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!

Deaths and birthday

My daughter was born January 28, she passed away at 32 yr.old Aug 6 2015. My Mother passed away January 28th 2012my brother David passed away January 28th 2021 is there something with this date ? Or Month

Repetitive names

So there's 3 Victors in my life. One is my personal trainer and the other 2 I'm good friends with. The funny thing is all 3 are very attractive. They're all a pain in my ass too. Lol I recently met my cousin Naomi through 23 and me. My best friend's mom's name is Naomi along with my next door neighbor. Weird right?

What are the odds.

I received a text message with my name in it inviting me to Kassies bday party. I said who is Kassie and who is this they respond w wrong number. What are the odds they would get my name right in the text message?

Learning it to Living it

I am not one to give too much credit to the weird coincidences in my life but a couple of events have always pestered me well into my young adult years. The first event occurred in 6th grade (2007). Our science teacher had just finished our section on certain illnesses and diseases. I was assigned to do my project on Bronchitis, and this was the first time I had ever heard of it. The following week, I got sick— more so than the typical cold I got every couple of months. From my project, I thought it was Bronchitis— though I knew it was probably just me latching onto what I had just learned. However, when I got diagnosed, they confirmed my suspicions. Though it was a strange correlation, I didn’t give it too much energy, because Bronchitis is common among those with asthma— the timing was just weird. But then, learning it to living it happened again. The next year, 7th grade, my history teacher taught us about the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. We were assigned books to read about that time period, and the one I received talked a lot about Dust Storms.

Richard Brautigan, The One who flew over the Cuckoos Nest and Ratched

So the title is pretty clear. On the March 2021, i decided to collect all the Brautigan books and read them by end of 2021. The weekend i ordered 5 of his books, I started browsing shows on Netflix and started watching Ratched, without knowing what it's. But then realized, it was the back story of Nurse Ratched from the book, The one who flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. And the movie was shot in Oregon state mental institute and It was in the same hospital where Richard Brautigan was Instuitionalized briefly. Cool, eh ?

My birthday

I was beginning to date someone and was looking for a sign if I should continue it further. Funnily enough, she shows me a polaroid picture with my birthday scribbled on the lower portion of the polaroid. The polaroid was from 2 years ago but it was taken exactly on my birthdate. I remember connecting it with so many meanings just because it felt like a rare ocassion; it happened when I least expected it but also just as I was looking for a sign. Anyway, we aren't dating anymore. That experience taught me never to overvalue coincidences.

Date de naissance

Ma seconde fille est née le même jour à 12h d'intervalle et x années d'écart que le frère décédé de mon futur mari qui était à l'époque un ami. La meilleure amie de son frère décédé s'appellait Christelle et sa sœur à elle s'est mariée plus tard après son décès aussi avec un homme portant le même nom que moi. Mon mari est né le même jour que mon père. Mon mari est né le 03 12 1974 à 3h33 Là où emménageons à chaque fois il y a une bonne raison... Un ami en phase terminale à accompagner une mamie en fin de vie à accompagner un parrain qui chute et qui faut prendre en charge une maison encore une fois qui comme par hasard se trouve à 6 min d'une futur école d'équitation proposant du sport étude et pour qui ce projet permettra à 2 enfants à retrouver leur maman que nous n'avions pas vu depuis longtemps.

My sister and friend are in different city/state at same time

I’ve been thinking about a friend in a romantic way lately and I asked the universe for a sign this morning if he and I were meant to be. I just scrolled through Facebook and saw that he is at a small amusement park in a state 14 hours away. As I’m looking at his picture my sister texted me. She has been traveling across the country in an RV. She is in the exact same amusement park. At the SAME time!

Near Death Experience

During the summer of 2015, at the beginning of August, I was walking around downtown while on a break from work. As I was about to pass the newly opened donut shop, a man and woman walked by; the man had one of his arms around the woman's shoulders, and he did not look like a bum. As he walked by, he said to me, "You are going to die." I never saw him again, nor did I ever experience a stranger saying something like this to me again. Towards the end of the month, I got sick. I took time off work and stayed in bed. But as things were getting worse, we finally decided to go to the hospital. I was admitted into the emergency room, and the staff took a blood sample and were horrified. I had the blood profile of someone who had suffered a massive heart attack. I was moved to the ICU the following morning, and my condition began to deteriorate. It was atypical pneumonia, and the doctors pumped me full of antibiotics. Every movement of my body would skyrocket my pulse not to mention be extremely agonizing, so I just laid there for a few days and focused on breathing. After about a week, I was released.

A very unfamiliar breed

Last year my daughter was sitting on a beech in Greece when she saw a very unfamiliar breed of dog run right past her.Though the dog breed was very unusual, she recognised it immediately as a very close friend of hers in Australia also had one.This immediately made her think of her friend and so she decided to call him to say hi and mention she had seen a similar dog. Shockingly she was told that her friend had very suddenly passed away. How strange that she should inexplicably see 'his' dog run past her. What did this mean?

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