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January 10, 2006

35% Of Americans Think The Lottery, A Surprise Inheritance, Or Big Insurance Settlement Is The Best Way To Get Rich

Smart:

More than one in five Americans believe the best way to get rich is to win the lottery, while 11 percent say inheriting money is the way to go, a survey showed on Monday.
Asked the most practical way to accumulate "several hundred thousand dollars," 21 percent chose winning the lottery, compared to 55 percent who thought saving something each month for many years was best, according to a survey by the Consumer Federation of America and the Financial Planning Association.

Meanwhile, a statistically-insignificant 0.000001% think the best way to get rich is by typing stupid jokes about Chris Klein on a moronblog.

posted by Ace at 05:20 PM

Comments

"11 percent say inheriting money is the way to go, a survey showed "

coincidentally, 11 percent of Americans hate their relatives

Posted by: on January 10, 2006 05:31 PM

What ever happened to marrying into money?

Posted by: compos menits on January 10, 2006 05:32 PM

The article (I don't know about the survey) muddles the distinction between "best" way and "most likely" way. I'd agree with the 35% that the lottery is a better way -- it's a lot faster, and doesn't involve any of that work crap -- just a whole lot less effective.

Posted by: Sobek on January 10, 2006 05:33 PM

"What ever happened to marrying into money?"

I think that evolved into DIVORCE for money.

Posted by: Master of None on January 10, 2006 05:34 PM

What's that saying? "Marry for love. Screw the nanny"?

The lottery is a f'n brilliant way to get rich quick:

Powerball odds - 1:146,107,962
State lotto odds - 1:12,271,512

"Yeah. But I got a system." Whatever dumbass.

Posted by: compos mentis on January 10, 2006 05:42 PM

This from Iraq the Model:
The largest Sunni bloc, the Accord Front is obviously pleased with nominating Talabani and is supportive of giving the president more powers, as Adnan al-Dulaimi expressed today. The Sunni and Kurds seem to be getting along better lately and yesterday’s meeting between the Accord Front and the Kurdish alliance has apparently succeeded in approximating their points of view.

My how things change. Isn't Saddam a Sunni? And didn't he gas thousands of Kurds?

Posted by: Duhgee on January 10, 2006 05:47 PM

Meanwhile, a statistically-insignificant 0.000001% think the best way to get rich is by typing stupid jokes about Chris Klein on a moronblog.

and yet, the dream lives on!

Posted by: Dave in Texas on January 10, 2006 05:52 PM

Yeah. But I got a system."

Posted by compos mentis at January 10, 2006 05:42 PM

The system says that winning numbers in tonight's drawing will 2, 12, 21, 25, 27 and 42. Don't believe me? Then don't go out and buy the winning ticket - that way I won't have to share with all you under-employed people who spend all your time making up quotes by Thomas Jefferson (whoever that was).

But if you do buy a ticket with these numbers, remember to say 'Thanks' when you win.

Posted by: Aaron Burr on January 10, 2006 05:53 PM

If you include frivolous lawsuits in the category of 'lottery,' the odds improve tremendously.

Posted by: Chrees on January 10, 2006 05:56 PM

I prefer to take my governemnt checks. Buy drugs and then sell them for profit.

Posted by: jerome from SE on January 10, 2006 05:58 PM

I'm bullish on buried pirate treasure this year, arr!

Posted by: rho on January 10, 2006 06:02 PM

I made one attempt to get rich by threatening a nuisance lawsuit back when I was a starving student, and nearly choked on a coat-button that had mysteriously found its way into a package of ramen. I sent the company a strongly worded letter, along with a photo of the offending button (next to a quarter for scale), and demanded satisfaction.

Result? A letter of apology from the company president, and a box of coupons good for a full year's supply of button-infested ramen. I just don't have whatever it takes to hold out for the cash in situations like that.

Posted by: utron on January 10, 2006 06:03 PM

You want to get rich? I've got one word for you: volume.

Think about it.

