LUCK: "good"& "bad" - what does it mean to you?

[Janne]

I have never won anything.
One strange thing:
I connect the word "luck" with "good luck"
When I think of "bad luck" i say misfortune.
Is this the correct english expression, or is it better to say "bad luck" ?

[devilmoon]

"Luck is what happens when preparaton meets opportunity." Seneca

Jeannie

This.

Call it probability, luck, karma, whatever...it seems like the most important thing is perseverance, as Janne demonstrated in his career. In the case of those who gambled away their luxury goods, that would be a failure to realize that the casino makes the odds. There is no game in which the player holds a distinct advantage, so it really is a choice to pawn your goods to test those odds.

[Janne]

I do not think I am a particullary good example of perseverance.
After my " retirement" from the Army, I had no clue what to do. My dad applied in my name to the Uni.
Then I got fed up with the Swedish tax system after owning my own clinic for 7 years ( yep, I am a it slow in the head) and as soon as Sweden joined EU, we left to UK. We socialised a lot with a family that live on Cayman 9 months each year, and they persuated us ( took them about 3 years) to move to Cayman.

So, not my doing.

[Monocrom]

I agree with everything, and that particular sentence is particularly true. If everybody won the lottery all the time at the same time we wouldn't call it being lucky, probably we wouldn't call it anything.

If that happened, I'd call it a disaster! Imagine winning the lottery, going down to collect your winnings, then discovering you weren't the only one who hit. It would be okay, until you realized everyone else did too . . .

"What do you mean I have to split the $6,000,000 with six million people?! . . . Get that dollar out of my face!!"

That would just be wrong.

[Monocrom]

Seneca also said: "A great fortune is a great slavery."

So I'm not sure he would have considered winning the lottery to be good luck.

Jeannie

The slavery of poverty is far greater.

I've met individuals rich enough to live a lavish life-style simply off of the interest alone. If that's slavery . . . I'll not only volunteer to be put in chains, but I'll happily handcuff myself as well.

[devilmoon]

I do not think I am a particullary good example of perseverance.
After my " retirement" from the Army, I had no clue what to do. My dad applied in my name to the Uni.
Then I got fed up with the Swedish tax system after owning my own clinic for 7 years ( yep, I am a it slow in the head) and as soon as Sweden joined EU, we left to UK. We socialised a lot with a family that live on Cayman 9 months each year, and they persuated us ( took them about 3 years) to move to Cayman.

So, not my doing.

You definitely seem open to change in your life--moving to another country certainly counts in my book.

[Janne]

You definitely seem open to change in your life--moving to another country certainly counts in my book.

If you do it once, the second time is easier. The third time it is a breeze!
The largest difficulty is if you move from a 110/120V country to a 220/240 V country.
( or the other way around)

[devilmoon]

If you do it once, the second time is easier. The third time it is a breeze!
The largest difficulty is if you move from a 110/120V country to a 220/240 V country.
( or the other way around)

That's a very good point to consider even of you're just going somewhere on vacation.

[Chronopolis]

If you do it once, the second time is easier. The third time it is a breeze!
The largest difficulty is if you move from a 110/120V country to a 220/240 V country.
( or the other way around)

I did that three times. Know what you mean.
And the voltage thing. DOH!!! That alone makes you wanna long for a planetary gov, even if it smacks of totalitarian jive.
UNIFY the dang thing globally!

On that topic: I'd also like to see the following things unified throughout the whole planet:
water bottles, phones, light bulbs, toilets...etc
Things that are so universally necessary that there really should NOT be any "design" bs about them.

[Will_f]

The physicist in me says there is no such thing as luck... Only probability and uncertainty (the same thing really). Being born wealthy is not lucky but it is improbable. Same for drowning in your own vomit, though I personally prefer the wealthy option.

"Lucky" is a value judgement. A friend of mine once informed me (she married into great wealth), "By and large, the wealthy are the nicest bunch of neurotic alcoholics you could ever hope to meet". Doesn't sound that lucky to me.

How you choose to interpret the probabilities that play out in your life determines whether you are lucky.

Wealthy? Nope.
High status? Nope
Gonna live long? Probably not

Great family? Yup.
Enjoying the time I have? Mostly. Never work for the government or remodel your house if you value your sanity.
Look forward to tomorrow? Yes.


I am happy, so I must be lucky.