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One of the surest ways to lose money in the long run is to play the lottery every week.  The more you play them, the more likely you are to meet the overall probability of the game you’re playing.  The odds are never in your favor.

Regardless of where the money raised from the lottery actually goes, it boils down to a tax.  A tax on people who don’t understand, or who willfully ignore, statistics.

One of my teachers in high school played a pick-three game.  He had a number of theories he relied on to pick his numbers.  Some of them were based on whether or not the previous few days had any repeating digits.  He told me about this, and I said that what the number were yesterday has no bearing on what they are today.  (Even as a high school student, I got this.)

Retailers are.

A Facebook friend snapped a picture from his local Walmart.  The sign read  “Days Until Christmas: 47.”

When I was young, I made an advent chain out of red and green construction paper.  I hung it on one of the lights in my room, and tore off one link of the chain each day until Christmas.  If I did my math correctly, that last link would be Christmas Day.

I’m pretty sure the earliest that I started this chain was Thanksgiving, though.  We haven’t even hit Veterans’ Day and the stores are counting already.  And although the picture was from Walmart, I’m positive that Walmart isn’t the only store that is trying to get its customers into the holiday shopping season as early as possible.  Costco had some Christmas decorations for sale in late summer.

Pushing harder than ever