DIRE: The Diabolical Institute for Random Events

August 31, 2008

Road Trip

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , , , — infocog @ 7:09 pm

We’re on a road trip to visit some family. We drove by a new wind farm. It was the first time I’d seen a whole group of wind turbines together. I watch the propellers being transported on the highway as I go to and from work. It always amazes me how large just one blade is on these things.

This is about as close to a clear blue sky as we get around here. There is a lot of commercial air traffic in this part of the country.

August 26, 2008

Most Frequent Lotto Numbers

Filed under: Luck — Tags: , , , , , , , — infocog @ 8:01 pm

I took ten years of Power Ball data and found the five most frequent lotto numbers and the one most frequent Power Ball ( these are also known as the mode).

Too bad the Power Ball doesn’t have a memory.

August 23, 2008

TDS Water Test

Filed under: experiments — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , — infocog @ 9:14 pm

I have a little device that tests the TDS or “Total Dissolved Solids” in liquids. I decided to test the various water sources in my kitchen. The tester gives a number between 0-999 and one of five faces. 0-30 is a :D face, 31-100 is a :) face, 101-200 is a :| face, 201-300 is a :-? face, and 301-999 is a :( face.

I started with hot tap water because I thought it would be the highest, and I was correct. I got a 350 from my sample.

I then got a sample of cold tap water. It was also very high at 330.

Our refrigerator has a filter connected to it, so I tested the water from it. I was disappointed to see that it was 300.

We don’t usually use the water from the fridge, we have a Britta water filter pitcher that we drink from. Luckily it seems to be a better job of filtering out the solids in the water. The sample showed a 190.

I took an ice cube from a bag of store-bought ice and let it melt in a clean baggy so I could test the water from it. I was pleasantly surprised to see that ice from the store had only a 3.

While I was in the freezer getting the Ice, I also pulled out a bottle of Cachaca and decided to test a sample of it with the meter.

It has a TDS of 20.

We didn’t have any bottled water in the house at the moment, so that was one sample I wish I could have also tested. I thought about testing my spit, but I have a feeling I already know the results and it would have been a gross thing to do anyway.

The Candy Store

Filed under: good luck — Tags: , , , , , , — infocog @ 12:27 pm

It’s hard to have a bad day when a visit to the candy store is involved. I left with a pound of burnt peanuts and a pound of grapefruit sections. I could have easily left there with ten other items, but two bags of candy is enough for now. Plus I need a reason to visit the store again anyway.

August 21, 2008

1,2,3,4,5,6 Lotto Ticket

Filed under: Luck — Tags: , , , , , , — infocog @ 10:40 pm

Why not, it has the same minuscule chance of happening as any other set of  Power Ball numbers. We’ll see if it pays off Saturday night.

Mistakes Were Made

Filed under: bad luck — Tags: , , , , , , , — infocog @ 10:37 pm

I don’t think, while working on my car, I’ve ever injured myself worse than this. Don’t use your legs to hold the throttle body while you try to loosen a stuck screw with your electric drill. It might unseat itself, rip your pants and dig into your leg.

I’ve covered it with ointment and a tissue. I’m not sure how I’m going to sleep tonight with this thing on the inside of my thigh oozing blood. Needless to say this was not my brightest moment… and to make it worse, the repair on the throttle body didn’t even work.

August 20, 2008

My “Good” Fortune

Filed under: Luck — Tags: , , , , , , — infocog @ 9:20 pm

For some reason this fortune isn’t reassuring. There are a lot of things I don’t want to come my way. Unfortunately this fortune cookie says that EVERYTHING will now come my way. I image there exists a clipboard with a list of everything and a couple of guys loading up a truck to send it all my way;

“Flesh-eating food-borne virus, check. Paper cut from an IRS audit notification letter dipped in lemon juice, check. Sting from a fiberglass bee, check. Alright, now all we have to do is find someone to poke his forehead with a pine cone covered in dog poop while he is asleep in a dentist chair and (-checks clipboard-) that will be everything.”

There are so many other phrases that I’d rather read in a fortune cookie; “Everything will go your way now” or “Everything good will now come your way”, or “Nothing bad will now come your way”, but never “Everything will now come your way”.

August 19, 2008

August 13, 2008

Fortune Cookies, Lucky Numbers, and the Lotto: Part 2

Filed under: Luck — Tags: , , , , , , , , — infocog @ 9:52 pm

Well the numbers are in on the “fortune cookie lotto experience”.

The winning numbers were 5 10 19 23 31 Powerball 26

I got 10 and 19; 23 came up, but not as the Powerball number. There was a 5, but no 50 or 55. I think if those were truly my lucky numbers I would have at least got three in the main set for a $7 win. In fact, only getting two feels, in some ways, worse than not getting any at all. What a crummy fortune cookie… it tasted good though.

Oh well, on to the next test of “luck enhancers”.

August 11, 2008

Fortune Cookies, Lucky Numbers, and the Lotto

Filed under: Luck — Tags: , , , , , , , — infocog @ 9:41 pm

It has worked before, using the “lucky numbers” from a fortune cookie as lottery numbers and then winning.

“Adventure can be a real happiness”, so forget the “unreal” happiness of security, health, family, wealth, wisdom, friends…

I saved the fortune from my cookie and used the numbers for a lotto ticket. I discovered as I was filling out the card that the PowerBall doesn’t go to 56, so I picked 55 instead. I figure that even if 55 wasn’t my lucky number, matching just four numbers and the PowerBall would be nothing to sneeze at… plus 55 is a double 5 and we all know that 5 appears everywhere.

I picked 23 as my PowerBall number. It was the last number on the fortune, a personal favorite number of mine, and it has the whole Discordian “2+3=5″ thing going on.

We’ll find out on Wednesday how lucky the fortune cookie’s “lucky numbers” really are.

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