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Cockroach Race
Gambling-Mad Aussies Flock to
Annual Cockroach Race Mon Jan 19, 8:29 AM ET By Belinda Goldsmith CANBERRA, Australia (Reuters) - Gambling-mad Australians, teased for willingly betting on two flies crawling up a wall, have expanded their horizons -- now they're placing bets on cockroaches. A record crowd of more than 7,000 betters is expected to attend the 23rd annual Cockroach Races in the east coast city of Brisbane Jan. 26, Australia's national day, with some bringing their own runners and others buying competitors there. "More and more people are coming to town especially for this premier racing event, where everyone can be the owner of a thoroughbred," said organizer Richard Deery, general manager of Brisbane's Story Bridge Hotel that hosts the races. As the story goes, the race dates back to the day 23 years ago when two old betters were sitting in the bar arguing over which suburb had the biggest and fastest cockroaches. Australia is home to about 450 native species of cockroach, which are not pests and are mainly bush dwellers, and also has around six species of pest cockroach, most of them introduced from outside the continent and that now plague almost every house. The two betters decided to race some roaches the next day -- and history was made. Australians have the highest rate of gambling in the world, a passion dating back to when the first convict settlers, shipped out from Britain in 1788, reportedly bet on cards and dice. By the early 1800s, horse racing was the rage but this has now been overtaken by the flashing slot or poker machines that line the walls of almost every pub, hotel and casino. More than 20 percent of the world's poker machines are in Australia, about five times as many as in the United States on a per capita basis. GAMBLING NATION National gambling statistics released late last year showed Australians gambled away a record A$15 billion ($12 billion) in the year to June 2002 -- nearly two percent of Gross Domestic Product and slightly more than the nation's defense budget. Few Australians balk at betting. The nation grinds to a standstill every year for the Melbourne Cup horse race and the nation's richest man, Kerry Packer, is an unrepentant gambler, known for spending millions at the baccarat table. Packer probably won't be spotted cheering on his favorite roach, but Deery said increasing numbers of people were heading to Brisbane to bet on the 14 races that are run over the day with contestants encouraged to train and bring their own cockroaches. Last year's winner, Osama bin Liner, was lovingly reared by his owners who turned up on the day in full beards and headwear, dressed as the world's most wanted man. Other past winners include Drain Lover, whose name plays on that of two-time Melbourne Cup winner Rain Lover, Millennium Bug and Guns'n Roaches, whose contestants modeled themselves on the rock band Gun'N Roses, carrying their roaches in boxes shaped like tiny guitars. Deery said people who lacked time to trap and train their own six-legged runners could buy a cockroach from the house stable for A$5 ($4) but warned that demand always outstripped supply. All funds raised go to a local children's hospital. The races are held on a circular track with the cockroaches released from an upturned bucket in the middle. First to the edge is the winner. The steeplechase event is a bit trickier with the runner having to navigate a circular fence -- well, a garden hose -- to get to the edge. Deery said the same cockroach can be entered in any number of events for a $5 fee, if you can catch it after the first race. "But for the animals it is short-term success and glory as most don't last to return the next year," said Deery. "They meet a varied end. One year the steward threw a handful into the crowd, while another year one better was talked into eating one, all in the name of charity." ($1=A$1.28) Phil A won!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (the race, not the OZ Bucks) JLS |
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Phil A won!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (the race, not the OZ Bucks) JLS Funny you should mention this, but Phil's state of New South Wales and my neighbouring northerly state of Queensland have a fierce 3 match round of football known as "State of Origin" each year. The two sides are known as "Cockroaches" and "Canetoads" respectively. Patrick Turner's territory, the ACT, is surrounded by Phil's eg: surrounded by cockroaches on all sides. Regards Mark Harriss |
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Mark Harriss wrote:
