View Full Version : Lotto!!!!!!$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Many Moons
12-17-2013, 22:34
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$If you hit the Mega Draw tonight where you going to hike and how long? The AT? The Way? Think I will do the AT in big sections and finish in a few years! It would be a good way to disappear for awhile and let uproar settle down! HIKE ON!!!$$$$$$$$$$$$
Miller
anywhere and everywhere and as long as I wanted
ChinMusic
12-17-2013, 22:54
You don't need Lotto Money to hike.
I can think of a classic Office Space line but I'm too polite to post it........
Many Moons
12-17-2013, 22:58
Yea, but it would be fun to drop big bucks when you come out to a town with trail friends. I tend to spend a lot now on food and motel rooms, but lotto money would give me some to share!!! HIKE ON!!!
Miller
ILMT (I like my tent)
You don't need Lotto Money to hike.
I can think of a classic Office Space line but I'm too polite to post it........
4eyedbuzzard
12-17-2013, 23:00
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$If you hit the Mega Draw tonight where you going to hike and how long? The AT? The Way? Think I will do the AT in big sections and finish in a few years! It would be a good way to disappear for awhile and let uproar settle down! HIKE ON!!!$$$$$$$$$$$$
Miller
HEY! That's MY plan.
Subie Love
12-17-2013, 23:10
I would be hiking all over the world. I probably would be out of the states for a good 4-5 years exploring.
max patch
12-17-2013, 23:23
You don't need Lotto Money to hike.
I can think of a classic Office Space line but I'm too polite to post it........
Oh come on, say it. That would be great.
4eyedbuzzard
12-17-2013, 23:29
oh come on, say it. That would be great.do it! Do it! Do it!
HikerMom58
12-17-2013, 23:31
Oh come on, say it. That would be great.
I can't believe he said he said was too polite... ;) ChinMusic?
Tuckahoe
12-17-2013, 23:44
Hmmmm...
Maybe I would go ahead and do a thru-hike...
Then somewhere along the trail in Virginia I would build a little country house, with a forge of course. And then maybe I would hire Dogwood to interpret the ladscape design of Andrew Jackson Downing.
Odd Man Out
12-18-2013, 00:05
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$If you hit the Mega Draw tonight where you going to hike...
Here are some of the places I have been reading about.
http://goo.gl/maps/hGozb - About as remote as it gets.
http://goo.gl/maps/cfU1s - And also finish the circuit over the pass
http://goo.gl/maps/iqZjH - Good luck getting a visa, but here you will find the world's best collection of dinosaur tracks
http://goo.gl/maps/ehlDJ - Imagine Dr. Seuss created a real island
http://goo.gl/maps/FteRG - World's highest trek?
http://goo.gl/maps/dCX6x - Hard to believe people lived here for hundreds of years.
http://goo.gl/maps/J8VAf - Just a day hike in paradise
http://goo.gl/maps/1it0r - Another day hike in paradise
http://goo.gl/maps/f43s3 - I need to read more about this continent
http://goo.gl/maps/M320x - The guide will have a gun, and lots of bullets
http://goo.gl/maps/djWH1 - I think you've probably heard of this one
http://goo.gl/maps/bovEm - I know you've heard of this one
http://goo.gl/maps/gE9z2 - Took the kids here when they were little, but never got the back country
http://goo.gl/maps/5Uiuc - In case I don't win the lottery
ChinMusic
12-18-2013, 00:17
I read this but didn't check the math:
imagine a wheel of chance where every inch on the wheel represented one chance to win. now imagine a circle with 259,000,000 inches - or about 4,087 miles. The diameter of that wheel of chance is 1,300.65 miles - similar in distance from Denver to Seattle. That is a big wheel.
4eyedbuzzard
12-18-2013, 00:21
I read this but didn't check the math:Math checks. Would you really do only two?
Sarcasm the elf
12-18-2013, 00:21
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$If you hit the Mega Draw tonight where you going to hike and how long? The AT? The Way? Think I will do the AT in big sections and finish in a few years! It would be a good way to disappear for awhile and let uproar settle down! HIKE ON!!!$$$$$$$$$$$$
Miller
Forget simply hiking, the Mega jackpot is over $600,000,000.00. If I suddenly won that kind of money I would be making some very large land purchases to increase the size of the trail corridor.
