Coincidences
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reading Meditations in An Emergency, a poetry book
from 50 years ago. I looked it up on Amazon and
it had a Look Inside feature so I selected 'surprize me'.
I read a couple of paragraphs from a long free verse
poem, lost interest and moved on. At the end of the
episode of Mad Men the lead character recited out
loud the exact paragraphs I had read, nothing more,
nothing less. The hair on my arms was standing up.
The odds of this happening are astronomical. Out
of the whole book it randomly selected the same
words in the same poem. We all have this kind of
thing happen, but c'mon...
Quote: EvenBobI was watching Mad Men tonight and somebody was
reading Meditations in An Emergency, a poetry book
from 50 years ago. I looked it up on Amazon and
it had a Look Inside feature so I selected 'surprize me'.
I read a couple of paragraphs from a long free verse
poem, lost interest and moved on. At the end of the
episode of Mad Men the lead character recited out
loud the exact paragraphs I had read, nothing more,
nothing less. The hair on my arms was standing up.
The odds of this happening are astronomical. Out
of the whole book it randomly selected the same
words in the same poem. We all have this kind of
thing happen, but c'mon...
This seems to happen to me with words that you don't hear often. My friend will say some word, trying to sound smart or whatever, and we will laugh and say come on, who the hell says that. Then later that night I'll be watching the news and sure enough the anchor somehow finds a way to say the strange word. In all honesty your example is quite creepy though.
Quote: winmonkeyspit3your example is quite creepy though.
God is messing with Bob for smarting off on the Religion threads.
Sometimes, TV shows will work with advertisers or retailers in advance to promote the sale of something. They might also let companies know what's going to be quoted from a select work, as interest will pique in that particular work. Amazon might have it programmed to read that specific passage each time. Your stopping and starting point seems to be coincidental though.
It's the same thing with those favorite things episodes Oprah used to do. Nobody was supposed to know what was going to make the list each year until the big reveal, but a few days before the episode aired, people would start asking about a particular item, maybe something we haven't had any interest in before... all of a sudden, it's on her show and they're gone within a 3 days.
Quote: TiltpoulI'm not entirely convinced it was 100% coincidental though...
Sometimes, TV shows will work with advertisers or retailers in advance to promote the sale of something. They might also let companies know what's going to be quoted from a select work, as interest will pique in that particular work. Amazon might have it programmed to read that specific passage each time. Your stopping and starting point seems to be coincidental though.
It's the same thing with those favorite things episodes Oprah used to do. Nobody was supposed to know what was going to make the list each year until the big reveal, but a few days before the episode aired, people would start asking about a particular item, maybe something we haven't had any interest in before... all of a sudden, it's on her show and they're gone within a 3 days.
Sorry Bob, I vote not coincidental. I'd figure you of all people would be skeptical of it. Amazon has the same passages programmed for everyone. Mad Men might have gotten that passage from Amazon for all you know.
Quote: TiltpoulAmazon might have it programmed to read that specific passage each time.
The episode is 3 years old. Its from a book printed over
50 years ago, who would buy it. And I went there again
just now and it took me 5 tries of hitting Surprize Me to
get the same passage again. I was watching it on DVD,
its from season 2 in 2009.
on the same day her husband died in the Korean War. She remarried to another serviceman, had another child, and yes it did happen again.
Vietnam War again.
Quote: WongBo
"One of Jung's favourite quotes on synchronicity was from Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll, in which the White Queen says to Alice: "It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards".
'The rule is, jam to-morrow and jam yesterday--but never jam to-day.'
'It MUST come sometimes to "jam to-day,"' Alice objected.
'No, it can't,' said the Queen. 'It's jam every OTHER day: to-day isn't any OTHER day, you know.'
'I don't understand you,' said Alice. 'It's dreadfully confusing!'
'That's the effect of living backwards,' the Queen said kindly: 'it always makes one a little giddy at first--'
'Living backwards!' Alice repeated in great astonishment. 'I never heard of such a thing!'
'--but there's one great advantage in it, that one's memory works both ways.'
'I'm sure MINE only works one way,' Alice remarked. 'I can't remember things before they happen.'
'It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards,' the Queen remarked."
That is good, clever indeed.
featuring a young boy in a red-and-black-striped shirt
debuted on March 12, 1951, in 16 newspapers in the United States.
Three days later in the UK, a character called Dennis the Menace,
wearing a red-and-black-striped jumper, made his debut in children's comic The Beano.
Both creators have denied any causal connection.
THEN, when I was grocery shopping, for some reason I thought about the Seinfeld episode wherein jerry gets stuck dog sitting for the drunk guy from the plane - and, guess what episode popped on when I turned the television on...YUP!
