The lottery spawns many of America’s favorite “get rich” stories. Everyone loves a good lottery story that involves a deserving person and a winning ticket. We see them in the news, holding their giant checks and beaming as they tell their stories. Surely, it is all happily ever after from there…..isn’t it?
Actually, no. The lottery people have yet to print out a warning of the possible side effects of winning the lottery which may include, long lost relatives coming forward, a deluge of pitiful sob stories from strangers, snake oil salesmen who want you to invest with them, relative with big ideas and people who are suddenly suing you, claiming that they bought the ticket or are entitled to a share.
Few people heed the warning of the curse of the lottery. Everyone assumes that if they struck it rich, then they would be set for life, and you never need to fear bankruptcy again. The fact is that you are MORE likely to file bankruptcy after winning the lottery. Filing for bankruptcy is actually one of the lesser curses of the lottery.
Andrew Jackson Whittaker wishes he had never won 314.9 million back in 2002. He opted for an instant payout of 111 million and pledged 10% to his church. Things quickly went downhill from there as he was caught up in a whirlwind of lawsuits, divorce, drunk driving and being robbed of over 750,000 at a strip club in two separate robberies. But those were the nice parts compared to the fact that his beloved granddaughter was caught up into the party life and died of a drug overdose. But at least Jack lived which is more than we can say about Abraham Shakespeare.
Abraham Shakespeare won 31 million back in 2006, and then mysteriously disappeared about 3 years later. His money disappeared just as mysteriously, although a female friend claimed he has given her over a million dollars just because they were friends. Turns out she wasn’t such a great friend after all, when Abraham’s body was found under a slab in her boyfriend’s yard.
William Post struck it rich in 1988 when he won 16.2 million. But within a mere 2 years after winning, he had been sued by his girlfriend who claimed she was owed part of the money, while his brother figured putting a hit on William would be the quicker route to getting his money. William lived, but he is now alone and almost completely broke.
Jeffrey Dampier got lucky when he won 20 million in 2005 but his luck ran out when his sister-in-law kidnapped him and murdered him in an attempt to get his money.
These are just a few of the examples of the curse of the lottery. While you may wish, hope and pray that you win it one day, there are those who have won it who wish they never had. So when your lottery ticket doesn’t turn you into a multi-millionaire, whether you realize it or not, that may have been the luckiest thing.
Friday, March 30, 2012
"Bully" Exposes The Ugly Truth About Bullying
The movie “Bully” exposes the ugly truth about bullies and the things that they put their victims through. All too often, we only hear about an instance of bullying once the victim has attempted or committed suicide. Unfortunately, that outcome has become all too common. The stories of victims killing themselves are so common that most don’t ever make the news.
You may know of the highly publicized case of college student Tyler Clementi who jumped off the George Washington Bridge to his death when he discovered his new college roommate, Dharun Ravi, had made it possible for others to view Tyler’s sexual encounters with a male partner through the internet. Ravi was later charge and convicted with a variety of crimes for his part.
You may have heard of Phoebe Prince, a beautiful high school student who was bullied and committed suicide because she couldn’t take the taunts anymore. Even after her death, crude comments were posted to the memorial Facebook page that was dedicated to her. Her tormenters were also taken to court and convicted.
One of the most horrifying cases of bullying was that of young Kathleen Edwards. Kathleen was a 6 year old girl when her mother died of Huntington's disease. Tragically Kathleen was also diagnosed with Huntington's and given a few years to live. Huntington's’s is an extremely torturous way to die, and although Kathleen and her family had been through enough, Jennifer Petkove felt otherwise.
Their neighbor, Jennifer Petkov, felt slighted when her children were not invited to a gathering at Kathleen’s house and she vowed to get revenge. Jennifer was an adult who targeted a dying child and her family in the ugliest and most hateful ways possible. Jennifer posted vile pictures of Kathleen, made fun of the Kathleen’s deceased mother and taunted Kathleen’s family in many ugly ways that I don’t even want to have to repeat. Jennifer eventually lost custody of her own children over her aggressive behavior and Kathleen died not too long ago.
