Off-Topic -- more Coincidences - 2017

[Erin]

My sister's like that. She's always shouting out numbers she sees. Today we were hanging out and she looks at the clock and says 7:11. She's a weirdo.

[Koren]

Erin wrote: "My sister's like that. She's always shouting out numbers she sees. Today we were hanging out and she looks at the clock and says 7:11. She's a weirdo."

I always see coincidences in my checkbook. Like if I had 10.76 balance and my next check was for 5.76. When it's an odd number it seems kind of weird.

[Fishface]

Yes. It makes me wonder how different it would be to see things the way other people do. The possibilities seem pretty vast.

[Fishface]

OK, the library closed too early yesterday for me to be able to record this as it was happening, but I was looking to clarify some TC information to correct my Book of the Dead. Above all, exactly who died in the Ratcliffe Highway murders?

>> Well, sir, I learned that Bridget Harrington wasn't killed with her parents; they were her employers, John and Elizabeth WILLIAMson.

>> I also learned that the killer never went to trial because he hanged himself in his jail cell. His name was John WILLIAMS.

>> While I was Googling for this information, pictures of the killer from The Knick-Knack Man kept popping up. I clicked on one in curiosity because I've read the book but don't remember a whole lot about the case, and was swiftly reminded that his name is WILLIAM McDonald.

>> Google coughed up a list of his victims, one of whom was WILLIAM Cobbin. He was the only one without a date of death provided, and you know me, I started looking for it.

>> Having found the date and copied it down, I continued posting the TC anniversaries, one of which was the murder of Nicole WILLIAMS.

[Fishface]

I rented LOGAN and discovered while the film played that Wolverine's real name is John Howlett. I was scratching my head and thinking that the name sounded familiar. Then, a couple days later, I stumbled onto a new book about Des Nilsen and was reminded that one of his victims was named John Howlett.

[Koren]

Fishface wrote: "OK, the library closed too early yesterday for me to be able to record this as it was happening, but I was looking to clarify some TC information to correct my Book of the Dead. Above all, exactly ..."

William could be going on our list of names to never name your child, along with Wayne.

[Fishface]

Koren wrote: "Fishface wrote: "OK, the library closed too early yesterday for me to be able to record this as it was happening, but I was looking to clarify some TC information to correct my Book of the Dead. Ab..."

If every kid named Bill or Billy is at risk of becoming a career criminal, I am packing my bags. Of course if you think of guys like Billy Sutherland, Billy Carroll and all the other Billies killed before their time, well, that's a whole different ballpark.

[Koren]

Just read that a woman named Erica Garner died at the age of 27 from a heart attack. I had never heard of her before but it says she became a civil rights activist after her father, Eric, was killed by police in New York in 2014.

Ok, here comes the coincidence. The next book I picked up was Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship, and Purpose by Joe Biden. The second page I read, which was page 36, Biden talks about giving the eulogy at Eric Garner's funeral.

[Koren]

Fishface wrote: "Koren wrote: "Fishface wrote: "OK, the library closed too early yesterday for me to be able to record this as it was happening, but I was looking to clarify some TC information to correct my Book o..."

You're right. Probably just a coincidence.

[Koren]

Fishface wrote: "OK, the library closed too early yesterday for me to be able to record this as it was happening, but I was looking to clarify some TC information to correct my Book of the Dead. Above all, exactly ..."

Another William coincidence...Tonight listening to the news they said the most popular name of the year at HealthPartners hospitals was....you guessed it....William!!! Girls name was Evelyn.

[Fishface]

And when I was just reading 50 American Serial Killers You've Probably Never Heard Of, Volume 1, not only did he mention local talent Les WILLIAMS, but right before him in the book was the metaphoric successor to John Williams of Redcliffe Highway fame, named -- I crap you negative -- John Williams, Jr. 😄

[Fishface]

Over at the Librarians group I asked for them to combine 3 editions of the book I had just ordered from a used bookstore Tulsa, Born to Kill. I also asked them to correct the spelling of the author's name and add the book cover. They did correct the author but told me everything else would have to wait. So I've been impatiently checking, right, and today -- the day the book came in the mail -- they finally got it all combined and updated so it looks like this:

[Fishface]

I can't remember all the dates, but I'm adding names to my Book of the Dead and a remarkable number of these disparate cases seem to land on the same day. Seems like I've added 6 or 7 names just to June 18th.

Far weirder is this coincidence. A serial killer in one of Robert Keller's books took out a couple on a date on September 30, 1939. That was the day 3 members of my father's family were killed in a car crash. One of the victims of the serial killer has the same name as my mother's mother.


AND September 30th is my birthday.

[Koren]

Fishface wrote: "I can't remember all the dates, but I'm adding names to my Book of the Dead and a remarkable number of these disparate cases seem to land on the same day. Seems like I've added 6 or 7 names just to..."

Wow!

