Category Archives: Haphazard world

Customer complaints, the old-fashioned way

December 10, 2007 12:45 pm

Like most of you, I spent some time this morning browsing through the Mahabharata looking for material for a class. And I was struck by the courtly fashion in which hospitality-related customer complaints were resolved back in Vedic times:

And the king having signified his assent, entertained Utanka duly. And Utanka seeing that the food placed before him had hair in it, and also that it was cold, thought it unclean. And he said unto Paushya, ‘Thou givest me food that is unclean, therefore shalt thou lose thy sight.’ And Paushya in answer said, ‘And because dost thou impute uncleanliness to food that is clean, therefore shalt thou be without issue.’ And Utanka thereupon rejoined, ‘It behoveth thee not, after having offered me unclean food, to curse me in return. Satisfy thyself by ocular proof.’

“And Paushya seeing the food alleged to be unclean satisfied himself of its uncleanliness. And Paushya having ascertained that the food was truly unclean, being cold and mixed with hair, prepared as it was by a woman with unbraided hair, began to pacify the Rishi Utanka, saying, ‘Sir, the food placed before thee is cold, and doth contain hair, having been prepared without sufficient care. Therefore I pray thee pardon me. Let me not become blind.’ And Utanka answered, ‘What I say must come to pass. Having become blind, thou mayst, however, recover the sight before long. Grant that thy curse also doth not take effect on me.’ And Paushya said unto him, ‘I am unable to revoke my curse. For my wrath even now hath not been appeased. But thou knowest not this. For a Brahmana’s heart is soft as new-churned butter, even though his words bear a sharp-edged razor. It is otherwise in respect of these with the Kshatriya. His words are soft as new-churned butter, but his heart is like a sharp-edged tool, such being the case, I am unable, because of the hardness of my heart, to neutralise my curse. Then go thou thy own way.’ To this Utanka made answer, “I showed thee the uncleanliness of the food offered to me, and I was even now pacified by thee. Besides, saidst thou at first that because I imputed uncleanliness to food that was clean I should be without issue. But the food truly unclean, thy curse cannot affect me. Of this I am sure.’ And Utanka having said this departed with the ear-rings.
The Mahabharata, Book 1: Adi Parva: Paushya Parva: Section III

I think that the Tropicana AC relicensing might have gone a little better if they’d have handled all their customer complaints through ritualistic curses instead of referral to the risk management department, or whatever they did.

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Grave shift is a carcinogen?

November 30, 2007 1:11 pm

Since my last stint on grave shift a few years back, I’ve always known that working nights is not completely healthy behavior, either physically or mentally. But now the WHO says that it causes cancer. From Reuters:

Shift workers and firefighters have a higher risk of cancer than the general population and such work should be classified as probably or possibly carcinogenic, the International Agency for Research on Cancer said on Friday.

A team of 24 scientists who sifted through the evidence said more studies must confirm the link, but found that shift work that disturbs the body’s internal clock appears to have cancer-causing effects, too.

This internal clock regulates circadian rhythms, a complex system that signals cells to produce various hormones at various times.

“Shiftwork that involves circadian disruption is probably carcinogenic to humans,” the French-based IARC, the cancer agency of the World Health Organization, said in a statement. “Occupational exposure as a firefighter is possibly carcinogenic to humans,” it added.

The statement, published as what the IARC calls a monograph, could affect a significant number of people.

“Nearly 20 percent of the working population in Europe and North America is engaged in shiftwork. Shiftwork is most prevalent in the health-care, industrial, transportation, communications, and hospitality sectors,” the IARC said.

Shift work may cause cancer, world agency says | U.S. | Reuters

In Las Vegas and other casino towns, there are huge numbers of people working grave shift, so if confirmed this would be big news here and elsewhere.

I don’t know enough about the particulars of the empirical experiments on mice or the data collection to critique the findings, but I agree with the last line of the story, which says that there are a number of behavioral patterns associated with working late nights–drinking, smoking, and not getting enough sleep–that could explain the higher cancer rates for grave.

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Win the lottery, go to jail

November 29, 2007 1:16 pm

Usually, winning a million dollars is an unambiguously good thing. But for ex-con, a winning scratcher might be a ticket back to jail. From the Boston Globe:

His odds of winning $1 million on a scratch ticket were 1 in 1,247,400.

His odds of being busted if he won? A pretty safe bet.

Timothy Elliott – the lucky buyer of a $1 million scratch ticket in the $800 Million Spectacular game – is a two-time bank robber whose lottery ticket purchase last week violated the terms of his probation. Last year, when he pleaded guilty to unarmed robbery, the 55-year-old Hyannis man was ordered “to not gamble, purchase lottery tickets, or visit establishments where gaming is conducted, including restaurants where Keno may be played,” according to his probation from Barnstable Superior Court.

So two days after a trip to the winner’s circle in the lottery’s Braintree headquarters, where he claimed the first $50,000 of his payout – about $35,000 after taxes – Elliott earned himself another court date. A hearing has been scheduled for Dec. 7 in Barnstable Superior Court to determine the penalties for violating his probation – and, perhaps, what happens to the winnings.

