LOTTOMIKE's Blog

Hello To All At Lottery Post

Would like to say hello to Todd and everyone here at Lottery Post. Wondering what you all have been up to like Emily,Maddog,Lucky,Four4Me,etc. Been awhile since i've played the lottery and i am trying my luck at the big jackpot games Cash 4 Life and Powerball. Back in the day i racked up some serious winnings and then the Tennessee Lottery decided to go computerized and that kinda put a damper on my parade,lol.

When i first joined Lottery Post i was waiting for the birth of my first daughter and that was in October 2004 almost 17 years ago but in many ways it seems like yesterday. When my kids got to be school age that and work took up a lot of my time. Hard to believe but my kids are getting close to graduating. Always fun to come back and try my luck with some of the games especially Cash 4 always been my favorite.....

Entry #1,350

Tennessee Lottery Turns 15

Hello Todd,Maddog,Emily,Lucky,Four4me,etc, old timers, new guys,etc.

 

Miss you guys a lot. Busy raising my son/daughter,one was conceived around the time the Tennessee Lottery first started in Early 2004 and was born November 2004 the other a year later in November 2005. Both are now teenagers and i will be 44 in March of this year.

I'll never forget coming here in October 2004 the Tennessee Lottery had been around a few months and needing some pointers my search led me here. MAN THOSE WERE AWESOME TIMES. How i miss it.

From 2004 thru 2007 between the Tennessee Lottery and betting online i won around 30,000 dollar. I bet 486 10 times on seperate tickets and won 5 grand. Did 568 and 468 4 times and won 2,000 on those. Hit on quite a gew pick 4 numbers winning 2,500 on many occassions.

Then 2 major things happened that dampened the party. First in 2006 they passed a law against online gaming then the next year Tennessee went from ball draws to computers and afterwards i bowed out with my last big win coming in February 2007 a pick 4 4658 hit for 2,500 dollars.

Lately i been wanting to try my hand at Win4life and Powerball. Those have really interested me.

 

Well gang i'll be in and out and maybe here soon i'll splurge on a platinum membership as i do every blue moon.

 

Take Care......

Entry #1,349

Time Really Does Fly (Ten Years At LP)

I was telling Lucky earlier how much i enjoyed my time here in the past and how much i missed it as well. First joined here two weeks before the birth of my first child on November 1,2004 also had a son born exactly a year later to the day. Decided i'd post some pics before and now......baby

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

now

Entry #1,348

WOW,Its Really Been Seven Years

Never forget Tennessee getting a lottery back in 2004 and me doing an internet search and ending up here.At the time(October 15,2004) i was playing lottery and passing time for my daughter's birth who was due to be born on the first of November 2004.Had a couple weeks to pass so i decided to get involved here and it ended up being a very fun and healthy obsession not to mention me winning a tidy sum of cash.My how time flies and it does because my daughter will be seven years old here in a couple weeks and this time of year always brings back great memories of being here at Lottery Post.I don't have much free time anymore raising kids and keeping a household going but i like to come here every blue moon and play some numbers and remember a very fun and unique period of my life.Hope everyone here is well and wish you all best of luck and hopefully sometime in the future i can get more time to be here like i did once before.......Its always a pleasure to visit Lottery PostParty

Entry #1,347

Winter Weather

i've enjoyed the colder weather for a while but i will really be glad when it gets a bit warmer!!

Entry #1,346

Man In The Mirror

I'm Gonna Make A Change,
For Once In My Life
It's Gonna Feel Real Good,
Gonna Make A Difference
Gonna Make It Right . . .

As I, Turn Up The Collar On My
Favourite Winter Coat
This Wind Is Blowin' My Mind
I See The Kids In The Street,
With Not Enough To Eat
Who Am I, To Be Blind?
Pretending Not To See
Their Needs
A Summer's Disregard,
A Broken Bottle Top
And A One Man's Soul
They Follow Each Other On
The Wind Ya' Know
'Cause They Got Nowhere
To Go
That's Why I Want You To
Know

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself, And
Then Make A Change)
(Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,
Na Nah)

I've Been A Victim Of A Selfish
Kind Of Love
It's Time That I Realize
That There Are Some With No
Home, Not A Nickel To Loan
Could It Be Really Me,
Pretending That They're Not
Alone?

