"I'm going to flip this copy of Super Mario Advance: Yoshi's Island." Beat "It landed on its corner..."
"But suppose you throw a coin enough times... suppose one day, it lands on its edge."
Rabbi: You throw a coin. Heads means: The British Empire will win the war. Tails: The Soviet Union will win.
Hitler: And what if the coin lands on its edge?
Rabbi: Oh, then France will win.
Hitler: (throwing a fit) That's all that can happen?!?
Rabbi: Of course not. It could happen that G-D does a miracle and makes the coin stay in the air — then, Czechoslovakia will win.
Hitler: And what if the coin lands on its edge?
Rabbi: Oh, then France will win.
Hitler: (throwing a fit) That's all that can happen?!?
Rabbi: Of course not. It could happen that G-D does a miracle and makes the coin stay in the air — then, Czechoslovakia will win.
— World War II era joke
"There are bad ways to win and good ways to lose...what's interesting and troubling is that it's not always clear which is which. A flipped coin doesn't always come up heads or tails. Sometimes, it may never land at all..."
— Grimsley, Pokémon Black and White
Dilbert: Call it.
Ratbert: "Edge.
Dilbert: ...That is just a coincidence.
Ratbert: I call edge for the next 99 too.
Ratbert: "Edge.
Dilbert: ...That is just a coincidence.
Ratbert: I call edge for the next 99 too.
— Dilbert attempting to refute his rat's claims of Psychic Powers
"It is uncertain," says Robot, "Whether any action we take will have any effect on the situation whatsoever."
Hawton pauses. "It's probably equally likely that we'll have a butterfly effect, and our actions from here on will change the whole world."
"This is also true," says Robot. "It is your decision to make."
"And I have so little data to make it with..." Hawton pulls open his desk drawer and retrieves a fifty-pence piece from the detritus inside. "Heads, we go destroy the machine..." he takes a deep breath. "Tails, we run and hide."
He flips the coin.
Hawton and Robot watch it spin and fall.
With a quiet "tock," the coin lands edge-on between the floorboards.
Hawton pauses. "It's probably equally likely that we'll have a butterfly effect, and our actions from here on will change the whole world."
"This is also true," says Robot. "It is your decision to make."
"And I have so little data to make it with..." Hawton pulls open his desk drawer and retrieves a fifty-pence piece from the detritus inside. "Heads, we go destroy the machine..." he takes a deep breath. "Tails, we run and hide."
He flips the coin.
Hawton and Robot watch it spin and fall.
With a quiet "tock," the coin lands edge-on between the floorboards.
