Posted on 08/02/2013 3:44:57 PM PDT by grundle
Every urbanites worst nightmare came true for one New Yorker this week: Jennifer Rosoff, leaning against the railing on the balcony of her Upper East Side apartment, suddenly fell 17 stories to her death after the railing gave way. This is obviously horrifying and tragic. Rosoff was a media executive with stints at The New Yorker and Cosmopolitan on her resume. Its outrageous that the owners of her building were so remiss in their balcony inspection duties. But if you skimmed the beginning of the Associated Presss account of Rosoffs accidental death, you wouldnt get much information about Rosoffs promising career or about the structural inadequacies of her balcony. Here are the first two paragraphs of the APs article about Rosoff:
"A 35-year-old media executive on a first date plunged to her death Thursday after the railing on her 17th-floor New York City balcony gave way, police said."
"Jennifer Rosoff went outside for a cigarette around 12:50 a.m. when she either sat on the railing or leaned on it. Her date told her that she probably shouldn't do it, and then moments later, she apparently fell backward and landed on construction scaffolding at the first floor, authorities said. Police spoke to the man and no foul play was suspected."
Lets break this down. According to the AP, the crucial facts you need to know about Rosoff right off the bat are that:
1. She was 35 and single.
2. She was a smoker.
3. She invited a man back to her apartment late at night on a first date.
4. The man warned her not to lean against the balcony, but she did it anyway.
The implication being that this smoking slut totally had it coming...
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
I have a friend who I only go to her home in the summer time when we can sit outside at the picnic table because I break out in hives inside if I sit down - because I am allergic to her husband's cologne and it has permeated all of their furniture. He understands this and never wears that cologne when we go out together or they come to my home.
Do you think people object to cigarette smoke just because they are jerks or busybodies?
Not all, but most I have encountered are exactly that. In fact, encountered a group of them just yesterday. They walked through the door, that has a sign stating smoking was permitted and immediately started complaining about it.
Or could it be possible that it really, truly is an obnoxious odor?
Totally a subjective opinion because others do not find it to be obnoxious.
LOL...I remember when I was a little kid, my pediatrician smoked, and he lived well into his 80s.
Her nose is really sensitive to farts. She can’t smell cigarette smoke, but farts she knows.
So you choose to be, "pretty social," but the people who smoke where you choose to socialize should curb their behavior to accommodate your choice of activities and venues?
If it bothers you so much, stay home.
Seriously?
The smoking didnt kill her, did it?
Saying that smoking is hazardous to your health when someone died from causes unrelated to smoking is silly. She was killed by falling from a 17th floor balcony. There's no reason to be outraged by the cigarettes, but rather the outrage should be focused at her building management. Seriously.
I don’t expecg go see “penthouse letters” on FR.
Nice change of subject from what was said in #43 and my response to it.
I was a smoker, a toker and a midnight joker.
You always had a choice, little man, without making a federal case out of it.
If you're a sensitive non-smoker, just don't visit smokers.
If you're a militant non-smoker, don't invite smokers to your house and presume a) that they will accept your invitation; or b) That they will insist on smoking in the house of a neurotic, controlling freak.
And don't go there. The story in NOT about smoking in a place of employment, or a public or commercial building.
Yeppers. Doctors are people and about 15% smoke just like the populace. The other 85% didn’t quit smoking.....they quit buying. Bums and tightwads all.
I'll bet you anything that for statistical purposes this will be ruled as a "tobacco related death." A few years ago in Louisiana there was a group pushing for some major restrictions/bans on where you could smoke. I looked at some of their literature, and my eye was caught by a graph showing the ages of "tobacco related deaths." It seemed strange to me that any kids under 18 would have used tobacco long enough to kill them, and yet the graph made it looked like a handful of them had one year. I did a little research on my own, and found that the minors had died in house fires that were suspected of having been started by a lit cigarette.
They were listed as, "tobacco related deaths."
Wow.
A humanitarian!
Agonizing over others making choices that lower the value of their own house.
We used to call people like that irrational busybodies. Or controlling twits.
I don’t believe smoking is as much of a hazard as we are constantly being told, no. I see many more ill people who are ill as a consequence of poor diet or alcohol. Perhaps some people are more sensitive to the effects than others.
There are studies to prove anything. Some studies show smokers have less chance of Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and pancreatic cancer. Anecdotally, I don’t recall those specific diseases being prevalent back when smoking was ubiquitous. Right now, I know of 3 people who never smoked, yet are dealing with terrible cancers. I know others who have suffered from autoimmune conditions from an early age and who neither smoke or drink, have never done drugs and eat healthy diets. I know older, long term smokers who are fit, healthy, rarely ill and still working. Everyone knows of such instances.
I would not smoke in someone’s home, car or in an enclosed public space if it is not desired/allowed. I think the edicts against smoking outside are silly.
I mainly wish Americans would go back to not interfering in the lives of others. Smoke, drink, eat whatever you please and engage in whatever recreational activities you choose and don’t hassle or guilt-trip others about their personal choices. We all die of something, some people are healthy until the end and some die sooner than others.
If one checks the photos of the railing, as i see it concrete formed with NO
re-enforcement by rebar/iron!
It happens that crooked Contractors skimp/skip on the rebar that codes call for.
Yes, those references are for Manhattan only. The other boroughs have their own lingos.
Regards,
First off, I’ve never smoked. In the 1970’s, I was a hospital patient sharing a room with a smoker. I was there for two days.
I felt fine until they wheeled in Thelma. I was fine, that is, until she woke up and lit up the first of many cigarettes, which she chain smoked. After awhile, the fumes began to nauseate me, and my head to ache.
Up until that time, smoking was rare enough in my family life that when I went out, I sort of enjoyed the smell. Now I was trapped, and I had to endure it.
The room stayed hazy all of the time. When Thelma’s family visited in the evening, they all smoked. I complained to the nurses and the doctor, but those were different times. While they were sympathetic, I was told Thelma and her visitors had every right to light up, even if it sickened me.
My eyes, nostrils and throat burned from the smoke. I’d walk down the hall and sit in the waiting room, but smokers were there, too, or the cigarette odors they left behind.
Because I couldn’t leave and go home, I resented being forced to inhale the smoke and have its residue stick to my hair, skin, gown and bedding. I could taste it, and I couldn’t wait to get out of there!
When I finally did get out to our car, my head began to clear. I brought the odor home with me, and my parents complained about it, too. I showered and washed everything, but it took a couple of days for the odor to fade from the house and the car.
Now, the smell of cigarettes is rare enough again that I sometimes enjoy the smell of them. However, based on my experience when I was 19, I don’t know if I could physically tolerate smoking in close quarters for very long.
Thelma and her visitors? Why they were just plain offish, selfish and rude individuals. They didn’t know whether I was in for tests, or sick, and they didn’t care.
That’s the way it was. “Good times”, indeed.
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