Needle in the foot

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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.

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In about 1947, when I was 7, my mother had a letter from a Dutch friend saying that she had been in hospital as she had trodden on a needle that had broken in her foot. That evening I was dancing about in the bedroom, showing off to my brother, when I felt a sharp pain in my foot. I screamed to my mother that I had trodden on a needle. My mother told me not to be so silly but on searching the floor she found half a needle. I was taken to hospital and had the other half of the needle removed from my big toe.
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Date submitted:Sat, 14 Jan 2012 11:51:35 +0000Coincidence ID:3964