The AH Coffee Shop and Reading Room 09

[Duleigh]

Pipers? Pipers? WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DANCING LADIES?

I've been waiting a week and a half for the dancing ladies

 

[NotWise]

The daughter that flew in last week got a dose of COVID on her way. She's home and better. Now I'm feeling a bit puny, and I didn't sleep well last night. I think I'll just stay home today, keep the virus in-house, and sleep.

 

[MrPixel]

It wouldn't be so bad except one of the pipers is out of tune and it is driving me crazy ...

Wooden transverse flutes are next to impossible to reliably play in tune. A consistent embouchure is everything, and there's a reason conventional concert flutes have a lip rest.

"Hey. Didn't I see you playing a piccolo the other day?"
"No! That was no piccolo, that was my fife!"

Bah dump dump tissssssh.

 

[MillieDynamite]

The answer to the question is NO, I did not win the lottery. I got all of the numbers, except for the five before the Powerball and the Powerball itself. So, none, nada, zip, zelch, ninguna, aucune.

 

[Duleigh]

Take my fife. PLEASE!

 

[Duleigh]

The answer to the question is NO, I did not win the lottery. I got all of the numbers, except the five before the Powerball and the Powerball itself. So, none, nada, zip, zelch, ninguna, aucune.

The lottery is a tax on the statistically challenged.

 

[MillieDynamite]

A least it is payed willingly. That was the first lottery ticket we'd bought in six months. Every now and then, we have 8 dollars to waste and do it on two lines with powerplay and whatever the other one is called.

The lottery is a tax on the statistically challenged.

 

[MrPixel]

Megamillions, IIRC. We have both here, too. Just saw a news item where Powerball is going up to $5 without the extras, and they're monkeying with the odds for better small payouts.

C and Sky are on the loveseat next to me. Cleaning out the junk in our "clutter room", she uncovered a treasure trove of photos and genealogy notes from her mother's (modest) estate. She found documents that she's somehow related to the Marriotts, Hyatts, and the Texas Bush family. Who knew that I had married into royalty/wealth? She had no clue 'til now. And none of the money, either.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Too Bad, So Sad!

Megamillions, IIRC. We have both here, too. Just saw a news item where Powerball is going up to $5 without the extras, and they're monkeying with the odds for better small payouts.

C and Sky are on the loveseat next to me. Cleaning out the junk in our "clutter room", she uncovered a treasure trove of photos and genealogy notes from her mother's (modest) estate. She found documents that she's somehow related to the Marriotts, Hyatts, and the Texas Bush family. Who knew that I had married into royalty/wealth? She had no clue 'til now. And none of the money, either.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

The lottery is a tax on the statistically challenged.

Had a Probabilities and Statistics professor that used to frequent the bar I tended while I was in college. Early days of the Texas Lottery. Anyway, he'd do this proof on a bar napkin every chance he got, proving the mathematical probability of winning was effectively zero. One night after he'd done that damned proof like eight times, I called him on it, asking how many quick picks he had in his pocket. I mean it was over sixty million, right? His response still makes me laugh and validates my occasional purchase of a ticket or two:

"Just five. Sure the mathematical probability is zero, but the absolute probability is zero if you don't buy a ticket. I mean, you're not going to win, but people do all the time."

 

[NotWise]

Megamillions, IIRC. We have both here, too. Just saw a news item where Powerball is going up to $5 without the extras, and they're monkeying with the odds for better small payouts.

C and Sky are on the loveseat next to me. Cleaning out the junk in our "clutter room", she uncovered a treasure trove of photos and genealogy notes from her mother's (modest) estate. She found documents that she's somehow related to the Marriotts, Hyatts, and the Texas Bush family. Who knew that I had married into royalty/wealth? She had no clue 'til now. And none of the money, either.

You're related to almost everyone if you look back far enough.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Had a Probabilities and Statistics professor that used to frequent the bar I tended while I was in college. Early days of the Texas Lottery. Anyway, he'd do this proof on a bar napkin every chance he got, proving the mathematical probability of winning was effectively zero. One night after he'd done that damned proof like eight times, I called him on it, asking how many quick picks he had in his pocket. I mean it was over sixty million, right? His response still makes me laugh and validates my occasional purchase of a ticket or two:

"Just five. Sure the mathematical probability is zero, but the absolute probability is zero if you don't buy a ticket. I mean, you're not going to win, but people do all the time."

I started taking out a weekly lotto ticket when I stopped smoking about thirty years ago. The ticket was cheaper, and the stats more promising.

In hindsight I should have put the money in the bank, but there you go.

 

[Duleigh]

I started taking out a weekly lotto ticket when I stopped smoking about thirty years ago. The ticket was cheaper, and the stats more promising.

In hindsight I should have put the money in the bank, but there you go.

When I quit I bought a puppy with the money I saved. Guess what I named him.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Duleigh?

Edit - Meet Luffy (lou-fee), Bec's Christmas present.

 

[Duleigh]

Duleigh?

Roger that. I changed my screen name from PKAmmoTroop to Duleigh the day I signed up on Lit - 23 years ago.

 

[ChloeTzang]

First day back at work in 2025 - super strong coffee needed.....hopefully it's a nice quiet day. I need to adapt gradually.....

Fill 'er up and get the refill ready....

