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!

Gut feelings and bizarre coincidences

Back around 2002 I worked as a creative director for a photography company in South London... One morning whilst at work, I suddenly had a strong feeling to check my bank account.....after about half an hour I still had the feeling so decided to log in to my online bank account, something I very rarely did and never had done at work... When I logged in, I discovered to my shock that £1000 had gone from my account the very same morning. I rang my bank immediately and informed them of the missing money. They told me that 30minutes to an hour before, I had purchase a dress for £600 and Television for £400. Very strange I thought... I told them that there was no way it was me and they immediately stopped my card and told me not to worry too much as I was insured and would receive the money back. That put me at ease somewhat but it still made my question how I could receive such gut feelings around the very moment my card was being used... After thinking about things I remembered that a few days previous, perhaps a week, I had gone to a restaurant in Clapham with a friend....

Eye of the needle

For some reason this afternoon,the image of a needle entering an eye came into my head. Being a tad squeamish it was not the sort of thing I relished seeing in an half-asleep state. This evening I was reading someone's FBook profile where they had posted a letter to one of the papers about J Rees-Mogg which referred to the bible passage ' a camel passing through the eye of a needle' and rich men entering heaven etc. The TV was running Under Seige 2 starring Steven Seagal and this passage was uttered: "Travis Dane: Our psychological profile on you says you will. However, if you wish to prove that profile incorrect, watch closely as an intensly hot needle penetrates the lens of one of the most beautiful eyes in the world. The needlepoint will pass through the lens with, very little difficulty. The heat will cauterize and seal the wound, but will continue to transfer heat into the fluid of the eye. The fluid comes to a boil, and the eyeball itself... explodes." Go figure.

Discus2

Right after I posted 'discus meniscus',I was in the midst of reporting the event to a friend whilst watching 'amazing spiderman' (yet again) only to see osborne and peter skipping stones over the river. That's 3 skipping stones scenes in the spate of a few hours.

Discus on the meniscus

Another weird coincidence last night: I was talking about the scene in Jason & the argonauts where the guy beats hercules at discus by skipping the discus on the meniscus (!?),getting his place on the Argo. A few minutes later,I saw 'coastal walks with my dog' on which I had told my other about. I put it on to see Bill Bailey skipping stones over the sea surface!?

Same names

A month or two after my husband, Tim and I met in 2008 (on an internet dating site), I was talking about my paternal grandmother, and I said that her maiden name had been Joyce Grubb. Tim said that his maternal grandmother's maiden name had also been Joyce Grubb. It didn't take us long to establish that they were different people (they were both dead by then), who just happened to share the same birth name. Tim's mother's cousin researched our lineage, and it turned out that Tim and I do share a common ancestor many generations back, who lived in Ireland.

TV show and book coincidence

I watched the TV show 12 Monkeys on Netflix this evening, March 30th 2018. In the episode I was watching (I can't remember which but it's in the first season), the main character tells of a Native American story. We each have 2 wolves within us, 1 good, 1 bad. Whichever triumphs is the one we feed the most. I'd never heard this story before today. I'm 47 and used to be quite interested in Native American culture. A couple of hours later I was reading a Kindle book, Psychic Surveys 2 by Shani Struthers. In it, a character also told the very same wolves story!

Rosy Cross

Many years ago 1975 (in the tropics) with a close group of friends we were having a rather deep esoteric debate on the rosicrucian order, siting on cliff side rocks, after some time I/we looked up and to our amazement a vivid pink cross cloud formation was directly above our heads...very strange.

The Phone call..

In 1980 I was living and working in Rio, Brazil. I rarely phoned home to the UK to speak with my Mother. You had to "book" a call in those days and wait, so I booked a call. The phone rang a few moments later, I thought "that was fast" my call had come through, but, no, it was my Mother Calling Me!

The Hook..

A few years ago I was in the "loo" and looked up at the door where there used to be a Coat Hanger, it was torn off a long time before. I thought to myself, about time I put a new one up. I did not mention it. The next afternoon I noticed there was a new "hook" there! My wife had bought one and screwed it on without telling me. Very strange indeed.

Automatic Numberplate Recognition

While driving to work I was listening to Radio 4. Tony Blair was being interviewed on Today. Just as I came to a stop at a roundabout I noticed the car in front of me had a registration ending in WMD. This was only last year & Blair rarely appears in the media now.

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