alt.support.non-smokers Frequently Asked Questions

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: rbronews@brou8ghton.ca (Robert Broughton)
Newsgroups: alt.support.non-smokers, alt.support.non-smokers.moderated
Subject: alt.support.non-smokers Frequently Asked Questions
Date: Wed, 5 May 2004 15:00:20 +0000 (UTC)
Message-ID: <c7avi4$5r3$1@venn.bc.ca>

Archive-name: support/non-smokers
Posting-Frequency: bi-monthly
Last modified: 2003/11/04
URL: http://airspace.bc.ca/a.s.n-s.faq.html or
http://airspace.globalink.org/a.s.n-s.faq.html
Maintainer: Robert Broughton (mailto:bob@broughton.ca)

This is the list of Frequently Asked Questions for the
alt.support.non-smokers newsgroup.

   1. I still don't have a smoke-free workplace. Who can I contact for
      help?
   2. I live in an apartment building, and cigaret smoke is coming into
      my suite because of people smoking elsewhere in the building. What
      can I do about it?
   3. Who was Wayne MacLaren? How old was he when he died, and what did
      he die of?
   4. What planet did "Kyoteee" come from?
   5. Why does cigarette smoke stink so much?
   6. Would any sane person want to spend the last couple of years of
      their life with emphysema?
   7. Who is Heather Crowe?
   8. Why does alt.support.non-smokers attract so many
      addicts^H^H^H^H^H^H^Htrolls?
   9. How can I respond to trolls?
  10. Do trollers have any consideration whatsoever for human beings?
  11. Speaking of trolls, is it true that rumik@sympatico.ca is an
      anti-semite?

   1. I still don't have a smoke-free workplace. Who can I contact for
      help?
          * Eastern U.S.: Action on Smoking and Health,
            http://ash.org
          * Western U.S.: Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights,
	    http://www.no-smoke.org
          * Eastern Canada: Non-Smokers Rights Association, (416) 928-2900
          * Western Canada: Action on Smoking and Health, http://www.ash.ca
          * British Columbia, Canada: AIRSPACE Action on Smoking and
            Health, http://airspace.bc.ca
          * United Kingdom: Action on Smoking and Health,
	    http://www.ash.org.uk
          * Elsewhere: Try http://airspace.bc.ca/forlinks.html
            or http://tobacco.org.

   2. I live in an apartment building, and cigaret smoke is coming into
      my suite because of people smoking elsewhere in the building. What
      can I do about it?

      Two U.S. states, Massachusetts and Utah, have passed legislation
      that mandates smoke-free apartment buildings. (The text of Utah's
      law can be found at
      http://www.le.state.ut.us/~1997/bills/sbillint/sb0049s3.htm.)
      Communities in Florida and California have passed local
      regulations mandating this.

      In 1992, the Michigan Attorney General's office announced that it
      *is legal* for apartments to provide smoke-free buildings, or to
      prohibit smoking in entire communities. No [Michigan] State or
      Federal law prohibits it. Apartment Management companies have
      refused to provide this because, they say, that no one asks for
      smoke-free buildings.

      But it wasn't enough. The apartment communities have ignored the
      ruling and refused to provide what is an absolute basic need for
      many people.

      If you are bothered by second-hand smoke coming from neighbouring
      apartments, you should:

          * Inform your landlord.
          * Whenever you go looking for apartments, let the management
            know that you want (or need) a smoke-free building.
          * Write your State Representative and your Congressman

      People have the right to breath clean air in their homes, even
      apartments. But we must speak out, and demand it. *We* must
      *inform* the apartment management companies that we *require*
      smoke-free buildings, and if they refuse to listen, then we must
      *demand* legislation that forces them to provide it.

      The more people who speak up, they sooner they will start
      listening. Even apartment residents have a right to clean air in
      our homes, including on balconies and patios.

   3. Who was Wayne MacLaren? How old was he when he died, and what did
      he die of?

      Wayne MacLaren was a model that was used for the Marlboro Man. He
      died of lung cancer at the age of 51.

   4. What planet did "Kyoteee" (kyoteee@mindspring.com, real name:
      Barbara Aucoin) come from?

      a) Uranus.
      b) Waltham, MA.