Quote: aceofspadesTHEN, when I was grocery shopping, for some reason I thought about the Seinfeld episode wherein jerry gets stuck dog sitting for the drunk guy from the plane - and, guess what episode popped on when I turned the television on...YUP!
Do you watch Seinfeld reruns often?
Strip syndication, that is when a program is broadcast 5 days a week in the same time slot, often run in the same order as the original broadcast.
So if you watch them often, you may be reminded of eps close in braodcast order. then invariably you'll see them the same day you think of them, or a few days alter. This happened to me when I watched Simpsons' reruns nearly every day at 7 pm.
Quote: NareedDo you watch Seinfeld reruns often?
Strip syndication, that is when a program is broadcast 5 days a week in the same time slot, often run in the same order as the original broadcast.
So if you watch them often, you may be reminded of eps close in braodcast order. then invariably you'll see them the same day you think of them, or a few days alter. This happened to me when I watched Simpsons' reruns nearly every day at 7 pm.
Nah, I stopped watching Seinfeld reruns about a year ago when I got hooked on Big Bang Theory reruns
and it being broadcast that night:
1 / 180 = 0.00555...
Quote: WongBoodds of thinking of a seinfeld episode
and it being broadcast that night:
1 / 180 = 0.00555...
WOW...
in other coincidences, I was just singing the song "Ace of Spades" to my dog and had the tv on Palladia (an HD Concert channel) - and what comes on... "LEMMY" - the documentary about Lemmy Kilmeister (the lead singer and songwriter of Motorhead) who wrote Ace of Spades
SPOOKY!!!
Quote: AcesAndEightsshe informed me that I had better watch out for her dad pulling the rubber-band trick on the faucet. It creeped me out a little bit, since I had just been thinking about it.
The human brains work in odd ways...kinda like ESP communication..they communicate between each other without us being conciously aware of it.
Quote: aceofspades
THEN, when I was grocery shopping, for some reason I thought about the Seinfeld episode wherein jerry gets stuck dog sitting for the drunk guy from the plane - and, guess what episode popped on when I turned the television on...YUP!
This used to happen to me constantly. Not just Seinfeld but Friends also. It got to the point that when an episode would pop into my head, I wanted to tell somebody that that episode would be on in the next day or two, and possibly freak em out.
I know that once you hit a certain age where you're not learning new words very often, when you do learn one you'll hear it constantly afterward. You were probably hearing it all the time up to that point, but didn't know it, so you it simply didn't register.
Quote: aceofspadesOn the way to AC this morning , saw a license plate that said "SUREWIN"
What kind of car was it? If it was a Bentley, this is a good sign, if it's a 74 Ford Pinto, not so much.
Freak them out? Or have them think you're an a*hole that read the TV Guide, etc.Quote: ewjones080This used to happen to me constantly. Not just Seinfeld but Friends also. It got to the point that when an episode would pop into my head, I wanted to tell somebody that that episode would be on in the next day or two, and possibly freak em out.
But I've had that happen to me too....
---
The freakiest thing that ever happened to me, and my wife, was about 10 years ago.
We had just gotten Caller ID, and she remembered that in one of the boxes of stuff from her deceased grandmother was a Caller ID box. So I pull it out, and she starts going on and on about how she had changed the battery for her grandmother shortly before she died, etc.
About 5 minutes later, we hear a strange noise. It turns out to be one of those sound-effect bullhorns, that was granny's stuff box. This sets her off again, and tells me the story about when the two of them were going to a poetry reading, and granny bought the bullhorn so everyone could hear her. But they got lost going to the place, so granny stuck her head and bullhorn out the window to ask for directions: "Does anyone know where Fuddfuckers is?"
But it gets freakier. About 10 minutes later, the phone rings. It's a wrong number - It's a kid asking for his grandmother.
Now my wife is convinced that merely having a very emotional conversation about a dead person, works better than a traditional seance.
Quote: Gabes22What kind of car was it? If it was a Bentley, this is a good sign, if it's a 74 Ford Pinto, not so much.
Was an old lady driving a huge 1980's era Mercedes
there is some show on TV you never get to watch and for some reason never tape. You have only seen it once in the current season, then the one time you get another chance to see it, you guessed it, it is a re-run of the one show you ever saw.
Quote: aceofspades
Reno - don't go shootin' anyone just to watch'em die
Quote: TEDDYSOHMYGOD Johnny Cash just came on the TV as I read this. I'm posting in the coincidence thread :P
I think with all these coincidences the past couple of days that I've been transported into the Twilight Zone
