just disgusting!

[Binky]

This is just disgusting, REALLY disgusting! I was driving to work today, and I look to the left of me as I was waiting at the lights, and what do I see....this lady pulls up beside me and she has her window down, and a ciggerette in her hand...she takes a puff and looks to her left...that when I see that she is in the car WITH A KID!!!! The little boy coulndn't have been older tan around 7-8 and she's SMOKING in the car WITH HIM THERE!!..now I don't care if someone decides to smoke, as a former smoker myself I know the fact that I know it is addictive, and that really, you cravings are a B**ch...but I would never NEVER smoke around chilren, specially when they are in a CONFINED area. This poor kid is going to grow up and become a smoker, and he is already dieing slowly because his mother/aunt/carer is smoking around him, more people die of passive smoking than smokers!!!!! GOD some people are just irrasponsible

[One-Fang]

At least she had her window down. Fresh air was circulating.

Y'know, nearly everyone I know had a smoking parent. This was before anyone knew it was terribly important not to smoke around kids. It's not the healthiest, sure, but it's not exactly committing the kid to an early death of lung cancer. He has a lifetime to develop his own habits (or not) to do that.

[Ree]

Y'know, nearly everyone I know had a smoking parent...
...It's not the healthiest, sure, but it's not exactly committing the kid to an early death of lung cancer. He has a lifetime to develop his own habits (or not) to do that.

Disgusting is spelt with a G. You might want to consider the IE spelling tool available in the reply screen.I don't understand where this hostility is coming from. While this is not a debating forum, and I do not wish this thread to develop into a free-for-all on whether smoking should be banned, or the rights of smokers, etc., I really feel that Binky has some legitimate concerns that did not deserve to be brushed aside quite so brusquely.

It's true that the child has a lifetime to choose to become a smoker or not, but statistics show that the odds are highly in favour of him actually choosing to smoke rather than not.

Also, statistics show that children of smokers are much more prone to chest infections and other illnesses such as asthma. In fact, children who grow up in a home where one or both of their parents smoke have twice the risk of getting asthma and asthmatic bronchitis. They also have a higher risk of developing allergies.

Infants under two years old are more prone to severe respiratory infections and SIDS.

And, yes, the word is spelled as "disgusting", and thank you for pointing that out, but we are not the type of community that singles people out on a public forum if they don't have perfect spelling or grammar.
We are usually supportive of each other here.

There are spell check tools available in IE, apparently, but I use Firefox and I do not see these tools, so perhaps Binky doesn't use IE either, and has no access to these tools of which you speak.

We aren't all perfect, but we can be tolerant of others who may not have such wonderful spelling and language skills as we would hope.

[One-Fang]

Look, I'm really sorry if I offended. I absolutely completely fail to see the supposed hostility. I thought I was just discussing it. I really didn't mean to attack anyone. I just wanted to add a comment to the discussion that heaps of us grew up in that environment and are okay for it. I wasn't intending to say "you're wrong" or "your points are invalid".

And with the spelling thing I just thought I was being freaking HELPFUL!!!

Now I feel attacked and I am actually crying. Thanks heaps Ree and GMB (from PM). I was having a sucky enough morning anyway and this is just icing on the cake.

[Ree]

Now I feel attacked and I am actually crying. I'm sorry that you have had such a bad day, and I'm sorry if you feel attacked by the actions of the moderators.
It's not a good thing when members end up in tears over things that happen here.

The problem with the internet is that we cannot hear voice inflections.

I perceived your comments as brushing aside those of Binky and trivializing the concerns.
Your parents may have smoked, and you may not have been any worse for it, and that's a valid point, but there are others who weren't so lucky.
Perhaps the high rate of cancer and heart disease can be explained away by chronic inhalation of second handsmoke by the previous generation. Who knows for sure?

