I Love Helmets

Background: I do downhill longboarding as a hobby. > If some riders choose to not wear a helmet [...] ...we take their board from them, until they show up with one. This sport is almost completely unregulated (outside of official events), but somehow the community has developed an incredibly strong culture of keeping both yourself and the others around you safe. I guess something about being a niche sport, perhaps a bit of natural selection. If e.g. a sponsor (hypothetically - I'm nowhere near good enough to get sponsorship) told me not to wear any particular piece of safety gear, I'd laugh them out of the room, and likely the entire local crew would join in the laughing. It's a small sport, once the word gets out, that company would also likely no longer be getting many sales either. The only correct move for the Pedal Me riders is to go pedal for someone else. [this video]

I don’t know about helmets, seeing one clip like this [1] instantly makes them look cool and makes anyone not wearing them look like a complete idiot. Cigarettes get to bypass our monkey brain “you’re an idiot for doing that” because a singular cigarette won’t do severe harm, and the harm from smoking is non-imminent at some nondescript moment in the future. I think part of the aesthetic appeal of cigarettes is they take situations that are passive and make them seem active. Two people having a conversation? No, two people going for a smoke and coincidentally talking. A girl modeling? She’s not posing, she’s just smoking and someone took a candid picture of her. Beth Harmon reading a book in bed? No, she’s smoking and happens to read a book. [1] [this video]