Short shameful confession

[larryhammer]

It bugs me that the three Subaru Foresters at work that park in the same small stretch of lot never end up all next to each other.

(They trade off which two are together, and sometimes a Subaru Crosstrek joins the two, but it's never all three in a row.)

---L.

Comments

[kalmn]

You could leave them all notes. I am sure they'd find that charming instead of vaguely threatening.

[larryhammer]

Or, yanno, stop by their desks. I know who drives two of them (and the Crosstrek).

[graydon]

After the Foglios coined "jellomancy", I found myself wondering what other strictly modern approaches to telling the future would look like.

Distribution of cars in parking lots seems like it'd be an obvious choice. So maybe they're trying to avoid presenting a troubling omen.

[larryhammer]

But if it's not stochastic, then it's not a useful process for a -mancy! Too easy to force a reading.

[graydon]

You must be familiar with oracle bone script! Predictable outcomes are sometimes desired!

And I would argue that in a free-form parking lot -- no or few assigned spaces -- where people park is stochastic enough. You might have your prefered spot but traffic doesn't care; you won't always get there in time to claim it.

[larryhammer]

In general, yes, but if there's anyone actively avoiding a pattern (to avoid an omen or whatever) then the "enough" condition is broken.

[graydon]

So the selection of the parking lot (and the time of observation) would have to be suitably random.

This is clearly an application for Google Earth. :)