Carbon Fiber Mandolin Raffle

[Mando Mafia]

https://newsletter.lotosnile.com/w/5qgHpQzxEJtE96tFPLDTRA/hyPbHHz8dKRPoTKDklogwQ/5DIAXHUCiD7wyfUmwzJkPg

No financial interest

Pete

[Greg Connor]

That might be worth a $20 contribution. A carbon fiber mandolin would solve a lot of problems here during a Minnesota winter.

[Jeff Mando]

The local Lions club raffled off a brand-new Harley about 15 years ago and I bought 4 or 5 tickets and didn't win. Everytime I go past their booth at the fair it makes me mad. Furthermore, and to add insult to injury, they haven't raffled off anything nearly as good since -- riding lawn mowers, etc.......

[Sue Rieter]

I already have my ticket and plan to win, so you guys really don't have to bother ......
;)

(Except perhaps to donate to a worthy cause)

[Jim Bevan]

As I was filling out a lottery ticket many years ago, trying to decide which numbers would be the lucky ones, someone said "It doesn't matter which numbers you pick — if you're destined to win, you'll win no matter what numbers you choose."

I too have bought a ticket — just one. :)

[twaaang]

Why would an indestructible, weatherproof instrument need a Calton case?

[Jeff Mando]

Why would an indestructible, weatherproof instrument need a Calton case?

Same reason non-divers wear a $4000 divers watch........it's cool! :cool:

[maxr]

As I was filling out a lottery ticket many years ago, trying to decide which numbers would be the lucky ones, someone said "It doesn't matter which numbers you pick)

I buy two UK based Euromillions lottery tickets every week. It's true that it doesn't matter what numbers you pick if there's only one prize. But if there are multiple winner levels and you win more by there being less people with the same numbers, then it might make a difference to how much you win. On this lottery, you pick 5 numbers from 1 to 50. Apparently the numbers 1 to 12 and 1 to 31 are highly popular because so many people use their birthday dates. It seems like the numbers 6 and 13 are less popular, and some people use multiples of their favourite numbers. So, I think 6, 13, and prime numbers over 31 have a chance of winning a bigger prize IF you win anything. I know this works 'cos I won £3 last week! (tickets are £2.50 each, so I'm down £2).

Now, being in YOUKAY I can't enter this mandolin draw. But I can buy some more lottery tickets here in UK, and with my infallible system, £140M should get me a nice mandolin. Unfortunately, £3 won't...oh well.

[Jim Bevan]

But if there are multiple winner levels and you win more by there being less people with the same numbers, then it might make a difference to how much you win.

There was a lottery in I-forget-which-state in which a lot of people won. They were randomly spread across the state, and the lottery officials, for a long time, could not find a pattern, could not figure out how this had happened. Turned out, these folks had all ordered Chinese food, and played the numbers that appeared on the back of fortune-cookie fortunes.

[EdHanrahan]

... folks had all ... played the numbers that appeared on the back of fortune-cookie fortunes.

30 or so years ago, after the pool of #'s had increased from maybe 36 up to 54, a NY lottery official was interviewed, commenting on the folly of picking dates as your entry because so many other folks did, all concentrated on values lower than 32. He cited a recent example of numbers that happened to be Chinese new-year; IF they had come up, the $10-million prize would have been shared by tens of thousands, for around $750 each!

[twaaang]

Long ago as a middle-aged wise-guy, I realized that since all number combinations were equally probable, the greatest controllable factor must be avoiding the horror of having to split the pot. Accordingly I looked for a combination that appeared so unpalatable that nobody else would choose it, and that if an "easy-pick" customer saw it being generated by the "random" computer he'd reject it for another number. I believe at the time the top number was 36, and you had to hit six numbers to win; and people were baffled when I claimed that if you told me the lowest number of a winning combination, I could tell you if I had won. Most gratifying was the moment when the lottery agent (a local storekeeper) glanced at my hand-filled ticket, choked and said "Are you sure?" "Yes, of course." "But . . . these numbers aren't random enough! You're wasting your money!" Not random enough . . . though of course I didn't win ("wasting my money" was already a given) the memory of that objection has been the best $2 I ever spent.

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Oh, yes: the combination was 31-32-33-34-35-36. Clearly not random enough.

