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Coincidences

Current events in Afghanistan have prompted me to revisit Peter Hopkirk's books on the Great Game. I suspected he'd passed on, so earlier today I googled his name to find out. Sadly, my hunch was correct. The coincidence is that, according to Wikipedia, PH died at age 83 on 22 August 2014.
 
Yesterday l tried to check the local weather forecast on the BBC weather app, but with no luck. For some incomprehensible ‘pootery reason, it declared that it couldn’t find out where l was, and l should try again later.

Later arrived, and l tried again. This time, for no earthly reason, it decided that l was in Takoradi, Ghana, and displayed the weather for that estimable metropolis! (A pleasant, temperate afternoon, BTW.)

I can assure my reader that l have never tried to check the Ghanaian weather, nor have l ever Googled “Takoradi”, or done anything else to have that city lurking in my iPad’s memory.

The coincidence is that Takoradi features more than once in my late dad’s WWII RAF log books. He was a Wireless Operator on Dakotas, and served all over the world. lt was the starting point of what became known as the West African Reinforcement Route, by which aircraft were assembled at Takoradi, then ferried to the Middle East by an established route:


25.-Air-Vice-Marshal-Don-Hills-who-has-died-aged-95-was-an-RAF-equipment-officer-and-ensured-that-Allied-aircraft-could-take-the-fight-to-the-skies-in-the-Second-World-War-no-matter-what.jpg


Other stops on that route also occur regularly in dad’s log books: El Fasher, Khartoum, Wadi Halfa…

What are the odds that a random computer glitch could throw me a reference to an obscure town thousands of miles away, to which l have a tenuous family connection?

maximus otter
 
Some non-descript coincidences have happened to me this past week.

Truly think they are a sign that G-D is showing he is at work, even though it does not feel like I am in the right place in my life.

I was thinking about someone I knew whose initials are AD.
The next day, I saw someone different but with that exact name listed as an employee where I work.
Then today, a customer with that name called in.

Also I was thinking about someone I know with the surname Green, and two customers in a row with that name called in.
 
And today... a customer called Mr Wood, immediately followed by a customer called Mr Woodside.

I wondered if customers are allotted to call centre advisors on an alphabetical basis, but even if they are, both customers called in at an almost identical time.
 
When I was a kid we lived in a small village in the mountains. The elementary school was so small they only had 3, and later 4 teachers and the older kids were bused to the next town 10 miles away. There were 4 boys who were cousins 2 from each family, the mothers were sisters. The sisters were 2 of several siblings. One family lived on the property next to ours (we had 5 acres) and the oldest son was my age. I used to play with both of those boys often. One day one of their other aunts was visiting with her two daughters. One was our age but would have nothing to do with us and the other was 2 years younger and did not play with us. She was angry about something, and it was funny because she swung in the swing so hard that it finally fell over (the swing set was not rooted to the ground). Her two cousins ran over and worried that she was hurt, but she got up angrily and stomped into the house (she was 5, we were 7). We went back to our game and I thought nothing of it.

13 years later I was in the army and was stationed in Germany. When I got to the unit everyone asked where I was from. "Albuquerque", oh you must know Adela, she's from Albuquerque too. I had no clue who Adela was. I said something silly like "Albuquerque has 80,000 people, I can't know all of them."

It turned out Adela was that 5 year old and both our families had moved to Albuquerque and I had classes with Adela's sister in junior high. Her father was in the Army and they moved around a lot so after junior high I never saw her sister. It turned out we were working together so we did talk about what schools we went to, etc. I don't think I ever told her I remembered the incident with the swing, but she did catch me up on what her 4 cousins that lived in that village were up to.
 
When I was a kid we lived in a small village in the mountains. The elementary school was so small they only had 3, and later 4 teachers and the older kids were bused to the next town 10 miles away. There were 4 boys who were cousins 2 from each family, the mothers were sisters. The sisters were 2 of several siblings. One family lived on the property next to ours (we had 5 acres) and the oldest son was my age. I used to play with both of those boys often. One day one of their other aunts was visiting with her two daughters. One was our age but would have nothing to do with us and the other was 2 years younger and did not play with us. She was angry about something, and it was funny because she swung in the swing so hard that it finally fell over (the swing set was not rooted to the ground). Her two cousins ran over and worried that she was hurt, but she got up angrily and stomped into the house (she was 5, we were 7). We went back to our game and I thought nothing of it.

13 years later I was in the army and was stationed in Germany. When I got to the unit everyone asked where I was from. "Albuquerque", oh you must know Adela, she's from Albuquerque too. I had no clue who Adela was. I said something silly like "Albuquerque has 80,000 people, I can't know all of them."

