h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've had a few instances of synchronicity the last few days. Today's was having just finished reading Philip K. Dick's Radio Free Albemuth at lunch, I get back and I take a look at boingboing and see this image: http://www.boingboing.net/2011/02/02/wedding-rings-inspir.html


Oh, yea, now I remember what other synchronicity I've had... more Guernica. I've seen/read/heard references to it a couple of times this last week.

As I mentioned elsewhere, today's synchronicity has been echoes of Laurel and Hardy. 20 hours ago, Gosho mentions them in relation to a humorous video of thieves dropping a safe. Then this morning Roger Ebert makes two mentions of Stan and Olly on his twitter feed. (One about a model T from their films for sale and another concerning the preservation of their films via public donations http://www.cinema.ucla.edu/support/laurel-and-hardy ).

I'm weird. I don't really care for Laurel and Hardy; never been a big fan. Give me Buster Keaton or better yet, Harold Lloyd in the silent era or Abbot and Costello later. Or for contemporaries, I'll take the Three Stooges (up to and including Shemp, you can keep Curly Joe.)

Just an odd little coincidence today. kitrapsjasani mentioned writing an entry about Louis Armstrong today and this morning my trivia calendar mentions how he often signed autographs "Red beans and ricely yours."

Ecky Thump!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRviD5ppfY4

Just the other day, I happened to come across this link to one of my favorite episodes of The Goodies. I hadn't seen it in over 30 years. It's not available in the US on DVD. I know. I looked. All they have here is one DVD with three episodes on it.

Anyway, with killer black puddings on my mind, Gosho finds this amazing article.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-19664920


You can't explain it... it's a lattice o' coincidence.

I hope it's ok I am here on your page.
I keep running across you on pages of friends.
I may know you under a different name if you have been here a while.
I am interested in your posts.

Maybe I should have introduced myself elsewhere.
Hello

I love the concept of synchronicity. I have posted it on hootoo many times in my journal.
So it caught my eye.

I never knew a word for what you described.
I certainly have marvelled at it. It is especially present when I want to learn something.
I've always considered great fun.

Thanks!

You probably knew me as Count Zero. I changed nick when we left teh BBC. My former nick wasn't unique as I adopted it from a title character in a William Gibson novel back in the early days of the interwebs. If you do a search you'll find several abandoned accounts under the same name. "Baron Grim" is an anagram of my real name and is much more unique. (I have found only one other "Baron Grim" on the internet so far.)

I'm adding you to my list of friends, so feel free to do the same.

Of course! Nice to see you.

I am reading familiar writing styles ,but not familiar names!
I was sure I recognized your stylesame for several other peoples style and humor.
Thanks!

OK... the subject of this bit of synchronicity is a bit above my comprehension.

Earlier today I saw this http://xkcd.com/1310/

Yep. I kinda get what the point is, but I'm not familiar with the conjecture or the history of it at all.


A few hours later, I just happen to come across this article about a relatively unknown mathematician solving a similar prime number problem. And the article speaks a bit about the conjecture above.



OK... this might not be that much of a coincidence since it's pretty important news and Randall Monroe, creator of XKCD likely used the news as inspiration for the above comic.


Still, for me it was a bit of a Bader-Meinhoff moment.

This week's Bider-Meinhoff is WaWa.

I don't think I've ever heard of this chain of convenience stores that operate on the East Coast ( Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and Florida). But in the last week I've heard at least three references to it, not knowing what it is, but from context assuming it was either the proper name or nick name of a store.

Also, today I was taking a walk around work and idly thought about while all the buildings at JSC are Accessible, I've very rarely seen anyone in a wheel chair on the campus. As I returned to my building, there was a man in a wheel chair.


Oh, and one more for today. Gosho tweeted about his clogged waste disposal. I replied that I'd heard that ice cubes are good for cleaning them (plus I love the grindy noise they make). He replied with the link to his 2003 EG entry. A1081252 I can't be absolutely positive that this isn't where I originally was introduced to the idea (I've slept and drank a LOT since 2003) but I think I saw it on TV.


Anyway, nothing mind blowing, but still... Lattice O'Coincidence

Wheels within wheels

I only ever found out about WaWa when I had to look it up because of the (very cute) pop-punk song Jersey Boy, by the Unlovables:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRcJhNG-c14

>>Been up and down from the Bronx down to Brooklyn
who knew the WaWa's where I shoulda been lookin?<<

I was talking to someone yesterday about numbers stations (short wave radio broadcasts that were thought to be sending out coded messages to spies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbers_stations ) and a BBC radio documentary called Tracking the Lincolnshire Poacher which looked at them http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwJdGWcNAqk

Recently there was a story in the news about a YouTube account that some people were suggesting might be an internet version of a numbers station, and I was completely unable to remember what the account was called.

And then this story appears this morning http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-27778071

The subject of this lattice o' coincidence has come up a few times (coincidentally?) this week.

Today's synchronicity starts with this tweet from Ferretbadger:

http://twitter.com/ralphferrett/status/532595040825405441

Then, just 3 hours later (but originally posted 5 hours before that) I find this on Reddit regarding the comet landing today.

http://i.imgur.com/sgyoPd6.jpg

Theoretically, he might have seen the same post earlier, but then it just means he had the Baader-Meinhoff effect before me and passed it along unknowingly.

I followed BG's link to here *waves at BG* and then followed the link to the garbage disposal entry. Read the first post at F127931?thread=I followed BG's link to here *waves at BG* and then followed the link to the garbage disposal entry. Read the first post at F127931/T293736 Now, what has been my obsession lately?

I only typed that once...

Yesterday's Baader-Meinhof was the Dunning effect.

First, I watched an interesting video about the Speed of Dark. (The Pritchett fan in me couldn't pass up that title.)

http://youtu.be/JTvcpdfGUtQ

At 8:44 the presenter introduces an amazingly stupid fellow named McArthur Wheeler. In 1995, this fellow robbed two banks in one day. He used a unique disguise. He covered his face with lemon juice. He knew that you can use lemon juice as an "invisible ink" that only becomes visible when the paper is placed very close to a heat source. He was ignorant enough to presume that by covering his face in lemon juice it would make him similarly invisible to the security cameras. You can read more about him here.


http://awesci.com/the-astonishingly-funny-story-of-mr-mcarthur-wheeler/

His story inspired inspired two psychologists from Cornell University, Justin Kruger and David Dunning to study how confidence is might be a function of ignorance/knowledge.

OK, so I went searching for the above article, so that wasn't part of the lattice o' coincidence. What was a coincidence was later yesterday evening when I came across a video I've seen before featuring John Cleese and he brings up a friend of his named David Dunning and the subject of confidence and stupidity.


Now, since I saw both videos by browsing social media, there is a high likelihood that this was just one viral topic and not much of a coincidence.

But it was still interesting enough to me to share it here.

Share & Enjoy

Oh... here's the Cleese video. http://youtu.be/wvVPdyYeaQU

Ed Sheeran is caught in my Lattice o'Coincidence™ today. I don't know a damn thing about him other than he must be some musician. Gosho, you started it when you tweeted about his naff beard. Then someone mentioned him in the "What News Story..." thread. And Stephen Colbert mentioned him in a YouTube promo for some big charity event coming up in NYC. http://youtu.be/PY4k58dO138?t=40s (Watch long enough to see what Ed will be doing immediately after the concert.)