Charles Angelich wrote in a message to Roy J. Tellason:

RJT> The money people spend on lottery tickets blows me away sometimes, 
RJT> especially when it's mostly those who can't afford it. The news 
RJT> covers the numbers drawn daily, one station covers the actual 
RJT> drawing, and the state here has gone to more than one a day. Plus 
RJT> they're now in the process of trying to push a bill through the 
RJT> legislature to allow slot machines... 

CA> The government has found that they can offer fantasy to replace
CA> real attempts to assist the poor. 

Ain't *that* the truth!  They seem to be offering fantasy in a number of
other areas as well.

CA> I used to be annoyed with the people who get carried away with 
CA> lotteries and other forms of gambling. Now it just saddens me to 
CA> see that their lives have come to this that even an absurd act of 
CA> desperation on their part is better than doing nothing to prevent 
CA> the future that is waiting for them if they do nothing.

Yeah.



CA>> I don't watch very many actual TV shows. I watch movies that are 
CA>> being shown on TV. If the TV shows portray offices as you say they 
CA>> do then I'd say it's an accurate portrayal. 

RJT> Maybe, or maybe it's an influence, portraying workplaces in 
RJT> general like that. I'm not sure. 

CA> When I complained to friends and relatives who have always worked 
CA> in offices they told me that it was "situation normal" to them. I 
CA> had avoided office work most of my life when I was young and used 
CA> to think the TV shows were trying to be 'funny'. Now I know they 
CA> were just trying to be realistic.

I guess those office folks are into buying fantasy,  too...

CA> It's funny for about a week and then it becomes very unfunny when 
CA> you can't get anyone to do their work so that you can do yours when
CA> it's a 'team' effort.

Yeah.  I take that sort of thing rather more seriously than most,  and go
in there to get the job done,  not goof off.



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