[Fishface]

It struck me that this would be more meaningful to everyone if I pointed out that my dad's mother was killed in reality that day, and a woman with the same name as my mom's mother was also killed.

[Koren]

Fishface wrote: "It struck me that this would be more meaningful to everyone if I pointed out that my dad's mother was killed in reality that day, and a woman with the same name as my mom's mother was also killed."

That is crazy!

[Fishface]

I cannot disagree.

[Fishface]

Yesterday I posted the anniversary of the kidnapping of Amber Hagerman, the 8-year-old who ultimately brought us the Amber Alert. Well, today I got my first Amber Alert on my new smartphone. And if I'm not mistaken, today is the exact anniversary of that sorry event. Let's all spare a thought for this missing newborn and hope her story comes out a lot better than Amber's...

[Hari]

For all y'all that set such store by coincidence, I'm listening to today's episode of the podcast Hidden Brain, with Shankar Vedanta, on NPR. It's quite entertaining.
To me it appears that a lot of the cause of people being slightly freaked by coincidence stems from the human need to impose order on an essentially random universe in which the only law is the law of nature.
But that's just my own way of thinking. Feel free to disagree.

[Fishface]

I was all excited the other weekend to find and order 2 new (to me) survival memoirs from the Valley of Tears, that time in 1972 when a planeload of rugby players crashed in the Andes and they had to survive by eating their dead teammates. Well, that weekend the movie in demand in my den was THE 13TH WARRIOR, and as we watched I felt bound to point out to the rest of the audience that it was based on Michael Crichton's Eaters of the Dead: The Manuscript of Ibn Fadlan, Relating His Experiences with the Northmen in A.D. 922. The next day, a DVD arrived in the mail that I swear to Almighty Scrod I don't remember ordering: it was a History Channel doco about the Andes survivors. I checked and, sure enough, I had managed to order it without noticing at the same time as I ordered Canessa's memoir, I Had to Survive: How a Plane Crash in the Andes Inspired My Calling to Save Lives, and Pedro Algorta's, Into the Mountains: The Extraordinary True Story of Survival in the Andes and its Aftermath.

That's what comes of too much multi-tasking, I guess.

As I was watching this documentary in utter fascination, I went to the closet and pulled out a sweatshirt (at random, in the dark) because it was 10 degrees outside and even indoors I felt pretty chilly. This is the sweatshirt I grabbed:



I was still wearing it when I started Canessa's memoir yesterday. :)

[Koren]

Hari wrote: "For all y'all that set such store by coincidence, I'm listening to today's episode of the podcast Hidden Brain, with Shankar Vedanta, on NPR. It's quite entertaining.
To me it appears that a lot of..."

Hmmm. Not sure if I agree with that. I've also heard that coincidence is our angels sending us a message. Which leads me to my latest coincidence....

This would have been more of a coincidence if it had happened yesterday but seems like one anyway. This afternoon my granddaughter and I were looking at some family history books and I have a book my cousin wrote about my grandmother. Her birthday was January 22- yesterday.

[Koren]

Fishface wrote: "I was all excited the other weekend to find and order 2 new (to me) survival memoirs from the Valley of Tears, that time in 1972 when a planeload of rugby players crashed in the Andes and they had ..."

Love your sweatshirt and it is kind of a coincidence that my previous post was about my grandmother.

[Hari]

Koren wrote: "Hari wrote: "For all y'all that set such store by coincidence, I'm listening to today's episode of the podcast Hidden Brain, with Shankar Vedanta, on NPR. It's quite entertaining.
To me it appears ..."

What if one has no angels? Who's sending the messages then?
I also like the sweatshirt. Have you heard of Mary Norris, tha Comma Queen? She makes grammar and punctuation into entertainment.

[Fishface]

Hari wrote: "Koren wrote: "Hari wrote: "For all y'all that set such store by coincidence, I'm listening to today's episode of the podcast Hidden Brain, with Shankar Vedanta, on NPR. It's quite entertaining.
To ..."

I have indeed heard of the Comma Queen. May her message spread far and wide.

If angels are sending me a message about eating people, I confess I'm quite worried.

[Lady ♥ Belleza, Gif Princesa]

In a somewhat coincidence, I just posted about a school shooting and today I attended "Active Shooter Civilian Response Training"

[Koren]

Lady♥Belleza★✰ wrote: "In a somewhat coincidence, I just posted about a school shooting and today I attended "Active Shooter Civilian Response Training""

Bella, I am working in an elementary school right now and we have to do lockdown drills. The classroom doors all automatically lock when they are closed so the doors have to be closed and the kids have to huddle in a corner with the lights off, even though there are no windows in the classroom. I feel so bad for the kids that their world has come to this. Reminded me of the 50's and 60's when schools had kids duck under their desks in case of a nuclear attack.

[Fishface]

I know what you mean! The security buzzers and metal detectors and craziness in the schools borders on the surreal.

