Forums >Off the Beaten Path>Is there such a thing as luck?
rectumdamnnearkilledem
(disclaimer - I am an engineer) Lottery tickets, many people who buy them have a 0% success rate. Those who win are well beyond the statistical overall success rate.
(disclaimer - I am an engineer)
Lottery tickets, many people who buy them have a 0% success rate. Those who win are well beyond the statistical overall success rate.
As my engineer hubby likes to say (and I think Globule has said the same), "Lottery tickets are a tax on people who are bad at Math."
Getting the wind knocked out of you is the only way to
remind your lungs how much they like the taste of air.
~ Sarah Kay
I say the same thing. My view is that the government lotto corporation as a whole is a 'tax on bad math', which is my stock phrase.
Consistently Slow
What is more damaging to society? A coke or a lottery ticket.
Run until the trail runs out.
SCHEDULE 2016--
The pain that hurts the worse is the imagined pain. One of the most difficult arts of racing is learning to ignore the imagined pain and just live with the present pain (which is always bearable.) - Jeff
http://bkclay.blogspot.com/
not bad for mile 25
And I thought I was the originator of that statement.
Ha, I always thought my dad was the originator of "if it was up your ass, you'd know!" (when asked where any missing item could be found)...until my BFF's dad, residing in an entirely different state from my dad, uttered the same phrase. I was both shocked and appalled (appalled that anyone could be as big a dork as my dad).
I'm pretty sure it's such an obvious truth that it's been independently duplicated.
Do good works and the good will return to you.
I pick up worms off the wet pavement and toss them into the grass (as long as there is not too many) when I'm out running after a rain. Not sure if I've gotten any payback on that. (Maybe worms don't count.)
MTA before SRL chimes in and says of course worrms are bad at math.
Do you pick up a penny? Would you worry if you broke a mirror? We are in control, right?
Do you pick up a penny? Would you worry if you broke a mirror?
We are in control, right?
Superstitions like breaking a mirror bringing bad luck are a slightly different question from whether there is any such thing as luck.
It depends on exactly what you mean by luck. Lots of people but lottery tickets - someone wins - was that guy "lucky"? Somebody had to win.
Some people will keep getting apparently random things working in their favour - but there are billions of people out there, on a purely statistical basis that's bound to happen to some people.
And then people use "luck" to mean something different altogether: e.g. "you're lucky to have a well paid job" - normally luck has very little to do with it - some combination of hard work, good education, nepotism etc. explains the situation.
Oh roo roooo!
I pick up worms off the wet pavement and toss them into the grass (as long as there is not too many) when I'm out running after a rain. Not sure if I've gotten any payback on that. (Maybe worms don't count.) MTA before SRL chimes in and says of course worrms are bad at math.
My husband and I do this worm thing also while walking our dogs the morning after a rain. Very rewarding to see a worm who seems to be dehydrating and failing in the middle of the soon-to-be-hot-and-totally-dry road start wiggling his way to safety (hopefully) in the grass after you toss him.
SRL, I was totally unaware of all those penny rules...I picked up a penny the other day while running and I fear that actually it was head down...I didn't know....! Weirdly enough, this penny was ultra bright and shiny when I grabbed it. I then realized I had NO pockets or any other place I could put it, so clutched it in my hand thru the remainder of the run. Next AM, when I noticed it lying on the counter where I left it, it had turned dark brown. Speculating on this--sweat tarnished it or, now that I know the "heads up" thing, something more sinister?
A coke. A 'sin tax' on glucose?
Who said anything about lottery tickets being bad? It's a way to reduce the tax burden on me and move it to people who can't / won't do the math. Or who are convinced that they will be the ones to beat the odds. Odds are.......they won't. My personal favorite is people who keep buying lottery tickets after winning the jackpot. Triumph of greed over intelligence.
Menace to Sobriety
I prefer the term "voluntary taxation".
Janie, today I quit my job. And then I told my boss to go f*** himself, and then I blackmailed him for almost sixty thousand dollars. Pass the asparagus.
"Tax on stupidity" is another variation which has been around for quite a while.
When I have my picture taken with my big cardboard check, I'm gonna be wearing an "I'm with Stupid" t-shirt. Unlike last week, this is surely my week.
E.J.Greater Lowell Road RunnersCry havoc and let slip the dawgs of war!May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be always at your back, may the sun shine warm upon your SPF30, may the rains fall soft upon your sweat-wicking hat, and until you hit the finish line may The Flying Spaghetti Monster hold you in the hollow of His Noodly Appendage.
I agree.
I hate being superstitious, but admit to picking up pennies.
I also broke a mirror during the hurricane.
Ut oh.
- Anya
I've got a fever...
In my experience, there's no such thing as luck.
On your deathbed, you won't wish that you'd spent more time at the office. But you will wish that you'd spent more time running. Because if you had, you wouldn't be on your deathbed.