Tough story. Not sappy at all. Hope good times come to Erik soon.

The police should buy this guy a huge bag of pot and two really high-class hookers for his trouble. He deserves it.

FTFA:
Later that morning, Schoenleber bought three lottery tickets.

"If there was ever a time for me to win, it would be now," he said. "I mean, what are the chances of this?"

Unfortunately, he didn't win.

People have a strange understanding about the maths behind probability. Scratch that... People have a lack of understanding about the maths behind probability. That dice have memory, that the odds of one pattern of numbers showing up is more or less likely because the pattern has some significance to them, that the universe cares enough about them (or is organised solely for their benefit) so that a positive result in their favour is their destiny...

/But then, I guess that's what the lottery is all about... A tax on people who are bad at maths, as they say.
//Poor fella, thought his bad luck was a finite quantity that should be balanced out by good luck within a short space of time just because he thought that would be "fair"
///Sounds like the car was a real keeper too... roof rack supported by tennis balls?!

ghost_who_walks:

Do you honestly think he believed his odds had changed, or do you think maybe he was doing something silly to cheer himself up?

dang. that's pretty close to my neighborhood. I want to see a car chase and a tasering.

Broken9754: ghost_who_walks:

Do you honestly think he believed his odds had changed, or do you think maybe he was doing something silly to cheer himself up?


I was speaking generally, from the tone of the article and the way those lines where written. Yeah, I suppose he might have been trying to cheer himself up, but it's an odd way of doing it...participating in an activity that has less of a chance of success than the brain surgery he had earlier in the week.

/with admittedly a lot less personal risk
//the money would have been better spent on beer
///it always is!

ghost_who_walks: //the money would have been better spent on beer

We have found common ground my friend.

Broken9754: ghost_who_walks: //the money would have been better spent on beer

We have found common ground my friend.


what CAN'T beer do?

At least you can still save money on your car insurance.

So how did the police bungle the arrest? It appears they caught both occupants after they fled and wrecked the guy's car. I guess the police should have used their magic police powers to prevent the guy from driving away in the first place though, right subby?

you think THAT'S bad, remember the time my car was stolen, found, but totaled while I recovered from having my tumor removed....with Gary Coleman.

AND a bad hair day?!?

Here's to you Erik...

Youtube (new window)

Youtube (new window)

Make sure to clean those tools... really good.

i felt bad for him until it got to the lottery ticket part.

what're thieves doing inside his brain tumor?

Wait...someone's removed brain tumor was found inside a stolen car? Who the hell steals brain tumors?

Wah. Let's all have a pity party.

havent you seen COPS a few billion times? they dont really get the defenition of the term "box in" very well it seems.

Mehh he'll get over it !

/keeding of course

oops. I speel good.

you'd think it would be a GOOD thing that he got the brain tumor removed?

I sure as hell would want mine removed if I had one

NimChimpskee: you'd think it would be a GOOD thing that he got the brain tumor removed?

I sure as hell would want mine removed if I had one

Yeah. You want bad luck?

Having a brain tumor, no health insurance, and having a car stolen, and no insurance.

Cause you know, if you car get STOLEN you can recoup that through insurance.

ghost_who_walks:
"If there was ever a time for me to win, it would be now," he said. "I mean, what are the chances of this?"

People have a strange understanding about the maths behind probability. Scratch that... People have a lack of understanding about the maths behind probability. ...

/But then, I guess that's what the lottery is all about... A tax on people who are bad at maths, as they say.
//Poor fella, thought his bad luck was a finite quantity that should be balanced out by good luck within a short space of time just because he thought that would be "fair"


As Penn Jilette says... "Luck is just probability taken personally."

Used syringes, rubber tourniquets and vials of what police described as liquid heroin littered the floors and seats, he said.

What's his fark handle?

Apparently trying to extract thieves from a brain tumor is risky and potentially disastrous business.

CruiserTwelve: So how did the police bungle the arrest? It appears they caught both occupants after they fled and wrecked the guy's car. I guess the police should have used their magic police powers to prevent the guy from driving away in the first place though, right subby?

Yes...they should have shot the driver. The kid would only need to replace the windshield.

TehNacho:
Cause you know, if you car get STOLEN you can recoup that through insurance.

That's not the point. The point is it was HIS CAR, with his tools in the back that he needed for class... he was taking the bus to work until he got the vehicle situation resolved. He saw HIS CAR (it doesn't belong to the insurance company until the title is signed over), and felt PISSED. Wouldn't you?

