Watercooler Stories

Australia's biggest bookie leaves Sydney

SYDNEY, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- Australia's most prosperous bookmaker said he is getting out of Sydney's betting business due to the dismal state of the market.

Con Kafataris of Sydney said he is leaving gambling in New South Wales behind due to the state of the industry, which he blamed in part on "draconian" legislation barring around-the-clock betting, Internet access for clients and additional measures available to competitors in other states, The Sydney Morning Herald reported Thursday.

"I was averaging turnover between $2 million and $3 million on a Saturday but I'm now lucky to hold $750,000," Kafataris said.

"It is like I'm running a fruit shop and I'm only allowed to sell apples and the shop next store sells apples, oranges, mangoes, grapes, the whole lot," he said to the newspaper. "How can I compete?"

Peter Fletcher, chief executive of the NSW Bookmakers' Cooperative, said Kafataris may not be the last major bookie to leave the area.

"The reality is that bookmaking within NSW will be totally dead within a decade unless urgent regulatory reforms are embraced," he said.

Chef: Use rabbit surplus as food source

SYDNEY, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- An Australian chef says he has an alternative to the government's plan to poison wild rabbits -- cook and eat them.

Chef Matt Moran of award-winning Sydney restaurant Aria said the booming wild rabbit population, which the New South Wales government plans to solve by releasing the deadly calicivirus, should instead be used as a food source, The (Sydney) Daily Telegraph reported Thursday.

"Let people capture them and eat them. They are food," Moran said. "I'm from the bush and eating rabbit is just like eating lamb."

Moran said rabbit was seen as a cheap and easily accessible source of meat during the Great Depression.

"My grandfather made a living out of it," he said. "During the Depression my grandfather's main source of income for a couple of years was hunting rabbits for their fur and meat."

Facebook, swearing given up for Lent

NEW YORK, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- Catholics in New York said the luxuries they are giving up for the 40-day observance of Lent include drinking, swearing, Facebook and road rage.

Irish tourist Tasha McClure said outside St. Patrick's Cathedral on Ash Wednesday that she is logging off from Facebook for Lent, the New York Daily News reported Thursday.

"Because it's really addictive," McClure said of her reasoning.

New York residents Jamie Crapanzo and Roxann Romano said they plan to give up swearing, while Romano added she would also abstain from "yelling at my children" and drinking.

Gary Fandl, 55, said he hopes to spend his Lent staying calm in the driver's seat.

"I'm giving up road rage," he said. "The only time I tailgate is when I have to prove a point."

Fortune cookies promote census

SEATTLE, Feb. 19 (UPI) -- A Seattle fortune company cookie has unveiled a line of cookies bearing messages on behalf of the U.S. Census Bureau.

Tsue Chong Co. said the five census messages, revealed during a Thursday ceremony, will appear on the flipside of 2 million otherwise commonplace fortunes inserted into the cookies, The Seattle Times reported Thursday.

The fortunes, including messages that "Real Fortune is being heard" and readers should "Put down your chopsticks and get involved in Census 2010," will appear in cookies distributed to restaurants and stores in Washington, Oregon, Montana and Idaho, the company said.

Bessie Fan, co-owner of Tsue Chong, said it was a "great thrill to partner with the census for such an important effort."

"The census brings advantages we don't think a lot about," she said.

The cookies are part of the government's $320 million media campaign to promote participation in the April 1 census.