We will miss you Manny by Frank Seltzer
Manny Ferrero
I really am hating this…but we are losing people in our industry. Emmanuel “Manny” Ferrero was a Senior Vice President at Ashton Distributors.
But everyone who knew him was his friend. Manny was down in Cabo last week for the Tobacconists’ Association of America. While at a party Tuesday night, he was dancing with his wife and then he was gone. A heart attack took him. He was 63.
Dave Savona over at Cigar Aficionado wrote a nice obit on Manny. I know it was hard for Dave to write.
So I will not do another. However I will do what CA cannot. Swear. Manny LOVED to swear. Carlito Fuente wrote in facebook about Manny:
“We loved Manny so dearly. He was one of a kind and the only person who told me Fuck You with every other word and I only took it as “I Love You”. Manny was the absolute Best in pairing cigars with food, spirits and wines. He was the most passionate and positively stubborn loyal and craziest, eccentric cigar man I’ve ever known. He referred to my father as Pops and me as Asshole, and still, we loved him. Manny was Manny…and left us too soon but left us as only he was and wanted to leave… among peers, dancing circles with the love of his life and having it no other way than… his way. It breaks our hearts to loose a brother and loyal friend to not only our beloved industry but absolutely to our family. I Love Manny and and I’m deeply heartbroken…Manny will never be forgotten or far from my thoughts. I respected, admired and love Manny for owning everything he said and did… he was proud to be Manny, Manny was his own man! At This moment I know you are smiling Manny, I know you Manny. You are also looking down at me and saying “Fuck You Carlos…I Love you Carlos.” Manny, I Love You Too.”
And I will always remember getting into an argument with Manny a couple of years ago in Nicaragua where I was giving him and the new blend of La Aroma de Cuba compliments. He kept telling me to fuck off. Here I am telling him what a great job they have done and he WANTS to argue. At the end, like Carlito said, it was I love you man. And Manny I loved you too…you will be sorely missed.
A Smoking Ban loss
Up in Ontario,Canada, there was a plan for a sweeping outdoor smoking ban. But it failed, at least temporarily. One Toronto doctor came in and called the anti’s bluff. Dr Abe Friesner, a non-smoker, testified that banning smoking outside goes too far and there is no research to support it.
“I step pretty hard on smoking, but this is about freedom of choice. That’s the bottom line,” he said. He referred specifically, however, to claims regarding the dangers and affect of second-hand smoke in open air spaces. “I’ve looked; there’s nothing there.” Referring to “dispersion” levels, Dr. Friesner said OTS levels usually approach zero at a three-metre distance and smoke particles become zero at an area of six feet from an individual smoking, according to recent study and symposium results.”
My favorite comment in the article comes from resident Larry Rudd who said until all levels of government put their houses in order, work in the black and be accountable, “don’t tell me what to do”. Exactly.
Accountable Science
Of course if someone says Second Hand Smoke is bad, it must be true because scientists would not lie…right? Not so much. Amgen is a big phramaceutical company and for a decade as head of global cancer research C. Glenn Begley identified 53 landmark findings. These were papers publiched in top journals from respected labs. Begley asked his team to reproduce the results. Of the 53 studies only 6 could be replicated. This finding is similar to one Bayer scientists found where they could only reproduce a quarter of the results despite several scientists working full time for up to a year. And according to Reuters the problem goes beyond cancer:
On Tuesday [last week], a committee of the National Academy of Sciences heard testimony that the number of scientific papers that had to be retracted increased more than tenfold over the last decade; the number of journal articles published rose only 44 percent.
Ferric Fang of the University of Washington, speaking to the panel, said he blamed a hypercompetitive academic environment that fosters poor science and even fraud, as too many researchers compete for diminishing funding.
Hmm so funding is the key? Wonder what results American Cancer, American Heart, American Lung and the government want when it comes to smoking?
And then Sunday night, 60 Minutes did a report on sugar being toxic. Dr. Sanjay Gupta reported on “new research” seems to support a theory of a pediatric endocrinologist from the University of California (of course). The endocrinologist says according to CBS :
Ultimately this is a public health crisis. And when it’s a public health crisis, you have to do big things and you have to do them across the board. Tobacco and alcohol are perfect examples. We have made a conscious choice that we’re not going to get rid of them, but we are going to limit their consumption. I think sugar belongs in this exact same wastebasket.
Oh BTW the good doctor co authored an [ie got paid by] American Heart Association report on sugar saying basically your total sugar intake should be no more than one can of soda per day.
The nanies are everywhere and they want to control every part of your life. And like the late Michael Crichton wrote the best way to control the population is through a State of Fear.
