Shedrat's Lottery Number GeneratorI’ve spent much of my “free time” as of late entertaining thoughts of winning the lottery. However delusional it may be, the notion having such funds at one’s disposal is a delicious fantasy to indulge. Aside from hiring lawyers to keep my ex-wife at bay, funding current work related projects, assuring my children are guaranteed a good head start in their adult lives, and taking care of my aunts, uncles, cousins, and close friends… I’d, of course, slide a powerful chunk of loot to a decent charity. St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital is a worthy recipient of whatever donations it receives. Plus, any organization regarding cancer research can find their way into my heart. But, Haiti… No, Haiti! As a nation you have sacrificed far too many goats and chickens to earn anything short of contempt from me! Haiti will not have my lottery winnings to count on for relief; they will have to -as always- rely on Voodoo to survive.
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Anyway…
After filling out my lottery card, handing it to the benevolent Arab behind the counter, and trading a few pieces of dirty, green paper for a freshly inked slip bearing the words “Ohio Lottery”… I realize I haven’t purchased a lottery ticket; I’ve purchased a daydream.
Some psychologist believe “Luck” symbolically replaces a gambler’s mother figure. Some say many gamblers can’t stop themselves while they're up due to an underlying desire to lose everything, thus subconsciously punishing themselves for some unresolved internal conflict. Other behavioral studies suggest gambling is a natural activity and view it as a leisurely way of gaming.
After filling out my lottery card, handing it to the benevolent Arab behind the counter, and trading a few pieces of dirty, green paper for a freshly inked slip bearing the words “Ohio Lottery”… I realize I haven’t purchased a lottery ticket; I’ve purchased a daydream.
Some psychologist believe “Luck” symbolically replaces a gambler’s mother figure. Some say many gamblers can’t stop themselves while they're up due to an underlying desire to lose everything, thus subconsciously punishing themselves for some unresolved internal conflict. Other behavioral studies suggest gambling is a natural activity and view it as a leisurely way of gaming.
*First, you will need to download QBASIC itself (Unless you're a geek like me and already have a version on your computer). After downloading the QBASIC platform, get the number generator program as well. SAVE the number generator because it won't run unless you open it with QBASIC.
Run QBASIC first. Then, while in QBASIC, go to "File", "Open File", and find the number generator. (It may be saved as "lotto2.bas"). Once the file is open hit F5 (to run the program). Once you're done playing around with the acquisition of lottery numbers, exit the program using the menus therein and exit QBASIC from the File menu. The QBASIC programming language had originally been developed to take over a variant of BASIC (itself an adaptation of FORTRAN II and ALGOL 60) known GW-BASIC. It accepts BASIC’s use of line numbering and although considered unfavorable by many programmers, I prefer it over line labeling. Although, a primitive language by some standards, subroutines, loops, and variable juggling allow QBASIC the versatility to perform a variety of tasks… And its compiler comes with a debugging function, which I like very much.
Of course the Shedrat's Lottery Number Generator is meant for entertainment purposes. Unless you’re a numerologist or carry a touch of Schizophrenia, one set of numbers are as good as the rest. As always, it’s been a pleasure writing you. But without you reading it, it wouldn't mean much. Thanks for reading… |
Personally, I don't feel I’m punishing myself for hidden regrets… And, I’ve yet to start laughing upon noticing I’m holding a losing ticket. I wouldn’t call the motivation behind my trip to the lottery agent a compulsion OR a frivolous tryst with Lady Luck. I’d call it buying a temporary reprieve from Reality. So, here’s what I did for fun… I hope you’ll take the time to try it as well. (That is, if it will work on your system). I’ve written code that will, in an entertaining fashion, provide a “random” combination of numbers for the Mega Millions, Classic Lotto, and Rolling Cash drawings. You will need to download a QBASIC platform from which to run it. And unfortunately I only have the version of QBASIC geared to comply with Windows XP (I can’t guarantee it’s functionality on other operating systems… but, it might work on Windows 2000, Vista, and 7... Won’t know unless you try it). I do guarantee the downloads here to be virus free; they’ve come straight from my hard drive, no middle man. I originally had written the code to accommodate two additional sections which would have performed number selections for the Ohio Lottery PICK THREE and PICK FOUR games. However, I kept blowing my stack! Every program you run has a runtime stack, that’s just how it is. Think of it as the way the
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