Free Republic

Those of you older than dirt will perhaps recall a phrase from the old hit TV show, “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In:” “Look that up in your Funk and Wagnalls.” It came into popular usage at the time probably because it WAS a funny sounding name and “Funk” was as close to that other “F” word they could never get away with in the late 60s and remain on the air. For those of you NOT older than dirt, from 1910 until they went under in the 70s or so, Funk and Wagnalls published little green encyclopedia books. Some time after...

THERE is something about smoking that is very French. Jean-Paul Sartre enjoyed a cigarette, so did Colette, Bardot, Camus and Coco Chanel.But as in other European countries, smoking in public is becoming taboo - much to the annoyance of many who are used to lighting up pretty much anywhere, even in the revered corridors of power. Last week, after a five-month government inquiry, a parliamentary committee approved a proposal to ban smoking in public areas. Under the measure, cafés, hotels, restaurants, discos and casinos could designate spaces for smoking only if they could be "hermetically sealed areas, furnished with air-extraction...