Amazing

It is amazing what you can train a dog to do! (Picture from here)

ATMs and Poker Machines

Out of one and into the other!

Gambling is a problem and problem gamblers face more challenges than most in avoiding the pit falls of their addiction. I have always wondered about the common sense of having an ATM in the same room as a lot of poker machines. The temptation for a problem gambler to pour all their cash into one machine after having taken it out of the other must be huge.


So, it is with interest that I read the Senator-elect from South Australia, Nick Xenophon, who seemingly was elected on his anti-pokies platform, intends to introduce a private members bill when he takes up his position on 1 July 2008.


The essence of the bill would be to ban ATMs from pubs and clubs. I fully support such a move. It will be interesting to see whether the move gets universal support in the parliament. Pokies are big business and from the pub and club perspective it makes a lot of sense to have an ATM on site to ensure that punters have access to cash. The bill would not effect the pub's and club's abilities with regard to EFTPOS or electronic funds transfer machines. The senator-elect recognizes that EFTPOS is important for allowing patrons to pay for drinks, food, and accommodation.


The winner is always just around the corner which is probably why having an ATM in a pub or club is such a dangerous thing.

Wolf Whistling - An Appropriate Response?

Nah, this is a story out of New Zealand and it does not involve sheep or rugby!

The story involves and Israeli tourist and some New Zealand road workers who couldn't help themselves from giving a wolf whistle or two as this obviously good looking young tourist walked past their place of work.

It would seem that the tourist has been in NZ for a while and has been subjected to the whistles over a period of time. Perhaps this is a lesson in when enough is enough.

Anyway, after being whistled at on her way to the ATM presumably to draw some cash, she decided the best way to give these fellas a lesson was to strip off all her gear and give them an eyeful of what they were really whistling at.

Once she drew her cash she apparently put her gear back on and went on her merry way! Well, at least she would have if she had not been detained by the police.

Lucky for her she was just given a warning and told that this was inappropriate behaviour in NZ. I would have figured it probably would have been inappropriate behaviour in Israel too! That's just me though!