Man loses life savings on New Hampshire carnival game trying to win Xbox

Henry Gribbohm is just a stupidity simulation experiment.

ApolloAndy said:

Well, not all infinities are equal. What if it takes 10 billion sentient beings before a single simulated being could be produced (like our history) and the average number of simulated beings created over the lifespan of a sentient species (because of cost, interest, ethics) is 500. Then even if there are an infinite number of such species, your odds of being a simulation are less than 500 : 10B. Or hell, what if the species decides it wants to produce an "infinite" number of simulated beings but it still takes 10 guys just to run the simulation. Then at best you're 10%.

My mind works on the other end of the scale nearer to the assumption that the simulations are advanced enough to beget additional simulations on their own...and they run unmanned. And the bastard machines are probably self-aware and humans are long dead as a species. Perhaps after the Singularity?

A 'sim' inside any given simulation is the equivalent (in both cost and number) to a speck of dust on our planet.

Or Maverick.

At some point (and I realize this is arguing semantics), what does "simulation" even mean any more? A construct in which there are a definite set of rules created by a higher intelligence which can be interacted with and affected which will in turn affect the user? Sounds a lot like the universe. Unless "real" reality is something wholly different than our experience of our universe, "real" reality is a simulation itself.

Summary: Supposing we are the "real" reality. Our "real" reality is more or less a simulation, anyway.

Mari-ju-wana's bad, mmkay.

Not to be a complete shill for Morgan Freeman's Through The Wormhole, but the new season debuted Wednesday night with an episode titled, "Is God an Alien Concept"

Not coaster or park related stuff, but it really is a great show if you like these weird tangent discussions about luck and if we're simulations and stuff like that. They always take these ideas and approach them with intelligence and an open mind.

Good viewing if you like to expand your range of thinking about things...or if you're really high.

Or both.

And that luck themed show airs next week.

So the "Is Luck Real?" episode played pretty much like a "Gonch, you're full of crap and randomness exists everywhere on every level!" episode.

They did explore the idea in some different and interesting ways though.

Well, at least it was lucky you happened to check the DVR to see it was coming up.

I'm 95% with Gonch, and here's why....

Watching Jeopardy, and noticed the recent champ employing a bottom-up strategy when picking questions from categories. I expect many people to think he was lucky in getting so many of the daily doubles....but he really just uses his knowledge of how the board is set up. I think most other contestants know that too, but want to get a feel for how the category relates to the answers a little better....he wanted to crush the competition, and knew how to play the game. That's not luck...

I went to the casino yesterday and hit 240 bucks on my second spin on the Wizard of Oz slot machine. Why me?
We all know slot machines are programmed to pay out amounts from the smallest win to the jackpot, and those amounts "hit" at their designated times or intervals throughout the day whether someone is playing that machine or not. There's no way for the gambler to know what those times are, and there's no way to systematically figure where the money is or when it will appear. The notion that a machine is "hot" or "due" or that machines in a certain part of the floor configuration are better than others are myths held onto by casino goers everywhere.
I see some factors where I was in complete control. I bet the max amount allowed on that spin, so I was guaranteeing myself at least a chance at the best of any bonus spins the machine had in it. (As stated on the machine rules, a lower bet would've disqualified me from maximum bonus payout) Plus, I win no money at all there unless I bet, and a programmer somewhere has set my machine to win. These are the things I can come up with that I "knew" at the time.
But what determined whether I would go to the casino that day or when I would arrive? Why, after a while there, was I walking to the back door of the casino to catch a smoke and notice the whole string of Wizard machines were unoccupied? (a rarity, so I took it as a "sign" and sat down) Why did I choose the end machine over the other four? Why did I happen to hit the button the precise moment Glinda the Good Witch was programmed to show up with a wild card bonus and pay 240 bucks? Why did I get up from there and move to the machine at the other end and hit for another 160 bucks?
I call it luck, and I can't think of another thing it would be. Am I wrong?

Those machines were all empty, because I had just won a million dollars on one of them, and it refused to pay out. So the attendant and casino "Thugs" showed up and made me and everyone around me leave the premises.

Oh, that's just your rotten luck, Josh.

Then he got fired because the thumb scanners didn't work.

Then he got put out in the street to deal with a bunch a drunks in nothing but his tightie whities.

Yes, I believe that happened near mid-Timbers.