It turned out Adela was that 5 year old and both our families had moved to Albuquerque and I had classes with Adela's sister in junior high. Her father was in the Army and they moved around a lot so after junior high I never saw her sister. It turned out we were working together so we did talk about what schools we went to, etc. I don't think I ever told her I remembered the incident with the swing, but she did catch me up on what her 4 cousins that lived in that village were up to.
Love it!
 
We recently all saw the tragedy in Miami where an apartment block collapsed with large loss of life, still lived in by residents in spite of engineers warning it was structurally not safe.

On Saturday in Holon (next to Tel Aviv) in Israel, an apartment block was evacuated by engineers who warned it was at immininent risk of collapse.

The next day it collapsed, mercifully whilst empty of people.

36 families normally live there.

Not quite a Coincidence, but extraordinary how one warning was acted on, another not.



 
I was on a shift last night with someone I haven't seen for a long time - the last time I saw him, he was starting to learn Spanish during lockdown. When I saw him, I asked how it was going and he told me it was good, but he wanted to improve his conversation more, as the apps he was using weren't good at that. A litle later I opened FB and a pub local to the two of us had advertised beginner Spanish conversation lessons starting tonight!

Whilst I'm sure FB algorhythms(aka listening in devices) may have had something to do with it being one of the first posts I saw, it's still a pretty good coincidence that they were starting the very thing he wanted, the day after he was telling me about it.
 
We recently all saw the tragedy in Miami where an apartment block collapsed with large loss of life, still lived in by residents in spite of engineers warning it was structurally not safe.

On Saturday in Holon (next to Tel Aviv) in Israel, an apartment block was evacuated by engineers who warned it was at immininent risk of collapse.

The next day it collapsed, mercifully whilst empty of people.

36 families normally live there.

Not quite a Coincidence, but extraordinary how one warning was acted on, another not.



Extraordinary how much difference a government based on protecting the population makes from one more concerned with profit for the corporations.
 
We recently all saw the tragedy in Miami where an apartment block collapsed with large loss of life, still lived in by residents in spite of engineers warning it was structurally not safe.

On Saturday in Holon (next to Tel Aviv) in Israel, an apartment block was evacuated by engineers who warned it was at immininent risk of collapse.

The next day it collapsed, mercifully whilst empty of people.

36 families normally live there.

Not quite a Coincidence, but extraordinary how one warning was acted on, another not.



I don't know what caused this, but only very recently I have commented about how I believe that Israel will be in big trouble soon with all their 50s/60s era buildings. Just about everything in Israel is made from poured concrete- ie cast in-situ. Many, many times you will see the rebar showing through the concrete. Often very thin rebar at that. A lot of these building were thrown up very quickly after the war years as well.
Add in the salt air from the sea and you're going to have problems.
 
I don't know what caused this, but only very recently I have commented about how I believe that Israel will be in big trouble soon with all their 50s/60s era buildings. Just about everything in Israel is made from poured concrete- ie cast in-situ. Many, many times you will see the rebar showing through the concrete. Often very thin rebar at that. A lot of these building were thrown up very quickly after the war years as well.
Add in the salt air from the sea and you're going to have problems.
Yes, indeed. Rebar will rust away inside the concrete and then one day it will go boom.
This is why I persuaded my Mum to have her garage pulled down... because otherwise it would have fallen down suddenly.
 
I don't know what caused this, but only very recently I have commented about how I believe that Israel will be in big trouble soon with all their 50s/60s era buildings. Just about everything in Israel is made from poured concrete- ie cast in-situ. Many, many times you will see the rebar showing through the concrete. Often very thin rebar at that. A lot of these building were thrown up very quickly after the war years as well.
Add in the salt air from the sea and you're going to have problems.

So many of the buildings are near identical apartment blocks...much of Tel Aviv is like this...a lot fo it built in the 1920's and 30's.

Then further in the 1950's and 60's as you point out.

Building continues apace, and rebuilding will need to also.
 
Yes, indeed. Rebar will rust away inside the concrete and then one day it will go boom.
This is why I persuaded my Mum to have her garage pulled down... because otherwise it would have fallen down suddenly.
Was it poured concrete or pre-cast panels (that's what garages that have been added on later here normally are here).
 
So many of the buildings are near identical apartment blocks...much of Tel Aviv is like this...a lot fo it built in the 1920's and 30's.

Then further in the 1950's and 60's as you point out.

Building continues apace, and rebuilding will need to also.
Yes. - I'm not so much saying that the earlier ones were necessarily 'bad workmanship', just that the concrete wasn't as good as it would be today and they'd use thicker rebar today also. The smaller houses will probably be fine for years to come.
Another thing is that with the modern buildings they often clad them in artificial stone which hides the bare concrete but can also hide defects-like water getting in unnoticed, (a bit like render can do here.) It's not really a problem in Israel though as there is so little rain there.
 