Some 61-year-old jackass nearly took out my wife in kids in my car (first new car I bought, well maintained, beloved, etc) by running a red light with no insurance. Fortunately my family was fine, but the jackass now is in court to cover the five figures he owes MY insurance company for paying out on my uninsured motorist policy, and owes me $500 for my deductible. The worst the state can do is take his driver's license for 90 days for driving without insurance. If I ever meet the dude in person, I have a few pages worth of verbal abuse to give him.

Chicks dig scars, he'll be ok. I'd be pissed about the missing tennis balls though.

I won $10 on a scratcher someone gave me. I gave it away to an unemployed person who used to work with me, but he sucked at it.

I dunno, but it seems like having something removed from your brain that would otherwise have killed you in relatively short order constitutes a pretty good week, inasmuch as the "worst" thing that happened that week was losing his car.



An old saying about forests and trees comes to mind here.

Why did he have his car stolen in the first place?

My car had a smash and grab two weeks ago. Back window and drivers side broken out, equipment I loaded in less than five minutes previously stolen.

Seattle Police had zero interest in doing anything other than leaving me a report to fill out and send in.

Not impressed by them

Police screwing up? No that never happens, right?

FYI:
It's not a brain tumor...it was a tumor removed from his skull. A bit different from a brain tumor.

FAIL

ghost_who_walks: People have a lack of understanding about the maths behind probability. That dice have memory, that the odds of one pattern of numbers showing up is more or less likely because the pattern has some significance to them,

Shut your mouth. I always roll better when I charge my d12s.

Ron Paul Revere: How do you box someone in and they still get away?

Just watch one of those World's Crashiest Crashes shows. Happens all the time.

/Wanna choke the narrator most of the time.

PatGund: My car had a smash and grab two weeks ago. Back window and drivers side broken out, equipment I loaded in less than five minutes previously stolen.

Seattle Police had zero interest in doing anything other than leaving me a report to fill out and send in.

Did you want them to send the SWAT team over? CSI to dust for prints? Or did you just want someone to talk to?

/you'll get over it.

And, why did he try to have his brain tumor removed? Couldn't he find a competent physician that could, for sure, remove it?

ghost_who_walks: . Scratch that... People have a lack of understanding about the maths behind probability.

People have a lack of understanding of the light-hearted nature of whimsical actions. Somehow I doubt that he worked through pages of erroneous calculations to reach a percentile probable outcome.

If you really think about it, there probably isn't a perfectly airtight mathematical basis for the vast majority of things people do.

I'll bet you are really popular at parties - "OMG! You're drinking a BEER??? Did you know there's a 34.274 probability that..."

NimChimpskee: you'd think it would be a GOOD thing that he got the brain tumor removed?

I sure as hell would want mine removed if I had one

I came in here to say this. Now I'm leaving.

I don't even think a TotalFark subscription would make this guy feel any better!

/My life is a cakewalk compared to this dude, gonna STFU and GBTW now

A little clarification for submitter. The article stated the tumor was on the man's skull, not the brain. Although a tumor on the skull is still scary, if he had a brain tumor removed, don't think he'd be back going to classes so soon. Hopefully tumor was benign and doesn't spread to his brain. Bad form of cancer, even now. My dad died of brain cancer in 1972 when I was a kid.

i've had worse

Having to have brain surgery and having your car stolen in the same week is not 'having good luck', although surviving brain surgery is great (from personal experience the waking up alive bit is nice, the staples in my head - not so much) but then having your car stolen must be really sucky. Like, 'FOR FARKS SAKE, NOW WHAT?' type of sucky.

So I agree with Subby, having no car with side-effects from brain surgery (possibly epilepsy) are not lucky.

What about the Creedence?

That's enough misfortune all at once to write a country song.

Bob Ondeeznuts: Did you want them to send the SWAT team over? CSI to dust for prints? Or did you just want someone to talk to?

My car was stolen with my wallet inside.

When my car was recovered, I found some cds that did not belong to me in the car. The police did not have any interest in taking prints, nor did they have any interest in helping me try to even question the person who used my cancelled/stolen credit card about the stolen car (who they knew the identity of).

All they want to do is set up sobriety checkpoints and use radar guns on the side of the road.

overstroming
What about the Creedence?

I wouldn't hold out much hope for the Creedence

Bob Ondeeznuts: PatGund: My car had a smash and grab two weeks ago. Back window and drivers side broken out, equipment I loaded in less than five minutes previously stolen.

Seattle Police had zero interest in doing anything other than leaving me a report to fill out and send in.

Did you want them to send the SWAT team over? CSI to dust for prints? Or did you just want someone to talk to?

/you'll get over it.

Dusting the areas of the car that retain prints WOULD have been nice. Rather than acting bored about the whole thing.