I didn't know what a slot tournament was when I read Kathleen's blog just now. Surely, I thought, this can't mean a slot machine tournament! How can you call something a tournament that involves absolutely no skill-based component whatsoever? But apparently they can, and do. And people pay to participate. The mind boggles.
That reminded me of the Robert A. Heinlein quote along the lines of, "gambling is a tax on people who can't do math." But I couldn't find it. "Author unknown," says google. I did find a different Heinlein quote, more applicable to poker:
There is no such thing as "social gambling." Either you are there to cut the other bloke's heart out and eat it — or you're a sucker. If you don't like this choice — don't gamble.
I guess I've led a sheltered existance -- hey, I've been in Utah the last ten years -- but I didn't know there was a lottery advice magazine industry either. I ran across an outstanding blog entry about them while searching for the source of that bad-at-math quote. I can't excerpt Joe in a family-oriented blog, but he uses no stronger language than is called for. (But if I scared you away from reading his blog, at least read the article that set him off. Damn.)
You know the scariest part? These people are voting.
4 comments:
...and they are voting in droves.
Today I learned that uninformed voting is democracy in its purest form.
Now, I need to get to the polls.
I laughed out loud at the mention of my blog on yours, and then as I read on about the crazies that are in slot tournaments who also vote.
But here's what you need to know:
I won 5th place.
P.S. I early-voted.
:)
:)
I should add that they entered me in the "tournament" (quotes added in agreement to your statement about the irony of the term) because the entrance fee was less than the cost of the buffet. And the prize for entering was a ticket to the buffet. So, while I "gambled" under duress, it was a little funny to me that I walked away from the weekend with some cash in my pocket.
And as for voting, all I can hope is that mine canceled someone else's out, given the results that are coming in...
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