davidambro's Blog

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/13/us/13lottery.html
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If you can, you should read this article.  I look at the MSN news from time to time and this got me.  Have  you ever considered that gambling, like the lottery is an addiction?  It is.  Behavioral scientists made quite a few studies about things of this sort.  They used chickens in one experiment.  Every time the chicken pecked, it got a reward, a piece of corn.  After the chickens got used to getting the reward, the scientists began to randomly give the reward and deny the reward.  The chickens pecked more when they received the rewards randomly.  Don't we exhibit the same behaviors?  The lottery hype is that you could win millions.  The reality is that you could be one of millions of losers!  Look at the odds.  This works on the nervous system.  Just like an addiction does.  Our bodies release endorphins when we win, just like when we smoke or drink, or...  It feels good.  And if it feels good, it must be good, right?  Just ask the people on oxygen who have emphasima, and those who have lost loved ones from cancer...  The only way to loose an addiction is to go cold turkey.  Just don't buy the tickets. 

     People who smoke and drink frequently, have asked me how it is I am able to afford quite a few luxuries, despite being on a disability pension.  I have told them over and over again, don't smoke, put the money that you would pay to buy (a) or several packs of cigarettes a day, a week, away and in time you too can do what I do.  It ain't rocket science.  The money you are burning up with tobaco adds up.  In fact, saving small amounts over time, is the quickest and easiest way to acquire large sums of money.  Plus your food will taste better, your lungs will last longer and you may even feel healthier over time.  As to drinking, it's basically the same thing.  If you have to drink more than two beers to feel it, then you are wasting your money.  I have a beer once in a great while, and enjoy it, and stop.  There are people who brag about drinking a twelve or twenty four pack before feeling the affects of the alcohol.  You think that is a good thing?  Think again.  Second hand smoke can harm your children.  Drunken parents are an embarrassment.  Learn to find betters ways for enjoyment.  Family get togethers.  Playing board games.  Talking.  Drink plenty of water.  Breath deeply and hold it for a eight count a few times, letting your breath out slowly.  You'll relax.  your brain will have acquired more oxygen than it normally receives.  You'll have more money.  You won't be seeing a doctor as much.  Walk.  Meet your neighbors. 

Donate that lottery cash to FEED THE CHILDREN which is run by Larry Jones, a minister.  You'll always be a winner then.

Dave