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12:43 pm
May 12, 2011
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Skooter
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| Investigator | posts 130 |
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Now this isn't really 'paranormal' as the usual discussions, but it is quite unnormal so its close enough to me, since the topic of what is and isn't paranormal is really up for one's own opinion. First here is a good cracked article: (2nd page is much more interested then the first)
http://www.cracked.com/article…..ed_p2.html
Its really hard to imagine how unlucky some of these people are, getting struck by lightning 7 times, just having horrible luck every step you take, are just a few of them. Why I don't think people can be cursed, I do feel as if people are just simply born with horrible luck, and the opposite seems to be true too with some people constantly hitting the lottery. I know over human history, its just the odds that someone is going to have a really lucky life, and others are going to just have the worlds worst luck throughout their whole life. But, some of these stories are just unworldly.
This first article is what got me interested in the topic:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl…..tven-front
From my personal experience, it always does seem that when it rains…it pours.
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In 3……2……1……!!!!
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4:29 am
May 13, 2011
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Revenant
| | Hopelessly Locked In A "Fear Cage" | |
| Lead Investigator | posts 1393 |
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Luck…is probability taken personally.  (always loved that line…)
A man drives home and narrowly misses a collision with another car. He is lucky. He pulls up the drive-way and a branch from a tree falls and damages his hood. He is unlucky. He walks into his house and is greeted by his wife and two children. He is lucky. He then finds evidence that his wife has been cheating on him. He is unlucky.
His "luck" within this example is determined by timing and perspective, not the individual.
Wiki on "luck" has a great line:
"As such, it is a word which superstitious people use to simultaneously presume to have insight into events and, paradoxically, to cease efforts to understand the causes and effects of those same events."
Priceless…
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"Skepticism is not a position, it's a process." -Dr Michael Shermer
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7:15 am
May 13, 2011
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Skooter
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| Investigator | posts 130 |
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Great lines, but if you get struck by lightning 7 times, I would call that unlucky, especially when the odds are in the septillions .
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In 3……2……1……!!!!
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11:55 am
May 13, 2011
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Axel Olrik
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| Investigator | posts 184 |
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I don't know…being hit by lightening seven times as an office worker, very curious. As a park ranger, not so much.
I also think the people on the show were a bit self-selected for destruction.
I know people who consider themselves "unlucky" and others who think themselves "lucky" and really, as Revenant says, the main difference appears to be perception and sense of control. For example, those who think they are "unlucky" may be less willing to take risks, so that when bad things happen to them, they feel powerless and fatalistic about them. But "lucky" people may be willing to take the sort of risks that may have good as well as bad outcomes, and which they feel they have had some influence in shaping.
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1:23 pm
May 16, 2011
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Buffy
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All of these incidents in the article could easily be chalked up to probability. Like Axel said, a park ranger isn't so far fetched. They are out in the open by tall things that attrack lightning, e.g. trees, towers, etc. so his odds are a lot higher than the average person. A woman who worked on ships at the time when it was very common to travel long distances by ships, would not surprisingly be more likely to be on a sinking ship than the average person. The couple that happened to be in the different places when terrorists struck, well, the author in the article says himself states that New York, London are major cities, but so is Mumbai. Mumbai has had increasing violence for the past decade or so. Again, not so improbable that they would be there when something happened and it sounds like they may travel a lot again, increasing possibility that something could happen. Someone who happened to be in both cities when the atomic bombs struck, again, major cities, each city having a high population, not unlikely that he would live in one and have to travel to the other. How many times did the man make the trip and nothing happened? It would be like someone traveling to Chicago from New York or vise versa. Sadly, in this day in age, the same thing could happen with the terrorist activity going on around the world. As for the meteorite, with all of the building that goes on now a days, more developments, houses, etc. maybe less opened space means more direct hits. Who knows?
Like it has been previously stated, preception is the key. What one person thinks is unlucky, another may find it lucky. I am a firm believe as well that people seek out that which makes their claims true. If some of these people think that they are "unlucky" because this stuff happened to them, can they recall how many "lucky" things have happened to them?
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3:09 pm
May 17, 2011
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Skooter
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| Investigator | posts 130 |
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Still 7 TIMES! And half of them had nothing to do with him being a park ranger or he was in a building…anyway, I was just bringing up that article cause I found it interesting. My main focus was more of, is it possible to be cursed (which can be perceived as bad luck), it can always break down to circumstances and the wrong place at the wrong time, but it made me wonder if some people just have no chance to get out of harms way. Plus those are extreme examples, unless you win the lottery a bunch of times I don't think getting struck by lightning every couple years can be perceived as a lucky person.
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In 3……2……1……!!!!
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