The Compass and more

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.

My daughter a keen snowboarder had returned from a day with all her friends at The Lecht in the north of Scotland. They all dumped their gear in our front all, tired from the day, promising to pick it all up the next day. A week or so later there was still one small black rucksack sitting in the hall. I quizzed my daughter on this and she said no one was missing anything. Seeking for more information I opened the rucksack to discover a pair of snow-gaiters and a brown leather case. Inside the case was a beautiful brass compass. As there were no claimers the compass eventually found pride of place on a table in our sitting room. That is until Dave arrived. Dave was someone I had met years before. He had had a small photography exhibition in Edinburgh that I visited. Being in advertising I sought him out to find out more about his work. We met in a pub a week later where he told me he was a keen amateur but worked in computers. To see more of his work we set off for his flat in town. Going up the first flight of stairs a strange feeling came across me. When Dave stopped a this door I blurted out "Before we go in I've stayed here hundreds of times." Dave looked at me quizzically. "This was my Grannies house." I explained. It seems that after my Dad had put this flat on the market Dave was the buyer. BUT back to the future. That day years and years later when Dave, by now a successful photographer, came to visit us we were in the sitting room. Dave picked up the compass and said "Nice. I used to have one like that. Lost it skiing years ago at The Lecht. It was in a small rucksack." "Anything else?" I enquired "Oh just an old pair of snow-gaiters"
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Date submitted:Sat, 14 Jan 2012 10:26:28 +0000Coincidence ID:3831