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Linking up with Wordless Wednesday, Keith, Catsynth, and Sandee at Comedy Plus.
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Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and has become a moveable feast of word or picture or music prompts to encourage us to write stories, poems, or whatever strikes our fancy.
This month, the prompts are being posted by Elephant’s Child and are being provided by David M. Gascoigne.
This week's prompts are:
- Elbows
- Imagine
- Canal
- Heavily
- Population
and/or
- Mocked
- Months
- Annex
- Support
- Casino
Charlotte (MotherOwl) has selected Pretty Flower Pink as the colour of the month.
When i was young, the only place to find a CASINO that i knew about was Las Vegas. There were race tracks locally, but gambling in general was illegal and frowned upon.
But where there's money to be made, people in general and governments in particular are going to want it. We don't have enough of a POPULATION to SUPPORT the number of gambling places we now have.
It started as you could only gamble on the riverboats and only while they were cruising the river or CANAL or away from the shore in some fashion.
Now they've gotten rid of the boats and it's a free-for-all, huge buildings each with an ANNEX and a hotel, restaurant, meeting and conference center, and on and on.
For a long time there was also video poker in every restaurant or truck stop that wanted it, you can't IMAGINE the number of restaurants that came to depend on it so heavily they closed when it was made illegal again outside of the gambling houses themselves.
Then there are the bingo halls, don't get me started. Someone i knew years ago would regularly lose his rent money there, he couldn't stay away, and it only took him a few short MONTHS to end up homeless.
And of course there's the lottery. Every convenience store is in on this and so many people pin their hopes for a good life on picking the right numbers this week.
There's the rub, right? People MOCKED at those of us who want it all to stop, but here they are drawing HEAVILY on the poor, those easily addicted, those who are already out-at-ELBOWS and can't afford to lose.
Originally the money was supposed to support college scholarships which any high school student in the state can earn.
It ends up being a tax on the poor to send wealthy people's kids to college, since most of the kids in lower economic circumstances don't seem as motivated to score well and earn the grades which would qualify them for scholarships.
Of course, much of the money is diverted to other uses, too, because the same state legislature which made the rules and said where the money would go can change it at any moment, and they do.
There really is no Pretty to this story, no amount of Flower bouquets or Pink of any type would make it so.
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Today is:
Carabao Festival -- Pulilan, Philippines (to honor their patron, St. Isidro [St. Isadore the Farmer], hundreds of carabaos [water buffalo] are dressed up and paraded, and eventually blessed in front of the church; through tomorrow)
Dance Like a Chicken Day -- no idea why today, but i'm waiting for wedding season
Donate a Days Wages to Charity Day 2025
Drunk Driving Memorial Day -- not sponsored by MADD, or anyone else i can find, but let's all work and pray for the day drunk driving by anyone is just a bad memory
Gesta de Independencia -- Paraguay
Izumo-taisha Shrine Grand Festival -- Izumo-taisha, Japan (through tomorrow)
King Father Norodom Sihamoni's Birthday -- Cambodia
Marshmallow Fluff Day -- Mr. Durkee and Mr. Mower announced, on this day in 1920, that they were in business producing this sweet confection
Mars Invictus Festival -- Ancient Roman Calendar
Midnight Sun at North Cape -- Norway (the sun will not set until July 30)
National Buttermilk Biscuit Day
National Nightshift Workers Day/Third Shift Workers Day -- US (remembering those intrepid souls who keep things running smoothly through the night)
National Receptionist Day -- US (because that first impression is important; National Receptionists Association)
National Unification Day -- Liberia
President Kamuzu Banda's Birthday -- Malawi
Runic Half-Month Ing (expansive energy) commences
"Stars and Stripes Forever" Day -- first public performance of the composition was this day in 1897
St. Bonifatius' Day (4th Ice Saint)
St. Matthias the Apostle's Day (Patron of carpenters, reformed alcoholics, tailors; Gary, Indiana; Great Falls-Billings, Montana; against alcoholism and smallpox)
Underground America Day -- Malcolm Wells wants us to imagine what our landscapes would look like if more of our buildings were under ground
Anniversaries Today:
Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark marries Mary Donaldson, 2004
Carlsbad Caverns National Park established, NM, US, 1930
Birthdays Today:
Miranda Cosgrove, 1993
Amber Tamblyn, 1983
Dan Auerbach, 1979
Martine McCutdcheon, 1976
Cate Blanchett, 1969
Danny Wood, 1969
Jose Da Silveira, 1965
Suzy Kolber, 1964
Tim Roth, 1961
Valerie Still, 1961
Ronan Tynan, 1960
David Byrne, 1952
Robert Zemechis, 1951
Meg Foster, 1948
George Lucas, 1944
Jack Bruce, 1943
Atanasio "Tony" Perez, 1942
Bobby Darin, 1936
Laszlo Kovacs, 1933
Patrice Munsel, 1925
Otto Klemperer, 1885
Robert Owen, 1771
Thomas Gainsborough, 1727
Gabrile Daniel Fahrenheit, 1686
Debuting/Premiering Today:
"The Kids Are Alright"(Documentary), 1979
“It’s Time for Ernie"(Ernie Kovacs' TV premier), 1951
"When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd: A Requiem for those we love"(Hindemith composition), 1946