Phil A won!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (the race, not the OZ Bucks) JLS Funny you should mention this, but Phil's state of New South Wales and my neighbouring northerly state of Queensland have a fierce 3 match round of football known as "State of Origin" each year. The two sides are known as "Cockroaches" and "Canetoads" respectively. Patrick Turner's territory, the ACT, is surrounded by Phil's eg: surrounded by cockroaches on all sides. Regards Mark Harriss There are Cockroaches in this part of the world too. Luckily I live just a bit north of their range. Seems the Winter here is just enough to keep them out. Last three weeks has been in the range -15 to -25C. Supposed to get warm today at -7C, but snow like hell. (Probably doesn't snow much in Hell. The fuel cost would be outtta site). BTW, what is a Canetoad. Check one below..... A- Marsupial B- Monotreme C- Amphibian There is no prize!!!!!!! Cheers, John Stewart |
#4
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John Stewart wrote: Mark Harriss wrote: Phil A won!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (the race, not the OZ Bucks) JLS Funny you should mention this, but Phil's state of New South Wales and my neighbouring northerly state of Queensland have a fierce 3 match round of football known as "State of Origin" each year. The two sides are known as "Cockroaches" and "Canetoads" respectively. Patrick Turner's territory, the ACT, is surrounded by Phil's eg: surrounded by cockroaches on all sides. Regards Mark Harriss There are Cockroaches in this part of the world too. Luckily I live just a bit north of their range. Seems the Winter here is just enough to keep them out. Last three weeks has been in the range -15 to -25C. Supposed to get warm today at -7C, but snow like hell. (Probably doesn't snow much in Hell. The fuel cost would be outtta site). BTW, what is a Canetoad. Check one below..... A- Marsupial B- Monotreme C- Amphibian There is no prize!!!!!!! Cheers, John Stewart Citizen Kane Tode is a pestulential type of guy who originated in Sth america but who was sent over to Oz to control insects who have a sweet tooth in the sugar crops. His decendants number millions, and the only good Kane Tode is a dead one. Actually, political rumour has it that the yanks secretly let Kane Tode loose from a submarine parked off beach near Cairns, in order to ruin the tourist attractions of Oz and make Oz a less desirable tourist destination. The Todes have had an appalling effect on the wildlife, and dead birds, roos and lizards pong the landscape, because Kane Toad is extremely poisenous to eat. Todes or no Todes, there has been little effect on the World Trade talks going on right now, with US sugar farmers ill prepared to accept Oz sugar imports to the US. The Todes might do some small good to rid Oz sugar farms of pests, and that's where the guys in the sub really pharked up, they were supposed to make Oz sugar less competively produced than the US sugar....subsidies notwithstanding. Patrick Turner. |
#5
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Apparently they are used for Chinese medicine. I'm eyeing off the 8 in my laundry and wondering what they'll sell for freeze dried on Ebay. |
#6
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Patrick Turner wrote in news:40150693.BB32D6D3
@turneraudio.com.au: John Stewart wrote: Mark Harriss wrote: Phil A won!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (the race, not the OZ Bucks) JLS Funny you should mention this, but Phil's state of New South Wales and my neighbouring northerly state of Queensland have a fierce 3 match round of football known as "State of Origin" each year. The two sides are known as "Cockroaches" and "Canetoads" respectively. Patrick Turner's territory, the ACT, is surrounded by Phil's eg: surrounded by cockroaches on all sides. Regards Mark Harriss There are Cockroaches in this part of the world too. Luckily I live just a bit north of their range. Seems the Winter here is just enough to keep them out. Last three weeks has been in the range -15 to -25C. Supposed to get warm today at -7C, but snow like hell. (Probably doesn't snow much in Hell. The fuel cost would be outtta site). BTW, what is a Canetoad. Check one below..... A- Marsupial B- Monotreme C- Amphibian There is no prize!!!!!!! Cheers, John Stewart Citizen Kane Tode is a pestulential type of guy who originated in Sth america but who was sent over to Oz to control insects who have a sweet tooth in the sugar crops. His decendants number millions, and the only good Kane Tode is a dead one. Actually, political rumour has it that the yanks secretly let Kane Tode loose from a submarine parked off beach near Cairns, in order to ruin the tourist attractions of Oz and make Oz a less