> "Scientists have calculated that the chances of something so patently absurd actually existing are millions to one.
But magicians have calculated that million-to-one chances crop up nine times out of ten."
-- Terry Pratchett
Making fun of the fact that if someone says "it's a million-to-one chance, but it might just work!" in fiction, you know it's going to work.
In _Guards! Guards!_ this is taken to the point that they reckon that it's not enough to hit the dragon with the arrow at the soft spot, they also have to try a whole bunch of improbable circumstances to get the chance to exactly 1 in a million. Because exactly 1 in a million is hard to achieve, as the article shows.
-- Terry Pratchett
Making fun of the fact that if someone says "it's a million-to-one chance, but it might just work!" in fiction, you know it's going to work.
In _Guards! Guards!_ this is taken to the point that they reckon that it's not enough to hit the dragon with the arrow at the soft spot, they also have to try a whole bunch of improbable circumstances to get the chance to exactly 1 in a million. Because exactly 1 in a million is hard to achieve, as the article shows.