Extraordinary how much difference a government based on protecting the population makes from one more concerned with profit for the corporations.

Floyd1 said:
Just about everything in Israel is made from poured concrete- ie cast in-situ. Many, many times you will see the rebar showing through the concrete. Often very thin rebar at that. A lot of these building were thrown up very quickly…

There’s a compatibility issue between these assertions…

maximus otter
 
Didn't know whether to put this in lost and found, but a bit of a coincidence anyway. Having nearly completed a small but annoyingly awkward repair on my old convertabubbly, I couldn't locate 2 rather obscure 7/16 UNF nuts. In a manly fashion, I searched everywhere, house garage toolboxes everywhere for several days but no luck. Yesterday duck under half open garage door, stare at car, and throwing a bit of a wobbler yell "these nuts are driving me nuts" as I yank open the door from the inside to fully open, whereupon the 2 nuts hit me fully in the face! I must have knocked them off my toolbox into the U channel at the bottom of the door. Blue air infiltrates garage.
Of course 'twas only afterwards when I perused Ebay that I found they were readily available for bobbins. Further rant, followed by much eye rolling on part of MsPetes.
 
There’s a compatibility issue between these assertions…

maximus otter
It's not that the older buidings there are crap as such- in fact solid concrete is great in a very hot, dry climate (in the north they do get a bit damp inside during the few days of 'winter' that they have, due to being solid, ie no cavity like we have to have), but otherwise they are fine. It's just that after 60 -100 years the concrete and rebar of the time is past its date really.
 
Was it poured concrete or pre-cast panels (that's what garages that have been added on later here normally are here).
My Dad assembled it from a kit in the late 1950s. The uprights and other structural bits were concrete with pretty poor rebar inside. The side panels that were just slotted into place were made from concrete with steel webbing inside - not even rebar. The concrete broke off over the years to expose the rusty metal. The only thing holding it up was a brick wall I'd built in the 80s.
 
I was on a shift last night with someone I haven't seen for a long time - the last time I saw him, he was starting to learn Spanish during lockdown. When I saw him, I asked how it was going and he told me it was good, but he wanted to improve his conversation more, as the apps he was using weren't good at that. A litle later I opened FB and a pub local to the two of us had advertised beginner Spanish conversation lessons starting tonight!

Whilst I'm sure FB algorhythms(aka listening in devices) may have had something to do with it being one of the first posts I saw, it's still a pretty good coincidence that they were starting the very thing he wanted, the day after he was telling me about it.
I just came over to this page for a catch up, from reading a page on UK Reddit about phones listening in to converstions (impossibility of technology thereof). I feel I should shout Bingo! or similar.

Edit to add - it was this page
 
Yes. - I'm not so much saying that the earlier ones were necessarily 'bad workmanship', just that the concrete wasn't as good as it would be today and they'd use thicker rebar today also. The smaller houses will probably be fine for years to come.
Another thing is that with the modern buildings they often clad them in artificial stone which hides the bare concrete but can also hide defects-like water getting in unnoticed, (a bit like render can do here.) It's not really a problem in Israel though as there is so little rain there.

The earlier ones were often built hurriedly. The build quality can be questionable.

Not so much rain there, true, but when it rains it is usually heavy rain which can find it's way in and cause leaks.
 
I just came over to this page for a catch up, from reading a page on UK Reddit about phones listening in to converstions (impossibility of technology thereof). I feel I should shout Bingo! or similar.

Edit to add - it was this page

If you have an Android phone it will constantly be 'listening' to pick up a voice command you might give.

Android is a Google OS, you have to be logged into Google to use the phone.

So that data is gathered along with everything else you do while online and is used to create your Google profile, which then targets the adverts.

I would imagine iPhones work in the same way, but it's not essential to be logged in to Google. Presumably iOS, Siri and Safari have connectivity.

So if your phone 'hears' something, Google 'remembers' it, and then the next time you're on any device and logged into the same Google account, you're going to see ads relating to what you were talking about. It's not really any different to doing a text search.

If you own a voice activated phone I would imagine you agreed to all this in some T&Cs somewhere along the line.

You can tell Google not to track your voice, it's in the settings somewhere. I've done that, I have to for work - we realised that any smartphone in the room during a confidential meeting could actually be recording it, even passively, which is a massive data breach. Switching it off does work, on Android at least.
 
