A while back I commented on the 'Name that Fruit' reference in Red Dwarf 1 or 2, {as well as saying how I made myself look a right prat in front of JF, when I said I realised where he got the idea from - and he didn't know what the hell I was talking about!} Anyhow, just been watching RD V11, and heard the following {from Rimmer when he was 'covering' for Ace } 'How about some clotted cream? Scones? BATTENBURG?!'

I mean, why Battenburg? Why not, e.g. Teacakes? Cherry Bakewells?
The writer could be a closet JF fan, but then that doesn't explain the earlier NTF episode, which was written by Rob Grant and Doug Naylor {the later ones weren't} and predated the Jasper Fforde books.
Just coincidence, do you think? Or a case of clumping in the extreme?

I think extreme clumping , as you suggest.

It is parallel development. As Heinlein wrote: When it's time to railroad, men will build railroads'.

So it was the appropriate time for Battenbergs.

Parallel Synchronised Randomness - fully explained in The Science of Sleep. ^_^

As in the clumping reference itself. I thought I'd coined this years ago, when I used to do blood cell counts and noticed how there was no such thing as true random order (or disorder). Stats might yield, e.g. an average eosinophil count of 1.9%, but the cells making up this figure would ALWAYS be 'organised' into clumps, so one slide would yield 0 and another 5 - 8% - no matter how carefully I prepared them. Then I started mapping lottery results and, blow me if the same thing didn't happen again! I don't mean the blood shedding, I mean 'clumping' of figures. For example, there would ALWAYS be at least two numbers ending in the same figure - 2 and 22 for example, plus one number would always carry over to the following week. It occurred to me there must be a way of calculating all this into a mathematical equation that would ensure me prosperity for the rest of my life, but I was bored by then and anyway the maths let me down roundabout the 3X table.

Anyhow, fast forward to my discovery of the Jasper Fforde universe, and blow me again if there wasn't old Mycroft there, basically putting down on paper what I'd been saying for years - and using a term I thought I'd 'invented' to the point of copyright!

A weird moment, that was. I'm sure it contributed to my rash decision to return to the world of white coats and microbiology periodicals at this late stage of my life.

I once heard it was in fact more probable for the lottery (6 out of 49, that is) to have two consecutive numbers than not to have any.

Perhaps numbers are actually magnetic?

Like blood cells. That's because there's iron in them!

BibwitHart Wrote:
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> Perhaps numbers are actually magnetic?


I wasn't last time I checked...

Ah... the world of statistics and probability is a strange and wonderful thing. For example... in a football match, what are the odds that there are two people on the pitch* will sharing a birthday? Its a bit over 50:50

I can proove it if you want...

*that's 23 people - two teams and a ref

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That statement is either so deep it would take a lifetime to fully comprehend every particle of its meaning, or it is a load of absolute tosh. Which is it, I wonder?
Terry Pratchett, Hogfather

Ah, the birthday paradox. :)

Funny, I was looking at that yesterday. More clumpiness?

__________________________________
'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

We've been here bofore, haven't we? You can find a good explanation of the 23 people and at least one shared birthday "coincidence" here

Back to Jazz-Sue's original musing, you are right that the final two series were in fact only written by Doug Naylor. The final series finished shooting in late 1998 and was shown in 1999.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/17/2008 11:19AM by SkidMarks.

The military series or the ocean series?

Bonzai Kitten Wrote:
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> The military series or the ocean series?

?

Naylor was the interesting one, wasn't he? I remember one book was written by each, after the book by both, and one was wacky (Backwards) and the other....

Sorry, BAAAAAAAAAAAD reference to rather obscure joke.

PM please!!

This is why I prefer 24 hour clocks. None of this poncing about, not knowing if it is morning or afternoon....

__________________________________
'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

I don't mind a PM in the A.M. and am willing to read it in either.

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My computer beat me at chess, but I won at kickboxing

Yeah... the old birthday thing was on the radio a few weeks ago...

It was demonstrated in our lecture going along the rows of students... I forget how many, but it took a pretty unlikely number of people before we did get a match.
Our lecturer was good enough to take it in his stride, but I know a few profs that would have been completly flustered.

------
That statement is either so deep it would take a lifetime to fully comprehend every particle of its meaning, or it is a load of absolute tosh. Which is it, I wonder?
Terry Pratchett, Hogfather

Just look at the Birthday thread. How many fforumite share birthdays.

Are there more shared birthdays that theory would predict or less? Is this a characteristic of fforumites? Or is it, like most things, meaningless?


Return to this item. I looked, counted and found:

of 50 listed as at today there are: 2 on 28 Mar, 2 on 22 Aug and 2 on 6 Sept.

Why is it so, and what does it prove.

PS: I lost most of my mathematical abilities on the bitumen between Kanbra and Queanbeyan in 1970. I find it difficult to calculate things like probabilities.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2008 07:14AM by bunyip.