Impossible coincidences

[West24]

Originally Posted by FidelCashflow

So you gambled and you lost?
its a time in my life id rather not talk about!

Originally Posted by von Rothbart

I don't quite understand, I thought one is always immune to oneself's own fart, i.e. your fart doesn't smell like **** to you.

mine are on a different level my friend.

 

[Etienne]

Originally Posted by Dakota rube

A math teacher of mine from junior high days told me that in any group of at least 30 people there is likely a pair of people with the same birthday.
It's a standard result. A little counter-intuitive if you are not used to thinking about statistics and probabilities.

With 30 people, the probability that there is at least one pair of people with the same birthday is something like 70,7% (if you exclude Feb 29 and such oddities, but they don't change the result much).

 

[clarity]

I don't think it's that big of a deal but a few weeks ago I was randomly thinking about somebody from high school whom I have not even thought about since then. I even had to get out my annual to remember her name. The next day we bumped into each other at a restaurant.

 

[Patrician]

Originally Posted by Brad

When I was a kid, I picked up the old land line to call my buddy. I hadn't dialed the number yet and I was suprised that there was no dial tone. The buddy I was calling had just called me and the phone hadn't rang.
Classic. Has happened numerous times to me (and my friend(s) of course). Its really weird actually.

 

[Get Smart]

nothing too trippy, just the usual bit where you call someone you normally wouldnt call and it turns out they are calling you at the exact same time

 

[IUtoSLU]

My mother's middle name is Mary

My dad's middle name is Joseph

When my mom came to a hospital because she felt she was ready to give birth, there were no rooms available and they literally sent her home.

I was subsequently born in Barne's Jewish Hospital

 

[Tarmac]

Originally Posted by Get Smart

nothing too trippy, just the usual bit where you call someone you normally wouldnt call and it turns out they are calling you at the exact same time

This happens to me *all the time*. Especially when I'm out loan sharking

 

[Augusto86]

Originally Posted by Eason

Hmm well I have this thing where every time I talk **** about somebody, they're right behind me.
That's not a coincidence, it's a natural law.

 

[sho'nuff]

yeah that happens to me alot my wife calls me exactly at the same time i am dialing her. it is weird, i dont hear a dial tone, but i just hear her voice like hey whats up dude!?

 

[Get Smart]

does anyone have that internet email "JFK-Abe Lincoln coincidence list" that used to get passed around a few years ago?

I dunno if that was real, but it was damn trippy

found it:

- Lincoln's name has 7 letters
- Kennedy's name has 7 letters

- In Lincoln's & Kennedy's names the vowels & consonants fall in exactly the same place;***
in the order c, v, c, c, v, c, c

- Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846
- Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946

- Lincoln was elected president in 1860
- Kennedy was elected president in 1960

- Kennedy had a secretary named Lincoln

- War was thrust upon Lincoln almost immediately after inauguration
- War was thrust upon Kennedy almost immediately after inauguration

- Lincoln ordered the Treasury to print its own money
- Kennedy ordered the Treasury to print its own money

- International bankers may have arranged the assassinations of Lincoln and Kennedy

- Lincoln gave negroes freedom and legalized equality
- Kennedy enforced equality for negroes

- Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863
- Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963

- Lincoln was loved by the common people and hated by the establishment
- Kennedy was loved by the common people and hated by the establishment

- Lincoln was succeeded, after assassination, by vice-president Johnson
- Kennedy was succeeded, after assassination, by vice-president Johnson

- Andrew Johnson was born in 1808
- Lyndon Johnson was born in 1908

- Andrew Johnson's name has 13 letters
- Lyndon Johnson's name has 13 letters

- Lincoln was sitting beside his wife when he was shot
- Kennedy was sitting beside his wife when he was shot

- Rathbone, who was with Lincoln when he was shot, was injured (by being stabbed)--------------NEW
- Connally, who was with Kennedy when he was shot, was injured (by being shot)
- Rathbone's name has 8 letters
- Connally's name has 8 letters

- Lincoln's wife held his head in her lap after he was shot--------------NEW
- Kennedy's wife held his head in her lap after he was shot

- Lincoln was shot on a Friday
- Kennedy was shot on a Friday

- Lincoln was shot in a theatre named Ford
- Kennedy was shot in a car made by Ford

- Kennedy was shot in a car named Lincoln

- Lincoln's bodyguard was away from his post at the door of the President's box at the theatre
- Kennedy's bodyguards were away from their posts on the running-boards of the President's car