As I said, I don't wish this thread to become a smoking debate. Binky saw a situation that was repulsive to him/her. Perhaps the reaction was a strong one with a lot of unfounded conclusions made, but he/she felt strongly about it and posted it to vent.
As you said, just because the mother smoked does not mean that child will, but the risk of that happening is great. Just because the parent smokes does not mean the child will get sick, but the potential for that to happen is greater.

As for the spelling advice, you may have felt you were being helpful, but it came across as flaming.
Nobody likes to have spelling mistakes pointed out publicly.

This isn't PlanetFeedBack where we critique each other on things like that.
I think it would have been better if you had simply PM'ed Binky to give that advice. It would have been less embarrassing than have the spelling errors pointed out in an open forum.
Respect Other Members
Please remember that for every member there is a human being behind the screen name. Please respect them....
...do not resort to flames, personal attacks, or even grammar flames.

[Lehk]

i won't touch smoking with a ten foot pole

for spelling checks in firefox i suggest spellbound

http://spellbound.sourceforge.net/install

it works with any text input box though i don't know if it can be made to run automatically i always invoke it from the context (rclick) menu

[Ree]

i won't touch smoking with a ten foot pole

for spelling checks in firefox i suggest spellboundThank you...on both counts. :)

I make a lot of typos, and when I think of it, I copy into Word for corrections and then paste, but usually, I don't take the time.

I'm going to check that out.

[Tikki]

I tried smoking way back when. It was fun trying to make smoke rings but otherwise, meh. I simply don't understand the appeal, even without considering the health risks.

My way checking the spelling of a word is that I keep Google as my home page. When I want to check a word, I open a new page and type it in. If it's not right, Google will say, "Do you mean...?" and give the correct spelling. It's not entirely foolproof but it works well for me.

[Binky]

ummm ok sorry guys didn't mean to offend or hurt people, yeah I was having a pretty bad day that day and that was my icing...I noticed that this lady was smoking with a kid beside her and just didn't understand why? As I said, I used to be a smoker and know it's an addiction and a problem for most people..so I won't judge, I just don't like seeing kids in cars (or any confined area) where there are people smoking..Mainly because they don't get the choice..But anyways it was a vent and sorry to cause any troubles

as for the spelling...I'm not offended ....I was shocked to see I had spelt something wrong..NORMALLY I'm some what careful...tho I’m getting lazy...and not picking it up...thanx to all those who gave me tips...YAY for you

OH and I put the post into word so I could check it properly this time :D

[Mikkel]

I make a lot of typos <snip>
I copy into Word for corrections and then paste<snip>
I'm going to check that out.
I use Google toolbar, it's right there, and as foreigner I really need spellchecking.:lol:

[NightWolf]

Actually, there should be a forum spellcheck add on. I've seen a few forums that have it and I'm pretty sure it's just an additional plugin for the board. Might be a good idea to look into it. :shrug:

[Rapscallion]

http://www.customerssuck.com/media/spellcheck.jpg

See that ABC symbol on the right? Click or double-click that and you should get a download and install prompt or something similar. Tada!

Rapscallion

[air914]

Was the lady blowing the smoke out of her window or into the car w/ the kid in it? If she was smoking adn blowing it out the window - perhaps she was just having one of those "cravings" you spoke about.

I totally have never understood smoking - the whys about it - of course, i don't really understand getting drunk & trashed either - but that's me. Other people choose differently - I get angry when their choices influence others though - like when parents smoke around their children or in their house w/ children (go outside so you at least don't give your kids cancer - it is YOUR house - but if you care about them at all you could at least step outside for the 2 minutes it takes you to smoke and carry on your bad habit). OR when people drive drunk.... that infuriates me - I don't care if you've only had one or two whatever - if you're a little "tipsy" - DON'T DRIVE! Get someone else, call a cab - heck call your parents - or stay where you are but DO NOT DRIVE!

Okay I'm done w/ my little rant :)

[NightWolf]

See that ABC symbol on the right?