“This has not happened before, as far as we know,” said Dan Rosenfeld, the lottery’s communications director. “It’s new territory.”

Bank robber may see lottery win scratched – The Boston Globe

Since this a violation of his probation, Elliott could go back to jail, just for the crime of winning. That’s pretty harsh, but if not playing the lottery was a specific condition of his probation, it might be fair.

So blackjack skill players, stop complaining: you’re not the only folks being hassled for winning–at least not anymore.

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’72 Dolphins & history

November 7, 2007 12:27 pm

There’s a popular story that every year, when the NFL’s final sole remaining undefeated team goes home a loser, the surviving members of the 1972 Miami Dolphins pop champagne corks and celebrate the fact that their perfect season will remain the only one in NFL history.

The story might not, strictly speaking, be true. But it does make me think about an important point: do the achievements of the present come at the expense of the past?

Today, the big news is that Miami legend Don Shula has suggested that, even if they do run the table and finish 19-0, the New England Patriots should be asterisked. From MSNBC:

Coaching legend Don Shula, who guided the 1972-73 Miami Dolphins to the only unbeaten record in NFL history, saiys an asterisk must accompany the New England Patriots if they go 19-0 this season because of the Bill Belichick spying scandal, the New York Daily News reported Tuesday.

“The Spygate thing has diminished what theyve accomplished. You would hate to have that attached to your accomplishments. Theyve got it,” Shula told the Daily News. “Belichick was fined $500,000, the team was fined $250,00 and they lost a first-round draft choice. That tells you the seriousness or significance of what they found.

19-0 Pats would need asterisk, Shula says – NFL – MSNBC.com

To me, the idea of the ’72 team toasting the demise of winning seasons always seemed kind of ghoulish. Well, maybe vampiric is a more apt word. It’s the whole idea that the accomplishments of today come at the expense of yesterday, that history is a zero-sum game.

That just seems a suffocating attitude. The past becomes a burden, a set of requirements and prohibitions, instead of lessons for the future.

The right way to handle this thing is how Hank Aaron did: graciously. Even though Barry Bonds’ surpassing his home run record has hardly been free of controversy, no one can say that Aaron hasn’t been a complete gentleman throughout. He knows that his place in history is secure, and doesn’t need to rely on future mediocrity to ensure it.

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Check your head

October 12, 2007 12:30 pm

I was going to write a lengthy post about the proliferation of public art in my neighborhood, but I’ll save that for another day, when I have the pictures to prove my point. I’ve also got a major announcement about an author event at the Center for Gaming Research, but I’m doing that later.

I just wanted to share an excerpt from today’s email inbox. A guy who seems nice enough dropped me a line to ask if I could help him buy carpet. Here’s my favorite part:

I manage a small casino here and surfing on the Internet I found your page gallery carpet and I liked a lot especially when you tell my head about the design of this carpet

The whole email is one big run-on sentence. I have a feeling that it was run through a web translating page.

But maybe I should change my job description: as Director of the Center for Gaming Research, I manage and expand UNLV’s Gaming Collection, update gaming.unlv.edu, answer researcher, industry, and media questions about gambling, and tell people’s heads about casino carpet.

Add one more thing to the list of things I’d be doing that I never imagined I’d be doing some day back when I was in graduate school.

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The wife jackpot

September 26, 2007 7:08 pm

It took a big story to get me back into gambling. From the Telegraph:

Yudhisthir lost Draupadi gambling. Centuries on, another woman of Malipada village in Khurda, about 20km from here, was put on bet.

Binodini Moharana (19) was hurriedly married off to 28-year-old Kailash Moharana, a carpenter, on September 19 after her brother-in-law lost her in gambling.

Binodini, a student of class IX was average in studies and her parents were looking for an eligible bachelor. Her Bhubaneswar-based brother-in-law, Babu Moharana, was asked to find a prospective groom for her.

A resident of Dharam Vihar here, Babu, married to Binodini’s elder sister, used to drink to glory and gamble every evening after work.

One such evening in the second week of September, Babu, while gambling with Kailash, put his sister-in-law on stake. Kailash had seen Binodini during one of her visits to Babu’s place and was keen to marry her. He gladly accepted the challenge and went on to win in the gambling. Game over, Kailash asked Babu to make arrangements for his marriage with Binodini.

The crowd at the gambling spot, too, pressed Babu to stick to his word.

Kailash wanted the marriage to be solemnised fast and agreed to tie the knot without any dowry at the city-based Anti-Caste Marriage One Child Family Organisation of India (AMOFOI). “They approached us with the required documents. Also, unlike other cases, a huge crowd accompanied this couple. We virtually had no place to stand,” said AMOFOI founder B. Ramachandra CST Voltaire.

He said the documents were cross-checked and the certificate was issued after the marriage. “The gambling issue was revealed much later,” he said.

Binodini, who now stays with Kailash at Jena colony in Jagmara, is shocked.

“I did not know this part of the story until my husband told me. I always wanted to marry according to the rituals and could not understand why everything was being done in a hurry without making proper arrangements,” she said.

Kailash, who earns around Rs 4,500 a month, said the gambling was just an excuse to marry Binodini.

