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Humans Are Lousy at Predicting Rare Events. Exhibit A: Donald Trump.
NY Times ^ | 5/11/2016 | Neil Irwin

Posted on 05/13/2016 6:14:54 AM PDT by GilGil

Last summer, the great mass of the American political punditocracy scoffed at the possibility that Donald Trump would win a single state in the Republican race. Now he’s all but certain to win the party’s presidential nomination.

Also last summer, British bookmakers took bets at 5,000-to-1 odds that Leicester City, a historically weak English soccer team, would win the Premier League. The team has won, and it has reportedly cost the bookmakers 25 million pounds, or $36 million, the biggest loss on a single sports event in British gambling history.

Anyone can simply be unlucky. But there are systematic biases and errors our puny human brains tend to make repeatedly when we try to predict the future, some of which are evident in the biggest political and sports upsets of 2016.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2016; clinton; election; trump
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To: GilGil
“Humans are lousy at predicting rare events”

Not always! MrD was very afraid that JFK was going to be murdered and was afraid it was going to happen in Houston. He was so relieved when
JFK left town and went to Dallas.

I always wondered if there was a plot to murder him here but he left too soon. MrD doesn't always pick up things like that but there have been times.............

21 posted on 05/13/2016 7:03:56 AM PDT by Ditter (God Bless Texas!)
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To: GilGil
So much ignorance in such a small space!

Leicester City, a historically weak English soccer team, would win the Premier League. The team has won, and it has reportedly cost the bookmakers 25 million pounds

How much did the bookmakers take in from the folks who bet on Manchester United?

ML/NJ

22 posted on 05/13/2016 7:09:45 AM PDT by ml/nj (av)
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To: GilGil

>>Last summer, the great mass of the American political punditocracy

Last Summer, I attended a fundraiser for the local GOP at which Herman Cain spoke. He told us to keep an eye on Trump, that he might surprise a lot of people.

I wish I had a video of that event.


23 posted on 05/13/2016 7:20:47 AM PDT by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: yuleeyahoo

Also last summer, British bookmakers took bets at 5,000-to-1 odds that Leicester City, a historically weak English soccer team, would win the Premier League. The team has won, and it has reportedly cost the bookmakers 25 million pounds, or $36 million, the biggest loss on a single sports event in British gambling history.


Unless the British bookies were really bad bookies I doubt they lost that much... they was a few that bet on those long lines and there are a lot of people that bet everything else and lost money to the bookie.. the more people start betting The Longshot the more the Boogie started adjusting those Longshot odds down

An old Book Maker enlighten me about making book and odds a long time ago

odds have nothing to do with whether you think someone’s going to win or lose..... the odds are adjusted to attract or discourage bets to constantly keep the books in balance and no matter who wins the bookmaker break even ... and the bookie makes it on The Vig

it’s just like Vegas the house doesn’t Gamble... The Bookies not gambling else he be out of business fast


24 posted on 05/13/2016 7:26:27 AM PDT by tophat9000 (King G(OP)eorge III has no idea why the Americans are in rebellion... teach him why)
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To: mrsmith

It was obvious from the start that Trump’s issues appealed to moderates and conservatives. But they disguised that. They didn’t just ignore it they disguised it and reported on anything else.
_______________________

This really surprised me that Limbaugh would be part of the cabal. I did not think he sold out this badly.


25 posted on 05/13/2016 7:34:45 AM PDT by GilGil
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To: GilGil

‘It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.’ Yogi Berra


26 posted on 05/13/2016 7:43:56 AM PDT by shooter223 (the government should fear the citizens......not the other way around)
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To: GilGil

Yes and I don’t think Trump was an unpredictable event if anything the rise of Trump or someone like him is overdue. I know many of us here on FR have been predicting something like this for sometime. Herman Cain almost became the Trump of 2012 but was derailed. There has been a growing desire in the electorate for an alternative Trump stepped into that role boldly.


27 posted on 05/13/2016 7:47:45 AM PDT by Maelstorm (Free is just another word for someone else has to pay.)
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To: GilGil

From what I’ve seen on the Rush threads he just preferred Cruz- as the most conservative candidate.
He has always touted the most conservative in the primaries.
At least when they were viable.

It was ugly for him though as Cruz’s campaign was effectively hopeless after Trump won the southern primaries.
Ugly for Cruz too as he made increasingly desperate and unwise attempts to recover.


28 posted on 05/13/2016 7:50:28 AM PDT by mrsmith (Dumb sluts: Lifeblood of the Media, Backbone of the Democrat/RINO Party!)
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To: tophat9000
Exactly correct, and compliments to you. The amount of pure horse puckey one encounters when reading an article about bookmaking in the 'press' (or related activities, for that matter) is just astonishing. Mind you, it's all too believable that these clots don't have a clue about the workings of a bookmaker; they don't have a clue about anything that involves probability and probability management, nor indeed about any topic that involves arithmetic beyond 3 + 5.

Speaking as a former (professional, thank you) bookmaker from 1973-1979, I do not want to see these yokels cease their yammering, though. Can't even begin to calculate how much money they put into my pocket over the years.

And, tophat, may I please assure you that British bookies, particularly Ladbroke's and the lads, are absolutely top shelf regarding their skills at their enterprise. You will almost NEVER see a "bad" bookie, m'FRiend: they've gone broke. The Leicester punters very likely cost the books only a pittance; I've no actual idea, but I'll gladly wager you dinner at Four Seasons against lunch at Mickey D's that that vaunted 5000-1 quote lasted about a week, if that, and came in so rapidly thereafter that the punters had to sit down from dizziness.

FReegards,

29 posted on 05/13/2016 8:04:40 AM PDT by SAJ
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To: OwenKellogg

Eggszactly


30 posted on 05/13/2016 8:28:14 AM PDT by NonValueAdded (Keep out of our bathrooms)
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To: GilGil

I’ll never get those two minutes back. There’s a lot of lint in that navel.


31 posted on 05/13/2016 9:41:14 AM PDT by Albion Wilde (In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. --George Orwell)
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To: GilGil
This really surprised me that Limbaugh would be part of the cabal. I did not think he sold out this badly.

Actually Rush devoted a lot of time to Trump trying to explain why he was so popular, so much so that Freepers accused him of being in the tank for Trump. Many here hoped that someone would figure out why Trump was so popular and adjust their campaign but they did not.

When it became obvious that the other candidates had no clue how to adjust to the Trump phenomenon, he became openly hostile to Trump supporters. Later it became obvious that he was in the tank for Cruz, having given up on Rubio.

Today Rush is mending fences unlike so many Cruz supporters here.

32 posted on 05/13/2016 10:52:34 AM PDT by itsahoot (Trump is a fumble mouthed blowhard that can't finish a sentence, but he will finish a term.)
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To: Ditter

The hit was first considered for Chicago and later was on for Miami but that did not pan out. If Dallas had not worked out there would have been another venue arranged. Traitors have to be flexible.


33 posted on 05/13/2016 12:59:02 PM PDT by Rockpile (GOP legislators-----caviar eating surrender monkeys.)
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To: Rockpile

But Oswald was the only shooter and he lived in Dallas how could it have been planned for Chicago. Miami, Houston???? snort)))))))


34 posted on 05/13/2016 1:44:19 PM PDT by Ditter (God Bless Texas!)
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