-> Last night, on my home from the ball game, I saw a license plate that read 
-> ETR-189. 
 
-> What are the odds that I would see that exact sequence of symbols on a licen 
-> plate at that time and in that location? 
 
-> Astronomical! 
  
Not as astronomical as the odds against a newly-shuffled deck of 
playing cards being in the order they are actually in - whatever that 
is. 
  
We *notice* "round" numbers, or sequences that look orderly. Of all the 
possible orders of 52 cards, only a very small fraction look orderly, 
such as all the spades in sequence, then all the hearts, the diamonds 
and the clubs. If we examined a deck and found it in that order, or 
any other that seemed orderly, we would probably infer that the deck 
had been deliberately arranged, even though that order is no more 
improbable as a result of a random shuffle than any other. 
  
Does ETR-189 have any meaning? 
  
                         dow 
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