lottery hype shows
statistical ignorance-
death more likely
This Senryu spewed forth after reading a discussion by a group of people talking about the lottery and how close they came to winning. As a former Stats professor I find it appalling how few people understand just how unlikely winning the lottery is.
The only lottery I play is life. Everyday each of us has better odds of dying in a myriad of ways.
Winning odds for lottery:
1 in 176,000,000
Odds for a few macabre things
1. Car crash: 1 in 6,000
2. Asteroid destroying Earth: 1 in 12,500
3. Being murdered: 1 in 18,000
4. Dying in the bathtub: 1 in 870,000
5. Three things that are 1 in 1,000,000: death in Airplane crash, death by lightning and death by flesh eating bacteria.
Now for a few lighter Odds:
1. Bowling a 300 game: 11,500 to 1
2. Getting a hole in one: 5,000 to 1
3. Being suspected of being possessed: 7,000 to 1
4. Getting hemorrhoids: 28 to 1
5. Having a genius child: 250 to 1
Thank you bearing with me here. My point here is that one should focus on your daily life and your loved ones. Worrying about what might be or how your life would change if some statistically impossible event occurred is wasting what little precious time and money that we do have.
As for me I am going to increase my odds of having a good day by telling my wife and children how much I love them and enjoying the present moment with them.