Chair-man
12-18-2013, 00:22
Chances of winning = 250 million to 1. you figure that's not so bad. Wrong.
Imagine a line of pennies side by side across the United States and one of the them is marked a winner. So you start driving from Atlantic City NJ and you follow this line into Nebraska and your driving along I-80 past the corn fields and you slow down and stop. You get out of your car walk over and turn one the pennies over and it's the winner. This is not a joke. the width of a penny is 19.05mm or .75 inch. Do the math. It's nice to dream. Keep dreaming of those corn fields.
Tipi Walter
12-18-2013, 00:29
Forget simply hiking, the Mega jackpot is over $600,000,000.00. If I suddenly won that kind of money I would be making some very large land purchases to increase the size of the trail corridor.
I'd buy back the Smokies and give it to John Quillen. He knows how to run a park.
Beyond this, a night sleeping under a tree in most of the backcountry is currently free as of December 2013.
The advertising surrounding the lottery is so misleading. The lottery has elements of a Ponzi Scheme designed into it. It's a gov't sponsored scam! I've bought a lottery ticket once in a while but not with the odds of that lottery game. The odds are ridiculous but it's the BIG money publically advertised, which is a total farce anyway, that entices folks with greed and getting something for nothing. There's a damn good reason why that advertised $ amt of a sole Jackpot winner is so high. They just made the odds of hitting the jackpot even harder by introducing additional numbers into the total possible outcomes so no one has been hitting the jackpot despite the millions upon millions of tickets bought so the jackpot from previous drawings keeps rolling over. IF IF I do play the lottery $1- 5 mill prize games with MUCH MUCH better odds are what I would play. Winning that lower $ amt prize and you could hike anywhere for as long as you want until your last revolution around the sun. It even allows for some cuben fiber gear, sherpas and dancing girls(guys if you prefer) in your hiking posse, and flying in the occasional "lobsta for all" at the campfire nights.
Last I heard the prize payout was $636 mil, which means $636 mil has already been skimmed off that or a total of $1, 272, 000, 000 has been taken in by the Lottery Commission for that game alone. But it's a TOTAL FARCE advertising that as your prize. A small percentage, usual something like 1%, taken out of your share, goes to the vendors/retailers of lottery tickets. IF you are fortunate enough to win the the jackpot you would get $341 mil BEFORE TAXES IF you took a lump sum payout. The Lottery Commission just like any other "house" has done EXXTTEENNSIIVVEE research knowing EXACTLY how to stack the odds in their favor of scoring the largest profit again again and again. But the Lottery Commission knows the folks who typically play the lottery are economically lower and middle class so when presented with that BIG check they wouldn't likely be aware of just how royally screwed they are getting on the payout so they smile nicely for a pic and gladly take their check.
For me, I'll continue seeking to achieve my hiking goals in other ways that I'm more in control of through a step upon step upon step process. It's worked so far - SOITENLY, beats buying lottery tickets and expecting to realize dreams based upon hitting jackpots.
Not sorry for the dose of reality.
4eyedbuzzard
12-18-2013, 07:27
That was a waste of a buck . . .
Tuckahoe
12-18-2013, 08:06
Relax it's the humor section, don't be so serious. The lottery is a scam and I can honestly say that I have never played these games. Everytime I think why not play the game just once, I bump up my retirement savings by that dollar the game would have cost.
Nonetheless, while I dont play it is still a fun and entertaining exercise to daydream and imagine what I'd do if I won the lottery. I think we all do. My problem is I just cant seem to get past the saving and investing part of the daydream and onto the blow a chuck of money part.
Would I hike the Appalachian Trail if I won enough to retire rich, and could do anything else? That's a very good question. I would have to think about that one. I love the question, 'what would you do', much better than, 'what would you buy'. Another good question would be how much money would be too much responsibility, and who would you give the rest of the money too to let them figure out what to do with it. The mind boggles.
SunnyWalker
12-18-2013, 10:09
I am a winner. I win every time I go to a store to purchase stuff and never (and I have never) bought a lottery ticket. I win every time.