[Koren]

Hari wrote: "Koren wrote: "Hari wrote: "For all y'all that set such store by coincidence, I'm listening to today's episode of the podcast Hidden Brain, with Shankar Vedanta, on NPR. It's quite entertaining.
To ..."

Hari, everyone has angels. Some of us are just more in tune with them.

[Koren]

Here's a weird one and I have no idea what my angels would be trying to tell me. Yesterday morning I saw a joke meme on facebook that had to do with the song that says "Dont know much about history, dont know much biology", (sorry if you have that song in your head for the rest of the day), I think it is called What a Wonderful World It would be or something like that. I cant find the meme now to remember what the whole thing said. Anyway, I went to work at the school and I take a short cut through the gym to get to my classroom. As I entered the gym the gym teacher was just putting some music on for the kids and guess what it was! Yep. Same song.

[Fishface]

I was just reading an online article about Andrew Urdiales, a serial killer. It mentioned that the body of a woman he killed was found in Pontiac, Illinois, in Livingston County. I am sitting in Livingston County, Michigan and planning a jaunt to Pontiac, which is a few miles outside the Livingston County border.

[Lady ♥ Belleza, Gif Princesa]

Fishface wrote: "I was just reading an online article about Andrew Urdiales, a serial killer. It mentioned that the body of a woman he killed was found in Pontiac, Illinois, in Livingston County. I am sitting in Li..."

DON'T GO!

[Lady ♥ Belleza, Gif Princesa]

Koren wrote: "Erin wrote: "My sister's like that. She's always shouting out numbers she sees. Today we were hanging out and she looks at the clock and says 7:11. She's a weirdo."

I always see coincidences in my checkbook. Like if I had 10.76 balance and my next check was for 5.76. When it's an odd number it seems kind of weird."

I'm amazed by this, not by the coincidence, by the fact that checkbooks still exist.

[Fishface]

Lady♥Belleza★✰ wrote: "Koren wrote: "Erin wrote: "My sister's like that. She's always shouting out numbers she sees. Today we were hanging out and she looks at the clock and says 7:11. She's a weirdo."

I always see coin..."

I never go anywhere without my checkbook!

*breaks hip*

[Lady ♥ Belleza, Gif Princesa]

Fishface wrote: "I never go anywhere without my checkbook!

*breaks hip*"

[Hari]

Hello, everybody,
Here's a cute coincidence for y'all: about 15 minutes ago, Fishface posted on the thread "Get your 2018 True Crime Headlines Here", an item from the Times-Picayune about a rash of thefts of tubas, while at the same time, on "Wait, Wait,... Don't tell me!" on WBUR here in Boston, one of the questions to the panel was about the same piece of news.
Given the time difference, I found this fluky.

[Fishface]

Wait, isn't Boston on Eastern time, the same way I am?

[Hari]

Wait, the news clip is from a New Orleans news paper, but your profile on GoodReads says you're in Michigan.
Yes, we're on eastern time.
So, you tell me

[Fishface]

Wait, what? Tell you what?

[Hari]

Are we in different time zones?

[Fishface]

I'm on Eastern time.

Coincidence???

[Hari]

So, the coincidence: your post and an item on WBUR in Boston. Within 15 minutes of each other.
And where exactly are you, if I may ask?

[Fishface]

Brighton, MI, about 20 minutes north of Ann Arbor and an hour west of Detroit.

[Fishface]

This morning as I was looking at my inbox, I received 2 e-mails that were sent simultaneously; one from my co-worker, and the other from the bookstore in Ann Arbor where his wife works.

[Fishface]

I just got through listing a whole bunch of zombie-apocalypse movies at another message board to make my case that they're making way too many of them these days. Then I got in my car and the DJ in the radio said he wanted to play us his favorite new cover song, "Zombie."

[Lady ♥ Belleza, Gif Princesa]

I just read a novel, cause ya know, sometimes I do. It was about this couple, and it kept mentioning their 'anniversary' was Wednesday, in the book, then they mentioned the date "March 5".

March 5 is my parents wedding anniversary.

[Fishface]

OK, the whole agency I work for is waiting with dread for April Fools' Day (tomorrow) when our new computer system goes live -- we voted on the name for it which is Cricket. So I drove out today to attend to some errands and saw all these green banners flapping in the breeze saying "NOW OPEN! CRICKET!" about a mile from my place. It's a new phone carrier I guess.

[Lady ♥ Belleza, Gif Princesa]

It’s a phone carrier but it’s not new, at least not around here.

[Fishface]

Well, it's sweeping triumphantly into an already fairly glutted market. You already can't swing a baseball bat without hitting a Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile or Joe's Brand X sales office...

[Lady ♥ Belleza, Gif Princesa]

[Fishface]

Today's the first day with the agency's new computer system, right? And among its other little weirdnesses, I discovered that we all have new user ID numbers. Mine just happens to be the year of my birth, twice.