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Erebus the Black

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if you want to cheat on purpose, it's not too hard to learn how to flip a coin so that it'll probably land the way you want it to

 

edit: oh hey the article even mentions that. yeah, none of this is really too surprising in principle, although the rigorous physical treatment of it is kind of impressive i guess

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Originally Posted By: Nikki.
Originally Posted By: Ham is also A Piece of Pork

I found this out by watching Q.I. how odd...


Q.I. is the place I find most of my useless information these days. Also, Stephen Fry. <3
You both suck. I just wasted an hour watching Q.I. clips. Bloody show's worse than TV Tropes.
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Originally Posted By: Student of Trinity
Even if the average over many people is 51%, I expect individual coin-flipping style is a factor.


I was once able to learn someone's style of flipping and guess it right at least 8/10 times.

Coin flipping is, in my opinion, one of the least random ways of making a decision, only barely better than 'eeny meeny miny mo'.
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I knew some people who weren't satisfied with the randomness of coins for minor decision-making in life and used a d20 (with predefined ranges) instead. It was something of a spectacle, because when they couldn't decide on something, they'd pull out a very alchemical-looking bag, draw out a bright purple die, and roll it intently.

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In one of the tabletop groups I tend to play in, we have a rogue who is Chaotic Neutral on the alignment scale. Any time he's faced with a moral quandary, he usually rolls a d20 to see if he does the "right" thing or does the selfish thing.

 

Pretty entertaining, but I couldn't see that turning out well in real life for some reason.

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I'm still haunted (okay, very mildly haunted) by the time I was running a D&D game, and a player who had spaced out during an important description deliberately had their character jump off a ridiculously high ledge. I let them have a saving throw to survive in some critical state, since this was a fantasy game, but ruled that they needed a 20.

 

The player asked me if they could survive by rolling exactly 17 instead, since 17 was their lucky number. I said okay. They rolled 17.

 

I snatched that die fast, and rolled it myself several times. No 17s for me.

 

Still.

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It is possible to throw dice so they give you whatever number you want. Then again, it also could've been sheer dumb luck.

Originally Posted By: Have at Three!
—Alorael, who apparently has a lot of indecision and is prone to sudden spontaneity.
Indecision is okay, but in order to be spontaneous, you need to fill out a request form in triplicate two months in advance. According to our records, you haven't filled out such a from since 1987.
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Originally Posted By: Ephesos
In one of the tabletop groups I tend to play in, we have a rogue who is Chaotic Neutral on the alignment scale. Any time he's faced with a moral quandary, he usually rolls a d20 to see if he does the "right" thing or does the selfish thing.

Pretty entertaining, but I couldn't see that turning out well in real life for some reason.
Imagine Harvey Dent as a gamer.
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Originally Posted By: Dintiradan
Originally Posted By: Ephesos
In one of the tabletop groups I tend to play in, we have a rogue who is Chaotic Neutral on the alignment scale. Any time he's faced with a moral quandary, he usually rolls a d20 to see if he does the "right" thing or does the selfish thing.

Pretty entertaining, but I couldn't see that turning out well in real life for some reason.
Imagine Harvey Dent as a gamer.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dice_Man

I just finished re-reading this. For those too lazy to click the link, "The Dice Man is a novel published in 1971 by George Cockcroft under the pen name Luke Rhinehart and tells the story of a psychiatrist who begins making life decisions based on the casting of dice."

It's actually a really good book too, if anybody was at a loss for some mid-November reading.
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Originally Posted By: Randomizer
Originally Posted By: VCH
Seriously, you guys know people that use coins to make decisions, OMG

Well I would flip a credit card but I don't want it to wear out.
And I once tried to flip a house. Trust me, flipping coins is a lot easier, with the added benefit of not having to worry about flying bricks as the house spins in midair when you flip it.
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