“No matter how I got her, I will keep her happy always,” he said.

Carpenter wins wife in gambling

Props to the Mahabharata reference in the first line–I just don’t see enough of those in American newspapers. In fact, most papers don’t tell you the monthly salaries of the people they profile, either.

This should be a movie.

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Dwight’s theme

September 24, 2007 2:21 pm

After my last entry, I’ve had a hard time tearing myself away from this Rush midi page. If you watch The Office, can you honest tell me that you heard this Tom Sawyer midi and did not think of Dwight Schrute? As far as I’m concerned, that’s his unofficial theme song.

If you said no, you lose 50 Schrute bucks.

When I said that I wanted to write about something other than gambling for a while, I didn’t think that I’d be picking out midi renderings of theme songs for fictional TV characters, but this is fun.

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Bearing down on Reno

September 12, 2007 1:25 pm

When I signed on to teach in Reno one day a week, I didn’t know what I was getting into. This morning, I got an email alert that I’d like to share:

University Police would like to inform you that two bear sightings on campus have been reported during the early morning hours of September 12, 2007. The last report was that a bear was seen near the Texaco gasoline station on Virginia at approximately 6:40 AM.

If you see one of these animals, please DO NOT APPROACH THE BEARS. CALL 911. Other safety tips include:

- Don’t try to get a “closer look”;

- Do not corner one of these bears;

- If there are 2 or more of you, stand close together to appear more imposing;

- Make loud noises, such as shouting;

- Try to avoid eye contact, as some bears find this threatening behavior;

- Don’t turn your back or run.

Remember – if you see one of these animals, please DO NOT APPROACH THEM. CALL 911.

Growing up in Atlantic City and spending most of the rest of my life in LA and Las Vegas, I’ve never had to deal with bears much. This email told me what not to do, but not what to do. Strategically retreat? I dunno. I’m heading out for lunch now, and hopefully won’t run across any angry wildlife. This sounds like something out of the Borat movie, but I imagine that it’s no laughing matter.

Still, there’s something kind of cool about a bear alert in the middle of a mid-sized American city. I wonder how often this happens.

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Cats hit jackpot at casino

August 14, 2007 10:10 am

There was a problem a while back with a Nye County cat sanctuary’s operators mistreating a few hundred cats. As it only could be in Nevada, a casino is making the problem go away…sort of. From KLAS:

Best Friends Animal Society’s great cat rescue continues, as 41 lucky kitties found their forever homes at the “Change Their Luck” adoption event in Pahrump at the Nugget hotel and casino on Saturday.

Not only were 41 out of 50 cats adopted, but over $900 was raised.

These cats are some of the 400 cats that were surrendered to Nye County Animal Control in July. The national animal welfare organization Best Friends Animal Society was brought in to make life better for these cats, and that means we want them to go home. It is what they deserve.

‘Cats Hit Jackpot’ at Casino Adoption Event

Click through–it’s worth it just for the picture of Pongo.

How about this–a slot machine where the top jackpot is a cat or dog? They could keep the animal in a little pen above the bank of slots, and maybe when you hit a smaller jackpot you get some cat or dog treats to feed the critter.

Sure, there might be problems with animal cruelty and basic hygiene, but it would be more fun than having a car sit on top of the slot carousel.

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Friday the 13th

July 13, 2007 2:00 pm

It’s Friday the 13th, so get out those broken mirrors…or not. From the Buffalo News:

Today is Friday the 13th, traditionally a day to avoid black cats, ladders and broken mirrors.

But in the year 2007, does anyone care?

Once, people feared bad luck when the 13th day of the month fell on a Friday. Now, for most people, Friday the 13th is no more remarkable than Friday the 8th or Friday the 21st. Some probably don’t even notice when the formerly chilling day-date combination dawns.

“I don’t find a whole lot of people are really worried about it anymore,” said Thomas Fernsler, an associate policy scientist at the University of Delaware who knows enough about the number 13 to earn the unofficial title “Dr. 13.”

“I like to call it a historical superstition.”

The day was once imbued with great significance. Stories about how it arose range from the arrests and killings of the Knights Templar on a Friday the 13th in the 1300s to the hangings routinely carried out on Fridays and Jesus’ status as the 13th guest at the last supper.

But now, few will admit to harboring qualms about Friday the 13th. Amy Koban, owner and reader at Amy’s Mystick Boutique in Lewiston, said she encounters plenty of people who are inclined to be superstitious — and even they brush off the inauspicious date.
The Buffalo News: Lifestyle News: Friday, the 13th – not the ominous day it once was

This proves that God does play dice with the universe, I think: is it just a coincidence that this unlucky day falls less than a week after the “lucky” 07/07/07? I don’t think so.

I wonder what kind of business the wedding chapels are doing today.

Coincidentally, it’s Day 4 of the WSOP final, and there are plenty of people who will remember this as an lucky day, and plenty of people who’ll think it’s a lucky one: it’s all a matter of perspective. I was just down there, and I saw a guy go all-in on the first hand of the day and lose. He had a pair of jacks, but unfortunately, the other guy had stomach aces.

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