Don't smoke? Thank this guy.

[kallend 2,106]

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1218554.stm

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[riddler 0]

Quote

He caused a stir in 1973, aged 60, by saying that people aged over 65 should be prepared to accept death and not think of ways of preserving their lives for a few months.

He claimed they should not expect National Health Service time and money to be spent on research into prolonging life.

In fact, he went further and explained it was their social responsibility to "live dangerously".

Trapped on the surface of a sphere. XKCD

[ChrisL 2]

Cool guy!

Even so, I'd bet that if he had not discovered a link between lung cancer and smoking, someone else would have and I would still have quit.

__

My mighty steed

[SpeedRacer 1]

they interviewed one of his colleagues on NPR today. He said that back in the 40s they had noticed that lung cancer had increased A LOT in the last few decades & that no-one knew why. Doll did an epidemiological study on lung cancer patients & found that nearly all of them were smokers.

its weird that this was such a surprise. As early as WWI cigarettes were called "coffin nails". Surely someone, therefore, must have felt that cigarettes were unhealthy.

And a lot of smokers start every morning by hacking and coughing for fifteen or twenty minutes. Isn't this a clue??

Do smokers receive NO messages from their bodies that cigarrettes are bad for them?

Speed Racer
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[skysquiffy 0]

Quote

As early as WWI cigarettes were called "coffin nails".

Is there any possibility the death reference was referring to the war and not the cigarettes? The soon-to-be executed having a last smoke?