To grasp how unlikely it was for Gloria C. MacKenzie, an 84-year-old Florida widow, to have won the $590 million Powerball lottery in May, Robert Williams, a professor of health sciences at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, offers this scenario: head down to your local convenience store, slap $2 on the counter, and fill out a six-numbered Powerball ticket. It will take you about 10 seconds. To get your chance of winning down to a coin toss, or 50 percent, you will need to spend 12 hours a day, every day, filling out tickets for the next 55 years. Its going be expensive. You will have to plunk down your $2 at least 86 million times.
Williams, who studies lotteries, could have simply said the odds of winning the $590 million jackpot were 1 in 175 million. But that wouldnt register. People just arent able to grasp 1 in 175 million, Williams says. Its just beyond our experiencewe have nothing in our evolutionary history that prepares us or primes us, no intellectual architecture, to try and grasp the remoteness of those odds. And so we continue to play. And play. People in 43 states bought a total of 232 million Powerball tickets for the lottery won by MacKenzie. In fact, the lottery in the United States is so exceedingly popular that it was one of the few consumer products where spending held steady and, in some states, increased, during the recent recession. Thats still the case. About 57 percent of Americans reported buying tickets in the last 12 months,
You’ve put a smile on my face, pal, and that’s the most important accoutrement you can wear for a great day, wouldn’t you say? OK, well, a pair of Louboutins would go a long way, too, but I digress….. 😉
Ok, so there’s a chance..;-) Have a great day pal..
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:). You too Mimi
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must check my lottery numbers then
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Your thought reminded me of this story…worth reading it all but here’s a nugget
http://nautil.us/issue/4/the-unlikely/why-we-keep-playing-the-lottery Why We Keep Playing the Lottery
To grasp how unlikely it was for Gloria C. MacKenzie, an 84-year-old Florida widow, to have won the $590 million Powerball lottery in May, Robert Williams, a professor of health sciences at the University of Lethbridge in Alberta, offers this scenario: head down to your local convenience store, slap $2 on the counter, and fill out a six-numbered Powerball ticket. It will take you about 10 seconds. To get your chance of winning down to a coin toss, or 50 percent, you will need to spend 12 hours a day, every day, filling out tickets for the next 55 years. Its going be expensive. You will have to plunk down your $2 at least 86 million times.
Williams, who studies lotteries, could have simply said the odds of winning the $590 million jackpot were 1 in 175 million. But that wouldnt register. People just arent able to grasp 1 in 175 million, Williams says. Its just beyond our experiencewe have nothing in our evolutionary history that prepares us or primes us, no intellectual architecture, to try and grasp the remoteness of those odds. And so we continue to play. And play. People in 43 states bought a total of 232 million Powerball tickets for the lottery won by MacKenzie. In fact, the lottery in the United States is so exceedingly popular that it was one of the few consumer products where spending held steady and, in some states, increased, during the recent recession. Thats still the case. About 57 percent of Americans reported buying tickets in the last 12 months,
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Haha. There is a high dose of positivity in his soul. What an approach! I am fully motivated.
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Good for you.
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Yep, I’m the one! Happy Friday!!
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Wow! Amazing. 🙂
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LMAO – Happy Friday David! 🙂
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Laughing too. You too RoSy.
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You’ve put a smile on my face, pal, and that’s the most important accoutrement you can wear for a great day, wouldn’t you say? OK, well, a pair of Louboutins would go a long way, too, but I digress….. 😉
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🙂 Louboutins? Shoes? If yes, wow, that escalation rapidly in an unrelated direction.
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Yup, guilty as charged. Love those sky high stilettos ( a girl’s got to have at least one vice, right?! 😉 )
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Wow. Good to know that you have a single soft spot.
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Yeah, that’s right, just one {guffaw}!
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Trouble posting a comment.
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Whew! My gravatar won’t show up and I had trouble posting a comment. So you think there’s a chance my day can improve?
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absolutely has to!
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Firewall was to blame, I think.
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Firewall just doing its duty.
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Very frustrating.
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I’m still waiting…
🙂
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