Thought of the day .

[C.J.]

How superstitious are you? Maybe not SUPERstitious but just a little bit regularstitious?

I had a ladder set up across the stairs yesterday so I could nail up a feature wall. I had to set the ladder up on the landing downstairs and extend it up to the ceiling on the 2nd floor. I made sure the base of the ladder was kicked out enough so the tile guys could still navigate up and down the stairs while I did my thing. The kid holding the ladder for me asked me if I would walk underneath the ladder like the tile guys were. I told him if I was the tile guys and I had a job to to I sure as hell would scoot under the ladder so I could keep on keeping on. What would you do?

 

[Floorist]

Not superstitious. But I have had a few odd things happen. Wife and I was listening to the news headlines on the local radio. One line was "local man dies in car wreck" I said, Mark is dead. She said, they didn't give a name. But when the news came on, It was Mark.
We decided to experiment. I guessed every card from a deck before she turned it over, 26 in a row before we quit.
Yeas before, I had to find the lid for a septic tank at a farm we had rented. There was just a grass covered hill. I walked out on it, stuck the shovel in the ground and dug down and hit the lid.
There have been others, but I remember those three well.
Could be coincidence, I guess.

 

[Incognito]

Not superstitious. But I have had a few odd things happen. Wife and I was listening to the news headlines on the local radio. One line was "local man dies in car wreck" I said, Mark is dead. She said, they didn't give a name. But when the news came on, It was Mark.
We decided to experiment. I guessed every card from a deck before she turned it over, 26 in a row before we quit.
Yeas before, I had to find the lid for a septic tank at a farm we had rented. There was just a grass covered hill. I walked out on it, stuck the shovel in the ground and dug down and hit the lid.
There have been others, but I remember those three well.
Could be coincidence, I guess.

Finding the septic tank doesn't strike me as all that odd. Just plain luck.

Calling 26 cards from a deck of 52 correctly in a row doesn't seem remotely plausible. Why wouldn't you fly immediately to Vegas and get rich?

https://plus.maths.org/content/probably-magic

 

[Floorist]

Finding the septic tank doesn't strike me as all that odd. Just plain luck.

Calling 26 cards from a deck of 52 correctly in a row doesn't seem remotely plausible. Why wouldn't you fly immediately to Vegas and get rich?

https://plus.maths.org/content/probably-magic

For one thing, I don't gamble. And I doubt that it would happen again.

 

[JPfloor]

. I guessed every card from a deck before she turned it over, 26 in a row before we quit.

the odds of getting 26 right if you refreshed the deck each time is 67,108,864 to 1…

Screw Vegas, just buy lotto tickets each week….

 

[MSLI]

There have been others, but I remember those three well.

Rusty ! You are definitely on a different level than most. Amazing coincidence or special powers ? I say special powers !

 

[Floorist]

Rusty ! You are definitely on a different level than most. Amazing coincidence or special powers ? I say special powers !

Things come and go. I wrote a book of short stories. I wrote at least one story a week, then all of a sudden, no ideas. I wrote 13. I have tried again but draw a blank. I do have the book on Kindle. I think that everyone has some things happen that can't be explained, some people just don't realize it.

 

[MSLI]

Whatever they put in his oatmeal this morning must be the right dose.

Things come and go. I wrote a book of short stories. I wrote at least one story a week, then all of a sudden, no ideas. I wrote 13. I have tried again but draw a blank. I do have the book on Kindle. I think that everyone has some things happen that can't be explained, some people just don't realize it.

I think it’s time I bought your Book ! What‘a the title? ( fiction or nonfiction)

 

[Floorist]

I think it’s time I bought your Book ! What‘a the title? ( fiction or nonfiction)

Fiction. "Tremors From My Mind"
If you do buy it, all I ask is that you leave an honest review, good or bad.

 

[Floorist]

 

[highup]

Todays thought is… hold on… Nevermind, I forgot what I was gonna say, but it was a good one.

I've wanted to say that for a long time...
...but thoughts keep stopping me.