Cheers,
Dave at Garfield Ridge

Posted by: Dave at Garfield Ridge on January 10, 2006 06:07 PM

rho, you are teh funny. lol

Posted by: joeindc44 on January 10, 2006 06:25 PM

You want to get rich? I've got one word for you: volume.

LIKE THIS?!! WHEN'S THE MONEY COME????!!!!!

Posted by: The Warden on January 10, 2006 06:27 PM

I'm thinking being a gigolo in Japan is where it's at.

Posted by: sandy burger on January 10, 2006 06:37 PM

It just might work Sandy. After all, those Japanese men apparently are pretty bashful and might look to a pro like you to fulfill their desires : )

Posted by: compos mentis on January 10, 2006 06:42 PM

I always buy 3 lottery tickets with the same number once the PowerBall gets above $100,000,000.

That way if there are four winning tickets, I've got three of them.

Why settle for $50,000,000 when you can have $75,000,000? This ain't Canada.

Posted by: BumperStickerist on January 10, 2006 06:47 PM

That way if there are four winning tickets, I've got three of them.

Sweet : D

Posted by: compos mentis on January 10, 2006 06:52 PM

coupons good for a full year's supply of button-infested ramen

Dude! A year's supply of noodles!

Good score.

Better than anything I've accomplished (other than by working, saving and investing for the long term, which don't count, but which have made me a millionaire).

Posted by: Michael on January 10, 2006 07:08 PM

Wait a sec... ya'll did marry a girl worth 20 million?!... Suckers!

Posted by: JFH on January 10, 2006 07:24 PM

Powerball odds - 1:146,107,962 State lotto odds - 1:12,271,512
"Yeah. But I got a system." Whatever dumbass.

Yeah but if I buy one million tickets, the odds become:

Powerball odds - 1:146.107962
State lotto odds - 1:12.271512

Posted by: I am so smart! S-M-R-T on January 10, 2006 07:34 PM

compos, good to see you again.

JFH,

I got an email reply from Lileks today. Nice fellow.

suck it!

Posted by: Dave in Texas on January 10, 2006 08:01 PM

It looks easy but it's hard.

So... very.... hard.

Whoops, gotta go! Coming, dearest!

Posted by: John Kerry on January 10, 2006 08:01 PM

"Why settle for $50,000,000 when you can have $75,000,000? This ain't Canada."

Yeah, but $75,000,000 Candian is worth like $59.95 US

Posted by: Chrees on January 10, 2006 08:30 PM

I'm not sure who said that the lottery was a tax on people who are bad at math, but I agree.

Posted by: BrewFan on January 10, 2006 09:04 PM

Count me in with the statistically insignificant.

Posted by: Lorie Byrd on January 10, 2006 10:05 PM

4 8 15 16 23 42
4 8 15 16 23 42
4 8 15 16 23 42
4 8 15 16 23 42

Posted by: Hurley on January 10, 2006 10:22 PM

What's funny is that most people never pick numbers like 1 2 3 4 5 6, because they think that a combination like this is so unlikely that they'd never win. But they'll get their hopes up for a "random looking" combination with the exact same infinitesmal odds.

Posted by: on January 11, 2006 12:05 AM

I'm not sure who said that the lottery was a tax on people who are bad at math, but I agree.

There's three kinds of people: Those who can count and those who cannot.

Posted by: The Warden on January 11, 2006 03:45 AM

That's quite interesting. You can visit this blog for a wonderful experience.

Posted by: charles on January 11, 2006 05:16 AM

LINKING to the "moronblog" would have helped!!!!!

snark, snark.....

Posted by: mike on January 11, 2006 11:36 AM

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The Deplorable Gourmet
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Top Headlines

In more marketing for Project Hail Mary, scientists say they've found the biosigns indicating life growing on an alien planet. It's not proof, just signatures of chemicals that are produced by biological metabolism, and it could be nothing, but scientists think it's a strong sign that this planet is inhabited by something.