The movie “Bully” introduces 12 year old Alex Libby and other students, and gives an unsanitized view of what the victims and their parents endure at the hands of the bullies. Film maker Lee Hirsch was given access to schools, school buses, bullying victims and their parents. What Hirsch saw and captured on film was so distressing that he wondered if he could or should continue to allow it. It is shocking to see that the bullies knew they were being recorded and boldly continued their behavior.
“It’s a very personal film,” says Hirsch. “I was bullied when I was a kid. So it’s like that project that you carry with you in your pocket and you say ‘One day I’m gonna make this film when I have the guts and I have the courage.’”
Ironically, the way that the victims were treated by the bullies, and the words used against him were the reason why the movie was initially rated “R”, which meant other young teens could not see it without their parents. How ridiculous that we allow children to be treated that way in real life, to be called those ugly words, and yet we ban them from watching it as a movie?
The movie has since been re-rated as PG-13, so that teens will be able to see the movie. We can only hope that people will make people think and prompt a change for the better. In the case of the victims portrayed in the movie, it already has.
You may know of the highly publicized case of college student Tyler Clementi who jumped off the George Washington Bridge to his death when he discovered his new college roommate, Dharun Ravi, had made it possible for others to view Tyler’s sexual encounters with a male partner through the internet. Ravi was later charge and convicted with a variety of crimes for his part.
You may have heard of Phoebe Prince, a beautiful high school student who was bullied and committed suicide because she couldn’t take the taunts anymore. Even after her death, crude comments were posted to the memorial Facebook page that was dedicated to her. Her tormenters were also taken to court and convicted.
One of the most horrifying cases of bullying was that of young Kathleen Edwards. Kathleen was a 6 year old girl when her mother died of Huntington's disease. Tragically Kathleen was also diagnosed with Huntington's and given a few years to live. Huntington's’s is an extremely torturous way to die, and although Kathleen and her family had been through enough, Jennifer Petkove felt otherwise.
Their neighbor, Jennifer Petkov, felt slighted when her children were not invited to a gathering at Kathleen’s house and she vowed to get revenge. Jennifer was an adult who targeted a dying child and her family in the ugliest and most hateful ways possible. Jennifer posted vile pictures of Kathleen, made fun of the Kathleen’s deceased mother and taunted Kathleen’s family in many ugly ways that I don’t even want to have to repeat. Jennifer eventually lost custody of her own children over her aggressive behavior and Kathleen died not too long ago.
The movie “Bully” introduces 12 year old Alex Libby and other students, and gives an unsanitized view of what the victims and their parents endure at the hands of the bullies. Film maker Lee Hirsch was given access to schools, school buses, bullying victims and their parents. What Hirsch saw and captured on film was so distressing that he wondered if he could or should continue to allow it. It is shocking to see that the bullies knew they were being recorded and boldly continued their behavior.
“It’s a very personal film,” says Hirsch. “I was bullied when I was a kid. So it’s like that project that you carry with you in your pocket and you say ‘One day I’m gonna make this film when I have the guts and I have the courage.’”
Ironically, the way that the victims were treated by the bullies, and the words used against him were the reason why the movie was initially rated “R”, which meant other young teens could not see it without their parents. How ridiculous that we allow children to be treated that way in real life, to be called those ugly words, and yet we ban them from watching it as a movie?
The movie has since been re-rated as PG-13, so that teens will be able to see the movie. We can only hope that people will make people think and prompt a change for the better. In the case of the victims portrayed in the movie, it already has.
Lottery Scams Can Turn Winning Lottery Numbers Into Losers
Millions of people buy lottery tickets every year in hopes that they will win money. People try all sorts of techniques to increase their odds of winning and one interesting statistic has emerged about lottery winners. Surprisingly, a very large percentage of winners happen to work at a store where lottery tickets are also sold. Their friends and family are apparently lucky as well. They may cash in a lot of smaller tickets or may cash in a large one but store clerks and people they know seem to be consistent winners?
