Coincidence or Magic? You decide.
The laws of chance not only allow for coincidences, they require them.

So, my amazing tale of the unexplained is that recently, spookily, I have seen a whole bunch of otherwise intelligent b3tards who are so moved about their own particular coincidences that they are prepared to posit an entire second reality in order to explain them.

Grr. Rant over. I'm off to watch a Richard Dawkins video.
( Amish Information Systems hates misplaced, commas, Fri 4 Jul 2008, 15:20, 10 replies)

WIN!

( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 4 Jul 2008, 15:24, closed)

You two should consider drugs
Dawkins and all. No imagination, some people.
(bazmorningstar efil4nat3b, Fri 4 Jul 2008, 15:31, closed)

Isn't that
what religion is all about?

In which case probably a majority of people on the planet believe in this sort of stuff in one form or another.
( K2k6 has a proper job these days, Fri 4 Jul 2008, 15:34, closed)

bazmorningstar
I have an imagination, and I deplore your choice of signature for seeding it with such an image. Even if it is clean.
( Amish Information Systems hates misplaced, commas, Fri 4 Jul 2008, 15:35, closed)

Well if you're going to use reason and logic, i'm taking my ball home
Spoilsport
( Colonel Dracula Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf, Fri 4 Jul 2008, 15:35, closed)

Coincidences, patterns...it's just being human
The human brain (I read somewhere) is specifically wired to spot patterns: there are whole areas of the brain devoted just to that function. While consciously you might have no truck with the paranormal, your brain is constantly organising and sifting your experiences and trying to sort them into patterns (valid or not).

Which makes it pretty much inevitable that events that rationally must be considered to be coincidental are sometimes -- often, even -- pounced upon and over-analysed. Whether it's thinking about someone just before they phone you, or 'magically' predicting sports results, or believing that your MP3 player likes Girls Aloud more than Captain Beefheart...

Not that I have any Girls Aloud on my MP3 player, of course.
( reallywittyname veraciously conspues lexiphanicism on, Fri 4 Jul 2008, 15:41, closed)

reallywittyname
Pareidolia is often given as an explanation for seeing Jesus in a pizza, the Virgin Mary in a rock face, or Jimmy Hill in a tortilla. There is, however, no such rational explanation for Girls Aloud.
( Amish Information Systems hates misplaced, commas, Fri 4 Jul 2008, 15:44, closed)

But my Mp3 player
likes David Bowie more than anything.

It especially likes the Scary Monsters album. But that's okay. I do to.
(Bazongaloid, Fri 4 Jul 2008, 15:44, closed)

Richard Dawkins...
...does videos now?
(Holloway_Girl To err is to be human, to be a fool is to believe, Fri 4 Jul 2008, 16:10, closed)

Holloway_Girl
Yes, he does. My favourites are "Dawkins Does Dallas" and "Professors Gone Wild: Spring Break 4".
( Amish Information Systems hates misplaced, commas, Fri 4 Jul 2008, 16:15, closed)