Gambling is giving your luck a chance!

Today was one mixed day... had a real high... and a bad low.

Anyways, dinner was at Geoffrey's. Two interesting points came up during discussion:

1. Jews: The Jews were a 'not so loved' community for more reasons than one. Some thought that they were out there to take over the world. Clearly, Jews had proven themselves to be smart at trading, and knowledge based stuff. The reason for this, which I learnt today, was that these people were never into the physical stuff, such as farming etc. Therefore, they focused on education, which in turn lead to a more developed mind making them suitable for 'smart' jobs. So the focus of the economy shifting from just producing to trading kind of lead to the dominance of the Jews in the economy and other powers of authority.
Another reason cited is that Jews are related to Judas, who 'betrayed' Jesus. Therefore, they weren't really liked that much. However, the recent discovery of the 'Gospel of Judas' kind of defies that logic as well. http://traveltous.blogspot.com/2006_04_01_traveltous_archive.html

Anyways, the above is just FYI. I do not have a point of view on that.

2. Gambling and luck: I held an assertion that ‘all successful people gamble.’ Followed it up with a corollary: 'in order to be successful, one needs to gamble'. David disagreed to begin with. He gave the example of our current (eh?) organization.

David: ‘I know people in this organization don’t believe in business plans. All companies that failed did not have a ‘good’ b-plan, or one at all to begin with’.

Animesh: ‘B-plans never make a business. A ‘good’ or a ‘bad’ b-plan is always in hindsight. One does not know the merit of the idea or the plan thereof to begin with. All the folks at the senior level in ‘our’ organization are millionaires, if not multi-millionaires. All those b-school grads that make those sexy b-plans, taking into consideration all those scenarios, and hedge etc etc… work on a miserly monthly salary which folks like these give them.’

David: ‘ahhh that is LUCK!’

Animesh: ‘Exactly! Gambling is giving your luck a chance!!! And clearly, breaking even, or making it small time is NOT being lucky. Not for me atleast!’

:-))

So, chuck probability, chuck math, and give your luck a chance!