lotteries

back to the powerball for a moment. i know there was a lot of "oh you're never going to win. you have a greater chance of being struck by lightening." but that's not really good thinking. i mean, no one has to get struck by lightening. but someone has to win the powerball. that's not to say that someone must win the jackpot, but a ton of people will win something. you only need to match the powerball number itself to win $4, which is the twice price of a ticket. the powerball website says you have about a one in 38 chance odds of winning that alone, which is pretty good. the odds of winning more money clearly aren't better, but payouts increase pretty dramatically. ($4, $4, $7, $7, $100, $100, $50k, $1m, grand prize)

my hope in playing the powerball a couple weeks ago wasn't so much to win the jackpot (tho I would've love to), but really, I would've been incredibly happy to just win my money back. unfortunately, I didn't win anything, haha. but I only put in $6, which I could well afford and I had fun dreaming about my winnings, which, no matter how improbable, was certainly not impossible.

the notebook

does anyone here keep a notebook? i've always always wanted to, and i've started a few times, but i have such terrible handwriting that i always stopped pretty shortly after. but this time i'm going to keep it up. i got a moleskin that i like and have already filled up a number of pages!

but like. it's just lists. lists of sculptures i like, vocab words, unusual beaches to visit, things i want to learn more about, quotations... page after page of lists. that seems weird. (tho i know, there's no right or wrong, blahblahblah. i'm just curious what other people are doing. [ps, i can't draw])

what should i be writing down in my notebook, any suggestions?

also, how should i be organizing my notebook?

ps the "best" thing i have so far are my takeaways from books / movies. a sentence or two of my impressions of the thing.

making a murderer

have you watched netflix's making a murderer yet? if not, you ought to. it'll scare the hell out of you. buting says "We could all say that we're never going to commit a crime. But we can never guarantee that someone else won't accuse us of a crime." not only that, you might be fucking convicted, innocent or not!!

I think dassey is definitely not guilty. and I think Avery is very likely not guilty. and if he did do it, I totally don't think he did it the way the prosecution said he did.

even outside of the questionable evidence, I don't think Avery did it because (as his lawyers pointed out) he had way better ways of getting rid of her body and the car. I know he's not the smartest man, but I don't think he's that stupid. 2 her blood wasn't anywhere in his room, house, garage. if he killed her, it certainly wasn't in any of those places, as the prosecution said he had. 3 why put her body in the car only to drive her to his backyard?    I do think that it's possible he killed her, tho I don't think it was premeditated. it's possible she showed up, they fought, he hit her and knew it would look bad so decided to go all the way and kill her. even so, I feel like he would know this was a big big fucking deal, given his history. so why call dassey over for the bonfire? (alibi?) but he also seemed totally normal / unstressed on those two phone calls with Jodi that night.

what I actually think happened is that someone killed her and that blank faced sheriff colborn found her car (as evidenced by his call to verify the license plate) and he and lenk decided to frame Avery. lenk found the key fob after no one else had found it in multiple searches and it had none of her dna on it, only avery's. why bother with the whole thing? they were embarrassed (to put it lightly) after the first case. maybe no one was in actual cahoots with manitowoc, but they're all law enforcement agencies. there's got to be some kind of loyalty there.

and I think no one gave a shit about dassey. he was collateral damage. but the thing that really pisses me off is that none of his appeals went thru! fine, so the county has something against him, but the state too? the fuck for? its so obvious kachinsky wasn't ever on his side and did no good for him. terrible.

regardless of what you actually think happened, I don't think you can deny that everyone should have the right to a good lawyer and a fair trial. hell, you should also get an impartial jury, honest law enforcement, unbiased judge, and more. unfortunately I don't think dassey got any of that. Avery at least had good lawyers.

powerball

the biggest powerball ever was this week. i had started "spending" my winnings even before i bought my tickets, hahaha. at the top of my list:

1. hire a tax lawyer or whomever (financial planner?) to give us advice

2. put that shit in a bank, multiple banks (since the fdic only insures up to a certain amount). tho nothing crazy

3. opt for 26 annual payments (maybe you get less money this way but i don't care. i like the guarantee of money coming in for the next 2+ decades)

4. draw up a will and a prenup

5. buy a house. something normal sized (i like bixby knolls)

6. probably get married soon after

7. set up a website to take requests from people who need money (seriously. i've been planning this out for years)

i think rip pretty much would do the same. except maybe #4 and #7. #4 because he doesn't want a prenup (and this would be the same if he won the powerball, not just if i won it). i think it's a great idea. i don't mind us sharing all assets obtained before and during the marriage, but not after. i think that's weird. how are you entitled to what i'm making after we're no longer together? you don't want to be with me anymore, but you still want my money? um... no.

i don't think it's cause i'm stingy. i mean, you can have half, more than half, whatever who cares when we're together. in addition to our house, i'd want to buy his family a house too (cause they're living in an apartment), tho i'd be less inclined to by my parents one (since they already own two). and of course the deed would be in their name, and our house would have rip and my names on it, i don't care. but i just don't see why you should get anything if we're no longer together. 

i got the feeling that rip really didn't care because it's so much money. it's not like we're winning a "paltry" couple million; it's 1.6 BILLION! (assuming we don't need to split it with too many other winners) neither he nor i could ever really spend that amount of money cause neither of us will go crazy and blow it on mansions, giant yachts, or blow (fingers crossed!). but the amount of money doesn't make a difference to me, it's the principle. 

not holier than thou

Breaking: We’re ignorant and lazy consumers who judge people for doing the right thing

"Researchers have found that a) we’re lazy when it comes to investigating the ethics of our purchases, and b) we resent those who do take the time to research the social and environmental impacts... then opt for a more ethical alternative."

at algalita we try not to guilt people into using less plastic. it makes them resent us, we know. we also don't want to shock anyone into agreeing with us (the way peta does sometimes with their campaigns). but it's hard then, to get your message across. what is the best way to get people to change their habits? we don't know. we use education. we explain the issue, and let the data / images speak for themselves. but we don't don't use clickbait, we don't post super graphic photos, and we don't talk anyone's ear off when they clearly don't care.

we also try to lead by example, of course, but i think that only goes so far.