• i_stole_ur_taco@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      I’ve read that aircraft mechanics were sad when smoking stopped because the nicotine smears on the aircraft were such a good visual clue of where air was leaking and it made theirs jobs a lot easier.

    • TSG_Asmodeus (he, him)@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I was on a plane in the very early 90’s, and I remember being about 10 years old and the second the ‘smoking okay’ sign came on, a WALL of smoke rolled back through the curtains that separated the sections.

      • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I first started eating out regularly in the '80s, and even now I will occasionally randomly ask to be seated in a restaurant’s non-smoking section. It’s surreal to think that was ever a thing.

        • Furbag@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          I’m starting to forget that these things existed, because I’m old enough to remember a time when there was such a thing as a smoking/non-smoking section in restaurants but it feels like an entire lifetime ago that it was actually relevant to the point now where it would be a massive culture shock to see somebody light up indoors anywhere, let alone in a restaurant.

          I like to point to indoor smoking bans and seatbelt laws as actual evidence of how a culture war backed up with science and facts can be sustained and won even against seemingly insurmountable odds to the benefit of society as a whole. In both of those cases, the data eventually won out against the multibillion dollar industries that were resisting regulation as well as the “muh freedom” crowd.