Coincidences
In the last 24 hours I have been the victim of several interesting coincidences.
1. Yesterday morning while driving to work, an eighteen wheeler was backing into a parking lot, blocking most of 1st Ave. I had never seen this happen before on 1st Ave, at any time of day. I have been taking this route to work for two years.
A few blocks to the north, I encountered another eighteen wheeler doing the exact same thing into a different parking lot.
2. Yesterday I ate lunch at the Showbox SODO with my coworkers. The song Music Is My Hot Hot Sex by CSS was played over the speakers. I love this song, but I had no idea that anyone else on Earth did. I can never really tell if a band is famous because I don’t consume much media. I was very surprised to hear it.
Last night I went to happy hour at The Elysian with Jen S. and her sister Kate. Again I heard the song Music Is My Hot Hot Sex by CSS. When I commented on it to Jen, she told me that it was a popular song that they played on the radio. I had no idea. Apparently there’s also a video.
3. This morning, while thinking of writing this post, I looked out the window overlooking Starbucks and saw a sky blue eighteen wheeler parked on the street. At the same moment, a woman wearing a jacket the exact same color walked into Starbucks from the opposite direction. This is amazing because not only was I thinking about coincidences, but there was an eighteen wheeler involved, and I’m pretty sure that music was this woman’s hot hot sex.
I like thinking about the fact that this is just how probability and the human brain work. I’m sure I encounter coincidences like this all the time, but I don’t really notice them. Now my mind is on the lookout for them. At the same time, random events do have a tendency to clump together, and this is a great example of that. There was an episode of Numb3rs about this. I can’t find the clip of Charlie explaining it to his class, but here is a summary of the logic used in that episode.
Stumble it!
April 9th, 2009 at 7:28 am
Music Is My Hot Hot Sex is hugely popular mainly because it was featured in a commercial (the first one maybe?) for the iPod touch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkUqqA23XNQ. Any song featured in an Apple commercial becomes wildly popular.
April 9th, 2009 at 7:29 am
Ack. Sorry, here’s that link again http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkUqqA23XNQ
April 9th, 2009 at 7:34 am
Yeah, you’re right, Jen and Kate did tell me that, but I forgot. I need to get one of my songs in an iPod commercial.
Thanks for the link, Scott.
April 9th, 2009 at 8:09 am
There’s no such thing as coincidence.
April 9th, 2009 at 8:10 am
Oh.
April 9th, 2009 at 11:26 am
I’ve only ever heard that song on a couple of my Pandora stations, but I do like it.
April 9th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
It’s a *very* sexy song, especially for someone for whom music really does trump or at least rival sex.
April 14th, 2009 at 11:22 am
I’d argue that it’s not a strange coincidence at all that you stumbled upon two trucks blocking 1st ave, but rather that it’s strange that you hadn’t encountered it in the previous 2 years.
It might be that you hadn’t stumbled upon it more often because of the hours you typically travel to/from work. I saw this happen several times a month - usually in the 9:30-11:00am period. This is because I am a lazy bastard who loves to sleep in and don’t generally arrive to work until that time.
Perhaps there really are no coincidences, and seemingly improbable/impossible things are happening constantly, simultaneously- it’s just that we don’t see them because we’re ignorant fukkers who can only catch glimpses of the real world during the 20 minute commutes on the way to/from work.
April 14th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Maybe.
April 20th, 2009 at 2:23 am
I love Numb3rs
April 20th, 2009 at 6:45 am
Me too.
April 30th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Wow this is great, this morning I brushed my teeth with a toothbrush and tooth paste. The amazing coincidence is I did it yesterday and the day before, surley that proves there is no God. You atheist are sooooo very smart.
April 30th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
What the fuck are you talking about?
April 30th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
I have question for you, jw. Why do fundamentalists consistently have such a hard time pluralizing the word “atheist”? Is it really that difficult to figure out?