clockwatching: ashtray obsolescence countdown
In a few hours, Seattle’s smokers will puff their last puffs. In what seems like a cruel interpretation of the I-901, the citywide indoor smoking ban goes into effect tonight at the stroke of midnight [p-i]. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of the new ordinance, but the idea of it starting in the middle of the night just strikes me as a little bit over-dramatic. The indoor air will already be filled with smoke; so why not let the cigarette set go out in a cloud of glory.
If you happen to be out and about tonight, feel free to send your observations on the way that your favorite watering hole marks the occasion of the beginning of the new era of bar-going. At the very least, it will be an interesting exercise in people’s ability to get a sense of how far twenty-five feet actually is.
handy conversion chart:
- 25 feet = 7.62 meters
- 25 feet = 8.33 yards
- 25 feet = 10 steps
- 25 feet = 0.0047 mile
- 25 feet = 0.0076 click
- 25 feet = 2.38 bamboo
- 293 other units [onlineconversion]
update: It’s amazing what a difference a paid staff makes. While you stayed home watching the premiere of Project Runway, the Stranger’s sloggers scattered across the city to document the smokeout [slog -- slog] and the dailies also filed reports on the state of Seattle’s post-midnight cigarettes [s-times, p-i].
I was at a favorite watering hole on University Ave after a movie. I smoke, but I had never smoked at this place because I had always visited it with non smoking chums. Tonight I decided to smoke during the last minutes before the ban and bummed a cig from some generous fellows in the back of the bar…When I was done and returned to my “good non-smoking friend” that I was with, he decided to ask the bartender when the smoking ban went into affect. It was midnight but the bartender didn’t want to talk about it and I derailed my friend’s enquiry. Folks kept smoking and the police didn’t bust in…Tomorrow may be different. I wonder how the serious dives will survive….