desirable tourist destination. The Todes have had an appalling effect on the wildlife, and dead birds, roos and lizards pong the landscape, because Kane Toad is extremely poisenous to eat. Todes or no Todes, there has been little effect on the World Trade talks going on right now, with US sugar farmers ill prepared to accept Oz sugar imports to the US. The Todes might do some small good to rid Oz sugar farms of pests, and that's where the guys in the sub really pharked up, they were supposed to make Oz sugar less competively produced than the US sugar....subsidies notwithstanding. Patrick Turner. Patrick, Us Yanks like the Brits just slightly more than you do. We found their actions insufferable, so we kicked them off this continent. One could argure that accompilishing that was a trivial task as one little brown dude dressed in a bit 'o twisty rag named Gandi did it after we did. Anyway, we would have never brought those nasty critters to your shores. I would look across the puddle for clues. (:) r -- Nothing beats the bandwidth of a station wagon filled with DLT tapes. |
#8
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Jon Yaeger wrote:
I used to live in Hawaii, where roaches were the state pet. They grew to enormous size, and were bold, too . . . . Biggest one I ever saw was at a roadhouse in the Northern Territory I threw part of a chicken wing on the ground and this roach ran out and dragged it backwards under his rock. I wasn't going to lift the rock: I heard it hiss at me. |
#9
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Mark Harriss wrote: Apparently they are used for Chinese medicine. I'm eyeing off the 8 in my laundry and wondering what they'll sell for freeze dried on Ebay. One enterprising gentleman living in Darwin uses a HV zapper trap for 'roaches, which weigh several kilograms each, and the collection is then dried, ground up, and disolved, and it makes a splendid transformer doping substance, like shellac. But it sounds really awful, and is only good for dark metal or heavy metal rock band amplifiers. Patrick Turner. |
#10
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Rich Andrews wrote: Patrick Turner wrote in news:40150693.BB32D6D3 @turneraudio.com.au: John Stewart wrote: Mark Harriss wrote: Phil A won!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (the race, not the OZ Bucks) JLS Funny you should mention this, but Phil's state of New South Wales and my neighbouring northerly state of Queensland have a fierce 3 match round of football known as "State of Origin" each year. The two sides are known as "Cockroaches" and "Canetoads" respectively. Patrick Turner's territory, the ACT, is surrounded by Phil's eg: surrounded by cockroaches on all sides. Regards Mark Harriss There are Cockroaches in this part of the world too. Luckily I live just a bit north of their range. Seems the Winter here is just enough to keep them out. Last three weeks has been in the range -15 to -25C. Supposed to get warm today at -7C, but snow like hell. (Probably doesn't snow much in Hell. The fuel cost would be outtta site). BTW, what is a Canetoad. Check one below..... A- Marsupial B- Monotreme C- Amphibian There is no prize!!!!!!! Cheers, John Stewart Citizen Kane Tode is a pestulential type of guy who originated in Sth america but who was sent over to Oz to control insects who have a sweet tooth in the sugar crops. His decendants number millions, and the only good Kane Tode is a dead one. Actually, political rumour has it that the yanks secretly let Kane Tode loose from a submarine parked off beach near Cairns, in order to ruin the tourist attractions of Oz and make Oz a less desirable tourist destination. The Todes have had an appalling effect on the wildlife, and dead birds, roos and lizards pong the landscape, because Kane Toad is extremely poisenous to eat. Todes or no Todes, there has been little effect on the World Trade talks going on right now, with US sugar farmers ill prepared to accept Oz sugar imports to the US. The Todes might do some small good to rid Oz sugar farms of pests, and that's where the guys in the sub really pharked up, they were supposed to make Oz sugar less competively produced than the US sugar....subsidies notwithstanding. Patrick Turner. Patrick, Us Yanks like the Brits just slightly more than you do. We found their actions insufferable, so we kicked them off this continent. We saved ourselves the cost of few civil wars, and still we can't get the national accounts to balance. The damage to out ego is that we have a delightful little ol lady who doesn't baulk at dissmissing incompetent governments from time to time. All that money saved by not warring with Mother England has been used to make sugar