   5. Why does cigarette smoke stink so much?

      Nicotine is an irritant; one of its other commercial uses is for
      rat or insect poison. Cigarette smoke contains a long list of
      other chemicals (see
      http://www.healthplanning.gov.bc.ca/ttdr/index.html for a list of
      what's in major brands sold in Canada). One of them is ammonia,
      which serves the purpose of increasing the speed of metabolization
      of nicotine; in other words, it gives cigarettes a more powerful
      "hit".

   6. Would any sane person want to spend the last couple of years of
      their life with emphysema?

      No.

   7. Who is Heather Crowe?

      Heather Crowe worked as a waitress for 40 years in smoke-filled
      bars. She is 57 years old, and has terminal lung cancer. She has
      never been a smoker. She has been awarded compensation by
      Ontario's Workplace Safety and Insurance Board.

   8. Why does alt.support.non-smokers attract so many
      addicts^H^H^H^H^H^H^Htrolls?

      Cigarettes are one of the most addictive drugs on the planet. Any
      demographic study of smokers done in North America or Western
      Europe will show that their income is below average. So, when the
      price of cigarettes goes up, they have little choice but to pay
      more, and spend less money on food, clothing, entertainment, and
      transportation. It's dangerous to stand between an addict and his
      or her drug.

      Some general discussion of what motivates trolls can be found at
      http://www.firelily.com/support/depression/trolls.html or
      http://www.faqs.org/faqs/sierra-club/faq/ (see the section on
      "brown spam").

      There is also a class of people who have an interest in the
      well-being of the tobacco industry. Not just stockholders,
      employees, and tobacco farmers, but also tobacco retailers and
      employees of charities funded by tobacco companies. One definition
      of the word "libertarian" is: "Someone who tries to make you
      believe that what's in his best interest is what's in everyone
      else's best interest also."

   9. How can I respond to trolls?

      One way to improve the signal/noise ratio is to use a killfile.
      Any worthwhile news reader program has a "kill" or "filter"
      facility. Use it.

      If a troll contains material blatantly contrary to
      "support.non-smokers", you can try complaining to the troller's
      ISP. For example, if the troller's "From" address is
      kyoteee@erols.com, forward the troll to abuse@erols.com; for
      rumik@sympatico.ca, send it to abuse@sympatico.ca;
      hittman@bigfoot.com becomes abuse@bigfoot.com. (Also try
      abuse@newscene.com or abuse@rr.com for the latter.)

      Note that some posters to newsgroups munge their email address, so
      be sure to have your newsgroup reader set on "full headers", and
      then look in the headers for an "X-Complaints-To:" entry. For
      example, postings by 102776.1270@compuserve.com have the line
      "X-Complaints-To: newsmaster@compuserve.com". If this entry is not
      present, look at the "Path:" entry. The ISP where the posting
      originated will usually be the second-from-righmost entry in this
      line.

      Postings sometimes contain an "X-Originating-Host" header which is
      useful. For example, if the address is 199.60.85.7, an nslookup on
      this address gives h857.vic.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca. This is
      recognizable as a Canadian government computer. A complaint to
      postmaster@dfo-mpo.gc.ca should be taken seriously.

  10. Do trollers have any consideration whatsoever for human beings?

      Apparently not. Here's an excerpt from a troll by Audrey Silk
      (102776.1270@compuserve.com): "Don't force your kids on me.
      Nothing worse than crying babies in public places and obnoxious
      toddlers and little kids whining and running around the place
      while their parents think it's cute. Keep them home until they can
      behave."

  11. Speaking of trolls, is it true that rumik@sympatico.ca is an
      anti-semite?

      On August 22, 1996, "rumik" (real name: Rumi Khambata) made a
      posting to alt.conspiracy that began with: "Most people the world
      over are tired of holocaustmania."

      This statement presupposes that:

         1. There is such a thing as "holocaustmania"; and
         2. If there is such a thing, that people in India, China,
            Africa, Australia, etc. are tired of it. Perhaps there have
            been Gallup Polls taken in all these places that came up
            with this result.

      The original posting can be found at
      http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=4vi7eh%2491q%40news.interlog.com

-- 
Bob Broughton
http://broughton.ca/
Vancouver, BC, Canada
"Watch your mouth, if you ever want to cross the border.  Bad things
can happen to Canadians who use foul language in the US." 
mailto:stanlee_98@yahoo.com , Nov. 30, 2003

