To the Members of the California State Assembly: I am returning Assembly Bill 1176 without my signature. For some time now I have lamented the fact that major issues are overlooked while many unnecessary bills come to me for consideration. Water reform, prison reform, and health care are major issues my Administration has brought to the table, but the Legislature just kicks the can down the alley. Yet another legislative year has come and gone without the major reforms Californians overwhelmingly deserve. In light of this, and after careful consideration, I believe it is unnecessary to sign this measure at this time. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger
Read the hangout. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=176256 http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=176231
There is probably pretty small odds for ANY combination. Say those words read something like: F V C Y A A B The chances of that meaningless combination are probably tiny as well.
There's definitely a problem of multiple comparisons when you consider how many different letter combinations would be offensive and how many letters probably get sent out by the Governor's office, but the odds against are so ridiculous (NPR cited a professor as saying 5.5 trillion to 1) that it's still extremely unlikely to have happened by coincidence. Also, the second sentence of the first paragraph is awkwardly constructed.
But what are the chances of some other random letter combination? That said, I think the letter is very awkward. The whole first sentence seems weird to me.
I don't Condone such acts from people in high office This is right up there with Cheney tell that person to GO ***** YOURSELF Rocket River low class
math like this annoys the balls out of me. what are the odds of it being: y s f r z l k THE SAME AS f u c k y o u
I think the point is that the odds of any 7 random letters being ANY word or phrase is pretty remote. Tack onto that the fact that it's particularly appropriate as opposed to just a random word like "lasagna" makes it even less of a coincidence.
Given the deadlock in California while it slowly burns to hell coupled with Arnie packing his bags soon, I think it's justified. The circumstances leading up to this should be the focus instead of the letter.
Actually not. Not too many words start with Z so I suspect the chances of a sentence starting with a Z work is significantly less than most other letters [maybe Q is less] so The math is a bit more complicated than just each of the 26 letters having a equal shot Rocket River
I think it's kind of funny. I doubt he did that himself. Probably one of the people that work for him?
Both of you are missing the same point. The fact that the probability of any particular group of letters will appear is extremely low serves as evidence against the suggestion that this particular group of letters appeared by chance. What you're suggesting now is that using this logic, nothing would ever seem to be a coincidence. However, there is a basic difference between the sequence "ysfr zlk" and the obscene sequence in the Governor's letter: there is a reasonable alternative explanation for the sequence to have appeared (i.e., that it was put there intentionally). No such alternative exists for "ysfr zlk" because there's been no prior indication that that sequence is interesting in any way. Put another way, the interesting thing here is not the probability of any particular sequence of letters occurring, but rather the probability of any meaningful sequence of letters. Your argument leaves no room for inference. Suppose there were an entire 500-page novel published in which the first letters of each line combined to spell out a 10-page essay. The odds of that happening would be near zero. It would be reasonable to infer that it was done intentionally. The fact that any particular sequence of thousands of random letters would be equally unlikely doesn't make the inference any less reasonable.
