Nasty, nasty, nasty...

Being a huge Criss Angel fan, I decided to check out his latest illusion that he was doing live in Times Square. So there we were Tuesday morning waiting for his big escape. It was a beautiful morning with all his fans crammed into a small area; everyone jockeying for position trying to get a better look hoping to see exactly how he was going to do it. Then, these dudes next to me decide to light up. I couldn't believe it. I mean... how rude can you get? Packed into a crowd of people and these guys cannot due without a cigarette? Everyone around them spent the next 10 minutes or so fanning away smoke that blew in our faces. Now that smoking is illegal in most indoor public places I think most people have become more sensitive to the smell of cigarette smoke. I know I have, so this makes it all the more offensive. Now I've heard all the talk from smokers about their right to smoke and it's outdoors so they can do anything they want, but come on, let's be reasonable here! Not in a crowd where people are standing shoulder to shoulder with no where to go to get away from the smoke. This is just common courtesy! And they wonder why people hate this behavior so much! And then I looked down at the ground and saw the other reason that I hate smoking so much - the cigarette butts lying all over the ground. Why is smoking also a license to litter? Most smokers will tell you that it's OK because the butts are biodegradable. In fact, cigarette butts are not biodegradable in the sense that most people think of the word. Cigarette butts take many, many years to decompose and in that time the toxic chemicals that the filters are designed to trap leak out into the ecosystem. Please go to and explore http://www.cigarettelitter.org/ for more information and to raise public awareness about this issue.