- Lincoln was shot in a theatre and his assassin ran to a warehouse
- JFK was shot from a warehouse and his alleged assassin ran to a theatre

- Lincoln's assassin had a three-worded name, John Wilkes Booth
- Kennedy's alleged assassin had a three-worded name, Lee Harvey Oswald

- John Wilkes Booth has 15 letters
- Lee Harvey Oswald has 15 letters

- John Wilkes Boothe was born in 1839 ---------correction, should be 1838
- Lee Harvey Oswald was born in 1939

- Lincoln didn't die immediately after being shot
- Kennedy didn't die immediately after being shot

- Lincoln and Kennedy died in places beginning with the initials P and H
- Lincoln died in Petersen's house
- Kennedy died in Parkland Hospital

- Booth was shot and killed* in police custody before going to trial
- Oswald was shot and killed in police custody before going to trial

- Kennedy's funeral was modelled on Lincoln's funeral

- Andrew Johnson was a heavy drinker with crude behaviour
- Lyndon Johnson was a heavy drinker with crude behaviour

- There were conspiracy theories that Johnson was knowledgeable about Lincoln's assassination
- There were conspiracy theories that Johnson was knowledgeable about Kennedy's assassination**

- Days before it happened Lincoln told his wife and friends about a dream he'd had of being shot by an assassin
- Hours before it happened Kennedy told his wife and friends it would be easy for an assassin to shoot him from a crowd

- Shortly after Lincoln was shot the telegraph system went down
- Shortly after Kennedy was shot the telephone system went down

- Kennedy's father had been the Ambassador to England at the Court of St James
- Lincoln's son became the Ambassador to England at the Court of St James

- Lincoln and Kennedy were 2 of the greatest presidents of the nation

- Lincoln's wife tastefully and expensively re-decorated the White House
- Kennedy's wife tastefully and expensively re-decorated the White House

- Lincoln loved great literature and could recite poetry by heart
- Kennedy loved great literature and could recite poetry by heart

- Lincoln had young children while living at the White House
- Kennedy had young children while living at the White House

- Lincoln's sons had ponies they rode on the White House grounds
- Kennedy's daughter had a pony she rode on the White House grounds

- Lincoln lost a child (12 year old son) to death while President
- Kennedy lost a child (newly born son) to death while President

- Lincoln had 2 sons named Robert and Edward. Edward died young and Robert lived on.
- Kennedy had 2 brothers named Robert and Edward. Robert died young and Edward lived on

- Lincoln let his children run and play in his office
- Kennedy let his children run and play in his office

- After Lincoln's assassination the nation experienced an emotional convulsion
- After Kennedy's assassination the nation experienced an emotional convulsion

- the whole world cried when Lincoln died
- the whole world cried when Kennedy died

- Lincoln's funeral train travelled from Washington-DC to New York
- Kennedy's brother's funeral train travelled from New York to Washington-DC

- Lincoln Assassination conspiracy theories are believed these 140 141 years later
- Kennedy Assassination conspiracy theories are believed these 42 43 years later

- Abraham was the first name of the man who filmed Kennedy's murder in the Lincoln

- The man running alongside Kennedy's car snapping pictures with his 35mm camera was a salesman of Lincoln cars

- Kennedy bought a Virginia home that was the 1861 Civil War headquarters of Lincoln's first general-in-chief, McClellan

- Jefferson Davis was the name of the president of the Confederate states while Lincoln was president of the Union states
- Jefferson Davis Tippit was the name of the police officer killed allegedly by Kennedy's alleged assassin

- Lincoln was famous for his wit and for telling hilarious stories and anecdotes
- Kennedy was famous for his wit and for telling hilarious stories and anecdotes

- Lincoln was sitting in a rocking chair at Ford's Theater when he was shot
- Kennedy had a special rocking chair he sat in at the White House
- Henry Ford bought the rocking chair Lincoln died in and put it in his museum in Dearborn

- Kennedy's seat in the Lincoln he was sitting in when he was shot is in Ford's museum
- Lincoln's seat in the Ford he was sitting in when he was shot is in Ford's museum

 

[tagutcow]

Originally Posted by von Rothbart

A close friend's cousin had a subscription to the Mega Millons or Powerball which played the same numbers he selected week after week. He received an email to renew 2 weeks before it expired so he renewed it a week or so later. Then his mother-in-law turned for the worse after a long illness, so he had to accompany his wife to Florida on short notice.

