The Daily What

The Daily What

Mega Millions Mega Primer of the Day

Posted: 30 Mar 2012 11:46 AM PDT

- Mega Millions Mega Primer of the Day

Your chances of winning tonight’s historic $640 million Mega Millions jackpot are mega slim (1 in 175,711,536). 

In fact, you have a better chance of making a hole in one while being stunglectrocuted to death by a pair of conjoined sharks with bee stingers for teeth and lightning bolts for fins.

Still, you’re probably going to play because the odds of seeing another $640 million jackpot in your lifetime are just as small. Also, according to Twitter, most of you really like winning money.

The lottery, unlike many other forms of gambling, cannot be gamed — hence its reputation as a “tax on the mathematically inept.” Even people like Richard Lustig, author of Learn How to Increase Your Chances of Winning The Lottery, are forced to acknowledge that the only real “strategy” is to buy more tickets.

But how many tickets? All of them? The Washington Post crunched the numbers and found out that trying to ensure a win by purchasing enough tickets to beat the odds (176 million dollars worth) would take 28 years, and that’s if you don’t run out of ink and paper long before that.

Another problem that arises is that more than one person can possess a winning ticket. If just one other person got lucky, you’d end up with a net loss of $30 million.

In other words, don’t spend $176 million on lottery tickets.

Let’s say you won. You’re not going to, but let’s say you did. Don’t make plans for those $640 million just yet. In actuality, if you opt to carry your cash out of Lottery Headquarters in big bags with dollar signs on them like a cartoon, you’ll end up with about half the original amount after tax.

USA Mega has a state-by-state breakdown of how much you can expect to take home after you win. Which you won’t.

Come to your senses and decided not to waste your money on a blindfolded-shot-in-the-dark? Here’s something that might make you feel good about sitting this drawing out: If no one wins tonight, the next jackpot starts at just under a billion dollars.

And that one’s a sure thing.

—

Above: Thousands wait in line to purchase a lottery ticket outside the Primm Valley Casino Resorts Lotto store on the California/Nevada border.

This Is Informative, You Should Watch It of the Day

Posted: 30 Mar 2012 09:20 AM PDT

The no-foolin’ history of how April Fools Day came to be.

[jeremiahjw.]


Tagged: April Fools Day, This Is Informative

Movie Mashup of the Day

Posted: 30 Mar 2012 08:52 AM PDT

Cats make everything better. Case in point: This mashup of famous movie scenes ameliorated by the addition of famous cat scenes.

[pleatedjeans.]


Tagged: kitteh, Movie Mashup

Say What Now of the Day

Posted: 30 Mar 2012 07:45 AM PDT


Lots of discussion this morning about whether or not Santorum caught himself starting to say the N-word while describing Barack Obama during a recent speech in Janesville, Wisconsin.

Footage from the event shows Santorum characterizing candidate Obama as “the anti-war government nig-” before stopping himself with a filled pause and abruptly heading in a different direction.

There are several alternate theories out there which suggest Santorum was trying to say something (relatively) innocuous, and merely stumbled in an unfortunate place. One such theory claims Santorum was actually calling Obama a “governmentnik.” While plausible, “governmentnik” isn’t really something someone’s ever called anyone.

This wouldn’t be Santorum’s first brush with racial remarks. He previously came under fire for allegedly singling out black people as welfare recipients. He later claimed he stumbled on a word, which he couldn’t recall, but definitely wasn’t “black.”

[vice.]


Tagged: 2012 Presidential Race, Government Nig, Rick Santorum, Say What Now

Unnecessary Sequel of the Day

Posted: 30 Mar 2012 07:12 AM PDT

- Unnecessary Sequel of the Day


Remember that dream you had the other night where Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito starred in a Twins sequel called Triplets where Eddie Murphy played their long-lost brother?

Well, guess what: That dream is coming true.

