Sunday, December 10, 2017

Advent Thought 8 and Number 87

How predictable are we? Derren Brown works his magic based on a brilliant reading of people's 'tells'  - those little involuntary facial movements we make when we recognise something - and a sound knowledge of psychology.

Pick a number between 50 and 100. Sounds random enough but a surprising number of people choose 73 or 87.

If asked to choose a number between 50 and 100, with both digits even and different, David Blaine reckons 68 is then a banker. In fact there are only six possibles:

62
64
68
82
84
86

0 isn't seen as even.

87 is an unlucky number for some cricketers because it is 13 shy of 100. And therefore more wickets are lost at this number than you would expect because it makes bowlers try harder and batters over-cautious.

Your numbers and, by extension, your passwords are predictable. Change them today. Advent is a predictable time of year - we know what's going to happen or, at least, we think we do - so try and let it shock you. Change a tradition.

The effect is 'Mmmm' whan a daisy grows in your mind.

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