Last night I nipped out for groceries and picked up a big tray of strawberries* and a tub of cream. We gorged ourselves happily.
Later Techy told me he'd been discussing the dangers of climate change with a colleague and had said 'Can you imagine a world without strawberries? What a disaster!'

OK, it's summer and we all like strawberries. But I didn't know they were on his mind. Or I thought I didn't. :wink2:


*This could end badly. I once ate a load of fresh strawberries late at night and next morning had sudden explosive (but painless) diarrhoea. This was on way to work, on my bike, approaching a roundabout, wearing jeans and a hi-viz running shirt.

I thought uh-oh, better nip home! and continued round the roundabout - no choice as there was traffic behind me - and let myself in through the back gate to inspect the damage in private.

It had shot up my back like a loathsome volcano, turning my shirt brown right up to the collar.

The driver following me must've seen the whole thing as they followed me home. I bet they changed their route after that.
Can I just say how much I love the description of "a loathsome volcano" :hahazebs::clap:
 
While on the topic of language, what on earth does this language translate to?
Having nearly completed a small but annoyingly awkward repair on my old convertabubbly, I couldn't locate 2 rather obscure 7/16 UNF nuts.
I can only surmise that convertabubbly = a type of fold out bed made of plastic bubble wrap, and UNF nuts = Unidentified Nebulous Flying nuts.
 
While on the topic of language, what on earth does this language translate to?

I can only surmise that convertabubbly = a type of fold out bed made of plastic bubble wrap, and UNF nuts = Unidentified Nebulous Flying nuts.
Ha - you're probably right in some other universe. In this one the c word is my nickname for my 50's American convertible car. UNF is Unified Fine thread in engineering terms - and the US seems to have hung onto the old 7/16"etc even after all these years.
 
I just came over to this page for a catch up, from reading a page on UK Reddit about phones listening in to converstions (impossibility of technology thereof). I feel I should shout Bingo! or similar.

Edit to add - it was this page
It isn't the phones themselves. It is the apps, google, facebook, messenger, etc. Any app that is dependent on advertising is listening and selling your phone number to advertisers.
 
About three years ago, I was in a local supermarket while they were playing a contemporary pop song. It wasn’t the sort of thing I would normally listen to, but there was something in the vocal delivery that caught my attention. It seemed otherworldly and tota disconnected to the song. I thought that I would never hear the song again, but I accidentally came across it again. It was ‘One Kiss’ by Dua Lipa. The weird thing is that the only way I could describe it was that it came from an ‘alternative 1983.’ I’ve no idea why that term came into my head.
Fast forward to around earlier this summer, and I start thinking about that song again, and ‘alternative 1983.’ I was in town, in our local Waterstones, when I pick up a book, Garth Nix’s ‘The Left-Handed Booksellers Of London.’ The title caught my attention, as it sounded like a novel by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. When I read the blurb on the back, it said it was set in an alternative 1983 London!
I haven’t been on the forum for a while, but when I came on last week, I was really taKen with the thread, ‘Meeting Nicola’, set in June 1983. Then yesterday, again in our local Waterstones, I saw a book called ‘Malibu Rising’, by Taylor Jenkins Reid, set in….1983!
And then this morning, I come across the thread, ‘Dummy Space Shuttle’, which, like ‘Meeting Nicola’, is set in June 1983!
I feel 1983 calling to me!
 
About three years ago, I was in a local supermarket while they were playing a contemporary pop song. It wasn’t the sort of thing I would normally listen to, but there was something in the vocal delivery that caught my attention. It seemed otherworldly and tota disconnected to the song. I thought that I would never hear the song again, but I accidentally came across it again. It was ‘One Kiss’ by Dua Lipa. The weird thing is that the only way I could describe it was that it came from an ‘alternative 1983.’ I’ve no idea why that term came into my head.
Fast forward to around earlier this summer, and I start thinking about that song again, and ‘alternative 1983.’ I was in town, in our local Waterstones, when I pick up a book, Garth Nix’s ‘The Left-Handed Booksellers Of London.’ The title caught my attention, as it sounded like a novel by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. When I read the blurb on the back, it said it was set in an alternative 1983 London!
I haven’t been on the forum for a while, but when I came on last week, I was really taKen with the thread, ‘Meeting Nicola’, set in June 1983. Then yesterday, again in our local Waterstones, I saw a book called ‘Malibu Rising’, by Taylor Jenkins Reid, set in….1983!
And then this morning, I come across the thread, ‘Dummy Space Shuttle’, which, like ‘Meeting Nicola’, is set in June 1983!
I feel 1983 calling to me!
I remember 1983 well - was a very special year for me. Whenever 1983 is mentioned, I recall those times. I also noticed the year in those 2 threads.
 
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