Beyond synchronicity into weirdness.

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.

I had a long and passionately-intense relationship with a woman which lated several years, on and off, until it finally ended when she moved away. One of the things which later became an icon was the music she always played after we'd made love as we were snuggled together before dropping off to sleep; Sade's "Lovers Rock". For months, every time I went around the markets and the stalls, I'd stop to browse through to find it.(Nowadays I'd just download it off the internet but this was 15 years back.) In the end I just gave up and one day, on impulse, bought a different Sade album, "Stronger than Pride", which I remembered fondly from years before. When I got back home and played it later I sat frozen for ages in disbelief. The CD sleeve was "Stronger than Pride"", the printing on the CD itself listed the tracks from "Stronger than Pride" - but the actual recording on the CD was "Lovers Rock". (I live in Thailand where back then there were few restrictions on pirated CDs and music, if that helps to explain the stunning coincidence; it's all I can think of.) This was 12 or so years ago now and I've moved house four times in this period. The CD was unplayable at the end (worn out!) and I've long-since thrown it out. But I wish I'd found a way to document it before this happened. It's the scariest thing that's ever happened to me bar none. All I have to confirm this was a close friend that I told about it at the time. But it happened!
Total votes: 187
Date submitted:Wed, 18 Jan 2012 18:42:20 +0000Coincidence ID:5500