The Off Topic Topic

[MadBurgerMaker]

  I just got a bill in the mail from DirecTV for the Oscar De La Hoya - Floyd Mayweather fight on PPV.  From six years ago.

[The Larch]

Austria has failed to outlaw smoking within restaurants, bars etc. Instead we have a law that below a certain size the owner can decide to make it a smoker or non-smoker lace (guess what option 90+% of owners go with?), while above a certain size there needs to be separate smoking and non-smoking sections (or, alternatively, all is non-smoking).

The problem there is, that a lot of places opted to declare the area around the bar the smoking section and the back sections the non-smoking ones. Which means that in order to get to the smoke free area you have to cross The Fog. And often enough, you have to do so to get drinks, too.

The highest court has now ruled that this practice is counter to the intent of the law and that the establishments must change this accordingly. Which leads to moaning and whining from the owners of said locales.

I wish the politicians hadn't been too cowardly at the time to just enact a smoking ban in those places and be done with it. I've been in plenty non-smoking sections and have yet come home smelling like an ashtray because the door between smoking/non-smoking is opened all the time from people passing through, and/or the a/c not working properly.

That's similar to what happened in Spain. They also pussyfooted with a first law that allowed to have smoking and non smoking sections in big bars, with the difference that the smoking section had to be physically isolated from the rest of the locale, so plenty of places spent plenty of cash to comply and smoker ghettos appeared in almost every big restaurant. A few years after that they finally decided to go full hog, and everything was to be smoke free. Cue rage from all the owners that had to spend a fair bit to adapt only to have it become useless in a couple of years.

[crazy canuck]

I just got a bill in the mail from DirecTV for the Oscar De La Hoya - Floyd Mayweather fight on PPV.  From six years ago.

did they charge interest?

[garbon]

Austria has failed to outlaw smoking within restaurants, bars etc. Instead we have a law that below a certain size the owner can decide to make it a smoker or non-smoker lace (guess what option 90+% of owners go with?), while above a certain size there needs to be separate smoking and non-smoking sections (or, alternatively, all is non-smoking).

The problem there is, that a lot of places opted to declare the area around the bar the smoking section and the back sections the non-smoking ones. Which means that in order to get to the smoke free area you have to cross The Fog. And often enough, you have to do so to get drinks, too.

The highest court has now ruled that this practice is counter to the intent of the law and that the establishments must change this accordingly. Which leads to moaning and whining from the owners of said locales.

I wish the politicians hadn't been too cowardly at the time to just enact a smoking ban in those places and be done with it. I've been in plenty non-smoking sections and have yet come home smelling like an ashtray because the door between smoking/non-smoking is opened all the time from people passing through, and/or the a/c not working properly.

That's similar to what happened in Spain. They also pussyfooted with a first law that allowed to have smoking and non smoking sections in big bars, with the difference that the smoking section had to be physically isolated from the rest of the locale, so plenty of places spent plenty of cash to comply and smoker ghettos appeared in almost every big restaurant. A few years after that they finally decided to go full hog, and everything was to be smoke free. Cue rage from all the owners that had to spend a fair bit to adapt only to have it become useless in a couple of years.

I think one place that has done okay with it, well depending on which one you are at, is the casinos in Vegas.

[Ideologue]

Christ, I'm bored.

Meri is so gonna get on your case.

Everybody gets one, Ed. You? You've had eight people's "one".

I'm bored again.

Also, I blame Obama.

[crazy canuck]

John Cleese says Canadians more sane than Americans.   

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/arts-video/john-cleese-explains-why-he-loves-canada/article14492472/

[Ed Anger]

Christ, I'm bored.

Meri is so gonna get on your case.

Everybody gets one, Ed. You? You've had eight people's "one".

I'm bored again.

Also, I blame Obama.

I blame Michelle and her lousy haircuts

[Grey Fox]

I just got a bill in the mail from DirecTV for the Oscar De La Hoya - Floyd Mayweather fight on PPV.  From six years ago.

You going to pay?

[CountDeMoney]

[MadBurgerMaker]

No interest, CC.    Just the $55 + tax.

You going to pay?

I mean, I did watch the fight, and for about six months I was wondering if they were ever going to bill me for it, so I guess so.  But...they still don't really seem to be in a big hurry to get their cash.  Even ignoring the fact that it's from six years ago (this particular statement was printed a couple weeks ago), the bill doesn't even have a due date on it, only "Due Upon Receipt." 

[Grey Fox]

The contract must have some sort of status of limitations or somewhere in law?

[MadImmortalMan]

I think one place that has done okay with it, well depending on which one you are at, is the casinos in Vegas.

Our laws broadly exempt "gaming areas". Since most casinos are usually laid out with the large central gaming area as the main focus and the restaurants on the periphery it's not too hard to adapt. The NV laws were written with the cooperation of the gaming lobby anyway.

[garbon]

I think one place that has done okay with it, well depending on which one you are at, is the casinos in Vegas.

Our laws broadly exempt "gaming areas". Since most casinos are usually laid out with the large central gaming area as the main focus and the restaurants on the periphery it's not too hard to adapt. The NV laws were written with the cooperation of the gaming lobby anyway.

Oh I really just meant that many of the casinos, though they have smoking sections, do enough with ventilation (I guess?) that it isn't really so terrible...whereas I recall from non-smoking sections as a kid that it was really more like the light-version of the smoking section (as the smoke permeated everything but not as strongly).  Though I wouldn't include the Venetian on that list as instead it seemed like they had a soapy fragrance throughout to mask it.

[The Larch]

At the moment over here we have an American gaming magnate wanting to build a massive casino complex around Madrid (humorously nicknamed Euro Vegas), and one of his conditions is his casinos being exempt from the current smoking laws.

[crazy canuck]

At the moment over here we have an American gaming magnate wanting to build a massive casino complex around Madrid (humorously nicknamed Euro Vegas), and one of his conditions is his casinos being exempt from the current smoking laws.

Excellent.  So they are not only going to drain the economy of disposable (and not so disposable) income that would otherwise be used to purchase goods and services but they are also going to increase future health care costs.

Why would anyone be opposed to that?