HikerMom58
12-18-2013, 10:21
How about that guy that is called the Secret Santa... I hear he gives away 100,000 total every year to random strangers.
http://www.cbs.com/shows/cbs_evening_news/video/2313820626/on-the-road-secret-santa-saves-christmas
Nonetheless, while I dont play it is still a fun and entertaining exercise to daydream and imagine what I'd do if I won the lottery. I think we all do. My problem is I just cant seem to get past the saving and investing part of the daydream and onto the blow a chuck of money part.
My friend calls it "Cheap entertainment". If you spend $1 every few months at the most and get one-two hours of idle day dreaming, it is not a bad investment. Less expensive than even a video rental (for those who still do that ;) ).
OTOH, if you spend $10 weekly lottery tickets, that $500+ may be better spent else where. :)
So $1 ever 6 mos? I admit to doing it. Usually when I happen to have a single in my wallet while grocery shopping.
A weekly habit? Meh
Now if for some reason I'd win, my lifestyle would not be much different. I'd just do more of it (outdoors, work on my photography and writing, still hit the brew pubs post-hike), without working at a job I do strictly for the paycheck! More volunteer work, too.
Odd Man Out
12-18-2013, 12:47
My friend calls it "Cheap entertainment". If you spend $1 every few months at the most and get one-two hours of idle day dreaming, it is not a bad investment. Less expensive than even a video rental (for those who still do that ;) ).
...
Exactly where were are. We only buy a ticket when the prize is more than a few hundred thousand. Then we only buy one ticket. It makes my wife happy and gives us something to talk about over the dinner table. Best 1$ investment ever!
slbirdnerd
12-18-2013, 13:18
My friend calls it "Cheap entertainment". If you spend $1 every few months at the most and get one-two hours of idle day dreaming, it is not a bad investment. Less expensive than even a video rental (for those who still do that ;) ).
OTOH, if you spend $10 weekly lottery tickets, that $500+ may be better spent else where. :)
So $1 ever 6 mos? I admit to doing it. Usually when I happen to have a single in my wallet while grocery shopping.
A weekly habit? Meh
Now if for some reason I'd win, my lifestyle would not be much different. I'd just do more of it (outdoors, work on my photography and writing, still hit the brew pubs post-hike), without working at a job I do strictly for the paycheck! More volunteer work, too.
This is me, too.
Old Hiker
12-18-2013, 14:43
I'd put it all on my bills as far as it would go.
My first thought is Everest (and all the necessary prep $$$) but on second thought I'm not totally sure that I'd want to summit Everest regardless of the monetary issue. And not being sure probably means I wouldn't have it in me.
Oops, humor. Always have to read the forum. Sorry for stepping on the fantasy. :)
If I do play the lottery I look at it like Mags and Slbirdnerd.
Loved the story of Secret Santa, what the person is anonymously doing. Since this is the happy happy forum here's another happy happy story.
http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-tips-for-jesus-20131204,0,2030516.story#axzz2nr8W4h9U
'It is more blessed to give than to receive'. Acts 20:35
I can't help it. Every time I hear about receiving I connect it with giving. Giving is not dependent on one's financial wealth. I aim to be a cheerful giver, giving in anyway starting with anything I might have, which isn't necessarily physical.
HikerMom58
12-18-2013, 15:54
I enjoyed that too Dogwood... we'll just keep on sharing happy happy stories. Here's another story from the Secret Santa from Christmas of 2011. :>)
http://www.cbs.com/shows/cbs_evening_news/video/2177578589/on-the-road-hope-for-the-holidays/
I like to get lottery tickets as Christmas presents... just because it's kinda fun, like everyone else is sayin!
I admire this Secret Santa more than words can express! I would want to do the same thing! So Joyful!! Happy Happy!!
hikerboy57
12-18-2013, 15:59
if i won the lottery( i wont, i dont play), yes id love to hike, but i have no need for that kind of money. buy myself a small home somewhere, set my kids up, then id like to travel around the country and give it all away to those who needed it, look for situations where i could have a positive impact on peoples lives. id travel cross country, spending time in arbitrary towns, looking for the opportunity to change lives, and do it as anonymously as possible.
expanding the entire at corridor is a nice idea,too.
think of all the ramen packets you could buy!!