A major turning point in human history occurred in the Dutch region of Flanders in the year 1445, though you won’t read about it in most history books. Flanders is where the first lottery took place. The prize wasn’t much—a goat’s head and a date with a comely lass of virtue true, I presume—but the event marked a major shift, what I might call a paradigm shift if I were the kind of person who used terms like “paradigm shift.” For the first time in history, a member of the unwashed masses could become instantly rich and without lifting a finger. Just like the landed gentry. Legalized
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