A Willow Deeply Scarred,
Somebody's Broken Heart
And A Washed-Out Dream
(Washed-Out Dream)
They Follow The Pattern Of
The Wind, Ya' See
Cause They Got No Place
To Be
That's Why I'm Starting With
Me
(Starting With Me!)

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
(Ooh!)
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
(Ooh!)
And No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change)

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror
(Ooh!)
I'm Asking Him To Change His
Ways
(Change His Ways-Ooh!)
And No Message Could've
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make That . . .
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make That . . .)
Change!

I'm Starting With The Man In
The Mirror,
(Man In The Mirror-Oh
Yeah!)
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
(Better Change!)
No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make The Change)
(You Gotta Get It Right, While
You Got The Time)
('Cause When You Close Your
Heart)
You Can't Close Your . . .Your
Mind!
(Then You Close Your . . .
Mind!)
That Man, That Man, That
Man, That Man
With That Man In The Mirror
(Man In The Mirror, Oh Yeah!)
That Man, That Man, That Man
I'm Asking Him To Change
His Ways
(Better Change!)
You Know . . .That Man
No Message Could Have
Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World
A Better Place
(If You Wanna Make The
World A Better Place)
Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change
(Take A Look At Yourself And
Then Make A Change)
Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!
Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,
Na Nah
(Oh Yeah!)
Gonna Feel Real Good Now!
Yeah Yeah! Yeah Yeah!
Yeah Yeah!
Na Na Na, Na Na Na, Na Na,
Na Nah
(Ooooh . . .)
Oh No, No No . . .
I'm Gonna Make A Change
It's Gonna Feel Real Good!
Come On!
(Change . . .)
Just Lift Yourself
You Know
You've Got To Stop It.
Yourself!
(Yeah!-Make That Change!)
I've Got To Make That Change,
Today!
Hoo!
(Man In The Mirror)
You Got To
You Got To Not Let Yourself . . .
Brother . . .
Hoo!
(Yeah!-Make That Change!)
You Know-I've Got To Get
That Man, That Man . . .
(Man In The Mirror)
You've Got To
You've Got To Move! Come
On! Come On!
You Got To . . .
Stand Up! Stand Up!
Stand Up!
(Yeah-Make That Change)
Stand Up And Lift
Yourself, Now!
(Man In The Mirror)
Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!
Aaow!
(Yeah-Make That Change)
Gonna Make That Change . . .
Come On!
(Man In The Mirror)
You Know It!
You Know It!
You Know It!
You Know . . .
(Change . . .)
Make That Change.

Entry #1,344

School's Out

well it is that time of year again!   kiddos are out of school for summer.tomorrow is the last day.i've enrolled mine in a pre-school summer program too so after a couple weeks break they'll be going back until around the 4th of july.my lil girl loves it but the boy would rather be home,lol.Hyper

Entry #1,342

Hate Crime Legislation

my father went to church tonight and they passed out flyers to everyone about this new hate crime bill.

 

cliffnotes version....

under this legislation a pastor who teaches that homosexuality is wrong could be accused of a hate crime or charged with 'inducing' a violent crime against a gay person.more importantly it will lead to the criminalization of biblical truth as 'hate speech'.majority leader harry reid has promised to pass this legislation in the next few weeks and the house already has.

 

sincerely,jim demint  U.S. senator

Entry #1,340

Fed: Unemployment Will Top Ten Percent

WASHINGTON - The Federal Reserve expects the economy this year will sink at a slower pace than it previously thought, but that unemployment will top 10 percent.

The Fed now predicts the economy will shrink between 1 and 1.5 percent this year. The forecast issued in May projected it would contract between 1.3 and 2 percent.

Against that backdrop, the Fed says unemployment will be worse this year. It predicts the jobless rate could rise as high as 10.1 percent, compared with the old forecast of 9.6 percent.

The nation's unemployment rate climbed to 9.5 percent in June, a 26-year high.

Entry #1,339

Goodbye Steve Mcnair

HATTIESBURG, Miss. - Thousands turned out in Tennessee to say goodbye to Steve McNair, and people in his native state were doing the same Sunday to give the ex-NFL quarterback one of the biggest funerals in recent Mississippi history.

"We're going to have church this morning, and we're going to praise God for Steve's life," said gospel singer Dottie Peoples, a close friend of McNair's mother, Lucille.

