Lotto Apophis
Late last year I started buying lottery tickets again. An interesting email, my thought that it may as well be me rather than some other dude that wins, my desire to free myself from the need to work, and the fact that it is a cheap $2 or $5 dream are all reasons why I have taken up the habit.
Chances are, sadly, that I'll never win. By the way....you won't either.
The chances of winning the jackpot in the $2 6/49 lottery are 1 in 13,983,816. The $5 Lotto Max has an even harder to grasp 1 in 28,633,528 chance of producing a jackpot winner. Nevertheless on a regular basis someone in Canada wins and so all us ticket-buyers buy...and hope. The odds are minuscule but we are often reminded in the newspapers that someone does win. It is a probability that we wish for, hope occurs and will spend money on.
On January 9 all seven billion of us on Earth participated in another lottery. Call it the Apophis Lottery. On that day a rock with a diameter of 325 metres flew by Earth. No concerns existed as it was 15 million kilometres away. Earth thankfully did not win the jackpot.
The good news is that this recent fly-by also eliminated the potential of a jackpot in the 2029 draw of the Apophis Lottery. It has not, however, completely removed the possibility of a winner on the April 13, 2036 (I love the coincidence of that date) draw. According to the odd-makers at the Universal Lottery and Gaming Corporation (aka NASA) the odds of the eight or nine billion of us winning the lottery on that day are 1 in 10,989,000.
There is no need to remind me that only one Apophis lottery ticket is produced on each draw date compared to the millions of tickets sold for the 6/49 or Lotto Max. Luckily the Apophis Lottery also does not occur twice a week! I still find a comparison of the odds of these two lotteries to be an interesting one.
On the one hand, Canadians spend $14 million or so twice a week on a 6/49 ticket (that is $1.5 billion a year!) to win a lottery that has a 1 in 14 million chance of making us richer than we could imagine....eliminating, we believe, all our concerns. Superficial concerns really.
On the other hand you have the "Apophis Lottery". We Canadians spend a heck of a lot less than $1.5 billion a year trying to avoid winning this lottery - a lottery that presents much better odds of "winning".
The consequences of winning Apophis, (the elimination of most, if not all of human life) make the elimination of our superficial concerns very, well, superficial.
Maybe it is time to spend more money on Apophis than on 6/49. More helpful might be a realization that we should re-evaluate our concerns.
Let me know what you think about what you have just read. Please and thanks!
Chances are, sadly, that I'll never win. By the way....you won't either.
The chances of winning the jackpot in the $2 6/49 lottery are 1 in 13,983,816. The $5 Lotto Max has an even harder to grasp 1 in 28,633,528 chance of producing a jackpot winner. Nevertheless on a regular basis someone in Canada wins and so all us ticket-buyers buy...and hope. The odds are minuscule but we are often reminded in the newspapers that someone does win. It is a probability that we wish for, hope occurs and will spend money on.
On January 9 all seven billion of us on Earth participated in another lottery. Call it the Apophis Lottery. On that day a rock with a diameter of 325 metres flew by Earth. No concerns existed as it was 15 million kilometres away. Earth thankfully did not win the jackpot.
The good news is that this recent fly-by also eliminated the potential of a jackpot in the 2029 draw of the Apophis Lottery. It has not, however, completely removed the possibility of a winner on the April 13, 2036 (I love the coincidence of that date) draw. According to the odd-makers at the Universal Lottery and Gaming Corporation (aka NASA) the odds of the eight or nine billion of us winning the lottery on that day are 1 in 10,989,000.
There is no need to remind me that only one Apophis lottery ticket is produced on each draw date compared to the millions of tickets sold for the 6/49 or Lotto Max. Luckily the Apophis Lottery also does not occur twice a week! I still find a comparison of the odds of these two lotteries to be an interesting one.
On the one hand, Canadians spend $14 million or so twice a week on a 6/49 ticket (that is $1.5 billion a year!) to win a lottery that has a 1 in 14 million chance of making us richer than we could imagine....eliminating, we believe, all our concerns. Superficial concerns really.
On the other hand you have the "Apophis Lottery". We Canadians spend a heck of a lot less than $1.5 billion a year trying to avoid winning this lottery - a lottery that presents much better odds of "winning".
The consequences of winning Apophis, (the elimination of most, if not all of human life) make the elimination of our superficial concerns very, well, superficial.
Maybe it is time to spend more money on Apophis than on 6/49. More helpful might be a realization that we should re-evaluate our concerns.
Let me know what you think about what you have just read. Please and thanks!
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