For the last two hours, it seems, large chunks of residential central Aberystwyth have been completely without electricity. Anybody know what’s going on? Drop me a text.
Day: 28 December 2004
Lottery Winners Counter
Did you know that 94% of lottery tickets get no balls, one ball, or two balls – and therefore don’t win a prize… the odds of getting three balls (1 in 57) [source: National Lottery: Prize Allocation] is less likely than the odds that recently-reported asteroid 2004-MN4 was going to hit us (widely reported as 1-in-37, now disproven: we will not be hit by 2004-MN4 in 2029)?
Yes; let’s face it – we all know these figures. But numbers like these aren’t a great way to reflect quite how hideously unlikely you are to win anything. So….
Recently, a colleague of mine showed me a little JavaScript application that counts real-time deaths from various causes. Basically, the author took statistics from the WHO about averages deaths by cause per year, and wrote this application to illustrate the death rates. Go watch it for awhile and then you’ll understand.
In any case; Claire suggested that a really good idea would be a similar application based on National Lottery statistics – one that showed the rate of ticket purchases versus the ‘win rate’ in a “live”, graphical, display. Of course, this model would make some assumptions – that tickets were bought evenly throughout the week (and not in a ‘rush’ on Saturday afternoons), for example, and that every ticket was pre-determined to be a ‘winner’ or not. In any case: she did the maths, and I wrote the code, and here it is
(if you’re viewing this page through Abnib this won’t appear as it should – view the calculator here)…
If you want to put this application on your own weblog, or your own web site, or wherever, the code to do so is:
<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="/q23-content/lottery.js"></script>
If your weblog is hosted with somebody else (e.g. LiveJournal) you might not be able to put scripts on your ‘blog. Just so you can’t say I didn’t warn you.
Dreams Of Escape
Just yesterday, I was commenting to Claire and Paul that I couldn’t remember any dreams I’d had, recently (we were talking about their recent dreams), and then, last night:
For some reason, this dream took place mostly in Preston. I was walking around a contorted, ‘different’-looking part of the Avenham district, towards Riversway (the dock itself is for some reason not shown on the linked map, but it’s there – both in real life and in my dream – in that big, grey area). In any case; upon reaching a large road near the dockside, I was surprised to find that a Safeway store had been constructed there since my last visit. But what I remembered being there was not whatever-really-is-there… what I remembered being there was a large hedge maze, in which Claire and I got lost in a dream I had several months ago. In any case, this superstore was spectacular, as it was not only the largest supermarket I’ve ever seen, but also included a large theme park. The big, green track of a rollercoaster snaked around in the air above it, and a yellow ‘caterpillar’-style train (with a big fibreglass umbrella in it’s midsection) whizzed around it. Behind that, I could make out a big wheel and an assortment of other rides.
Surprised at the presence of this unusual shopping centre, I continued to trek East, alongside the mystery new Safeway store. I began to miss Claire – having been reminded of her by remembering how a hedge maze used to be where the supermarket now was (mmm… dream self-referencial-ness). The boundary of the land that held the supermarket, theme park, and their associated car park, was marked by a shallow trench (about three feet deep and about six feet across) filled with water, over which bridges crossed to provide access to the car park. Further from the entrance – such as where I now found myself – this moat became wider, and small, long islands stretched along it in places. These were all well-kept: covered with recently-cut grass – and the borders of the islands were entirely vertical, reinforced with rough-hewn bricks.
I came across a man wearing an invisibility jacket (a.k.a. a glo-vest), who, seeing me looking at the moat, showed off by demonstrating that he could ‘run’ on the water, dancing along on his tip-toes. He explained that the water was not as deep as it looked, and when I tried it, I found that he was right. I followed him along one of the central islands, back towards the supermarket entrance, and he took off his high-visibility jacket (and I was unsure where he put it, because I never saw him carrying it). But we could only go so far before we came across a small sign, implanted in the grass, stating that we were going the wrong way. For awhile, I considered disobeying, but a woman in a Safeway uniform was walking towards us, down the island, so I decided against it. Thanking the man-without-the-day-glo-clothing, I continued to trek coastwards.
Somehow, here, I came across a large bus station (which also doesn’t exist) on a remarkably busy dual carriageway. Here, things go a little hazy, but I remember that I was speaking to a woman and her daughter, and they were running away from something, and they asked me to deliver a bag (identical to a bag I own) to a friend’s house in Fulwood (North Preston), where she and her daughter would be staying, which I agreed to do. And I remember looking at the contents of the bag and thinking that they were travelling rather lightly. But that’s about it.
Sorry it’s not as interesting as some of the ones reported when I was taking Lariam, earlier this year.