The Russell Lottery

Cindy Polzin of the Wisconsin State Lottery tried to put the best face on the scam she's running like this: "Of every dollar spent on lottery products, approximately 57¢ is paid in prizes, 30¢ goes to property tax credits, 7¢ to operational expenses, and 6¢ to neighborhood businesses."

I've got an even better deal. I call it the Russell Lottery. Its great advantage over Wisconsin's shabby equivalent is that, in mine, every player is a winner every time. Here's how it works: You send me $10, and I send you back $6. That's 60¢ on the dollar, also a better deal than Polzin's. An identical 30¢ on the dollar goes to relieve property taxes (mine), and I promise to spend 5¢ out of every buck at the corner bar, certainly a local business.

How can I do it? I keep my administrative expenses low, low, low. I stocked up on Forever stamps back when they were only 45¢, and that's all it takes to mail you your $6 check. Such a deal, right?


Lottery: A tax on people who are bad at math.

Appalling

Last week there was a primary election in Madison, and I always serve as an election official at a campus ward. Turnout for primaries is normally low to begin with, and in this case the only races on the ballot were for city offices that were of minimal interest to students. The upshot of this is that it was a VERRRRRY slow day. Thus I had my book polished off by 2 PM. (The Consuming Fire by John Scalzi, BTW, an engaging read.)

Facing the prospect of another 6 hours with nothing to keep my mind occupied, I took advantage of a break to nip across the street to the University Bookstore to pick up another one. Let me repeat the name of the place I was headed toward: University BOOKstore. The sign at the entrance said textbooks were downstairs and “general books” were on 1st floor, so that’s where I headed. But, after a couple of minutes of wandering around looking for them, I thot maybe I’d misunderstood the sign, so I asked for directions. A helpful employee walked me over to a remote corner and said “Here it is”:

And that’s it! That’s their entire “general books” collection, fiction and non-fiction both! For a campus of 40,000 students. Hardly any title in any category had more than a single volume represented, and about ⅓ of the sections had books discounted by half in an effort to move inventory. Science fiction occupied only 2 shelves, and I’d already read almost everything on offer. (I ended up getting a non-fiction book, Enlightenment Now, by Steven Pinker.)

What is happening? Is this really the death spiral for actual books?


When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes. — Desidarius Erasmus (1466-1536), Dutch philosopher

Progress?