Lottery winners: 266-million-dollar lottery win won't change us

A Los Angeles couple who hit the 266-million-dollar jackpot in a multi-state lottery said Thursday that the bumper payday would not change them.

Jacki and Gilbert Cisneros became California's newest millionaires on Tuesday when they struck paydirt in the Mega Millions Lottery after the prize total had rolled over to an eye-popping 266 million dollars.

The win instantly obliterated the couple's financial worries -- Gilbert Cisneros had recently lost his job -- and left them contemplating a life of almost unlimited luxury.

But the couple insisted Tuesday they are not planning a spending spree, with NBC television journalist Jacki Cisneros even revealing that she had no plans to give up her job.

"I don't think it's going to change us," Jacki Cisneros told NBC4. "You know, we'll buy a house, but doesn't everyone dream of buying a house? I don't want to get too carried away, you know?," she said, adding that she hopes to keep working at her current job.

"I've worked since I was 14," she said. "So the idea of not working is just, it's a foreign concept for me.

"Even growing up, my grandparents instilled a really strong work ethic with my family, so the idea of not working just seems weird to me."

The odds of matching the winning numbers were 1 in 175,711,536, according to the Mega Millions website.

For workers, million dollar ideas could yield big bucks

These days especially, state government could use a few million-dollar ideas. Now it's even willing to pay for them.

A bill approved by the House and Senate last week will give state workers cash bonuses for their money-saving ideas. Original concepts that result in documented savings could earn their owners up to $25,000.

"You give away peanuts, you get monkeys," said Sen. Harold Giard, an Addison County Democrat who introduced a version of the bill last year. "If we want state employees spending the extra time out of work to come up with good proposals, we've got to make it worth their while."

The legislation is a little bit like Challenges for Change, except with prizes. In order to be eligible for remuneration, cost-cutting ideas can't impede the delivery of services or harm government programs.

"We think probably the best people to come up with creative ideas are the people on the front lines," said Sen. Jeanette White, a Windham County Democrat and chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Government Operations. "And this is a way to encourage them to think more creatively."

Employees will submit their ideas to managers and supervisors in their respective agencies and departments. A panel will vet the proposals, make sure none are already under consideration, and then move ahead with those that make the cut.

If an idea results in documented savings, then the employees responsible for the concept get 25 percent of total savings, up to $25,000.

Gov. James Douglas likes the concept, according to Commissioner of Human Resources Caroline Earle. But he has "grave" concerns about the constitution of the panel that will oversee the venture. The panel will consist of five people – three appointed by the Agency of Administration, and two appointed by the Vermont State Employees Association.

Earle said the panel – which she believes "will create an unnecessary level of bureaucracy and review" – is problematic enough. More worrisome though, according to Earle, is allowing union appointees to breach the ranks of the administration.

"It brings the VSEA into the administration and of course the VSEA is a separate entity and not a part of state government," Earle said. "To have individuals on this board appointed by an outside entity who are making recommendations to the Secretary of Administration is from our perspective inappropriate."

Jes Kraus, head of the VSEA, dismissed those concerns. Besides, he said, the administration will still control a majority bloc on the board.

"Especially at a time when we're strapped for cash, creating incentives for cost-saving ideas make a lot of sense," Kraus said. "It's done everywhere in the private sector already, so we're glad the Legislature sees the wisdom in hearing from rank-and-file employees on how government might save money."

Kraus said similar initiatives have saved money elsewhere.

In Wisconsin, for instance, the state paid out $7,000 for $359,000 worth of savings in 2006.

"I think the multi-million-dollar idea is pretty rare," Kraus said. "But smaller things do add up. And there's always the chance we get that one brilliant idea that may save $5 million or $10 million."

Earle said the governor is still weighing his options as the bill sits on his desk awaiting his signature.

"The bill has a noble purpose and appropriate purpose in days when we're trying to generate cost savings," she said. "But from out perspective this bill doesn't create an appropriate mechanism through which to fulfill its intent. And the governor is still evaluating … whether it's sufficiently defective that the purpose of the bill is lost in the mix."

Creative Innovative money making ideas can often be disarmingly low tech, study finds

WHY IS it that clever ideas also seem to be simple ideas and that being innovative doesn’t necessarily equate to high tech? Innovative, money-making ideas can often be disarmingly low tech and yet enjoy substantial financial returns.

I ask this in light of the launch last month by President Mary McAleese of the “Your Country Your Call” competition. Major money is on offer, two prizes of €100,000 and a combined €1 million worth of business development support and all you have to do is be innovative, come up with a way to create prosperity and jobs.

You could do worse while in pursuit of that money than take a leaf out of Walter Frederick Morrison’s book. He came up with an amazing yet simple idea that has delivered millions of euros in sales – the frisbee. This simple plastic “flying saucer” has sold an estimated 200 million units around the world, an achievement that if duplicated here would deliver all the prosperity and jobs required to win the Your Country Your Call prize.

Morrison died last month, in the process sparking a flurry of news stories and features that lamented his passing while celebrating his simple achievement. Yet the man was no overnight success. His flying disc needed an amount of work to make it happen even though it seems so ridiculously simple.

There are several web versions of his history, one claiming he developed his idea while throwing about an old tin lid with his future father-in-law in 1937, the other that it arose in 1948 after the war while tossing an inverted pie tin. The later story also suggests how the product, originally the Flyin-Saucer and then the Pluto Platter, was named. It was a trademark-dodging version of the pie tin’s owner, the Frisbie Pie Co.

Morrison modified his platter a number of times before being bought out by a company that is a by-word for innovation, Wham-O. The company made iconic products that every American kid would have known from the 1960s through today, like the SuperBall and the Slip’n Slide or that international favourite, the HulaHoop. Simple bits of plastic that sold millions. If only I had thought of it first.

Not one of them has a microchip or a battery or needs to be charged before use. They are just good ideas that somebody had the vision to support. Similar uncluttered thinking allowed the Victorians, wealthy ones anyway, to grow and enjoy their own fresh oranges in Orangeries. Large, elegant lean-to glass houses were built onto the south facing side of some grand homes, including plenty in Ireland, in order to provide a supply of oranges.

The clouds were a bother, but cheap heating was no problem. One heating system featured piping running along the base of a long trough. The trough would be filled to the brim with fresh manure and allowed to rot, in the process giving off significant heat that was carried away in the pipework as warm water. The water kept the glass house warm and the manure when rotted could be tossed out into the flower beds. Win, win.

And what about a remarkable central air conditioning system I once spotted on a former mansion outside Philadelphia. A metal frame had been bolted onto the back of the four-storey house and onto this was mounted a thin metal mesh like a screen. Pipes fed water onto the screen at the top of the building and this trickled down the mesh to run into a tank at the bottom.

A hot summer’s day in Philly would see the water evaporate rapidly, chilling it due to evaporative cooling. This cool water in turn could be piped into the house to bring down the temperature inside. Simple. No moving parts but for a small pump. How innovative can you get.

We have a tendency these days to go with a heavy technological fix when presented with problems, but none of these innovations relied on complex technology. They are just good ideas that had a chance to flourish.

Let’s hope that Your Country Your Call can turn up a few more, ideas that will help create jobs and maybe make someone wealthy. We could all do with a bit of cheering up given the state of things. It isn’t exactly the knowledge economy as espoused by the Government but it is certainly the smart economy.