Sharks and laws Re: [UA] Explain American laws to me

[Timothy Ferguson]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Patrick O'Duffy" <redfern at thehub.com.au>

> This is interesting.  Las Vegas projects this image that America is
obsessed
> with gambling; but Australia seems to have a lot more gambling occuring.

Per head Australians do spend more.

> It's a
> casual and accepted part of everyday life; almost everyone does it on same
> level.

Australians believe in luck.  Robert Hughes, well known windbag, did quite a
decent description of our believe in destiny as the friend of the common
man.

> Pretty much the same as here, although I think there are differences.  For
> instance, the casino here in Brisbane doesn't have 'regular' poker, the
kind I
> sometimes play with friends.

That's because poker is a game of skill.

> Instead it has only 'Carribean Stud Poker', a
> variant where you play against the dealer rather than the other players,
with
> some similarities to blackjack.

The Townsville one doesn't have Caribbean stud.  The problem with poker is
that it turns over iterations more slowly than baccarat or blackjack.

> > Well, there's a joke in there about whores in Canberra, but some witty
> > Aussie probably beat me to it.
>
> A long, _long_ time ago.

Canberra is the only place it is entirely legal to shoot pornographic films,
within Australia.

> A couple of cities have adopted a "don't care" attitude about marijuana
here.
> If the cops bust you smoking, they'll always let you off with a warning;
same if
> they find you in possession of a small stash.  They only get tough if
you're
> doing major dealing.  It's a common drug, as popular as alcohol among
younger
> demographics; many cops don;t think it's worth the effort to don anything
about
> it.

Note that in Queensland if they (reasonably) think you have drugs, even of
personal use quanitites, in your house, they do not require a warrant to
enter and search.  As such, prohiibted weapons or drugs are a free kick for
the Queensland police.

> (And hey, I'm inclined to agree, even though I smoke only very
occasionally.)

Patrick, please don't do that.  It's rude to make people an accessory...

> > Dealers and users here have both been hit hard by mandatory sentencing
laws
> > and the "three strikes and you're out" rule, which basically means that
if
> > you commit three felonies, you get sent away for life.
>
> We have our own mandatory sentencing debate going on right now; it's the
reason
> why the UN is accusing us of human rights violations, and why our venomous
> little cunt of a Prime Minister is talking about severing UN ties.

Not UN ties, just UN committee ties.  You'll note that the US does not have
a committee giving it a hard time about the death penalty, mandatory
sentencing, or creation of weapons of mass destruction.  By the way, I'm in
favour of a republic, an apology, a treaty and ratification of the treaty on
the rights of women, so I don't support him, but I believe his argument,
that the UN committees pick soft targets, is absolutely correct.

> > I've heard tell of gun shows where
> > you can find submachineguns with no firing pins for sale and firing pins
for
> > sale for the submachinegun.  Whee!
>
> We've got some farmers and gunowners here who do the same thing.  Most of
these
> guys are... well, a bit loopy, frankly.

They also import upgrade kits fromthe US marked as "irrigation equipment".


Patrick, did you hear about the cod in Cairns?

Get this, not an urban myth.  Front page of my paper two days ago:

Guy opens cod in canning works, thinks it has swallowed a dog, pulls out dog
carcass.

Discovers lump is human head.

Theory: man falls overboard, body is eaten by shark, residual head eaten by
cod.

Now, my take is this:

Remember the shark in Sydney years ago that was on show in an aquarium and
spat up a tattooed arm?

What if the bits are the same guy?  What if we are meant to collect the bits
and put them back together?



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