Maybe in the olden days it wouldn’t have been so bad, but with all the plastic and various chemicals that end up in the garbage now it’s very toxic. In some other countries I have seen and smelled garbage burning, when there is enough plastic in it you start to choke. Seems like burning it is the worst thing you could do.
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It is, which is why its illegal pretty much everywhere.
It is, Torreon. The rest of Mexico isnt so backwards moving but Torreon is. The cigarette ban was just the no smoking in Restaurants Bars etc. Not a true ban. Same thing they started doing state side 20 years ago.
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I support this ban as smoking indoors impacts others. I am generally libertarian in regards to personal liberties (until they impact others).
What is life like there. What is the cost of living for a decent life like there? I am interested in possibly retiring early in a different area that could offer a good life for less money.
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Over here they took it a step further and even some places outside you can’t smoke. Like if a restaurant/bar patio has any sort of canopy or umbrellas closer together than whatever distance they allow you can’t smoke there. You are also not supposed to smoke within something like 10 meters or certain building entrances and bus shelters, which is stupid because people will be walking along the sidewalk and passing those places. You can’t smoke in any hotel rooms either. Banning it inside places open to the general public is reasonable, but outside it just becomes stupid.
I don’t smoke at all, I just think too much rules can be ridiculous.
I agree. I have no desire to do many things, but I think that if they don’t harm others, or don’t have a high probability of harming others, then they should probably be legal.
I kinda think just in general drug testing in sports just gives an advantage to “smarter” athletes, or athletes that have more resources to hire doping professionals. One of the Tour de France titles that got taken away from Armstrong ended up going to the 14th finisher (they tested the samples of the first 13, and the new technology showed all 13 finishers were doping). At the time those 13 knew how to pass the test, and did, but they were still doping.
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They might as well just go by the “honor system” for drug free sports because there is always some way to beat testing and the drugs just offer too much advantages. If you’re clean and beating all the regular people then you should at least be at a decent level in the juiced division.
This is even worse than weightlifting. Crossfit had similar issues too. If they really went all out with testing in the IPF I wouldn’t be surprised if it ended up like that as well. I think there is probably a lot of corruption going on with samples being switched and stuff like that, Russia got caught doing that but I would be surprised if nobody else is.
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There’s a Norway/Sweden rivalry with regards to cross-country skiing and it’s unfathomable how many times I’ve heard Swedes talk about how curious it is that all the norwegian athletes have “asthma” and that they’re probably doping through their inhalers but not bat an eye at a Swedish athlete when they beat the alleged doped athletes. Like, they are unquestionably all natural. Every Winter Olympics, I tell you.
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This is just about the most Scandinavian thing I have ever heard.
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If any two countries were to have a rivalry over skiing it should be us two. Everything else is just heresy.
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Cross-country skiing is kinda big in my state (Minnesota, which has a lot of Scandinavians). One of my friends (a Swede) coaches it, and does a lot of races. He coached Jessie Diggins when she was younger if you know who that is.
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No, I’m one of the Swedes whose main gripe with cross-country skiing is everyone talking about it but refusing to acknowledge our athletes are probably doped as well. That’s the entire extent to which I care about the subject. And that I feel (care) as if it makes sense that our rivalry be The Skiing Rivalry.
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Don’t move to Torreon. Mazatlan is a great cheap option (and on the rebound) or along the Western border. Playa Del Carmen will be middle of the road in price compared to US cities but it’s general quality as far as beaches and homes is higher than Maz. Merida is a very popular citpat destination but I have only been there a smidge.
A lot of Americans have an image of Mexico as being rife with violence between rival drug gangs and with corrupt police looking to shake you down. How far off are we? Are there decent places where drug gangs generally don’t operate?
Add gangs looking to extort anyone with money, and criminals who will rob you in your house and likely kill you.
Seems like most of Latin America and the Caribbean has those issues, but there are some calmer spots here and there. I know a guy from Guadalajara (Mexico), he went back to visit his family a few years ago and next thing you know the news here was reporting a sudden outbreak of violence between one of the cartels and the military and police, plenty of people dead and shooting going on for several days. I wasn’t sure if he would make it back, but none of it came near where he was and he said he had a great time, so it depends on a lot of things.
My impression is that unlike American cities, the violence is not confined to certain rough areas. For instance, Chicago has more murders than any other city in America, but you’d never know it by looking at its downtown and affluent North Side (with the exception of the looting spree there a few weeks ago, which is far from typical). By contrast, it seems like I read about Mexican drug gangs having massive shoot-outs in central parts of big cities like Acapulco. And with police being largely unable to reassert control, large numbers of people end up killed in the crossfire. Again, that is the impression we get here in the States.
From what I hear, average Mexicans that don’t get mixed up with the cartels are relatively safe, but foreigners are targeted. Costa Rica is apparently real bad for that and the cops are often involved, I know two guys who got robbed by cops there on vacation (separate incidents, they don’t know each other) and last year there was something in the news about how tourists were at risk. It depends on the country though, like Jamaica has one of the highest murder rates in the world but it seems like tourists are much less likely to be robbed or killed there than Mexico or Costa Rica.
Except for the Deadlift height thing, I thnk you just described Strongman
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They burn bench shirts at strongman meets? Sounds pretty cool! At one time feminists were burning bras, now powerlifters switch to strongman and burn their bench shirt.
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LOL. I haven’t sen that, and generally you can wear whatever equipment you want, you just don’t see Bench Shirts because they don’t help. Although I have seen them tried on Lof Press. It didn’t go well.
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Yeah I imagine it would make it harder to clean the log too.