In a paper published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, a team of scientists announced the detection of dimethyl sulfide (along with a similar detection of dimethyl disulfide) in the atmosphere of an exoplanet called K2-18b. This is actually the second detection of dimethyl sulfide made on this planet, following a tentative detection in 2023.
Tons of chemicals are detected in the atmospheres of celestial objects every day. But dimethyl sulfide is different, because on Earth, it's only produced by living organisms.
"It is a shock to the system," Nikku Madhusudhan, first author on the paper, told the New York Times. "We spent an enormous amount of time just trying to get rid of the signal."

He means they tried to prove the signal was caused by things other than dimethyl sulfide but they could not.

Artemis moon shot a go, scheduled for 6:24 Eastern time tonight
Great marketing arranged by Amazon to promote Project Hail Mary. Okay not really but it does work out that way.

TJM talks John Boorman, director of Excalibur

Good rickroll

What? Skeleton of the most famous Musketeer, D'Artagnan, possibly discovered in Dutch church closet.
Dumas picked four names of real musketeers out of a history book, D'Artagnan, Athos, Aramis, and Porthos. So there was an actual D'Artagnan, though he made most of the story up. (Or, you know, all of it.)*

Charles de Batz de Castelmore, known as d'Artagnan, the famous musketeer of Kings Louis XIII and Louis XIV, spent his life in the service of the French crown.
The Gascon nobleman inspired Alexandre Dumas's hero in "The Three Musketeers" in the 19th century, a character now known worldwide thanks to the novel and numerous film adaptations.
D'Artagnan was killed during the siege of Maastricht in 1673, and there is a statue honoring the musketeer in the city. His final resting place has remained a mystery ever since.

A lot of Dumas's stories are based on bits of real history. The plot of the >Three Musketeers, about trying to recover lost diamonds from the queen's necklace, was cribbed from the then-almost-contemporaneous Affair of the Queen's Necklace. And the Man in the Iron Mask is based on real accounts of a prisoner forced to wear a mask (though I think it was a velvet mask).
* Oh, I should mention, Dumas says all this, about finding the names in an old book, in the prologue to his novel. But authors lie a lot. They frequently present fictions as based on historic fact. The twist is, he was actually telling the truth here. At least about these four musketeers having actually existed and served under Louis XIV.
Fun fact: You know the beginning of A Fistful of Dollars where the local gunslingers make fun of Clint Eastwood's donkey and Eastwood demands they apologize to the donkey? That's lifted from The Three Musketeers. Rochefort mocks D'Artagnan's old, brokedown farm horse and D'Artagnan is incensed.

A commenter asked which should be read first, The Hobbit of LOTR?
Easy, no question -- read The Hobbit first. It's actually the start of the story and comes first chronologically. It sets up some major characters and major pieces in play in LOTR.
Also, the Hobbit is Beginner-Friendly, which LOTR isn't. The Hobbit really is a delightful book, and a fast read. It's chatty, it's casual, it's exciting, and it's funny. In that dry cheeky British humor way. I love that the narrator is constantly making little asides and commentary, like he's just sitting next to you telling you this story as it occurs to him.
LOTR is a very long story. Fifteen hundred pages or so. The Hobbit is relatively short and very punchy and easy to read. If you don't like The Hobbit, you can skip out on LOTR. If you do like it, you'll be primed to read LOTR.
Oh, I should say: The Hobbit is written as if it's for children, but one of those smart children's stories that are also for adults. Don't worry, there's also real fighting and violence and horror in it, too.
LOTR is written for adults. (It's said that Tolkien wrote both for his children, but LOTR was written 17 years later, when his children were adults.) Some might not like The Hobbit due to its sometimes frivolous tone. Me, I love it. I find it constantly amusing. Both are really good but there is a starkly different tone to both. LOTR is epic, grand, and serious, about a world war, The Hobbit is light and breezy, and about a heist. Though a heist that culminates in a war for the spoils.

