Makes my spine chill

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.

Sept 20, 1994 in Vancouver, BC, I fell off a balcony at work. I broke my back in 3 places and had a few other breaks and bruises. A woman was in a "Subway" restaurant across the street and looked up just in time to see me fall. "Subway" is not her choice the vegan place down the block would have been but her friend she was meeting wanted "Subway". She thought she'd seen me die. Two days later this woman is in Northern California to visit the sanctuary of her spiritual leader (A very small religious group of about 1000 people worldwide). She arrives at the sanctuary after closing and can't get in. An older woman who works there, arrives and says that the sanctuary is not open to visitors but agrees to allow her in as long as she helps her freshening the flowers. They get to talking, the one says she has just arrived from Vancouver, the older woman says what a coincidence I am just leaving for Vancouver to visit my son who is in the hospital after a workplace accident. The first woman saw me fall, the older woman is my mother. My mother usually works at the sanctuary on Thursday but because of my accident had to go in on Wednesday to do the flowers before coming to visit me. coincidence - rare choice of restaurant allows woman to witness my fall coincidence - rare situation of my mother doing the flowers on a Wednesday (Usually Thursday but because of my fall she goes in on the day and time the woman arrives) coincidence - two of the approximately 1000 people in the world involved in this unusual religion should meet face to face as a random happenstance coincidence - my mother is one of these two women and the other saw my accident (in another country)
Total votes: 278
Date submitted:Mon, 07 Sep 2020 02:01:50 +0000Coincidence ID:10528