So what is their strategy and what can you learn from it? Well, the first thing you need to know is that a majority of store clerk’s winning lottery tickets weren’t bought by them in the first place. They rightfully belong to someone else and these clerks are in on a variety of scams. Here are some of the common scams:
The scanning scam works when someone brings in their ticket or tickets to be scanned by the clerk to see if they are winners. Only the clerk can see the results so when a winning ticket is scanned, the clerk simply lies to the rightful owner and pockets the winning ticket and hands the customer a worthless ticket or a ticket with a smaller winning amount. The customer is none the wiser and the clerk can turn the ticket in or get a family member or friend to do it for them.
Another shady tactic is one that the customer is in on and the victim is the state or a child who is entitled to child support. The customer has a winning ticket but has a garnishment, tax or child support issue that would take their winnings. So the clerk offers to “buy” the ticket for less than the winning value. So the clerk buys the ticket from the customer for $1500 which nets him a profit of $500 and the customer gets $1500 tax free money. The state or child are the losers in this scam but are victims nevertheless.
State lotteries are aware of these scams and are cracking down on them. They are now running verification checks by asking where the ticket was bought and when. Just claiming you “found” it will not help you pass muster. They have the technology to see when and where the winning ticket was sold along with video of the rightful owner.
States are now conducting scams of their own. They simply print up winning tickets to a game that has never been sold anywhere and they go around spot checking store clerks to see who will honestly tell them that their tickets are winners or who will say they were losers. This was recently the topic of a recent investigative TV show. The results were very interesting. There is a whole lot of scamming going on.
Another thing to beware of is a lottery pool where everyone puts their money in to buy tickets and agree to split the winning. Agreements like this often end up in court which is why you should have you pool’s agreement in writing and every member of the pool should have a printout of ALL of the tickets bought with the pool’s money. Sadly, trust often does not stand the test of greed, so don’t just trust that your pool members will do right by you.
So here are some tips to ensure that you never end up as a victim or as another court case fighting over winnings.
If you buy the ticket solely for yourself SIGN IT RIGHT AWAY. That way no one else can turn it in and claim your money.
If you are in a pool, have a signed agreement between all members; give every member a copy of that agreement, as well as copies of the tickets that belong to the pool. Don’t forget to be specific about the dates of the agreement.
Don’t hand your tickets over to a clerk to scan for you. If you do, make sure they are signed and you watch as they scan them and get your tickets back, even if the clerk says they are not a winner. Most states are putting scanners that customers can do themselves. You can also check online to see if you have a winning ticket.
Play it safe and protect yourself. The only thing worse than not winning, is finding out that you did win, and lost it all to a scammer.
So what is their strategy and what can you learn from it? Well, the first thing you need to know is that a majority of store clerk’s winning lottery tickets weren’t bought by them in the first place. They rightfully belong to someone else and these clerks are in on a variety of scams. Here are some of the common scams:
The scanning scam works when someone brings in their ticket or tickets to be scanned by the clerk to see if they are winners. Only the clerk can see the results so when a winning ticket is scanned, the clerk simply lies to the rightful owner and pockets the winning ticket and hands the customer a worthless ticket or a ticket with a smaller winning amount. The customer is none the wiser and the clerk can turn the ticket in or get a family member or friend to do it for them.
Another shady tactic is one that the customer is in on and the victim is the state or a child who is entitled to child support. The customer has a winning ticket but has a garnishment, tax or child support issue that would take their winnings. So the clerk offers to “buy” the ticket for less than the winning value. So the clerk buys the ticket from the customer for $1500 which nets him a profit of $500 and the customer gets $1500 tax free money. The state or child are the losers in this scam but are victims nevertheless.
State lotteries are aware of these scams and are cracking down on them. They are now running verification checks by asking where the ticket was bought and when. Just claiming you “found” it will not help you pass muster. They have the technology to see when and where the winning ticket was sold along with video of the rightful owner.
States are now conducting scams of their own. They simply print up winning tickets to a game that has never been sold anywhere and they go around spot checking store clerks to see who will honestly tell them that their tickets are winners or who will say they were losers. This was recently the topic of a recent investigative TV show. The results were very interesting. There is a whole lot of scamming going on.
