Two near-disasters
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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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I spent a weekend on retreat in a small cabin with no phone, computer, or other communication. I went for a walk in the afternoon. A big storm came up, the sky turned green, I heard a sound like a runaway train, and thinking it might be a tornado, I ran back toward the cabin. As I was crossing a road, a very large tree fell. The trunk hitting the ground ten feet from me made the ground shake; a nearby truck was speared by a branch; but I was not hurt. I left the cabin and went back to my room; I listened to my messages and found that, at the same time the tree fell, one of my adult children 3,000 miles away was taken to a hospital in a psychotic state. (The child was, eventually, OK).
Date submitted:Wed, 24 Feb 2016 02:20:38 +0000Coincidence ID:8435
