Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Fringe 2008 - The 'It Doesn't Matter When You Apply' Award

Let's say, for the sake of argument, that the number each Fringe hopeful gets on the ping pong ball is assigned by the Fringe in the order in which the applications are received...

(Anecdotal evidence suggests this is true, since it was mentioned onstage the night of the lottery that Maximum Verbosity's application was the first received, the day after applications were being taken, and they had ping pong ball #1.

Tangentially - really? No one got it in the very first day? Nobody downloaded the application, filled it out, and walked it down to the Fringe office? Really? Guess Fringers aren't as obsessive as I thought they were...)

This wonky little observation goes out to those who bemoan the laws of chance.

Out of ping pong balls 1 through 10 - six got in - over half.

Out of ping pong balls 268 through 277 (the last ten applications received) - six got in - over half.

Out of ping pong balls 134 through 143 (let's call them the middle ten, right in the center of the list) - five got in - half.

So it really doesn't matter when you apply, so long as you do.

I'm not arguing for everyone to wait til the last minute, far from it.

But since the lottery's been instituted - obsessive compulsives and procrastinators alike get an even playing field.

Nice.

Cross posted to www.myspace.com/matthewaeverett and archived on my site www.matthewaeverett.com

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