Santa Cruz considers a smoking ban

If anti-smoking activists have learned anything in the past few decades, it’s that there’s no need to seek out constitutional prohibition when you can simply make smoking as inconvenient as possible. With smoking bans in several states claiming the previously sacred puffing ground of bars and restaurants, organizations like the American Lung Association (ALA) are starting to hammer municipalities for tougher laws on the great outdoors.

The California ALA chapter’s 2008 State of Local Tobacco Control report gives Santa Cruz County, and all the cities in it, a “D” grade for its efforts to curtail smoking. The city of Santa Cruz, in addition to its overall “D,” received a “D” in “smokefree outdoor air,” a “D” in “smokefree housing,” and a big fat “F” in “reducing sales of tobacco products.”

This report card alarmed Laurie Lang, the senior health educator at the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency, and she immediately brought it to the attention of the various cities. “We didn’t do so well,” she says, “especially compared to similar places like Berkeley and Davis.”

More

2010 MLB Predictions (NL edition) Enough with the Silly League. What’s going to happen in the Real Baseball League this year? (That’s right, where pitchers hit and hitters … also hit.) One thing I’m always annoyed by with preseason rankings is how they invariably follow the previous year’s order. Basically, baseball experts usually expect this year to look like last year. I’m not immune to that, but I think the NL will show more turnover than the AL this year. Also annoying? How they took Opening Day away from the Reds. I remember growing up what a big deal was made out of the fact that the Cincinnati Reds were the oldest and most venerable of all franchises, and thus deserved to have their game start before anyone else’s in the afternoon. Then ESPN moved it to the evening on Sunday. Then they decided the Yankees and Red Sox were more venerable. Gag me. The Yankees used to play in Baltimore. The Reds veritably invented professional baseball. This AL bias is killing me. Anyway, onward: More

Things I learned shopping at Wal-Mart 1. America has an endless supply of plastic bags, but they’re very, very fragile, so be sure to place just one or two items in each bag. Is the one item in there kinda heavy? Like, more than a pound? Double bag it. America can make more! 2. Socks — all socks — belong in the same aisle as feminine undergarments. Choose quickly, fellas! 3. It is possible for fish in a tank to look depressed. 4. The ideal shopping cart size is Hummer. 5. There are three kinds of employees on the floor: janitors, managers, and the bored guy in the cell phone kiosk who actually works for Sprint, he swears, don’t ever say he works at Wal-Mart when he’s working his magic on a lady at the club. All other employees are relegated to the front of the store for checking out, greeting, and security. In this way, Wal-Mart is not unlike a heavily fortified and beleaguered castle just after a devastating plague. 6. You will save a nickel or two on most things you buy. Lean Cuisines, however, are way more expensive than the grocery store. This is what economists call “supply and demand and taking advantage of a captive audience.” 7. Normal people shop at Wal-Mart all the time. 8. Normal people opt for the handicapped scooter option all the time. 9. If a man in the guns and ammunition aisle is wearing all-camo fatigues, for your own safety, assume he’s off-duty military and move on. 10. Star Trek action figures? For actual kids? 11. If you want to check out the cover of this week’s Sports Illustrated, you’re going to have to wait for that guy to finish looking at Mini Truckin’ Magazine. And, judging by the girl in the bikini on the cover, it’s going to be a while. 12. Your dog doesn’t care where you shop, as long as you get the fuck home already.