I had a strange though trivial occurrence a few weeks ago. I had been doing my wash every week for some forty years, and always included seven short sleeve sport shirts. From time to time one of the shirts would come out of the dryer inside out, and much less frequently two would be inside out. In all that time there were never more than two shirts inside out in any one wash. Some weeks ago, however, I took the shirts out of the dryer and all seven were inside out. I thought at first the odds of that happening were astronomical, but then remembered the famous question that went, “What is the smallest number of randomly assembled people would you need to have a better than fifty percent chance two of them would have the same birthday?” The answer is 23. It all depends on the number of times an event occurs. So my experience with the shirts was either a purely natural phenomenon or the washer and dryer having fun, as inanimate objects are often wont to do. 

An object that’s inanimate
That’s made of steel or laminate
Will often act perversely it is true
They’ll stubbornly insist
It’s you that must have missed
The start button and so the fault’s on you
But dryers now and washers
They’re kidders and they’re joshers
They play their tricks and have their little fun
On spin cycle they jiggle
And I can hear them giggle
Then summon me when all my wash is done
They’re silent as I open
The door and start my gropin’
Around inside to find my way about
They shake with silent laughter
Immediately after
I find that all my shirts are inside out