XPost: alt.usage.english, alt.fan.holmes   
   From: kehoea@parhasard.net   
      
    Ar an t-aonú lá is triochad de mí Lúnasa, scríobh Peter Moylan:   
      
    > [...] I read a lot of science fiction from the 1940s and 1950s, and there   
    > one finds that in the far distant future, in the days of the Galactic   
    > Empire, for example, almost everyone smokes.   
    >   
    > That's how the writers of the 1940s saw it. Nonsmokers were rare, and   
    > seen as a bit nonconformist. Nobody seems to have predicted the   
    > situation we have today, where smokers find a need to smoke in secrecy,   
    > and everyone avoids them because they stink. We've had a rapid change in   
    > attitudes.   
      
   Nicotine is a fascinating molecule. It is a mild stimulant that improves   
   cognition and problem-solving, and I think it’s plausible that its effect was   
   part of the pace of economic development and raising GDP per capita in the 20th   
   century. I note 50% of Chinese men smoked in 2022, vs. 15% of Irish men, and   
   China’s rate of GDP per capita growth is has been much healthier for decades.   
      
   I do not endorse smoking, it is bad for you. I am not intrinsically negative   
   about nicotine replacement therapy or vaping.   
      
   --   
   ‘As I sat looking up at the Guinness ad, I could never figure out /   
   How your man stayed up on the surfboard after fourteen pints of stout’   
   (C. Moore)   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)