... an that's why I don't win at lotto.

Nareed's 12th Law states "There's no such thing as luck."

However, if there is such a thing as luck, then there's a Law of Conservation of Luck: Luck cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred. This implies a need to study how luck is transferred, of course.

Anwyay, two weeks ago I was assembling some samples for a customer. In government sales, which is pretty much all I do, any discrepancies between what was asked for and what is delivered or rpesented are grounds for dismissal of a company's propposal. Well, long story short, I had some trouble with my samples, but I managed to assemble, label and apck them the day prior to the delivery deadline. Next day I delivered them without problems.

Yet I felt uneasy, as if I had forgotten somethign or done something wrong, I just couldn't fihure out what. The following Saturday it hit me I didn't use the samples of rice I'd requested from our warehouse, because thre was something wrong with the bags' labels. Instead I used two bags left over from a previous project. The thing is this time the customer asked for short-grain rice, while 99% of what we deliver is long-grain rice. And as you can guess I'd have gotten in trouble if our propposal was dismissed for that reason.

By the following Thursday results were anounced and we lost, due to offering a higher price than the competition. Not a word about the samples, except that no smaples were rejected.

So either a) I happened to hastily grab two kilo bags of short-grain rice left over, or b) the customer never noticed it was the wrong rice. Either way I was "lucky" and that's why I don't win at lotto. More of my luck goes elsewhere :P

Yeah. THAT'S why you didn't win the lottery.

You used up your luck quota. It makes perfect sense to me!

Quote: DJTeddyBear

You used up your luck quota. It makes perfect sense to me!

There had to be a reason, right?

Now all I need to do is figure out how luck transfers itself from lotto to work and stop it.

The proper life strategy seems obvious, then. Hide in a dark room, eating only bread and water, not interacting with the world, for, say, two weeks. Then emerge into the light, heading straight for the lottery sales terminal or your friendly local casino. All the accumulated but unused luck that you have built up will make you a certain winner!

Quote: mkl654321

The proper life strategy seems obvious, then. Hide in a dark room, eating only bread and water, not interacting with the world, for, say, two weeks. Then emerge into the light, heading straight for the lottery sales terminal or your friendly local casino. All the accumulated but unused luck that you have built up will make you a certain winner!

Not good. What if luck decides to make me miss the piece of bread with the poisonous fungal growth on it? Or prevents the growth of pathogens in the water? It may even divert an earhquake or a flood. You never know.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Yeah. THAT'S why you didn't win the lottery.

I didn't win because I wasn't dumb enough to buy a ticket on such a sucker game.

I know somebody who did win and lost his wife, his friends and went bankrupt 3 years later. Winning was sure lucky for him. He even barracaded himself in his mansion when the sheriff came to lock it up. Luck luck luck...

Perhaps we're discovering the second Law of Luck: for every lucky occurence there is an equall and opposite reaction (ie an unlucky occurrence). This could complement the Law of Conservation of Luck.

For example, I inadvertently pick the right samples when odds are against it, or the customer faisl to notice I packed the wrong samples again when odds are agaisnt it, which is the lucky occurence. As reaction I fail to win at lotto, the unlucky event.

We can test this. Dedicate one day and one day only to lotto purchases at a rather remote location. You should win on a day when there's very bad traffic jam on the way :P

Whenever I sit at a slot machine to watch a roulette wheel, even if all the slots around it are not being used, somebody will come along and want to play the one I'm sitting at. It never fails. They think the slot gods are keeping them from the winning machine. If I say no they become very agitated and sometimes get security. Its very entertaining.

Quote: EvenBob

Whenever I sit at a slot machine to watch a roulette wheel, even if all the slots around it are not being used, somebody will come along and want to play the one I'm sitting at. It never fails. They think the slot gods are keeping them from the winning machine. If I say no they become very agitated and sometimes get security. Its very entertaining.

Did you ever try to charge a fee for your place? That can get you a winning session rigth there and then.

How's this for luck?

Last Thursday we were putting together dried goods samples (anything that's canned, dried, bottled, boxed and so on). The warehouse sent them late, so we wound up working very late. they also sent them incomplete, which meant I made a mad dash to the nearby Walmart to find some missing items. After gathering most of what we were missing, I decided to pick up a half kilo jar of strawberry marmalade to take home.

Well, long story short, we finished putting the samples together at around 3:30 am. I had to be back at the office at 7, so I decided to stay and nap at my desk. I did nap on and off maybe 50 minutes all told. Anyway, I kept thinking I was missing something in my samples, but couldn't think what it was.

Around 5:45 am I looked at my list and saw I was missing, guess what! Go on, guess!

Yep. I was missing a 500 gr. jar of strawberry marmalade. Just what I'd idly picked up to take home!

It gets better. as I was amending the list and making a label for the item, the guy in charge of fruits and vegetables called to say he'd need three other technical specs for sugar cane (it's eaten as a fruit down here), mangoes and a kind of tangerine. Had I gone home, I'd have been stumped or badly delayed. As it was, I just threw them together quickly.

And that's why I don't win at lotto :P