Overheard in a pub recently, someone asking their friend, “Are you an atheist?” The reply was, “What does that mean? You’re so intelligent!”
Never rely on people
Never rely on people to point out the glitches. I’ve just printed one of my business’ invoices for the first time in ages — hey, I do everything on screen — and noticed that the template is still tagged with “Holiday Arrangements 2007-08”. In 2.5 months, no-one has mentioned it. Then again, I’m hardly surprised. Energy Australia tells me that street lights stay broken for months because no-one tells them — even though they can usually fix them promptly.
Throwing new tools at the communication problem
If you think some fancy new communications tool will solve your problems, think again. According to one commenter at 43 Folders, “Reality was that the same bad habits were then applied to the new tool just like the old tools. And soon the new tool was just as cumbersome and inefficient as the old ones.” I’ll come back to this post next week, because some good lessons are accumulating — and it relates directly to some work I’m doing with clients.
Chairman Rudd’s War on Binge Drinking
Speaking of the new wowserism, over at New Matilda Binoy Kampmark has a nice take on Chairman Rudd’s War on Binge Drinking.
Oh well done Aunty Victoria!
The Victorian government is going to ban ATMs from gaming venues.
So, just because some people get suckered into shoving all their money into addictive machines, the rest of us are denied the convenience of withdrawing cash at the pub when we’re running short. Instead we have to go down the street — where we can be mugged more easily.
Here’s a thought. If gaming machines are the problem, why not get rid of the gaming machines?
Oh, that’s right. 8% of Victoria’s revenue comes from gaming machine taxes [PDF file], a total of 13% from gambling of all kinds.
Chairman Rudd has already said he supports Nick Xenophon’s push to remove ATMs from gaming areas. Xenophon doesn’t even become a Senator until 1 July, but already he’s an object of sincere and deep affection.
We’d already started to see the rise of a new wowserism. Imagine what it’s going to like when the balance of power in the Senate is held by Xenophon and Family First’s Senator Steve Fielding! If you thought we’d seen dull conformity before…
Honesty is the best policy
“I supposed at least he was honest,” said Duncan Riley when he passed on this story (pictured).
I’ll reproduce the text here so the search engines find it — which may or may not be a Good Thing. My website ends up in enough weird searches as it is.
Burglary
A 38-year-old Cole Avenue man reported that his home was invaded on Sept. 9. The man said that he was sitting home alone masturbating and watching a pornographic movie when a man came down into the basement, holding a gun, and started to videotape him. The man said that before he left, the intruder fed his dog some mushrooms and the dog died.
The story is supposedly from The Beacon Journal, Sunday 21 September 2003. If it’s a fake, someone’s gone to a lot of trouble.
Now, is this the weirdest crime story you’ve heard recently? Please, links to even weirder ones!
OK, that’s set the tone for the day…