 

[ChloeTzang]

Had a Probabilities and Statistics professor that used to frequent the bar I tended while I was in college. Early days of the Texas Lottery. Anyway, he'd do this proof on a bar napkin every chance he got, proving the mathematical probability of winning was effectively zero. One night after he'd done that damned proof like eight times, I called him on it, asking how many quick picks he had in his pocket. I mean it was over sixty million, right? His response still makes me laugh and validates my occasional purchase of a ticket or two:

"Just five. Sure the mathematical probability is zero, but the absolute probability is zero if you don't buy a ticket. I mean, you're not going to win, but people do all the time."

LOL. That's my theory. You have zero chance of winning, but if you don't have a ticket, you have no chance at all, and after all, someone has to get lucky.

 

[Duleigh]

I used to live in North Dakota where they have Charitable "Gaming" - charities can raise money through gaming (charities being a 501c3 non-profit organization) it was pretty legitimate. Me ex was a manager for one of those charities and I saw how the money remaining after the state took it's chunk was used. But what I saw most often is people who should never be allowed near a blackjack table or pulltab jar. You can see the horror in their eyes as they hand you their last $20, the worry... how are they going to pay the rent? How are they going to tell the kids that Santa is skipping them this year? They're flushed and sweating, their hands are shaking. Then they open that ticket or turn over their cards and you can see the sorrow as they hit on 12 and pull a king, they open the 300th ticket of the night and don't even get a playback.

They said "$5 blackjack isn't going to hurt anyone," but I've seen broken people throwing an entire paychecks away $5 a hand, or worse on 50 cent pull-tabs and I had to quit my job taking their money, I couldn't take the pain humiliation and sorrow I saw in their eyes because the house wins 90% of the time and higher, and 10% is not worth the pain.

A friend gave me a scratcher for my birthday last year and I looked at the gaudy card and saw all those broken people I thought I left behind me and I handed it back, I can't do it

 

[Kumquatqueen]

LOL. That's my theory. You have zero chance of winning, but if you don't have a ticket, you have no chance at all, and after all, someone has to get lucky.

When the National Lottery first started in the 90s, I was involved with two projects that got lots of funding in the first wave of awards. I've never bought a ticket since, figuring the only way is downhill from there.

Won a bunch of scratchcards from pub quizzes and such, but never won a penny off them.

Now that alcohol and fags can't be advertised here, prescription drugs never could, and sugary food is now restricted when kids might be watching, most ads on TV and at sporting events are for gambling, and I hate it - now with the internet it's a horribly easy way to fuck up your life way quicker than you could with any drug.

The legislation to restrict how many betting machines a betting shop could have, just meant chains of betting shops opening 3x as many branches in any high street with cheap rent. Total backfire.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

I've got a fresh pot of coffee brewing for those who drink that dreck. The teapot is hot and I'm enjoying a nice cuppa Earl Grey. Someone dropped off a crate of crullers so I have them out on the counter.

It's the tenth day of Christmas and the ten drummers are making such a racket that I'm going to have to put in some ear plugs if I'm going to get any writing done today. The bass drummer is enjoying himself much too much.

I've been going through the box of plot bunnies I found and it seems that @TxRad had a thing for redheads because just about all of them involve one or more of them ...

 

[ChloeTzang]

I've been going through the box of plot bunnies I found and it seems that @TxRad had a thing for redheads because just about all of them involve one or more of them ...

LOL. He did, and what a lovely way to remember Tex. I'm laughing, because redheads and motorcycles came up a few times when I was chatting with him.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

LOL. That's my theory. You have zero chance of winning, but if you don't have a ticket, you have no chance at all, and after all, someone has to get lucky.

"Get Lucky," I think winning the lottery would significantly help my chances in that area, too.

 

[MrPixel]

...most ads on TV and at sporting events are for gambling, and I hate it - now with the internet it's a horribly easy way to fuck up your life way quicker than you could with any drug. ...

My youngest sister is a gambling addict. My other sister was inadvertently enabling with "loans" assisting with adverse life events since the former was taking care of Mom. The problem didn't become apparent until Mom passed. And yes, after the in-person gambling was outed and monitored, she hid it with Internet gambling.

In our state, "gaming parlors" have popped-up like mushrooms ever since the gambling lobby pushed their agenda through our legislature a handful of years ago. If you have a liquor license, you're automatically eligible to have slot machines. It's an unbelievable drain on the local economies, but nobody talks about the huge cut the gambling franchisers take since the local businesses get a big enough share to keep the lights on. It's a complex issue.

 

[NotWise]

Here we have Tribal gaming and gambling at horse tracks. That's all that's legal, but the city has tribal casino resorts on it's west and south, and two on its north border. There's also a horse track in the middle of town.

We have a State lottery that provides higher education scholarships, and that put my second daughter through the university. I'm in favor of that.

South Dakota opened up a legal-gambling entertainment zone in Deadwood to support their tourist trade, then the Tribes decided to offer gambling and the State opened up gambling state-wide. There are little gambling shops everywhere. I can't say I think it's a good thing, but entertainment is entertainment.

 

[MrPixel]

You're related to almost everyone if you look back far enough.

True, but these connections appear to be only four generations ago. All on her mother's mother's side, which compounds the difficulties in tracing.

My wife holds fractioned shares of a couple of natural gas/helium wells through this connection. It's so spread out at this point the royalties amount to a couple of lunches a month... and a complex entry on the 1040.