A lucky find
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.
When I was about 15 I became ill with bronchitis and the doctor's advice was to stay in bed for several days. A neighbor was kind enough to give me a dozen old issues of the American "Popular Mechanics" magazine which I read from cover to cover. Among the hints in the magazines was to cut a short length from a garden hose, slit it along one side and put it over the wire handle of fuel and other large cans to make them more comfortable to carry any distance.
Some months later, having recovered, I set about mowing the yard. However the mower fuel can was empty. There was a shop with a petrol pump out the front about a mile down the hill and so I walked down to it. About half way I recalled the hint about the piece of garden hose and the wire handle. I resigned myself to a sore hand on the way back and continued.
At the bottom of the hill, just around the corner from the shop I noticed something colourful on the side of the road. It was a piece of garden hose, exactly the correct length and slit along the side. I slipped it over the fuel can handle and went my way rejoicing!
Date submitted:Sat, 13 Oct 2012 03:31:38 +0000Coincidence ID:6509