"Die Hebriden/The Hebrides"(Mendelssohn Op. 26), 1832
Today in History:
Jamestown, Virginia is settled as an English colony, 1607
Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox vaccination, 1796
The Lewis and Clark expedition sets out, 1804
Paraguay gains independence from Spain, 1811
The first edition of the London Illustrated Times is published, 1842
Gail Borden patents her process for condensed milk, 1853
Vaseline, the first petroleum jelly, is marketed, 1878
Lina Medina becomes the world's youngest confirmed mother in medical history at the age of five, 1939
Israel is declared to be an independent state and a provisional government is established; immediately after the declaration, Israel is attacked by the neighboring Arab states, triggering the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, 1948
Kuwait joins the United Nations, 1963
Skylab, the United States' first space station, is launched, 1973
The Institute for War documents publishes Anne Franks complete diary, 1986
The last episode of Seinfeld airs, with commercials going for $2M per 30 seconds, 1998
Scientists at Stanford University invent a working bionic eye the is powered only by focused light; the eye could eventually restore the sight of millions of people suffering from macular degeneration and retinal pigmentosa, 2012
Gabriel Medina becomes the first surfer ever to land the move called a "Backflip" in competition, 2016
The successful transfer of memory in snails as achieved by scientists from University of California is published in the journal "eNeuro", 2018
Chinese mountain climber and double amputee Xia Boyu reaches the summit of Mt Everest, 2018
Wikipedia confirms that the Republic of China has banned all versions of its site, 2019
Surrealist artist Man Ray's photograph "Le Violon d'Ingres" becomes the most expensive ever sold at auction when it goes for $12.4 million, 2022
Cyclone Mocha makes landfall on Rakhine coast, Myanmar, near southern border of Bangladesh, the second strongest storm ever recorded in the North Indian Ocean, 2023
Instead of tying a knot in the chords of those lights, why not raise the ceiling a few inches up? It would surely be quicker.
ReplyDeleteGod bless.
Your story is sadly true here too. And now there are ways to gamble over the internet as well. How I wish it was fiction.
ReplyDeleteThose lights definitely are a bad choice! Casinos are getting out of control everywhere! When we stayed in Las Vegas before a Hawaii cruise, we booked a tour and had to walk through one to get to the pick up point. I was amazed to see how many people were in there gambling at 7.30am.
ReplyDeleteThe lights are probably a fine choice but they need someone who is an electrician to hang them so they can shorten the cords. People do the craziest things.
ReplyDeleteThe lights were interesting set of pictures this morning. I really put no store into any kind of gambling. Even a $5 rub off card is a total waste of money in my mind.
ReplyDeleteSad but true story with the gambling. And are you sure that knot is not a design detail? Designers do the strengest things ;)
ReplyDeleteThe lights were not carefully researched, I think.
ReplyDeleteFor many, gambling is a disease.
ReplyDeleteI had to smile when I saw the knotted lamps!
I am all in on National Buttermilk Biscuit Day. Everyone in our family, as far back as I can remember, made buttermilk biscuits.
ReplyDeleteUnique lights for sure ~ thanks, hugs,
ReplyDeleteWishing you good health,laughter and love in your days,
A ShutterBug Explores ~ clm
aka (A Creative Harbor)
I like those lights. They are unique. I like unique.
ReplyDeleteSo sad about where the money goes. They just lie to us and do what they want.
Thank you for joining the Wordless Wednesday Blog Hop.
Have a fabulous Wordless Wednesday. Love and hugs, my friend. ♥
I like the simple modern geometric shape of the lights, so it took me a moment before I noticed the knot!
ReplyDeleteHappy WW 📷
A very good use of the prompts, and very true!
ReplyDeleteas Arti Johnson the German Soldier on Laugh In would say "Very interesting but weird"
ReplyDeleteI got a lot of interesting info from this post. Some things that stuck out. It was the Marshmallow. So, cool. I have friends who gamble. So sad. Most importantly, what is up with those lights?
ReplyDeleteWho doesn't spend at least 8 minutes each time they get here? I sure do and enjoy every word! I need to look that up about the youngest Mother...how horrible.
ReplyDeleteThose are some interesting-looking lights, but we are glad we don't have to change the bulbs.
ReplyDeleteGambling of any sort is hard to control and can lead to so much unhappiness for families. Bingo is OK and it can make for a fun night, but that is way too much access to constant betting and gambling.
Woos - Misty and Timber
Not a gambling fan either.
ReplyDeleteWho picked the lights? Knot me! Yep, sure was a true story!
ReplyDeleteSomeone obviously neglected to measure the cords on those lights. Whoops.
ReplyDeleteJava Bean: "Ayyy, it's like some kind of ceiling light cult where they all hanged themselves to catch a ride on a spaceship or something ..."
ReplyDeleteOona: "Oona is pretty sure that if she got up there, she could jump from light to light to light. LIKE A NINJA!"
That's sad about casinos but the lights photos makes me smile.
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely.
I liked the finale of your Words For Wednesday story - "There really is no Pretty to this story, no amount of Flower bouquets or Pink of any type would make it so."
ReplyDelete