 

[Incognito]

the odds of getting 26 right if you refreshed the deck each time is 67,108,864 to 1…

Screw Vegas, just buy lotto tickets each week….

https://mathforums.com/t/probability-of-guessing-playing-cards.33942/
Check that math. Shuffling the deck each time would make those odds:
52 x 52 x 52 x 52 x 52 x 52 x 52 x 52 x 52 x 52 x 52 x 52 x 52 x
52 x 52 x 52 x 52 x 52 x 52 x 52 x 52 x 52 x 52 x 52 x 52 x 52

It's a number so large you need special math language/symbols. So let's say we don't shuffle the deck. Still a really big problem getting to a number you or I can understand.
1rst card 1/52
2nd 1/52 x 1/51 = 1/2652
3rd x 1/50 = 1/132,600
4th x 1/49 = 1/6,497,400
5th x 1/48 = 1/311,875,200
6th x 1/47 = 1/14, 658,134,400
7th x 1/46 = 1/674,274,182,400
8th x 1/45 = 1/30,342,338,208,000
9th x 1/44 = 1/1,335,062,881,152,000

After that my calculators start speaking Greek............well, it's Greek to me.

 

[JPfloor]

I didn’t dare try to figure it out…Just googled it

https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odds-of-correctly-guessing-the-color-of-a-card-in-a-deck/921508/3

 

[Incognito]

I didn’t dare try to figure it out…Just googled it

https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odds-of-correctly-guessing-the-color-of-a-card-in-a-deck/921508/3

Thats 67 million to one guessing just the COLOR of the cards. There's only black and red. It's crazy that you even found that link giving you the odds of 26 in a row. As I read your link again there's different results whether you discard the selections as they are chosen or add them back to the deck and shuffle in between picks.

I got to over a quadrillion to one odds after 9 correct calls. So taking that 26 in a row thing to Vegas isn't about gambling.

 

[highup]

See why I don't play cards?
I bought two Powerball tickets this month. A $3 fantasy is as big a thrill as I'm ever going to get.
I saw a week and a half ago it was around 500 million and now it's up close to 800? Well I bought one then, and I haven't even checked it yet. I don't get too excited about watching the drawing and immediately checking my ticket. I know the odds, so I'm in no hurry whatsoever

 

[Floorist]

One of my dad's favorites.
You don't want to live in a one horse town, unless you own the horse.

 

[JPfloor]

Always wanted to try one of these contraptions for VCT…Never did. Looks like it could be tough on the back bending over further.

 

[Incognito]

Always wanted to try one of these contraptions for VCT…Never did. Looks like it could be tough on the back bending over further.

It might be benefcial for a certain type of installer on certain types of installs. VCT was kinda my thing for many, many years and I can tell you that kind of contraption WILL slow down a real "tile jockey". When we lay large areas------Walmarts and Targets-----you're in a particular rythm but you do have to fight back the rolls in the slab and the twists in the tiles (shape/size inconsistency). So with experience you learn to pack/twist back the runs and loosen up where it's losing alignment. It's VERY subtle and mostly unconscious in that you're not thinking with the frontal lobe any more------very much a learned mechanical skill. I cant picture how you get the same leverage being raised up on those rolling, wheeled pads. I think it would be very awkward and possible dangerous for your back. The back is what blows out on most guys over time, even moreso than the knees.

Here's what I can tell you. They've been around since before I was Journeyman and I only ever actually heard tell of them. Of the few hundred commercial guys I worked with-----many, many dozens of guys who specialized in VCT------no one ever brought them on site. I wonder how long before the wheels start scratching up the VCT. Our moving dollies loaded with 450+ lbs of tile have to have the highest quality rubber wheels.

 

[JPfloor]

I tend to agree... Gimmick.... But I betcha Amazon sells a bunch of them...

Somebody put a lot of thought into this version, the way it folds up and all...

 

[Incognito]

I tend to agree... Gimmick.... But I betcha Amazon sells a bunch of them...

Somebody put a lot of thought into this version, the way it folds up and all...

Besides larger areas where you need to be low to the ground for leverage to control the twists I'd not want to wrestle with that thing in tight spaces------public housing with narrow halls, tons of small rooms and closets. I'm thinking about Elderly Housing units or on commercial office towers we put VCT in all the "core" little telecom, utility, maintenance, elevator, machine rooms and such with a zillion hot cuts around the pipes and equipment. That's where the 5'4" installer blows away the 6'4" guy. I worked with one guy who was 6'10" and weighed 280+. Good luck with him scribe fitting around the slop sink and water heater!!! Then ask him to wear thos pads? That would be funny. Poor Steve. He had no chance in our trade. Last I saw he was a basketball referee. No one argued.