The Hobbit Challenge: Read two more chapters. I didn't have much time. Bilbo got the ring.
I noticed a continuity problem. Maybe. Now, as of the time of The Hobbit, it was unknown that this magic ring was in fact a Ring of Power, and it was doubly unknown that it was the Ring of Power, the Master Ring that controlled the others.
But the narrator -- who we will learn in LOTR was none of than Bilbo himself, who wrote the book as "There and Back Again" -- says this about Gollum's ring:
"But who knows how Gollum had come by that present [the Ring], ages ago in the old days when such rings were still at large in the world? Perhaps even the Master who ruled them could not have said."
In another passage, the ring is identified as a "ring of power."
I don't know, I always thought there was a distinction between mere magic rings and the Rings of Power created by Sauron. But this suggests that Bilbo knew this was a ring of power created by Sauron.
Now I don't remember when Bilbo wrote the Hobbit. In the movie, he shows Frodo the book in Rivendell, and I guess he wrote it after he left the Shire. I guess he might have added in the part about the ring being a ring of power created by "the Master" after Gandalf appraised him of his research into the ring.
I never noticed this before. I know Tolkien re-wrote this chapter while he was writing LOTR to make the ring important from the start. And also to make Gollum more sinister and evil, and also to remove the part where Gollum actually offers Bilbo the ring as a "present" -- Bilbo had already found it on his own, but Gollum was wiling to give it away, which obviously is not something the rewritten Gollum would ever do.
But I had no memory of the ring being suggested to be The Ring so early in the tale.

Finish the job, Mr. President!
Melanie Phillips lays out the case for the total destruction of the Iranian government and armed forces. [CBD]

TJM acts like he knows anything about John Wick and screenwriting. It's embarrassing, really.

Podcast: Sefton and CBD talk about how would a peace treaty with Iran work, Democrats defending murderers and rapists, The GOP vs. Dem bench for 2028, composting bodies? And more!

Oh, I forgot to mention this quote from Pete Hegseth, reported by Roger Kimball: "We are sharing the ocean with the Iranian Navy. We're giving them the bottom half."

Batman fires The Batman
Batman is disgusted by the Joachim Phoenix version of Joker
Batman tries to fire Superman
Batman is still workshopping his Bat-Voice

Forgotten 80s Mystery Click: Red Leather Suit and Sweatband Edition
And I was here to please
I'm even on knees
Makin' love to whoever I please
I gotta do it my way
Or no way at all

Tomorrow is March 25th, "Tolkien Reading Day," because March 25th is the day when the Ring is destroyed in the book. I think I'm going to start the Hobbit tomorrow and read all four books this time.
The only bad part of the trilogy are the Frodo/Sam chapters in The Two Towers. They're repetitive, slow, and mostly about the weather and terrain. But most everything else is good. Weirdly, the Frodo-Sam chapters in Return of the King are exciting and action-packed and among the best in the trilogy. (Though the chapters with everyone else in Return of the King get pretty slow again. Mostly people talking about marching towards war, and then marching towards war.)

Sec. Army recognizes ODU Army ROTC cadets for their bravery and sacrifice in private ceremony
[Hat Tip: Diogenes] [CBD]

TJM gives you a brief tour of his movie collection.

Forgotten 80s Mystery Click
One day I'm gonna write a poem in a letter
One day I'm gonna get that faculty together
Remember that everybody has to wait in line
Oh, [Song Title], look out world, oh, you know I've got mine

US decimation of Iran's ICBM forces is due to Space Force's instant detection of launches -- and the launchers' hiding places -- and rapid counter-attack via missiles
AI is doing a lot of the work in analyzing images to find the exact hiding place of the launchers. Counter-strikes are now coming in four hours after a launch, whereas previously it might have taken days for humans to go over the imagery and data.

Robert Mueller, Former Special Counsel Who Probed Trump, Dies

“robert mueller just died,” trump wrote in a truth social post on march 21. “good, i’m glad he’s dead. he can no longer hurt innocent people! president donald j. trump.”

TJM has thoughts on Superheros and Iconography