BOND'S LAW

"Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action."- James Bond, in GOLDFINGER.

BLOOM'S OBSERVATION

"The greatest invention of humans is peace. The concept of peace has never occurred to bacteria. It's never occurred to chimpanzees. But it has occurred to human beings."- Author Howard Bloom

KNOX'S OBSERVATION and STILLMAN'S ADDENDUM

"Spoiled fruit does not improve with age."- John Knox, Professor, University of Georgia.

But note:

"Spoiled fruit does not improve with age, but sometimes it can turn out to be the base of some powerful liquor."- Robert Stillman

LITTLEWOOD'S LAW VIA McRANEY

"So much happens to us on a daily basis, that we have a million experiences about every 35 days. The idea that something is a one-in-a-million experience means also that it's a once-a-month occurrence."

- David McRaney, author of the book "You Are Not So Smart."  Professor John Edensor Littlewood of Cambridge University decided to apply cold mathematical reasoning to the concept back in 1955.

He assumed that a miracle is a one-in-a-million event. He also surmised the average human will witness one event per second during the eight hours each day when they are fully "alert".

This mean you will witness a million events roughly every 35 days - and the law of averages says one of these will be "miraculous".

Yes, it's little more than a maths joke - and Littlewood did far more - and more important work - in his career until his death at 92 in 1977.

The volume in which its contained - a Mathematicians' Miscellany - is in fact a spritely little book uncovering the fun and occasional wisdom of life gleamed from studying maths at Trinity College, Cambridge.

ARCHER'S ADVICE

"Why put something off until tomorrow, when you can get away with not doing it at all?" - David Allen Archer, December 10, 2014