Universal and Montecito Picture Co. are reportedly in the early stages of developing the project, but Schwarzenegger, DeVito, and Murphy are already attached to the project, as is Twins director Ivan Reitman, who will produce through Montecito.

It’s been nearly a quarter-century since the original film was released.

[thr.]


Tagged: arnold schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito, eddie murphy, Triplets, Twins, Unnecessary Sequel

Early Bird Special

Posted: 30 Mar 2012 06:58 AM PDT


It’s Friday! So here are The Stack Boys with “This Song Will Make You Forget ‘Friday’ Is How Bad It Is.”

[videogum.]


Tagged: Early Bird Special

Sneeze-Related Injury of the Day

Posted: 29 Mar 2012 05:10 PM PDT

- Sneeze-Related Injury of the Day


28-year-old Monique Jeffrey of Melbourne, Australia, dislocated two vertebrae in her neck with a single, violent sneeze.

The fateful sneeze came while Jeffrey was in bed reading emails on her phone and watching her 10-month-old son. Although the sneeze left her unable to move, Jeffrey was able to use the phone, still in her hand, to text her husband for help.

At first, emergency personnel diagnosed her with a “wry neck” and prescribed exercises, but after her left arm went numb, a specialist discovered the real injury: her cervical 1 and cervical 2 vertebrae had literally jumped over one another, leaving her head locked in position.

Doctors have fitted Jeffrey with a halo traction to shift the vertebrae back into place, and they say there was no neurological damage or injury to her spinal cord.

“Honestly, who sneezes and does this? Every time I think of it now I laugh, I just can’t believe it,” she said.

[gizmodo.]


Tagged: dislocated neck, sneeze, unlucky sneeze

Regrettable Edible Eggs of the Day

Posted: 29 Mar 2012 03:40 PM PDT

- Regrettable Edible Eggs of the Day


Street vendors in Dongyang, China, are once again cooking up an unusual springtime snack that’s been popular among locals for centuries: “virgin boy eggs,” made with the urine of local primary school boys, preferably under the age of 10.

Many Dongyang residents believe that the eggs — which are boiled in urine and then soaked in the stuff for up to a day –have remarkable health properties, including increased energy and resistance to heat stroke.

A virgin boy egg fetches around 24 cents at market, more than twice the price of a urine-free egg.

The not-so-secret ingredient in the traditional snack is collected in basins and buckets from primary school toilets after school hours. It’s not just vendors clamoring for the stuff, either — some residents gather it themselves so they can prepare the delicacy at home.

Although the eggs have been listed as an “intangible cultural heritage” by the local government, Chinese medical experts have mixed opinions about their health benefits, with some warning about the sanitary issues surrounding cooking with urine.

[geekosystem.]


Tagged: category:photo, china, dongyang, local delicacy, urine, virgin boy eggs

Impromptu Cover Song of the Day

Posted: 29 Mar 2012 02:22 PM PDT


A man arrested for intoxication by the RCMP in Edson, Alberta, Canada took the opportunity to sing the entire 6-plus minutes of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” during his ride in the squad car, and the entire impromptu performance was captured by an onboard security camera.

Although the RCMP officers were polite enough not to interrupt his heartfelt rendition of the rock opera — even when he changed the lyrics to “nothing really matters … even the RCMP” — they did not let him go (let him go!).

[nationalpost.]


Tagged: bohemian rhapsody, cover songs, intoxication, Queen, rcmp

Escaped Elephant of the Day

Posted: 29 Mar 2012 02:10 PM PDT


A shopping center in suburban Cork, Ireland, got a surprise visit from an escaped Indian elephant on the lam from a nearby circus.

The petulant pachyderm refused to be led away by its handler and took off down the street. Two circus employees eventually stopped the elephant at a traffic light as it was heading for Blackpool Shopping Centre and managed to escort it home.

No one was injured in the elephant escape attempt, but one shopper contacted police to report damage to his parked car.

[arbroath.]


Tagged: elephant, escap