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On finished translations and coincidences...
In the end, I translated about 4000 target words today, in three documents. And despite the fact that the last thousand or so were distributed among 24 pages of figures, I still don't feel as drained as I did yesterday when I finished the accounting job.
Tomorrow, I plan to spend an hour or two checking over the acoustics, and will then "turn to" on the accounting. I already have a fairly large job promised for tomorrow, which is a welcome sign.
* * * Just a note about coincidences...
It's hard to argue against coincidence, especially when folks want to see the hand of Divine Providence, or Gaea, or Infinite Wisdom, or whatever behind it. Someday, I shall try my hand at a formal essay, but for now, consider the following (as background):
What is the probability of lottery numbers coming up 1-2-3-4-5-6, in that order, if there are 50 consecutively numbered balls to start with in a fair contest?
Probability theory says this can be expressed as the number of ways the outcome can occur (in this case, one) divided by the number of possible outcomes (here, 50 x 49 x 48 x 47 x 46 x 45, or 11,441,304,000).
So the odds are one in 11,441,304,000, or over 11 billion to one.
Okay, now what is the probability of lottery numbers coming up 7-2-43-24-50-16, in that order, under the same conditions?
If you do the math, you find it's the exactly the same as for the previous case. (Still only one way it can turn up; still the same number of overall outcomes.)
But now tell the truth: wouldn't your antenna quiver just a little faster if your local lottery came up with the first result? There'd be a temptation to say something like: "That's pretty amazing!" Yes? There might even be a temptation to think that the result was not random.
Stepping away from human-controlled events (conceivably, a lottery result could be interfered with), you can take the "Gee, whiz!" you find in the world and go on to build - or believe - elaborate theories that attempt to explain all of existence as something simply too complex to have occurred "by chance." However, at each step, you've got to realize that the "Wow!" factor is really the result of an emotional reaction on the part of the observer.
Where things get interesting is when you can prove the game is rigged.
And on that note, I'll close for now, go upstairs and unwind. I've been keeping the nose a little too close to the grindstone and the shoulder too close to the wheel lately. Any more such shenanigans, and I'll look like the product of the comprachicos.
Seriously, I need to rest.
Cheers...
Tomorrow, I plan to spend an hour or two checking over the acoustics, and will then "turn to" on the accounting. I already have a fairly large job promised for tomorrow, which is a welcome sign.
It's hard to argue against coincidence, especially when folks want to see the hand of Divine Providence, or Gaea, or Infinite Wisdom, or whatever behind it. Someday, I shall try my hand at a formal essay, but for now, consider the following (as background):
What is the probability of lottery numbers coming up 1-2-3-4-5-6, in that order, if there are 50 consecutively numbered balls to start with in a fair contest?
Probability theory says this can be expressed as the number of ways the outcome can occur (in this case, one) divided by the number of possible outcomes (here, 50 x 49 x 48 x 47 x 46 x 45, or 11,441,304,000).
So the odds are one in 11,441,304,000, or over 11 billion to one.
Okay, now what is the probability of lottery numbers coming up 7-2-43-24-50-16, in that order, under the same conditions?
If you do the math, you find it's the exactly the same as for the previous case. (Still only one way it can turn up; still the same number of overall outcomes.)
But now tell the truth: wouldn't your antenna quiver just a little faster if your local lottery came up with the first result? There'd be a temptation to say something like: "That's pretty amazing!" Yes? There might even be a temptation to think that the result was not random.
Stepping away from human-controlled events (conceivably, a lottery result could be interfered with), you can take the "Gee, whiz!" you find in the world and go on to build - or believe - elaborate theories that attempt to explain all of existence as something simply too complex to have occurred "by chance." However, at each step, you've got to realize that the "Wow!" factor is really the result of an emotional reaction on the part of the observer.
Where things get interesting is when you can prove the game is rigged.
And on that note, I'll close for now, go upstairs and unwind. I've been keeping the nose a little too close to the grindstone and the shoulder too close to the wheel lately. Any more such shenanigans, and I'll look like the product of the comprachicos.
Seriously, I need to rest.
Cheers...