At least 4,500 turned out, though organizers anticipated a capacity crowd of 8,000 at Reed Green Coliseum on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi. Most of McNair's hometown of Mount Olive also arrived thanks to buses rented by the McNairs, and hundreds came out Friday night for a visitation. A private burial was to follow in Mount Olive.

The hearse carrying McNair's casket arrived a couple of hours before the funeral, escorted 30 miles down Highway 49 by nine police officers on motorcycles and several vehicles carrying family members.

A line outside the coliseum snaked down the sidewalk as early as 8 a.m., even with temperatures quickly rising into the low 90s on a humid day.

The hearse backed up next to the playing floor to deliver McNair's silvery-gray casket. Police escorted McNair's wife, Mechelle, and his mother, Lucille, into the stadium beforehand.

Brett Favre, who had a home near McNair's here in Hattiesburg, sat a few rows behind the McNair family. Titans coach Jeff Fisher and quarterback Vince Young, Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis and Chicago quarterback Jay Cutler also attended. Doug Williams, the first black quarterback to win the Super Bowl, also was on hand.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was among those who sent flowers. Titans owner Bud Adams attended the memorial service Thursday night in Nashville.

McNair was shot and killed on the Fourth of July by Sahel Kazemi, a 20-year-old girlfriend who then shot herself in the head.

Bobby Hamilton, who played at Southern Miss and in the NFL with New England and Oakland, used to sleep on the floor of McNair's oldest brother, Fred, when he played at Alcorn State. He also cheered on McNair during his career and recalled how McNair rallied Alcorn State by scoring two touchdowns with less than a minute left.

"It's very painful. We know he was a warrior. ... I can't even say the word how this warrior went down," an emotional Hamilton said.

The program included memories from McNair's mother, his wife and sons, brothers, and nieces and nephews. Photos were also displayed of the quarterback who played 13 NFL seasons with Tennessee and Baltimore before retiring in 2008.

Coach Nevil Barr brought the entire jersey-clad Oak Grove High School football team to the service. Steve McNair Jr. attends Oak Grove, and his father joined Favre at a summer workout two weeks ago to play catch with the kids.

"He was on our sideline every Friday night supporting his son," Barr said. "He loved to come watch Steve Jr., and we loved having him there. He always had that smile."

Deloris Cagins traveled from nearby Columbia to attend the funeral. She wore the purple and gold of McNair's alma mater, Alcorn State, and had a pompom tied to her walker. She has relatives who eventually joined her beloved Braves, where McNair made a Heisman Trophy run and set a number of NCAA Division I-AA records before going third overall in the NFL draft in 1995 to the then-Houston Oilers.

"Alcornites to me are a different breed of people," she said. "It's like a family. If you do something, we'll support you."

Entry #1,338

The Rich Are No Longer Recession Proof

Just who is "rich" in America is a matter of considerable disagreement. No one disputes that Bill Gates (No. 1 on last year's Forbes 400 list with a net worth of $57 billion) and Warren Buffett (No. 2 at $50 billion) are wealthy or, indeed, that everyone on the Forbes list qualifies (the poorest had a net worth of $1.3 billion). But as you move from billions in net worth to the mere hundreds or many tens of millions, and then to annual incomes of the mere hundreds of thousands, the arguing begins.

In April, The Wall Street Journal ran an article sympathetically portraying families with incomes around $250,000, the level that President Obama has targeted for tax increases. By most measures, these families rank in the top 2 percent to 4 percent of the income spectrum. But many—possibly most—see themselves as "upper middle class" and not "rich," the paper reported.

"I'm not after sympathy," said the wife of a surgeon who makes about $260,000. "What I want is a reality check on what rich means. I can pay my mortgage and can buy some clothes. I'm not going without, but I'm not living a life of luxury." The mayor of San Jose scoffed at $250,000. That's what a two-engineer couple might make, he said. It put them in "the upper working class" and wasn't enough to "buy a home in Silicon Valley."

 

The article triggered an outpouring of e-mails—many applauding that someone had finally described their harried plight; others sarcastically wondering what planet the whiners lived on. But so much angst among the affluent—however defined—attests to something else: the present recession, unlike any other since World War II, has deeply shaken the nation's economic elite.

