Why Be a Waugal Watcher When You Can Train Greyhounds?

One of H’s colleagues resigned today so that he could kick-off November in a new career. Six months ago he used some savings he had acquired working overseas to buy a share in a greyhound. The dog lost its first race spectacularly and its trainer, who was working for free in exchange for a percentage of the dog’s winnings, threatened to quit. Over the weekend, the dog won its race, the second one it has competed in. He decided that in lieu of paying the trainer, he would quit his six figure job and train the dog himself. His goal is to purchase shares in additional greyhounds or be hired by others to train their greyhounds and live off his earnings from that and his winnings from betting on his dog. Apparently in Australia, people train greyhounds by setting them loose in a paddock with a kangaroo or two and letting the animals chase each other. The preferred practice used to be setting the dog after rabbits, but this practice of "live kills" is technically illegal. The legal protection may be unnecessary, as racing dogs have been bred to the point that they are unable to catch any game in the wild. On the track they only need to run in a (relatively) straight line. The ability to stop, turn or do anything else is neglected in the breeding practice. All it takes is one quick change of direction by the intended prey, and the pursuing dog falls tail over head with it's paws in the air. Of course to oversee this training, it’s essential to always have a cold beer in hand. Good luck Anonymous Colleague; you are certainly going to need it.

Satellite Bingo

During the Cold War era, scientists launching satellites into space wanted to make sure their technology wouldn't fall into Russian hands when it came crashing back to earth at the end of its lifespan.  They seem to have not realized that 30 year old satellites have as much computing power as the average modern day calculator and that the debris would have the possibility of postdating the USSR.  In order to protect their falling satellites, the flight paths were engineered to re-enter over friendly territory.  However the fine engineers at Lockheed Martin didn't want them landing in suburbia, so they went searching for a more suitable friendly country to "land" their satellites.  With a population density of about 1 person per square kilometer, Australia, in particular Western Australia, seemed like a perfect target.  This means that 30 years on, having satellites come plunging down into the back paddock is not an unheard of event in Western Australia.  Instead of bemoaning hunks of metal falling from the sky, the Aussies  have found a way to turn it into their favorite pastime, gambling.

Satellite bingo begins in Western Australia whenever news reports cover a satellite that is beginning to fall out of orbit, and the approximate impact/debris area is announced.  The impact area is broken up into segments and for a few dollars you can buy into the office pool for one of these lots.  As the engineers and physicists out there will probably interject, a satellite will break up on re-entry, and pieces can land over a wide area.  This may present a problem for competitive gamblers, but in Australia this appeals to the sense of "a fair go".  With the satellites scattered over a wide area, the prize pool can be claimed by many people, as anyone with a piece of satellite on their section can claim to be a winner.