Top 10 Things that are Never Determined Accurately
You think you've got it down to a science. The deadline's next Friday, the bus arrives at 8:07, your laptop says the download will finish in five minutes. But here's the thing, it's all a lie. Some numbers just seem allergic to being right. They shift, stall, inflate, and vanish the second you try to pin them down.
No matter how many planners, apps, clocks, or color-coded spreadsheets you use, there are always certain things that laugh in the face of precision. You guess, you estimate, you pretend to be confident. Then reality shows up five hours late or thirty pounds heavier.
This list is for all the moments when you confidently announce something, only to immediately regret speaking. Vote for the entries that most perfectly capture that feeling of trying to nail jelly to a wall. Other people have cast their votes. Now it's your turn to weigh in. Just don't expect the numbers to add up.
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Deadlines
This resulted in me having to completely wing a thousand-word essay in two hours. It was probably the best thing I've ever written.
Sure, I can finish my research project tomorrow. Oh crap. It's due in an hour.
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Download time
This one really bothers me, and yes, they are never precise. My iPod tells me an estimated time, but it's always a full minute or more longer than it promised!
No problem, sir, your files will be available to you in 2 minutes. Sorry, I meant millennia.
I sat there for three minutes and the whole time it said, "10 seconds left."
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Total mass of the content of one's bag
I've put my back out because of this underestimate.
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Public transport times
At least on the planes, you have a screen. But whatever you do, don't go and see Time to Destination.
Ridiculous. They never arrive at the stated time.
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Hours of sleep
I've gotten so good at knowing exactly how much sleep I'll get if I went to sleep at any given time. Unfortunately, the only thing I know for sure is that it's never enough.
It's pretty hard to know when or how long you're going to sleep. Sometimes, I feel like it is just enough, while other times, it just seems as if it isn't.
Completely unpredictable. You don't know which hours, which days, which nights are satisfactory.
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The energy density of the vacuum energy of the universe
The most inaccurate measurement in scientific history. The quantity has been measured to be 120 orders of magnitude away from its calculated value. This severely limits our feasible dark energy predictions, as the vacuum energy can't be computed directly.
Large deviation in measurements. The calculated value shows many orders of deviation from the measured value. This limits dark energy predictions. Surely.
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Quality of a movie judging by the trailer
This is why I like the YouTube series: Honest Trailers.
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Risk
This could be idiots who cross the busy road diagonally, or people who are reluctant to buy irradiation treated products. There's always a probability distribution with its arbitrary parameters. In the philosophy of Laplace's demon, there is difficulty in predicting everything in the natural evolution of information.
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Costs and profits
I see it all as a result of chance whether you become wealthy or broke.
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Weather
Well, why don't you ask Mother Nature if you want a more precise answer.
Mother Nature determines the weather.
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Movies on the future
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"Back in ten minutes" notices
From when does the ten minutes actually start? No one knows what time they left!
Back in twenty. No, ninety. No, I just got the sack.