Another thing to beware of is a lottery pool where everyone puts their money in to buy tickets and agree to split the winning. Agreements like this often end up in court which is why you should have you pool’s agreement in writing and every member of the pool should have a printout of ALL of the tickets bought with the pool’s money. Sadly, trust often does not stand the test of greed, so don’t just trust that your pool members will do right by you.
So here are some tips to ensure that you never end up as a victim or as another court case fighting over winnings.
If you buy the ticket solely for yourself SIGN IT RIGHT AWAY. That way no one else can turn it in and claim your money.
If you are in a pool, have a signed agreement between all members; give every member a copy of that agreement, as well as copies of the tickets that belong to the pool. Don’t forget to be specific about the dates of the agreement.
Don’t hand your tickets over to a clerk to scan for you. If you do, make sure they are signed and you watch as they scan them and get your tickets back, even if the clerk says they are not a winner. Most states are putting scanners that customers can do themselves. You can also check online to see if you have a winning ticket.
Play it safe and protect yourself. The only thing worse than not winning, is finding out that you did win, and lost it all to a scammer.
"What Is Autism?" Is A Question With No Easy Answers
What is autism? What a complex question that is to answer, because autism is diagnosed on a very large spectrum, which ranges from severely affected to people who can be quite high functioning. Luckily, doctors are better educated in the areas of autism, which is one reason there are more people diagnosed with autism in the last 2 decades. There also seems to be an increase in diagnosed autism for other reasons as well, but the cause of that is harder to find and prove. Childhood vaccines have been conclusively ruled out though.
I could write an entire book about what autism is from the medical and clinical standpoint. There is no shortage of theories and medical literature about what autism is. When you start asking questions about autism, you should be prepared to hear a lot of “we just don’t know” along with a lot of theories and conflicting opinions.
But to me, autism is better known as my grandson Jake. He is 10 years old; with huge blue eyes and a smile that melts your heart. Jake has been diagnosed with PDD-NOS which is Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified, also called atypical autism. That is an ironic term since there is no typical case of autism, each person with it is quite unique in the ways they express their autism.
Jake was premature and encountered quite a few problems in the beginning of his life. Did this contribute to his later diagnosis? Depends on who you ask, but generally doctors say they just don’t know.
Jake doesn’t speak but he recently thrilled us when he uttered “meow” in response to a book that was being read to him. Jake does laugh and he loves music, especially upbeat guitar music. He doesn’t like sad songs though. He will eat almost anything but depends on his mom to feed it to him. Unlike many children with autism, Jake likes to cuddle with his mom and can be quite affectionate.
If only autism was his only problem it might be easier, but unfortunately, like many autistic children, Jake has other health issues as well. His mom must be vigilant in observing him to find out if he is hurting or not feeling well because Jake can’t tell her what is wrong. He is currently taking a daily heartburn drug because of his reflux. He has an array of doctors to see to his various health problems which include scoliosis, balance problems and frequent earaches.
Luckily, Jake has a mom who is terrific with him and very attentive. He is one of the happiest kids I know, due to his mother’s care for him. She could write a book about what she has learned by being his mom. She was very young, just married and Jake was her first child. She has a sense of humor and frequently uses it.
When you are trying to find out more about autism, it is good to know the facts of autism. But don’t dismiss the wealth of information you will learn by looking into the faces of autism, as well as those who care for them. That is where you will truly learn the most about autism.
I could write an entire book about what autism is from the medical and clinical standpoint. There is no shortage of theories and medical literature about what autism is. When you start asking questions about autism, you should be prepared to hear a lot of “we just don’t know” along with a lot of theories and conflicting opinions.
But to me, autism is better known as my grandson Jake. He is 10 years old; with huge blue eyes and a smile that melts your heart. Jake has been diagnosed with PDD-NOS which is Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified, also called atypical autism. That is an ironic term since there is no typical case of autism, each person with it is quite unique in the ways they express their autism.