With secure jobs and ample incomes, the rich and the near rich are supposed to be insulated from economic slumps. Well, not this time. Many feel fearful, threatened, and impoverished. In a recent Unity Marketing survey of consumers with incomes exceeding $250,000, 60 percent said their financial situation had deteriorated; 39 percent said bonuses or commissions had been cut; 29 percent said their regular income had been reduced; 8 percent said they'd lost their jobs; and 4 percent said their hours had been reduced. Even with a partial stock-market rebound, many of America's most affluent feel vulnerable to layoffs and lost income, just like other Americans. "This has been an equal-opportunity recession," argues Pam Danziger of Unity Marketing.

Collateral damage is widespread. Sales at luxury chains have fallen sharply; same-store revenues for Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus dropped about 25 percent in recent quarters. Many country clubs are struggling to hold members. In New York's Hamptons, unsold homes reached a 34-month supply early this year at the prevailing sales pace; buyers had hibernated. Economist Susan Sterne, a specialist in consumer spending, calls it "the demise of luxury... the people who buy $3,000 Gucci handbags. You see it in the luxury-car market and housing."

Some causes are obvious. With the recession's epicenter on Wall Street, layoffs and bonus reductions among highly paid investment bankers, traders, and money managers have thinned the ranks of the rich. The plunge in share prices has especially hurt the wealthy, because they disproportionately own stocks.

 

But something bigger may also be happening. In a new study, economists Jonathan Parker and Annette Vissing--Jorgensen of Northwestern University find that—contrary to conventional wisdom—income losses in recessions are proportionately greater for the well-to-do than for middle-income households. By their estimates, the relative income loss for the top 10 percent of the population is 26 percent larger than for the average household. For the top 1 percent, the contrast is even starker. Their proportionate loss is more than double—that is, if the average household had an income loss of 10 percent, the top 1 percent would lose more than 20 percent.

That doesn't mean they suffer more hardship. It's almost certainly tougher for a family with an income of $50,000 to adjust to a $5,000 loss (10 percent) than it is for a family with $1 million to compensate for a $200,000 drop (20 percent). And the poor experience the highest joblessness. Still, the increased economic vulnerability of the upper classes is a change from the past. Before the 1980s, the conventional wisdom was true, Parker and Vissing--Jorgensen say. Higher income conferred more stability.

It's not entirely clear what changed. Parker thinks that "one cause is the dramatic increase in pay for performance." In the past quarter century, salaries for top executives and managers have increasingly consisted of stock options, year-end bonuses, and sales incentives, he says. When the economy thrives, pay rises; when it sours, pay falls. Parker also cites the growth of professionals (lawyers, doctors, accountants, consultants) among the economic elite. "When the demand for elective surgery or legal services or consulting services goes down, so do their incomes," he says. Even among the top one tenth of 1 percent, wages represent half their income, and "proprietors' income" (essentially profits from a business or partnership) accounts for another quarter. The stereo-type of the rich living mainly off dividends and interest income is increasingly outdated. Many of the wealthy are owners of small businesses whose well- being is—to some extent—hostage to the business cycle.

It will strike many, no doubt, that the setbacks and anxieties for the country-club set are just deserts. Some will correctly note that well-paid CEOs and investment bankers helped bring about the economic crisis. They're just getting their comeuppance—and it's about time. Others will point out that countless studies have shown that, in recent decades, the gap between the rich and the rest has widened. From 1990 to 2006, for instance, the share of pretax income received by the top 1 percent grew from 12 percent to 19 percent, says the Congressional Budget Office. The present reverses are a healthy correction. So goes the argument.

All this is understandable, but incomplete. The criticism usually presumes that if the rich and near rich get less, someone else will get more. Redistribution achieves a better social balance. Sometimes that happens. But sometimes when the rich get less, no one else gets more. Regardless of how the rich earned their money—trading bonds, performing surgery, starting new companies, providing legal work—it's no longer so lucrative. The rich get poorer, but no one else gets richer. Society is worse off.

"Trickle-down economics" is a despised phrase and concept to many, but it also embodies a harsh reality. The rich often play a pivotal role in U.S. economic growth, and if they are enfeebled, then the consequences are widespread. Consider:

Consumption spending, the economy's main engine, is skewed toward the upper classes, because they have most of the income. In 2009, households with more than $200,000 in income account for 3.4 percent of the total but will generate almost 14 percent of consumer spending, estimates economist Sterne. Households with incomes between $100,000 and $200,000 represent about 14 percent of the population and 34 percent of spending. Together, these groups generate nearly half of U.S. consumption, although they're only a sixth of the population.

