which_chick (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
which_chick) wrote2008-06-10 10:45 pm
which_chick) wrote2008-06-10 10:45 pm
(no subject)
Tomorrow is Small Claims Court Day. Huzzah! (I will make a concerted effort to be not nasty and not hominem-attacking and not emotional during the summary of events for de judge or possibly de arbitrator if they make me do that. I will not be snide.)
In other news, it seems that the lottery, which I have always felt was a tax on the stupid, is also (Coincidentally? I think not.) a tax on the poor. "Twenty percent of Americans are frequent players, spending about $60 billion a year. The spending is starkly regressive. A household with income under $13,000 spends, on average, $645 a year on lottery tickets, about 9 percent of all income." Source
I don't play the lottery. I have never actually purchased a lottery ticket in my life. I do not think lottery tickets are "a great gift". I think they're stupid. Don't get me lottery tickets for xmas. Also, I am apparently smart enough to dream about what it would be like to win the powerball without actually having to pony up a dollar to play. (We all need our fantasy lives. With the advent of what I really have to admit is middle age, money has taken the place of cock. It's more fun and less hassle.)
Besides, I figure that my odds of winning *without* playing are only marginally less than my odds of winning if I do play.
Odds of NOT WINNING the powerball if I don't play: 1
Odds of NOT WINNING the powerball if I do play: 146,107,961 in 146,107,962
Is it possible for me to see the difference between 1 and .999999993? (1 is the certainty that I'd NOT WIN every time, .999999993 is the odds of me NOT WINNING if I played.) No. So, y'know, the same, there. It is *the same* if I play or if I do not play. Therefore, I can imagine how it would be if I played just fine without actually ponying up the dollar to play. I can pretend I played, every time, and pretend I lost, every time, and it would be just like actually playing except I get to be a dollar richer at the end of every powerball fantasy than I would be if I'd actually played the damn thing.
In other news, it seems that the lottery, which I have always felt was a tax on the stupid, is also (Coincidentally? I think not.) a tax on the poor. "Twenty percent of Americans are frequent players, spending about $60 billion a year. The spending is starkly regressive. A household with income under $13,000 spends, on average, $645 a year on lottery tickets, about 9 percent of all income." Source
I don't play the lottery. I have never actually purchased a lottery ticket in my life. I do not think lottery tickets are "a great gift". I think they're stupid. Don't get me lottery tickets for xmas. Also, I am apparently smart enough to dream about what it would be like to win the powerball without actually having to pony up a dollar to play. (We all need our fantasy lives. With the advent of what I really have to admit is middle age, money has taken the place of cock. It's more fun and less hassle.)
Besides, I figure that my odds of winning *without* playing are only marginally less than my odds of winning if I do play.
Odds of NOT WINNING the powerball if I don't play: 1
Odds of NOT WINNING the powerball if I do play: 146,107,961 in 146,107,962
Is it possible for me to see the difference between 1 and .999999993? (1 is the certainty that I'd NOT WIN every time, .999999993 is the odds of me NOT WINNING if I played.) No. So, y'know, the same, there. It is *the same* if I play or if I do not play. Therefore, I can imagine how it would be if I played just fine without actually ponying up the dollar to play. I can pretend I played, every time, and pretend I lost, every time, and it would be just like actually playing except I get to be a dollar richer at the end of every powerball fantasy than I would be if I'd actually played the damn thing.