From: b.scott@csuohio.edu   
      
   On Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:50:30 +1300, Zeborah   
    wrote in   
    in   
   rec.arts.sf.misc:   
      
   > Brian M. Scott  wrote:   
      
   >> On Sun, 12 Oct 2008 20:14:47 -0400, "J. Clarke"   
   >>  wrote in   
   >>  in rec.arts.sf.misc:   
      
   >> [...]   
      
   >>> Personally I don't smoke, but I think that the way the US   
   >>> handles  smoking is just another example of Puritanism   
   >>> running amok.   
      
   >> Prohibition was arguably Puritanism running amok; this is a   
   >> different motivation altogether.   
      
   > John would probably disapprove of the situation in New   
   > Zealand.  Smoking is banned in all restaurants, bars,   
   > etc.   
      
   Pretty much the same here.  It's also banned indoors at the   
   university where I teach, and that does include the   
   individual offices.  Even in the middle of winter there's   
   generally a small cluster of nicotine addicts just outside   
   the building entrances.  Fortunately, I quit years before   
   the change.   
      
   > It means I can actually go to the pub now.(1)   
      
   Ours used to have non-smoking sections, but they helped only   
   a bit.  Quite possibly not enough for you: as I recall, you   
   have an asthma problem, right?   
      
   > I don't know that the net effect is strictly in favour of   
   > Puritanism. :-)   
      
   > Zeborah   
   > (1) I don't go often, but I don't go out *anywhere* often.   
   >  I've certainly gone more often since the ban was enacted   
   > than I had before it.   
      
   You probably go out more often than I do these days.  I get   
   out for the Þing about once a month during the academic   
   year, but that's about it, unless you count the bookshop.   
      
   Brian   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)