production cheaper, eradicate roaches, and reverse the ravages of the kane todes, mainly by furious driving at night with wide tyres fitted to the 4wd country vehicles. One could argure that accompilishing that was a trivial task as one little brown dude dressed in a bit 'o twisty rag named Gandi did it after we did. Yes, good ol Ghandi. Sterling chappy. But the Indians are not getting very far in trade talks with the US, or in the race against cockroaches. Anyway, we would have never brought those nasty critters to your shores. I would look across the puddle for clues. (:) Maybe it was a German sub that brought them, But I distinctly saw some suspicicious behaviour one night while fishing on a Cairns beach in 1943. Maybe it was the chinese. When faced with some pest, each person is ordered to catch each one around them, and since there is one person per sq metre in china, the roaches and frogs don't stand a chance. I reckon the roaches could have arrived on the same sub. I think they have special golf contests in NT, where they see how far and accurately someone can hit a kane tode's head. Definately a game for the brave, and most heat resistant folks, and neck to toe plastic suits are required. We have now got some african ant colonies on some island up north and they have simply devastated the tourist appeal. These critters aren't as deadly as the bull ants and jumping jack ants of Oz, but the afro ant colonies make up for it with vastly higher populations. Just how 20 million ants can act as one deadly seething hungry beast must be evidence of the effectiveness of a universal dogma. In 100 years, I doubt much of our native fauna will be surviving.... But there will be plenty of gum trees growing overseas, maybe because all of ours will have been felled for wood chips and houses, which make the cockroaches feel at home. Patrick Turner. |
#11
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Patrick Turner wrote in
: Rich Andrews wrote: Patrick Turner wrote in news:40150693.BB32D6D3 @turneraudio.com.au: John Stewart wrote: Mark Harriss wrote: Phil A won!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (the race, not the OZ Bucks) JLS Funny you should mention this, but Phil's state of New South Wales and my neighbouring northerly state of Queensland have a fierce 3 match round of football known as "State of Origin" each year. The two sides are known as "Cockroaches" and "Canetoads" respectively. Patrick Turner's territory, the ACT, is surrounded by Phil's eg: surrounded by cockroaches on all sides. Regards Mark Harriss There are Cockroaches in this part of the world too. Luckily I live just a bit north of their range. Seems the Winter here is just enough to keep them out. Last three weeks has been in the range -15 to - 25C. Supposed to get warm today at -7C, but snow like hell. (Probably doesn't snow much in Hell. The fuel cost would be outtta site). BTW, what is a Canetoad. Check one below..... A- Marsupial B- Monotreme C- Amphibian There is no prize!!!!!!! Cheers, John Stewart Citizen Kane Tode is a pestulential type of guy who originated in Sth america but who was sent over to Oz to control insects who have a sweet tooth in the sugar crops. His decendants number millions, and the only good Kane Tode is a dead one. Actually, political rumour has it that the yanks secretly let Kane Tode loose from a submarine parked off beach near Cairns, in order to ruin the tourist attractions of Oz and make Oz a less desirable tourist destination. The Todes have had an appalling effect on the wildlife, and dead birds, roos and lizards pong the landscape, because Kane Toad is extremely poisenous to eat. Todes or no Todes, there has been little effect on the World Trade talks going on right now, with US sugar farmers ill prepared to accept Oz sugar imports to the US. The Todes might do some small good to rid Oz sugar farms of pests, and that's where the guys in the sub really pharked up, they were supposed to make Oz sugar less competively produced than the US sugar....subsidies notwithstanding. Patrick Turner. Patrick, Us Yanks like the Brits just slightly more than you do. We found their actions insufferable, so we kicked them off this continent. We saved ourselves the cost of few civil wars, and still we can't get the national accounts to balance. The damage to out ego is that we have a delightful little ol lady who doesn't baulk at dissmissing incompetent governments from time to time. All that money saved by not warring with Mother England has been used to make sugar production cheaper, eradicate roaches, and reverse the ravages of the kane todes, mainly by furious driving at night with wide tyres fitted to the 4wd country vehicles. One could argure that