David Mamet.

[zotz]

He has an article in the Grauniad today, on the subject of film scripts. A brief excerpt:

A statistician friend told me she had determined this : that the odds of winning the lottery are so small, it does not significantly lower the odds not to have bought a ticket [ . . . ] one might, with equal chance of success, hope to find the winning lottery ticket on the sidewalk

Meanwhile, here at work, very little is working. I shall leave this place in a couple of hours, and return to my wider life, in which very little is working. At least I have consistency on my side.

I realised while watching Near Dark last night that I don't have a copy of the Cramps' version of Fever. This is a serious omission. Also, Jenny Wright, while very pretty, also looks distinctly odd in a way I can't quite put my finger on.

Comments

Lottery tickets

[simont]

Who was the fictional character who had a scam selling last week's lottery tickets for 50p? "Half the price, and yet the chance of winning is only lowered by 1 in 13 million!"

Re: Lottery tickets

[fluffymormegil.livejournal.com]

Dogbert, of course.

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

This has been my strategy for a while. But it depends what you count as "significantly lowering the odds". The probability of finding a winning lottery ticket on the street is at least a thousand times smaller than that of winning if you buy a ticket - I have never seen a lottery ticket of any description on the street, not even last week's discarded ticket, and I've been looking since this is my strategy.

On the other hand, you cound argue that 1/13E6 is indetectibly different from 1/13E9 is indetectably different from zero...

[djm4]

Yes, but the phrase was 'equal chance of success' (my emphasis). Which is rubbish.

[zotz]

To a mathematician, yes. To a statistician, not necessarily.

[ex-wendles389.livejournal.com]

Anything less than 1E-6 is 'negligible' in my books.

[darkstones.livejournal.com]

Excellent film. Far superior to the Lost Boys which was out about the same time. Dunno about the Tangerine Dream soundtrack though!

I've finally got Songs The Lord Taught Us ripped (part of a very long ongoing project), so if you want an mp3 of Fever or any Cramps stuff let me know.

[djm4]

Could you explain in a bit more detail? Or is it just 'that's how statisticians define "equal"?'

(Please note that I am not in any way quibbling with 'does not significantly lower...', but 'equal' is giving me problems at the moment.)

[zotz]

For a statistician, the two chances are probably indistinguishable.

[ultravioletman.livejournal.com]

Jenny Wright appeared in some interesting films in the 1980's, such as Out of Bounds which features Siouxsie Sioux singing Cities in Dust. She was a model to begin with and she has quit films altogether now.

Did you know that David Mamet sometimes goes under the pseudonym of Richard Weisz and that he was once married to Lindsay Crouse who was in Buffy the Vampire Slayer? - lovely bit of useless info for you there.