It is often said that nicotine addiction remains one of the strongest dependencies. It increases the processing speed between the brain and the body, creating pleasant feelings including relaxation and happiness, which urges you to reach for another tobacco product to maintain the high.
Of the $80.3 billion dollars, "Tobacco related harm was the largest contributor to costs ($35.8 billion, 45%)".
Read MoreFor the joy that wood heaters bring, asthmatics across the state monitor apps and weather patterns to remain safe.
The worst combination is cold night air and hovering wood smoke, made more harmful when training for sporting events when this potentially deadly combination is at its peak.
Throw in late autumn being the most effective time for fuel reduction burns and matters are made even worse.
Read MoreThe revelation was twenty-years in the making following the resurrection of a friendship.
The accusation of an overly-ambitious nature troubled me and forced ongoing consideration of alleged behaviour.
The trouble manifested in different ways: fidgeting, pensive, distracted, and procrastinating to a stop.
Read MoreYet, as its more fulsome term, brainrot, describes "excessive consumption of TikTok content leads to decreased attention spans and mental fatigue."
It's fair to say, as parents, we don't always model the best of behaviours to our offspring.
The truth is, I'll be rewatching Bridgerton's episodes having missed so much due to distractions that are extremely difficult to control.
Read MoreTo paint a picture of parliament in the 1980s, it was a time when smoking was permitted in the chamber and tobacco companies would send boxes of cigarettes to members who could 'enjoy' a mid-question time 'dart'.
For those with experience or interest in the parliamentary process, the first thing you look for on a new sitting of the state parliament is where members sit.
Read MoreThe Irish Census of 1901 and 1911 were the only two complete records to survive, which makes searching for family history far more complicated.
However, it was at this time that I came across my great-grandfather's service records; the first I have been able to locate although perhaps not even the first veteran in our family.
Frederick William Allen enlisted with Royal Irish Dragoon Guards on March 14, 1874. Remarkably, he was just 14 years and 10 months and would become an army trumpeter.
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