 

Similarly, the rich pay most of the taxes. In 2006, the richest 1 percent paid 28 percent of all federal taxes, estimates the CBO. The richest 10 percent (including the top 1 percent) paid 55 percent. The system is progressive—that is, the richer people get, the more of their income they pay in taxes. In 2006, the effective rate for the top 1 percent was 31 percent, reflecting all federal taxes. By contrast, the poorest fifth paid an effective rate of 4 percent. (State and local taxes are less progressive, because they rely more heavily on regressive sales taxes.)

The wealthy dominate charitable giving. In 2004, families with a net worth exceeding $5 million made up about 1.5 percent of all U.S. families but accounted for 27 percent of contributions, according to the Center on Wealth and Philanthropy at Boston College. Those with a net worth between $1 million and $5 million, about 7 percent of all families, represented another 20 percent of contributions. So, a tenth of American families made nearly half of all gifts.

Wealthy individuals are an important source of money for venture capital—funds invested in startup companies. Individuals and families represent about 10 percent of VC money (most of the rest comes from pension funds, college endowments, and insurance companies).

 

When the affluent retrench, they drag a lot with them. For example, the financial crisis led to a 44 percent fall in year-end bonuses at Wall Street firms, to $18.4 billion in 2008 from $32.9 billion in 2007, according to the New York state comptroller. No doubt that struck many as overdue and insufficient. Bankers were overpaid, and huge year-end bonuses encouraged excessive risk-taking. The trouble is that the loss of taxes on the bonuses blew a $1 billion hole in the state's budget and made it harder to pay for schools, health care, and prisons.

It's the same story with consumption. In late 2008, spending declined at about a 4 percent annual rate, and, in the first quarter of this year, rose slightly. But Danziger's surveys show steeper cutbacks at the top. From 2007 to 2008, consumers with incomes from $150,000 to $249,000 reduced spending by about 8 percent, while those above $250,000 cut almost 15 percent. Similarly, charitable giving decreased to $308 billion in 2008, a drop of 5.7 percent after adjustment for inflation, says the Giving USA Foundation, a nonprofit group. Donations may fall further this year. The stock market is a strong predictor of giving. A 100-point rise in the S&P 500 stock index increases charitable contributions by $1.7 billion, says the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University.

Not all charities have suffered. "Our funding is up 42 percent over last year," says Ross Fraser of Feeding America, an umbrella group that channels cash and groceries to 206 food banks around the country. "Charities such as ours do well when times are hard. If you have to choose between giving to the ballet and feeding a hungry child, who's going to win?" But that compounds the pressure on other nonprofits: colleges, hospitals, and environmental groups.

It's probably true that being rich is more a state of mind than an explicit level of income or wealth. It's feeling of having enough money so that money is no longer a worry. For many, that sense of security is gone. Michael Silverstein of the Boston Consulting Group reckons there are about 100,000 households with a net worth—counting their homes, stocks, bonds, and businesses—of at least $20 million. Even at these rarefied levels, he thinks, many are rattled. "They've seen up to a 30 to 40 percent drop in their net worth from peak to trough. Some have friends at blue-chip companies like General Electric, AIG, or Citigroup who have lost fortunes invested in company stock," he says.

What's unclear is whether the trauma will permanently change behavior. Silverstein is skeptical. "The nice thing about Americans is that they have short-term memories," he says. "We'll get out of this—and then the rich will realize they're rich again and start to spend." But Danziger, the marketing researcher, thinks the shopping culture has taken heavy hits. Americans have "been on an extended buying spree for the past 20 years. They've got stuff—and they don't need a lot of it," she says. There's a growing realization "that material wealth doesn't make people happy." Striving to replenish their savings, Americans—even the rich—will skimp on spending.

Once way or another, it's doubtful that trickle-down economics will soon regain the power of recent decades, when exploding stock and real-estate values and rising salaries were compounded by George W. Bush's favorable tax changes. But cheering at its eclipse may be premature and misguided. The contradiction is that many of the large gains at the top that are routinely deplored also provide the economic fuel for desired spending at the bottom. If the rich—however defined—remain stuck in neutral, the overall economy may not do much better.

 

By Robert J. Samuelson | NEWSWEEK
Entry #1,337

Heatwave

one hundred degrees high here every day and unbearable.Unhappy

Entry #1,336
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