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About MeWildly Improbable
Category: Whimsy Tags: Probability UFOs Cartoons-----
Slightly freaked out at the moment — but only slightly — having just experienced an utter doozy of a co-incidence. Everyone has one of these at least once in their lives, and this is mine.
As part of one my my side-projects I’m investigating a story1 where a mysterious explosion, and strange object crashed, happened just off the Isle of Lewis in 1996. It’s mysterious because nothing was supposed to be there, no wreckage was found, and nothing was reported missing.
Well, no wreckage from the right time. A helicopter crashed in the area in 1982 and parts were recovered, but obviously had no connection to the 1996 event. Today I found a newspaper item which had the helicopter’s tail number: XZ247. And so I added that to the story.
A few hours later I’m scrolling through Facebook, I see someone’s posted an old Sparky cartoon from the early 1970s, I, Spy. A few panels in and there’s a thought-bubble. “XZ247 (which is code for AHA!)”
“Aha!”
What? How is that possible? That those sequence of characters exist independently in two contexts is perhaps not so surprising.
But to encounter both of them within two hours of each other… eep!
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By which I mean the National Library of Scotland’s newspaper archives, the National Archives, etc. Not just some bloke with a YouTube channel. ↩
Categories
Writing
Alan Grant • 16 Psyche • Proof Mode • I Am Freelance • The Circle is Complete! • Bit Patterns Redux • An Intrepid Update • Hammond’s Law • Edinburgh Book Festival • NaNoWriMo Crash and Burn • What is Science Fiction Anymore? • Blogging from Anywhere • NaNoWriMo has Stopped! • NaNoWriMo has Started! • NaNoWriMo • Why I Shouldn’t Skip PE •Moviemaking
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Bit Patterns Redux • Epistemology pt 3: How I founded a Star Trek Club • Intrepid Release Day • An Intrepid Update • Silicon Heaven • I’m Not in SciFi Now!!! • Where There’s a Sea • I’m Making a Movie! • I’m on Telly! • Holiday Coming Up •Whimsy
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A Long Overdue Update • Update from the Maemo • Overpackaged • Adventurous Scots • Light Aircraft Crash • A Wikipedia Upgrade • Too Tasty for Geeks • Microsoft Surface • Spooks Series 7: Episode 2 • The Satellite Dish • Cardiff • Deliveries • No More Intrepid Blog • Erk •Science Fiction
Alison Rowat and the Licensed Imagination • Bit Patterns Redux • An Intrepid Update • Hammond’s Law • Banks’ Law • Intrepid: Sisters • Arthur C Clarke • What is Science Fiction Anymore? •DMA Design
Public Appearances • Babbling On • Play Expo Blackpool • Grand Theft Auto Begins • Where Does the Time Go? • On No! • A Short Video History of DMA Design • • Newly Appeared Lemmings Graffiti • First Shots from GTA Drama • An Interview and a Repost • Lemmings Plushies • Bill Paxton Talks GTA Game Changer • Tweet from Brian Baglow (@flackboy) • Check This Disk! • The GTA Making-of Drama • Lemmings Merchandise is Go! • DMA Lives! • Project MyWorld • A Lemmings Conversion in 36 Hours • BBC Radio Scotland • You're definitely over the hill when... • Grand Theft Auto (via Gameswipe) • The Circle is Complete! • Epistemology pt 2: The Story of Hired Guns • Epistemology Pt.1: How I Co-Founded DMA Design • Lemmings II • DMA Design Office Tour • Kid Kirby • GTA Remembered •UFOs
Public Appearances • Rational Explanation Unlocked! • Seeing Shapes in the Cloud • The Scottish UFO Casebook • Naming those Pesky Flying UFO Objects • 
Post Tags
GTA
Bill Paxton Talks GTA Game Changer
Tweet from Brian Baglow (@flackboy)
You're definitely over the hill when...
Lemmings
Lemmings: Can You Dig It? Guardian Review
Lemmings: Can You Dig It? Released
A Short Video History of DMA Design
Newly Appeared Lemmings Graffiti
Hired Guns
A Short Video History of DMA Design
A Lemmings Conversion in 36 Hours