When he came back from Florida he checked the lottery numbers and couldn't believe it, so he rechecked and double checked, the winning numbers were the same as the ones he selected!! OMG!! And the prize was $68M! The problem was the subscription wasn't renewed because the credit card number the lottery had on file just expired. If his MIL didn't pass away, he wouldn't have gone to Florida and he'd have caught the email requesting him to update his credit card info. The rub is he didn't get along with his MIL, it's like one final major blow from his MIL beyond the grave.

Reminds me of one of my favorite news stories of recent years:

http://articles.latimes.com/2005/nov...rld/fg-lotto30

Ihsan Khan angrily walks the rubble-strewn streets of his hometown where buildings tumbled like children's play blocks during the recent magnitude 7.6 temblor that killed 87,000 people.

Where was the heavy equipment that was so desperately needed to help free those who were trapped beneath the debris, Khan wants to know.

"We heard children crying to be saved from the rubble, but we couldn't get to them," he says. "We used horses and mules against tons of broken concrete because there was not one bulldozer in our entire region. Why is this? Where does the money go?"

The 47-year-old Khan aims to find out. And more than anyone else in this tiny Himalayan town, he has the means to do so.

Khan's is an unlikely international tale of abject poverty turned to fantastic riches. Leaving Batagram for the U.S. penniless in 1977, he returned two decades later as one of the wealthiest men in Pakistan.

For years, the slightly built Khan, who worked as a cabbie in Washington, D.C., had regularly played the lottery in a longshot effort to strike it rich.

He sometimes slept in his cab, but Khan never gave up hope. He kept a fortune cookie prediction that read, "Among winners, you are the chosen one." He played numbers that came to him in a dream: 2, 4, 6, 17, 25 and 31.

Then the incredible happened: In November 2001, the immigrant won a $55.2-million jackpot. He opted for a lump-sum prize payout and posed for photos with an oversized check for $32,499,939.24.

Soon after, Khan cashed in the American dream for Pakistani rupees, returning to a region where the average salary is $500 a year.

The former hard-working hack transformed himself into a high-energy public figure who is now promising to rebuild his hometown, where 4,500 people died in the Oct. 8 quake. He has already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of his own money to get the job done.

Just days before the earthquake, Khan was elected district nazim, or mayor, of Batagram. After the quake hit, he helped pull survivors from the rubble, and paid to get the most seriously injured to regional hospitals. He told pharmacists he would pay them later for dispensing all the medicine on their shelves. The bill came to 10 million rupees, almost $200,000.

Khan has bankrolled a program to supply roofing materials to rebuild shattered dwellings. He bought 150 tents, some of which occupy land just outside his mansion with breathtaking views of snowcapped peaks.

 

[tagutcow]

Originally Posted by Dakota rube

A math teacher of mine from junior high days told me that in any group of at least 30 people there is likely a pair of people with the same birthday.

Doesn't seem statistically possible.

I've asked around in group settings and I'm surprised how often it occurs. I guess that's not really a coincidence.

The probability is around 71% that two people in a group of 30 will share the same birthday. With 23 people, the probability is about 50/50.

Here's how it's done...

If you have a group of one person, the probability of this person not sharing a birthday with other members of the group is unity, since, of course, there are no other members.

Now add a second member, and the probability of him not sharing a birthday with the first is 364/365.

If that condition is met, we can add a third person. The probability of him not sharing a birthday with either of the first two is 363/365, since their birthdays necessarily fall on two different days of the year.

etc. etc. etc.

The probability of X people not sharing a birthday becomes

(365/365) * (364/365) * (363/365)... (365-(X-1)/365)

= 365!/((365-X)! * 365^X)

Plug in 30 and you get 0.293683757

It's only when you have 366 people, naturally, that the probability that any of them don't share the same birthday becomes 0 (cf. the "How many gumballs do you need to get out of a machine to be sure you have at least two of the same color?" problem.) The formula above can't account for this possibility, since it depends on looking for slots to put the extra people in, and you wind up using the factorial of a negative.

 

[playdohh22]

 

[shellshock]

Originally Posted by sho'nuff

yeah that happens to me alot my wife calls me exactly at the same time i am dialing her. it is weird, i dont hear a dial tone, but i just hear her voice like hey whats up dude!?

do you call your wife 'dude' or does she call you 'dude' ?