Mega Millions Numbers Have Eerie "Lost" Tie-In

[Joanne98]

Source: AP

(CBS/AP) There are only two jackpot winners from Tuesday's near-record Mega Millions lottery drawing, officials say, but for millions of Americans who watched the hit television series "Lost," the winning numbers seem... oddly familiar.

Early in the show, viewers are introduced to a series of six numbers - 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 and 42 - that start turning up everywhere: in inscriptions, as a code that needs to be put in a computer. Viewers eventually learn that they are lottery numbers, the ones that character Hugo "Hurley" Reyes used to win millions, only to suffer a series of spectacular misfortunes.

Tuesday's real world winning numbers were 4, 8, 15, 25, 47 and 42. Ok, so it's not a perfect match, but it does have a pretty familiar ring, especially with the matches coming in the first three slots and the all-important "Mega ball" kicker.

"Lost" viewers eventually learn (spoiler alert!) that the numbers represented the main characters themselves, each of them a candidate to take over stewardship of the special island - which Hurley does at the end of the series.



Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/01/05/entertainment/main7215484.shtml

---

Do you ever get the feeling that the lottery is rigged?

[CBGLuthier]

1. After 7 years one set of random numbers comes close to another set of random numbers.

In all the history of randomness can such a thing be?

[SpiralHawk]

4. My random responses are

maybe.

whatever.

que sera sera.

[SidDithers]

10. Egg-zactly...

:thumbsup:

Sid

[cbdo2007]

13. It's almost enough to make this story interesting.

almost

[snooper2]

2. They wrote an article on this

:rofl:


Shit, I'm partcipating in a thread on this :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[howaboutme]

3. This proves then

that a random series of numbers will eventually result in random patterns without any meaning.

[Pale Blue Dot]

5. This is incredibly depressing.

This total non-story (The numbers don't even match!) took resources of the newspaper and the reader (including me) away from far more pressing matters.

No offense is meant to the OP, but this story belongs in the lounge.

[tosh]

6. OMG!

I sure hope my MIL doesn't hear about this.:crazy:

[liberal N proud]

7. Its a conspiracy

[Connie_Corleone]

8. Mega Millions Numbers ALMOST Like the Ones on Lost!!

A whole AP story on numbers that don't match.

:eyes:

[MilesColtrane]

9. How many possible 4 out of 6 matches with the "Lost" numbers are there?

I don't know, but I bet there are quite a few.

(I'm sure there's a DU stat wizard out there who can tell me.)

[EOTE]

12. Each match of 4 would have 100 different possible permutations.

And I believe there would be 15 different sets of those matches of 4. So, I'm pretty sure the answer would be 1500.

On edit: Actually, each match of 4 would have 10,000 different permutations because we're dealing with 2 digit numbers. So I think the answer would actually be 150,000.

[LisaL]

11. I'd be very impressed.

If it were a perfect match.

[Stevenmarc]

14. WOW!!!!! Must be a slow news day.

[SDuderstadt]

15. Please look up the Logical fallacy known as...

"found significance".

[Renew Deal]

16. This probably has something to do with the birds dieing.

:tinfoilhat:

[SidDithers]

17. Trends!!...nt

Sid

[SDuderstadt]

18. Why, yes!

If someone had played the numbers in the "Lost" episode, they would have won...all of $150, even though the jackpot had rocketed to $380 million. You might want to read a book titled "Fooled by Randomness".

Stupid article and even dumber post.

[cherokeeprogressive]

19. The Mega number was 42? That's the meaning of life!!!!

Oh my God! Douglas Adams is reaching out to us from the grave!! What do you think he's trying to tell us?

We have to find Arthur Dent right now! He'll know!

[DavidDvorkin]

20. More like a mildly amusing coincidence.

[savalez]

21. OMG They're all numbers! Wierd. n/t

[JI7]

22. how can anyone not believe in God after this

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. No, it is not rigged

how many tickets did they sell?

In the millions last time I checked, one to me.

How many tickets do you need to buy to increase your chances by just 1%

10K dollars.

What are your chances of actually hitting it? (Mega )

1: 90 million.

People really need to understand math and in this case statistics.

When I play the lottery I know just how low my chances are.

But I alos realize that with the number of tickets sold they had a pretty good chance of having at least one person hit it.

[Junkdrawer]

24. And you thought Nick Perry was dead....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Pennsylvania_Lottery_scandal

[UrbScotty]

25. One state's 'Pick 4' numbers on December 31, 2001, were... 2-0-0-2.

Then there was a 'Pick 3' drawing where the numbers were '9-1-1' - on September 11, 2002.

[Javaman]

26. I put the numbers in and pressed the button, but damn! It didn't work! I love you Penny!! nt

[MadHound]

27. The lottery is a tax on those who failed math in high school

Sadly, judging by the number of people who continue to play everyday, a lot of people failed high school math.