The Back of Beyond

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.

About 30 years ago I was working in a customers house in Aberdeen, finishing off some joinery work, the day before going on a driving holiday around Europe with my new wife. I was working up til 10 at night to complete it as I wanted it finished before going off. We set off from our farmhouse near Banchory, Aberdeen, and drove around Southern Europe for almost a month before ending up, on a whim, in the Camargue in a campsite near Les Saintes Maries de la Mer. Well off the beaten track. We were relaxing next to our tent when we saw a large campervan with a trailer park in the bay opposite us and 10 or so people come out and start to talk quite loudly. We hadn't heard a British voice in almost a month and we groaned when we heard Scots accents. However, we girded our loins and went across and said hello and were invited to have a drink with them. We discovered that the driver and head of the family, was the TV producer boss of the woman whose job I had worked late into the night to finish. Coincidental enough, especially as the Camargue was still a remote place in the early 80's with strong warnings about bandits and not stopping. Even stranger, when I was recounting this to my aunt (by marriage) she gave us a peculiar look and proceeded to tell us that the customer in question was her cousin.
Total votes: 154
Date submitted:Mon, 13 Feb 2012 22:44:19 +0000Coincidence ID:5988