I Love My Life The Way It Is. A collection-in-progress of unscratched scratch-off lottery tickets, the project is the brainchild of Ali Alvarez, who hopes to collect at least 8000 tickets, enough to fill a 12x12 room from floor to ceiling. Alvarez is soliciting donations of unscratched tickets from volunteers around the world, and has posted pictures of some of the ones received so far. The idea of an unscratched lottery ticket makes some people "a little crazy," but Alvarez hopes the collection will cause people to explore the ideas of "getting your hopes high, dreaming, escaping, and then usually being let down." Via.
posted on Jun 14, 2008 - View this thread

When the working poor turn to addictive drugs to manage pain so they can keep working, that's "moral weakness, not a public health problem.":

Every morning before sunup, Trapp drives 120 miles.... "This methadone makes you feel like a human being again," Trapp says. With disability rates as high as 37 percent in coal-mining areas such as Buchanan County, the region has many people with long-term pain management needs. As is the case with lots of aging miners, Trapp's addiction to pills began in a doctor's office, not a back-alley drug deal.... The clinic's counseling staff members say that many patients need to be on some sort of drug to cope with severe, long-term pain and that methadone has made them functional. And for those who lack insurance or access to more personalized care, it is often the only affordable option.

posted on Jan 15, 2008 - View this thread

You never hear about a psychic winning the lottery, but apparently witchcraft is worth a shot.
posted on Oct 30, 2007 - View this thread

Humraz is an auction site with a twist. Pay to bid, then once enough fees have been received, the lowest unmatched bid wins. Shall we play for £500? Or a house?
posted on Jun 20, 2007 - View this thread

We won the f*ing lottery! Ingredients: TiVo of last week's lottery run, trusting friend, friends looking to capitalize on the relationship between the two and a lottery ticket for this week's lottery to seal the deal. (Um, yes, via) WARNING: Contains video, profanity, Milli Vanilli
posted on Dec 30, 2005 - View this thread

Lost Numbers. I won't get to see any of the second season of Lost until summer 2006 'cause I live in Ireland. I also didn't care enough about the first season to use the "numbers" as my lottery numbers. I should have, they (almost) came up in the National Lottery on November 19. I say almost, instead of 42 it was 24 (sorry Douglas).
posted on Dec 16, 2005 - View this thread

The number 666 has been drawn by the Pennsylvania Lottery 12 times. Well, legally that is. On April 24, 1980, Pittsburgh personality Nick Perry, host of local TV shows and the live lottery drawing, fixed the lottery drawings. Perry has since passed away, but the story lived on in a (badly made) film adaptation. [more inside]
posted on Aug 5, 2004 - View this thread

Va. Man Claims $239 Million Jackpot Note in passing that this took place during the Bush administration! "A retired truck driver claimed a $239 million Mega Millions jackpot Thursday, calling the second-largest lottery payout in history "no big thing to me." His wife vowed to "shop till I drop.""
posted on Apr 1, 2004 - View this thread

Is he the world's unluckiest man or the luckiest? Either way, Croatia's Frane Selak, who had already gained attention for escaping death seven times, has just hit the jackpot with his first lottery ticket in forty years. How can we normal mortals compete?
posted on Jun 19, 2003 - View this thread

It's spanish lottery madness season! No less than 1.8 billion € Cash Payout for "El Gordo", most of it won today. You didn't have any ticket? Try "El Niño 2003" on january 6th - but only 560 € millions to win. All this makes me wonder: did any fo you ever won anything substancial in a lottery? I once won some stuffed pink bunny at a highschool year end party draw - that's as far as I could go.
posted on Dec 22, 2002 - View this thread

N.Y. Lottery Draws 9-1-1 on 9/11 This is a pretty strange coincidence. Some people find coincidences everywhere. But, others say the world would be more surprising if coincidences didn't occur. Still, this is pretty odd. What coincidences have you experienced? Do you see meaning in them?
posted on Sep 11, 2002 - View this thread

Three Big Game winners will soon be splitting a $325 million dollar pot. Those poor people. Some studies indicate that if history is any guide, one of them will eventually go bankrupt. Still wish your numbers had come up?
posted on Apr 17, 2002 - View this thread

A good omen? Here's hoping 2002 turns out to be a better year than 2001. This seems like a good enough start.
posted on Jan 1, 2002 - View this thread

Lottery Madness Grips the Delusional Nation
Odds of winning Powerball: 80 million to one
Odds of dying in an airplane crash: 7 million to one
Odds of being hit by lightening: 600,000 to one
Odds of perishing in a California earthquake: 600,000 to one
Odds of dying in an automobile accident: 20,000 to one

While legalized gambling may suck, at least your life is priceless?
posted on Aug 22, 2001 - View this thread

Cha Ching! I am not a person who really support the lotto but I couldn't be happier that a poor grocery bagger won millions of dollars. What makes me even happier is they plan to give some of it back to the community.
posted on Jun 29, 2001 - View this thread

US Woman Killed in Malaysia "Police believe an American woman whose remains were recently unearthed in Malaysia was used as a human sacrifice in a ritual to obtain lottery numbers from the spirits..." The article didn't say if they won. Not that it matters.
posted on Jun 26, 2001 - View this thread

Who wants to be a...Grab.com is giving away $1 Billion Grab.com, an email marketing company announced it would give $1 Billion to the player who selects the same series of seven numbers between one and 77 that Grab.com picks at random on Dec. 28.

As the article points out, the odds of any one individual claiming the $1 billion prize are a subatomic 1 in 2,404,808,340. Compared to the chance that Berkshire Hathaway will have to cough up $1 billion this year to cover one of its natural disaster insurance policies which is something like 1 in 100.
posted on Oct 9, 2000 - View this thread

Turn ballot stubs into lottery tickets and watch voter apathy disappear. What a great idea. Maybe financed by campaign contributions?
via Camworld via rc3.org.
posted on Sep 1, 2000 - View this thread

As if we needed it, another reason not to participate in the "stupidity tax" here in the States.
posted on Aug 26, 2000 - View this thread

I bought 3 Quick Picks for the Lottery this week, thinking that if there were any balance in the universe I'd be due for a big payoff... If SuperLotto was High/Low, I'd have nailed it. I got one number. ONE. 5 number for lotto x 3 quick picks = 15 potential correct numbers. I got ONE. On the upside, I'm still due. Touch me now, I'm jam packed full of luck potentiality...
posted on Mar 4, 2000 - View this thread