a pack-a-year when my coworkers drag me to happy hour... but it's amazing that now 3 or 4 cigarettes will make me so miserable the next day that I won't touch one for several weeks after. 3784. arkymalarky - 4/28/2006 3:06:49 AM You know, Adam. They're the ones who are huddled up outside tall buildings trying to block the wind in January while everyone else is lounging and visiting in the comfortable, climate-controlled break room. It's kind of like claiming you're part of an elite club that sticks beans in your ears.
From Jen's post, the woman's line: "They don't get it."
Get what? Lung cancer? Heart disease?
I've smoked off and on and my husband had a terrible habit for a long, long time. He lost a whole lot of weight and got healthy after being diagnosed with type2 diabetes, he went back to college after 20 years and got a degree in mathematics, he married a wonderful woman (and no, not the first one! The second one), had a beautiful daughter, built and developed a great place to live, and did lots of other fine things in his life, but he doesn't hesitate to say that quitting smoking is what he's most proud of, by far.
3785. arkymalarky - 4/28/2006 3:08:27 AM And if he were diagnosed with lung cancer tomorrow he'd still say that. He conquered a habit he thought he had no control over for 30 years. 3786. judithathome - 4/28/2006 3:14:58 AM People can quit easily once they decide what is most important...smoking or a better life.
I can't imagine Bob being a smoker after knowing him only as a non-smoker. 3787. Adam Selene - 4/28/2006 3:20:49 AM Ya, quitting is easy. I did it twice a week for years.
(With apologies to Samuel Clemens.) 3788. judithathome - 4/28/2006 3:36:14 AM I quit cold turkey several years ago...it wasn't hard for me, I should say. 3789. arkymalarky - 4/28/2006 4:44:52 AM Bob could go cold turkey easily for days, weeks, months, or even years. But when it hit, it hit and there was no turning back. But he promised his dad right before he died he was done with tobacco and he wouldn't violate that pledge. Maybe he shouldn't have made it, but he did and he's determined to honor it. 3790. PelleNilsson - 4/30/2006 5:10:08 PM Spring is here at last!
Anemone Nemorosa, 'vitsippa' for me, 'wood anemone' for you.
Another sure sign is that this evening the Chilean BBQ fanatics have gathered in our courtyard for the first time this year. 3791. uzmakk - 4/30/2006 7:34:32 PM The courtyard of your apartment building? 3792. PelleNilsson - 4/30/2006 7:39:50 PM Yes. 3793. uzmakk - 5/1/2006 8:40:55 PM What fun. 3794. Macnas - 5/2/2006 10:07:44 AM I still smoke, and still like to smoke, although my wife kills me about it.
I don't smoke as much as I did, I'll smoke a few a day when I'm at work, don't smoke at home or at the weekends.
I've never met this illuminati of smokers that Jenerators fellow flight passenger was a member of, whoever they are, I must smoke in the wrong places I guess.
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