Occasionally, Mrs Fisher asks me to buy her a lottery ticket - the sort where she has a very small chance to win a very large amount of money. I do this, but it bothers me. It bothers me partly because I was brought up as a very abstemious Methodist: no drinking, no smoking, no gambling, and certainly no dalliance. Since I left home, I have drunk (a lot), smoked cigarettes (for a while, though gave up before leaving university), and dallied. But I have never gambled. My apostasy coincided with the beginnings of my statistical education. I understand odds.
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