from Lawrence, SUNDAY PhiloMadrid meeting at 6:30pm: Why do we buy lottery tickets? + News for toady Friday

News for today Friday


Dear Friends,

This Sunday we are discussing: Why do we buy lottery tickets?

In Spain it is customary to buy tickets for what is known as "El Gordo"
Christmas lottery. People start buying these tickets well in advance of
Christmas and people buy them for social purposes more than winning the
prize.

Families, friends, work colleagues, neighbours and everyone else buy
these tickets because it is a tradition, great loads of fun and the
chance of winning something. Indeed this is one of the attractions of
the El Gordo, there are lots of prizes but not necessarily huge amounts
of money; although the top prizes are not an amount to be poo-pooed!

But of course, lotteries are organised to win prizes and winning is the
business end of a lottery ticket. And this is where people sort of lose
the plot. Lotteries are supposed to be based on chance and probability.
But of course we have to distinguish between unable to figure out a
given outcome and impossible to determine the outcome.

I am inclined to think that lottery outcomes are impossible to arrive
at; or rather that the equation to arrive at the result would be too
complex to work out that it will be impossible to have a lottery that we
are able to calculate the outcome before the draw. One argument against
participating in a lottery is the really non existence probability of a
set of number coming up. But then again we know that the more tickets we
have the higher the chances of winning: but by this method the more
chances we buy (tickets) the more prohibitively expensive will the
venture become.

Hence, all logic against playing lotteries or superstitions in favour of
playing lotteries are of course completely illogical. But of course
people still win lotteries. So although there is no real logic in favour
or against playing lotteries, they are too complex to determine or too
seemingly random to worth bothering, this does not mean that there are
no clearly valid rules for lotteries.

There are indeed two clearly valid rules: 1) it is absolutely necessary
to have a valid ticket to win a lottery and 2) the lottery must be a
fair bet, meaning it is not rigged or tampered with.

Lawrence

In the meantime

---Friday 4th November: Presentation on Margarita Degeneffe Sanchez
friend of Segovia
Talk on the life of Margarita Degeneffe Sanchez at the Centro Segoviano
Friday 4th November at 7:30pm
Link:
http://philomadrid.blogspot.com/2016/11/margarita-degeneffe-sanchez.html

--- "Los cocidos de Encarnita" news paper article that appeared in a
local newspaper
A write up in a local Segovian newspapers about Encarna's stews she
prepares at the Centro Segoviano.
If you want to try one of her stews send me a message or call the Centro at:
Centro Segoviano ; 91 445 79 3 (five)
for anti bot trawling please add the (five) as a digit number
http://philomadrid.blogspot.com/2016/11/los-cocidos-de-encarnita.html

----- The British Cemetery in Madrid in "Carta de España", a Spanish
foreign Ministry publication.
en inglés
The attached four pages are the hard copy of an article from Carta de
España, November issue of the monthly publication of the Ministerio de
Trabajo y Seguridad Social, which has a worldwide and national
circulation among Spanish government offices.
The article covers the history of the British Cemetery and some of the
material in it is new to me. I hope that it will interest those who read it.
en español
Las cuatro páginas adjuntas son del número correspondiente al mes de
noviembre, en soporte de papel, de Carta de España, revista del
Ministerio de Trabajo y Seguridad Social, publicación repartida
mensualmente entre las oficinas del gobierno de España tanto al ultramar
como en el territorio nacional.
El artículo trata de la historia del Cementerio Británico en Madrid y
contiene material incluso novedoso para mí y espero que les interesa.
David Butler
Link:
http://philomadrid.blogspot.com/2016/11/the-british-cemetery-in-madrid-in-carta.html


Best Lawrence


tel: 606081813
philomadrid@gmail.com <mailto:philomadrid@gmail.com>
Blog: http://philomadrid.blogspot.com.es/
<http://philomadrid.blogspot.com.es/>
PhiloMadrid Meeting
Meet 6:30pm
Centro Segoviano
Alburquerque, 14
28010 Madrid
914457935
Metro: Bilbao
-----------Ignacio------------
Open Tertulia in English every
Thursdays at Triskel in c/San Vicente Ferrer 3.
Time: from 19:30 to 21h
http://sites.google.com/site/tertuliainenglishmadrid/
<http://sites.google.com/site/tertuliainenglishmadrid/>
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from Lawrence, SUNDAY PhiloMadrid meeting at 6:30pm: Why do we buy
lottery tickets? + News for toady Friday