Jake was premature and encountered quite a few problems in the beginning of his life. Did this contribute to his later diagnosis? Depends on who you ask, but generally doctors say they just don’t know.
Jake doesn’t speak but he recently thrilled us when he uttered “meow” in response to a book that was being read to him. Jake does laugh and he loves music, especially upbeat guitar music. He doesn’t like sad songs though. He will eat almost anything but depends on his mom to feed it to him. Unlike many children with autism, Jake likes to cuddle with his mom and can be quite affectionate.
If only autism was his only problem it might be easier, but unfortunately, like many autistic children, Jake has other health issues as well. His mom must be vigilant in observing him to find out if he is hurting or not feeling well because Jake can’t tell her what is wrong. He is currently taking a daily heartburn drug because of his reflux. He has an array of doctors to see to his various health problems which include scoliosis, balance problems and frequent earaches.
Luckily, Jake has a mom who is terrific with him and very attentive. He is one of the happiest kids I know, due to his mother’s care for him. She could write a book about what she has learned by being his mom. She was very young, just married and Jake was her first child. She has a sense of humor and frequently uses it.
When you are trying to find out more about autism, it is good to know the facts of autism. But don’t dismiss the wealth of information you will learn by looking into the faces of autism, as well as those who care for them. That is where you will truly learn the most about autism.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
My Views
If you look at my profile picture, you will one of my favorite views. That is the sight I am often greeted with when I look out my front door of my little house in rural Louisiana. I thought it was a perfect picture for my profile because it shows you a bit of life as I see it and not just a glimpse of how I look as a person.
That picture represents how I see things, just as this blog often will. I may write about factual events and current news but I may also write about things as I happen to see them. You are always free to see things differently and I welcome your views as well. I'm always interested in hearing how other people see things. As I always say, you learn something new everyday.
My views are colored by many things. I might see them from my view as a former teacher, as first responder, or as a slightly sarcastic and always amused person. I'd rather laugh together about differences than fight over them. It takes all types to make up a world.
So welcome to my world, so glad you stopped by.
That picture represents how I see things, just as this blog often will. I may write about factual events and current news but I may also write about things as I happen to see them. You are always free to see things differently and I welcome your views as well. I'm always interested in hearing how other people see things. As I always say, you learn something new everyday.
My views are colored by many things. I might see them from my view as a former teacher, as first responder, or as a slightly sarcastic and always amused person. I'd rather laugh together about differences than fight over them. It takes all types to make up a world.
So welcome to my world, so glad you stopped by.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
The Louisiana Primary and Louisiana Politics
The Louisiana Primary was held Saturday and it was Rick Santorum who walked away with a victory, as he easily won over front-runner Mitt Romney. Ron Paul trailed as usual but don’t count him down and out yet. Many other facts and statistics emerged from the primary, along with results of exit polls, not to mention a wealth of prediction and perspectives. It seems like they have Louisiana all summed up and wrapped in a tidy, neat little package, ready to be presented to Rick Santorum in the real election.
But hold on, this is Louisiana we are talking about, a state that is notorious for its colorful political history. This is Louisiana, where the “Kingfish” Huey P. Long reigned in the 1920’s and 1930’s. This is Louisiana, where the governor’s election in the 90’s came down to two candidates, Edwin Edwards and David Duke. Edwards had a reputation of corruption and charm, while David Duke was a notoriously vile, white supremacist. That election spawned one of the greatest campaign slogans ever, “Vote for the crook, it’s important”. And indeed the alleged crook did win the election, and was later rightfully convicted of his crimes
With a past like that, can you truly predict the final outcome for the ultimate winner of the state in the real race, so many months away? Can you really be that smug and sure? The results were just the voices and choices of those who took the time out of their day to support their candidate. What about the people in Louisiana who only come out on the real Election Day, or those who take a wait and see attitude and haven’t decided yet?
So, while I have read the predictions and the pronouncements that say Santorum will take Louisiana, and that Louisiana voters are strongly committed to their candidate, forgive me for not believing that Louisiana’s choice is already a done deal.
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