accompilishing that was a trivial task as one little brown dude dressed in a bit 'o twisty rag named Gandi did it after we did. Yes, good ol Ghandi. Sterling chappy. But the Indians are not getting very far in trade talks with the US, or in the race against cockroaches. Anyway, we would have never brought those nasty critters to your shores. I would look across the puddle for clues. (:) Maybe it was a German sub that brought them, But I distinctly saw some suspicicious behaviour one night while fishing on a Cairns beach in 1943. Maybe it was the chinese. When faced with some pest, each person is ordered to catch each one around them, and since there is one person per sq metre in china, the roaches and frogs don't stand a chance. I reckon the roaches could have arrived on the same sub. I think they have special golf contests in NT, where they see how far and accurately someone can hit a kane tode's head. Definately a game for the brave, and most heat resistant folks, and neck to toe plastic suits are required. We have now got some african ant colonies on some island up north and they have simply devastated the tourist appeal. These critters aren't as deadly as the bull ants and jumping jack ants of Oz, but the afro ant colonies make up for it with vastly higher populations. Just how 20 million ants can act as one deadly seething hungry beast must be evidence of the effectiveness of a universal dogma. In 100 years, I doubt much of our native fauna will be surviving.... But there will be plenty of gum trees growing overseas, maybe because all of ours will have been felled for wood chips and houses, which make the cockroaches feel at home. Patrick Turner. Patrick, You people really hate Cane Toads. I would too if my neck of the woods was overrun with them. The Cane Toad site says to dispatch them "with a sharp blow to the skull with a heavy blunt object." www.frogwatch.org.au I'll bet that PETA would not complain about the method of killing them if they were overrun with them. There there are the mouse plagues and the flies. Flies so thick you have to talk and breathe through your teeth. Good thing all those pests don't occur in the same location at once. I think I will go kill some fireants. r -- Nothing beats the bandwidth of a station wagon filled with DLT tapes. |
#12
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Patrick,
You people really hate Cane Toads. I would too if my neck of the woods was overrun with them. The Cane Toad site says to dispatch them "with a sharp blow to the skull with a heavy blunt object." www.frogwatch.org.au I'll bet that PETA would not complain about the method of killing them if they were overrun with them. There there are the mouse plagues and the flies. Flies so thick you have to talk and breathe through your teeth. Anyone living in the outback is usually pretty cranky, and has teeth clenched most days, when yet again they find out a tractor has broken, and 1928 tubes for the radio have just gone up in price again, or the fence which cost so much sweat 20 years ago has just been lowered by termites or bushfire. The drouts and floods, and hail storms also contribute to a slow way of talking through a nearly closed mouth.... Good thing all those pests don't occur in the same location at once. In the bush, there's always something..... I think I will go kill some fireants. Save em up for putting down the trousers of the folks you don't like.... IN Oz the flies are so bad sometimes, the gallahs and crows fly backwards, to avoid being hit in the eyes. Patrick Turner. r -- Nothing beats the bandwidth of a station wagon filled with DLT tapes. |
#13
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Rich Andrews wrote:
Good thing all those pests don't occur in the same location at once. I think I will go kill some fireants. r Hi Rich, well we have some recent arrivals here in Queensland too: crazy ants and fire ants, papaya fruit flies and some kind of Californian grape eating bug. But.......we saved heaps of money with quarantine and customs cutbacks!!. Regards Mark |
#14
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Mark Harriss wrote: Rich Andrews wrote: Good thing all those pests don't occur in the same location at once. I think I will go kill some fireants. r Hi Rich, well we have some recent arrivals here in Queensland too: crazy ants and fire ants, papaya fruit flies and some kind of Californian grape eating bug. But.......we saved heaps of money with quarantine and customs cutbacks!!. Free Trade Agreements depend on all the farmers of the world having to have the same full range of pests...... It makes for a level playing field. Patrick Turner. Regards Mark |
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