Patrick M Brennan
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A Proud Member of the Reality-Based Community
About Me : I'm a grownup nerd living in the Boston burbs. I write computer programs for a living and plays for fun. I'm married to a wonderful woman, and we share a nice little house with our daughter and our cats. I'm a humanist, a technologist, an artist, and an idealist. I believe in reason, freedom, love, equality, and democracy. (Did I mention that I'm an idealist? I did, OK.) I'm also a pragmatist and an empiricist. I reject ideology and dogma, especially when they conflict with practical facts (i.e., pretty much always). I particularly hate willful ignorance, which tends to go hand-in-hand with ideology and dogma.
Like the alignment of the planets, this blog gets updated as I have the time, inspiration, and inclination to do so.

Thursday, May 26, 2005

One Million Losers

I saw this in the convenience store today:

Lottery: It may change your life!

"Lottery: It may change your life." (As in: it will make you poorer.)

Above the register, it says, "Chance of a Winfall: HIGH. Don't forget to play!"

Also helpfully posted near the register: "ATTENTION LOTTERY PLAYERS: Help is available for you or someone you know who has a gambling problem."

(I think anyone who believes they stand a "HIGH" chance of winning the lottery has a gambling problem. Or else they're high.)

I took a crack at writing my own lottery slogans.

"Baffled by MATH? Play the LOTTERY!"
Or
"The LOTTERY: The only place where a one-in-a-million chance is considered high!"
Or maybe:
"The LOTTERY: it takes one million losers to make one winner."
posted by Patrick M Brennan 10:52 PM | link

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Patrick M Brennan Programmer, Playwright, Righteous Geek