THE MOTHER OF INVENTION

Might flow from necessity. Or from Frank Zappa. (My favorite Mothers ditty is at https://youtu.be/wMSQ1vCxZJU. My daughter and I used to sing it together when she was little.) But the phrase is an old English proverb and it is often true. I got nothing to shoot. My brain is empty. I shot this on my drive home from work. Yes, I was driving but it wasn't so bad. Before I got on the highway I set the exposure, turned on autofocus and put the shutter on burst mood. Then, when I was on a straightaway, I propped the lens on top of the steering wheel and, without looking, fired away. And so, the blandness of the American suburban commute.

The sign with the bright numbers is promoting the two main lotteries in my state. It's a con game on so many levels. The two numbers represent the current jackpots in millions of dollars, but that's not what you get if you win. It's the sum of the payments of a 20 year annuity. If you want the money in a lump sum, as all winners do, you get a far smaller amount. Someone said that lotteries are tax on the stupid.              

How To Return To Costa Rican Sunsets

We could always play the lottery. Or not, and count our pennies. No high voltage electric lines in your view in Langosta.

And the churches here don't have stone lattice-work sides to let the breeze through. 

We'll have a Madeleine Monday tomorrow. And the pre-Mardi Gras dog parade is this afternoon, always worth trolling for images. It's freakishly warm, with a forecast of 74F/23C today, in mid-February. Should be a big turnout.              

Dream On

There is no national lottery in the U.S., unlike most of Europe. But 44 of our states have one, plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. An American variation is that groups of states have joint lotteries, making the jackpots much higher. Powerball and Mega Millions are the big ones.

This sign tells us that the Powerball jackpot is up to $400 million. That creates frenzy and the amount can rise quickly. Of course, your chances of winning are less than the odds of being hit by lightning X dying in a commercial airplane crash X being thrown into an active volcano by malicious Mesoamerican priests. Plus they cheat here: if you win you don't get that amount of money. The $400 mil is the sum of annuity payments over 20 years. If you want all the money now you get much less. Plus it's taxable. Some people call lotteries a tax on the stupid.

The second sign is for a local hospital, actually a very good one. I find it appalling that American hospitals - and sometimes individual doctors - feel the need to advertise and are permitted to do so. Guess who pays the marketing costs in the end. Another aspect of American healthcare, the most screwed up in the industrialized world.