Probability

[threemonkeys]

Coincidence is an interesting mental phenomenon. This picture of the Cat's Eye nebula is the wallpaper on my home PC - it has been for a couple of months so I am quite familiar with it. In the latest Listener, exactly the same image appears as an illustration in an article about Harry Potter and the teaching of science - The Cat's Eye is in Draco you see.

It seems too strange. The Listener hardly ever has space images and yet when it does, it has one that I see every day. For some this would be proof of conspiracy. For some it would be proof of their importance in the universe. For some it would be proof of the ultimate connectedness of the universe.

I say - "coincidence happens". Probability dictates that strangely improbably things will happen from time to time. Its just the way the universe works. If you need wonder in the universe, it is there in plenty - just look at that picture for a start. You don't need to manufacture it.

This insight into Ross's brain brought to you today by the letters N G and C and the numbers 6, 5, 4 and 3.

Comments

[gillpolack.livejournal.com]

Why N, G and C and not C, A and T?

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

NGC6543 is the catalog number for the Cat's Eye nebula

[gillpolack.livejournal.com]

LOL. Serves me right for being cheeky :). I looked at 6543 and decided it was simply a reverse numerical sequence. I need to learn some astronomy...

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

Hitting the picture of the day site (http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/) is a good way to pick up a bit of knowledge while looking at the pretty pictures.

[gillpolack.livejournal.com]

I do that from time to time. And I ooh and ah and once wrote a short story influenced by the picture of the day, but I don't remember the labels. And now, it appears, I can't even *recognise* the labels. Something to do with the way my mind works: I am also bad at crosswords and at random definitions of things. Names and faces escape me. All this causes great mirth amongst friends and acquaintances. "This is the third time you have taught me," a student remidned me the other day.
it is a gorgeous website, though. if all my wallspace weren't taken by books, I would have pictures from it up all over the place. Tidbinbilla is another place that does a nice line in astronomical posters, and every time I go there I get covetous.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

Minds are funny like that - I can remember trivia, phone numbers and Monty Python sketches without problem, but names, faces and appointments are a real struggle.

[gillpolack.livejournal.com]

Oddly, I can mostly do appointments. I can also remember things that have an organisational framework to hang onto, which is why I get landed with complex tasks. yes, minds are odd.