Cambridge Coincidences Collection

As of the 23rd May 2022 this website is archived and will receive no further updates.

understandinguncertainty.org was produced by the Winton programme for the public understanding of risk based in the Statistical Laboratory in the University of Cambridge. The aim was to help improve the way that uncertainty and risk are discussed in society, and show how probability and statistics can be both useful and entertaining.

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Well I Never!

Professor David Spiegelhalter of Cambridge University wants to know about your coincidences!

birthday coincidence

my two neighbours share the same birthday as me the 30th may so 3 people in a row in the same street have the same birthday, thats a coincidence!! i wonder what the odds for this are?.

Star City Casino

One day we had friends come to Sydney for a holiday so we took them out to Star City Casino for dinner, after dinner a few of us walked to a roulette table to watch, when I said to my brother in law I bet you number 31 is going to come up not putting any money on it, then yep, number 31 came up, I then said to him I bet you the same number comes up again, he looked at me and said put some money on it, I didn't put any money on it and the yep, it came up again, we decide to move on to the next roulette table to see the amounts people were betting, as soon as we got there I did't say anything and number 31 landed on the wheel, as I was shocked I shook my head, as I was shaking my head I noticed that on the table opposite us the number 31 also popped up, My wife came up to me and said we need to leave as everyone was waiting for us down stairs, as we were exiting the casino there was a man wearing a shirt with the number 31 on his back, later that night I also realized that it was 31st March 2012, I don't know what this means.

So Close...Never Meeting

I recently started dating a man, I'm 36, he's 45 in talking to him I realized we had both lived in the same house at one time...he was in it five years before I moved in (I was 16 at the time we lived there) and in talking some more we realized that at the house we had lived at before this one...his brother lived right behind us...we had to have passed each other many times without even realizing...until we were introduced by my sisters boyfriend. Keep in mind my family moved alot, but it gets me how we were so close but didn't meet til now...guess life wants to make sure you are in a position to appreciate the other person.

Birthdate matching (sort of)

I have a work colleague - she and I were born exactly two years and one day apart (me on 9 January 1969, and her on 10 January 1971). We both have one child (daughters in both cases). As it turns out, our daughters were also born exactly two years and one day apart (my daughter on 17 May 2007, and her daughter on 16 May 2005).

Unlikely chains of events / Synchromysticism.

Have you heard of synchromysticism ? Synchromysticism is a portmanteau of the words "synchronicity" and "mysticism." The synchromystic world-view is that every-Thing in the universe is connected. All symbols have multiple layers of information, histories, and interpretations. Given enough time and information, eventually all symbols, themes and ideas will be found to contain information about all the others so that each piece of the puzzle becomes holographic in nature; meaning that by focusing on one idea, all others can potentially be expressed. If one is familiar with the Eastern philosophic idea that "all is One," then synchromysticism allows a person to prove it for themselves through active involvement with synchronicity not only in the media saturated world around them, but also in their personal lives. Synchromysticism can be used to decode meaning in situations where that meaning may not have been implied or even originally intended. It has also been used by some in an attempt to foresee future events.

Three consecutive catches dropped by the same fielder in a cricket match

This refers to a cricket match in the Indian Premier League between the Mumbai Indians and the Chennai Super Kings played on the played on the 5th of May. The fielder in question was Kieron Pollard, the batsman was Michael Hussey and the bowler was Mitchell Johnson. The fielder dropped three consecutive catches of the batsman off the same bowler in the same over. Also the field positions were the same in all the three drops.

Bryanston Square London W1

In 1997 I lived for about six months in a flat belonging to my employer in 24 Bryanston Square, London W1, an upmarket address in the Marylebone area. A few years later, out of curiosity, I did an internet search on my full name: moderately common first name G, common middle name with two spellings P, moderately common English surname with three possible spellings L. I learned that three doors down in Bryanston Square, in the mid-nineteenth century, had been the London home of a man employed in Queen Victoria's personal household with exactly the same full name as myself, including the spelling. The only difference was that he had been a baronet, therefore Sir G P L to my mere G P L. Furthermore, he had died exactly 100 years (plus two months) before my birth.

Men Leaving my life on the same date!

My dad past away on 16 March 2008 from a heart attack, my stepmom called me to help but I couldn't. On 16 March 2011 I got divorced, I didn't ask for the date it just happened. Yesterday I visitd my grandads grave after haven't been there for many years. It freaked me out when I saw his date of death was also 16 March 1988. I remembered that day. My grandmother called me to help but also I couldn't. Did I do something wrong? I also noticed his year of birth is the pin to my bank card! Weird!

WWII Family Link

All the Pahlka family in the U.S. comes from a Charles and Elizibeth Pahlka and their eight sons. During WWII, a David Pahlka from Portland, Oregon was shot down in the Pacific. All ships were called out to search for the possible survivors. H.I. Pahlka, from Oklahoma was given a Navy cap with the name Pahlka written in it. It wasn't his but the downed pilot who still hadn't been found. Years later when in S.F. at a small reunion, H.I. tells his cousin, my aunt, Lucille, that story and she said her husband, 'Dutch' Most, had rescued David Pahlka from the water. H.I lived in Oklahoma, David in Oregon, and their cousin's husband in S.F. What are the odds of that link? How would one set up a mathematical proof? I think because my parents liked the other David, an war hero, I was named after him.

Memorial Cactus

On January 3, 1995, while working as a cab driver in Las Vegas, the terrorist Terry Nichols hired my cab and he informed me of the plot. I didn't believe him and although the authorities were informed by others, the tragedy still happened. In April 1995, I planted a beavertail cactus and dedicated it as a memorial for the victims, as they plant a tree in Israel for the Holocaust victims. Said a brief prayer, and thought this would be all their was to it. April 13, 1995 was the first blossoming. April 19, the second, April 13, the third and on April 1, 2000, the fourth in consecutive years. Being an amatuer historian, I can understand its significance. April 13 was Thomas Jefferson's birthday, April 19, the begining of the Revolutionary War, Waco, the Warsaw Ghetto, and Oklahoma City. A very bloody date in human history, April 13, 1n 1999 and April 1, 2000 was April Fools Day. Terry Nichols was born on that day. One of the things I admired about Jefferson was he expanded the U.S> without war, only one of an handfull of people in all human history who accomplished that.

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