Sorry Raps, I'm not seeing that icon before the arrows. Could it be that I'm missing it because I use Firefox?

*EDIT* Yep, thats it. The link works in IE, but not Firefox.

[LostMyMind]

Could it be that I'm missing it because I use Firefox?
Don't you know by now that it's always Firefox fault :p

[Binky]

To be honest air914 I didn't see, all I saw was that the cigarette was in her left hand (so in the car) and the meant it was closer to the kid....I didn't see if she blew in or outside the window. But by the way she was holding the cigarette I could only assume that if she didn't make the effort to hold it in her right hand (there for pointing it out the window and having the smoke going out the window) then she didn't make the effort to blow out the window.

As for drinking and driving....I think it's stupid, but you can't stop people doing it, unless they get caught, and even then it doesn't always stop them, people are going to do it, just like smoking in a car with a kid. Thing that irks me is, if your drunk and your driving people home, you putting their lives at risk as well...if it's just you then it's just your life...unless you hit another car, then its that person as well...but when you drive with a passenger you take their life in your hands, you F**K up ....and you not only risk kill yourself, but THEM as well...that’s what I don't understand? Do these people think about that? Or do they just not care...?? There ARE other ways of getting around as air914 Taxi's. Bus, trains, walking if your close enough, if your not share a taxi and stay at someone’s place...if you have the money go stay at a motel/hotel/hostel...there really is no excuse

[Pagan]

Ok, I feel the need to weigh in on this. And I'm not attacking anyone, just stating my opinion. My dad used to smoke, he doesn't now. Don't know why he stopped, but it was obviously just a habit and not an addiciton since he had no problem quitting. He smoked from before I was born in 1969. Now, I do have allergies, but it's obviously genetic since both my mom and dad have them (and you should see the crop of ragweed around the city, oy!). I would have a cold maybe once a year, but I've never had an ear infection, did not have a lot of respiratory infections (I think I had bronchitis twice), don't have asthma. I never had any problems with these things, until I moved out of the house! Granted, I did have pneumonia when I was in college and still living at home, but my dad wasn't smoking then. Maybe it had to do with the fact that he smoked a pipe (I miss the scent of the tobacco!) and cigars? :shrug:

I think what I take exception to is that some people do tend to make snap moral judgements about people simply because they smoke. But they don't know my dad and don't know he's one of the greatest people on the planet, granted, I'm a little prejudiced....! And some (not all) of the same people that condemn people for smoking tend to laugh off someone driving drunk. And as I've said in other posts, we have a terrible legacy of families being wiped out by drunk drivers in New Mexico! Honestly, I'd rather have someone driving a car and smoking as opposed to drunk and/or high.

[LostMyMind]

I'm one of the weird folks that don't mind pipes and most cigars but can't stand cigs. Cigs usually have too much "extra" stuff in them that does something to the smoke. Cigs smoke just has that nasty smell to em. If cigs makers would do something about that smell, I would suspect that most of the protest about cigs would disappear.

I don't know if any studies have been done about second hand smoke from pipe/cigars. I know studies have been done about effects on the person smoking em. They say it's worst than cigs because it's unfiltered, but somehow it don't seem right. Most pipe and cigars don't have all that extra chemicals in them. But since I don't smoke, that part don't bother me.

Most asthma and allergies are greatly localized. My sister had really bad asthma and allergies when she was living in Florida. When she moved to Ohio, her "problems" seem to go away. They come back when she goes back to Florida to visit the family.

[AFpheonix]

I don't mind pipes, but cigars are puke-inducing to me. Bleah.

My dad smoked, he smoked around us a lot, actually. A few of us (there's 6 kids all together) have some asthma issues, one or 2 have some hayfever issues. None of us really had a lot of problems with upper respiratory infections that were out of control when we were growing up.

Oh, and only one of us smokes now. We were all so grossed out by the smell, burn holes in everything, and the chronic pleurisy he'd get every year, we all avoided it like the plague.