[journeybear]

... played the numbers that appeared on the back of fortune-cookie fortunes.

Yes, well, I did that for a year once, won hardly anything. The fortune had said, "Your luck has completely changed today." I thought that was a good omen; seems not so much. Perhaps my luck hadn't been all that bad to begin with. ;)


Why would an indestructible, weatherproof instrument need a Calton case?

There's always the danger of someone backing a pickup truck over your sweet thang near the parking lot pickin' place at a festival, or some such. There's no such thing as "indestructible." Perhaps "destruction-resistant." And a Calton case will help reduce the odds of destruction - if not to zero, then at least closer thereunto.

[vic-victor]

My senior neighbour used to buy a Lotto ticket every week pretty much all his life to only win $25.00 a couple of times on three correct numbers. He could have a couple of good extra holidays for the money spent instead.

[Jim Bevan]

Thanks all, I'm loving the stats. :)

I believe that the lottery ticket I filled out (that redirected this thread) was the only time I entered one of those multi-winner lotteries — if I had made this a regular activity, I certainly would have spent some time putting in some analytical thinking, trying to "beat the system" a la twaaang.

[lostsailor]

Why not just spend the time practicing?

[Sue Rieter]

Why not just spend the time practicing?

Right, because analytical thinking or not, I don't think you can beat the system. Like other forms of gambling, lotteries are intended to make money for those running them. Voluntary taxes, I call it.

Now, when it comes to a raffle, it's all about how well mixed up the ticket stubs are. My church (in the Before Times) used to have a monthly dinner with a 50-50 raffle offering several prizes. It's amazing how often more than one person at the same table would win. Insufficient mixing.
Can you analyze that? Maybe, if it's the same person doing the mixing and there's a pattern to how they work the room.

[Dave Hicks]

Right, because analytical thinking or not, I don't think you can beat the system. Like other forms of gambling, lotteries are intended to make money for those running them. Voluntary taxes, I call it.

Now, when it comes to a raffle, it's all about how well mixed up the ticket stubs are. My church (in the Before Times) used to have a monthly dinner with a 50-50 raffle offering several prizes. It's amazing how often more than one person at the same table would win. Insufficient mixing.
Can you analyze that? Maybe, if it's the same person doing the mixing and there's a pattern to how they work the room.

I've only won thing at a raffle, a large carved gourd I keep musical items in. I wasn't going to enter, but I changed my mind at the last minute and put an entry in. They chose an 8-year-old to pull the winner. She apparently did nothing to make a random choice, but pulled the first entry on top of the pile. Nice gourd, very attactive.

D.H.

[maxr]

I used to play an English ceilidh every year for an association called something like the South London Confectioner's Association. One year they suggested members bring the raffle prizes. They all brought any out of date stock, and every member of the band went home with enough out of date confectionery to keep them going till the next year.

[Tom C]

5,000 X $20 = $100,000. I know auctions are made to make money but that's a very bad bet.

[Laurie G.]

Thank you Mandolin Mafia for sharing this!!

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Thank you Greg for posting this..hope you enter and win!

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Thank you Sue for entering and supporting the IBMA Foundation. Good luck!

[Laurie G.]

It’s also a contribution to the IBMA Foundation which is doing some great work to preserve the bluegrass history as well as move it forward into the future. Check it out at www.bluegrass foundation.org

[mandroid]

Happy with my Mix Carbon A5.. It's on its second set of frets now.. Peter used conventional Ebony fingerboards ..
so the refret was easy for those skilled in that tradition..

[Laurie G.]

Thank you for buying a ticket and supporting the IBMA Foundation.. best of luck in the raffle!

[A-board]

Why would an indestructible, weatherproof instrument need a Calton case?

Well, you could always swap it out to carry a destructible non-waterproof instrument. :)

[DaveGinNJ]

Did this raffle happen today? I am sure I won but I haven't gotten a call yet

[journeybear]

Huh. Funny, we stopped getting the promotional posts for this a while ago. Wonder what happened? Not a whole lot of chatter about this here. Oh well!

You'd think someone would have made an announcement. I guess you'll have to go to the website.

[mrmando]

Winner is Nicholas Khadder. You know, my old pal Nick, to whom I was so generous in his hour of need ...