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.

Many of the animations were produced using Flash and will no longer work.

Well I Never!

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

New Girlfriend

My new girlfriend's name is the same as my mother's second Christian name, which happens to be my laptop password. And her birthday is the same as my flatmate's.

In tune with the circumstances.

I knocked over a drinking glass on the kitchen worktop and it shattered. As I was sweeping up the fragments that had fallen onto the floor, the song played on the radio was The Eurythmics singing 'Walking on Broken Glass'!

LDR

I meet someone whose name is similar to my fiance, a us army in afghan now. This someone is married and his wife's name is similar to my name. Another I met someone who worked in the place where my fiance father is from. Its been more than 2 wks now that my fiance and I have no communication. he once told me that there may not have internet connection in the place and that.. power isnt reliable... i miss him a lot.. :) what do you think?

Free Speech coincidence

Today I was given a 2 week suspension on Facebook which stops me from posting materials. I was raging about my free speech rights and wrote back to them to say so. At the same time I was going through my email archive looking for certain mails that I needed,I clicked over the the next page of mails and there was one called "Free Speech" which I had sent to the Metro in Oct 2012 about the right to say what one wants on social media sites such as Facebook. Two instances of the same issue separated by 7months coinciding within the same few seconds.

tim

Whenever I worked anywhere in an agency, I always bumped into C---we always shared similar experiences and beliefs-- I was told by a clairvoyant to meet X many miles away.Of course I would not contact somebody I did not know--- I met her many years later---having forgotten the message-- We believe conicidence is a higher spiritual awareness -- like dreaming about people you have never even met-- I looked for coincidences in life from about age 6, to lead me to my decision--- but was unsure why I did so--- Whenever I suggest anything, somebody writes about it or it is on the news the next day-- even other people notice this--

Media Coincidence.

I have regular coincidences linked to media. Usually with music, but also with news stories, television and film. These coincidences have happened so regularly that I have decided to look into the phenomenon a little more. I realize that coincidence can be explained methodically with mathematical analysis, but what puzzles me is the how coincidence can present itself so regularly, and sometimes, as I have experienced, in a pattern in a compact time frame. Here are a couple of examples of coincidences which come to mind from the last 2 weeks. Last night I chose a DVD at random. I studied Film at university ad have around 400 DVDs. From this selection I picked The Bone Collector starring Denzel Washington. When the film ended, I switched off the DVD player, and switched on the cable box. The box defaults to the last channel watched, which I had been watching 14hrs before. The film on TV was Crimson Tide starring Denzel Washington. 30 mins later a pal of mine called by with a DVD I had lent to him at least 8 months previous. Deja Vu starring Denzel Washington. Last week a workmate mentioned he had a wristband from a concert from 20 years ago.

Same class same birth date

My friend John, with whom I was good friends and met in high school chemistry class shares the same birthday as me: 08/12/1993. He was born at 9:30AM, I was born at 9:30 PM. We were both born at Northwest Community Hospital in Chicago.

The key to her heart ...

Forty years ago, whilst staying at my (then) girlfriend's parents' home in Lincolnshire, I returned home from my student's summer job and let myself into the house. Only once indoors did it strike me - I hadn't been given a key for their house! It was my own parents' house key (Yale type) from London that had worked. After that, I had to marry my girlfriend ... obviously!

My Brother and I Bought Identical Car on the Same Day

My brother and I only talk a few times a year as we live several hunred miles apart. We both found it surprising that on the exact same day we both bought the exact same car. What are the odds of that?

Weigh a pie

12:30 17/4/13 - I commented on a Facebook entry for Jeff Beck where he was playing "Somewhere over the rainbow"- my comment "Why does anyone want to 'weigh a pie'?". 35 minutes later the BBC broadcast "Barely legal drivers [pt3]" which featured friends of the driver singing "Way up high" from Somewhere over the Rainbow - perhaps with Maggie Thatcher's death and the reference to Wizard of Oz songs,this one's propensity to be referred to has increased along with "Ding Dong the witch is dead"?

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