On Sun, 28 Dec 2003 10:54:12 -0500, "John Harlow"
wrote:

A more interesting question might be: How many pilots actually play
the lottery?

I, for one, look at it as a tax on stupidity.

Not at all, it's an a investment system, or retirement plan, for those
who can't do math.


Hehe - well, the odds are definitely against those who play, but it is a
pretty clever tax.

Plenty of poor(er) people pay - er... "play", thus helping recoop the
expense of schooling their own children.

Wellll... In Michigan the lottery was supposed to support the schools,
but some how the money ended up being diverted to the general fund and
the schools are still struggling. I guess the powers that be figured
the schools wouldn't know what to do with all that money so they'd "do
what's best for the system".


I don't play very often, but the occasional buck thrown at it is not going
to matter.

The irritating thing to me is gambling is "illegal" - unless, of course, it
benefits the friggin' government. It's like TFRs - governmental planes are
unrestricted. George Orwell was right; just a little ahead of his time.

Don't live near a "Reservation" do you?:-))
There are others than the government who benefit from gambling.
Although even then you could say the local governments are the ones
who benefit. OTOH the nearby Casino pays royalties to all tribal
members and it's not insignificant. It's enough, a person/family
could live on it and the number of recipients is not small. Probably
the equivalent of a small suburban township.

As to the Lottery?
I guess I could probably do a pretty good job of indulging my wife and
myself. There are a lot of places to go, things to see...people to
do...er... Yah, that's close enough. :-)) and lots of toys, (one of
the last F-33 Bonanzas, a few cameras, a new larger home on more land
for more towers and antennas, couple of telescopes, a variety of
cameras to compare, and I'd probably give a bunch away. I'd also take
up playing the stock market in a serious, but cautious fashion. I
already do to some extent, but I think Bill Gates' title is safe for a
while yetLOL

I spose if I plan on doing all that, my chances would improve
immensely if I go purchase a ticket. Now there are those who argue
that I'd only increase the chance of winning slightly, but I propose
the difference between slim and none is tremendous. If you calculate
it, it's infinite. OTOH my computer keeps coming up with a divide by
zero error.

Roger Halstead (K8RI & ARRL life member)
(N833R, S# CD-2 Worlds oldest Debonair?)
www.rogerhalstead.com