By definition, odds provide a measure of the likelihood of a particular outcome. Sometimes odds are very likely, like the fact that nothing good will come out of 2020 (and thankfully, we are almost past it!), and sometimes not so much.
But on very rare occasions, odds-defying things happen against all possible likelihood, proving that after all, this world of ours is inherently random. So this time, we’re taking the ride of a lifetime featuring this selection of nearly impossible odds as presented by the r/nevertellmetheodds subreddit.
Created in 2015, the online community has a whopping 1.7m members who are all in for bizarre and wonderful chances that shouldn’t have happened. The subreddit’s description says it’s all about “Nearly impossible feats of achievement, those with a great degree of difficulty or incredible odds,” so let’s find out what exactly all this fuss is about.
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What Goes Around Comes Around
Many Of You Might Have Seen This . But For Those Who Haven't
Later that same day, he was elected president of Australia and married Gal Godot.
Small World
Thats crazy I wonder if the Coach / Dad ever looked at him and thought hmmm he looks a lot like me.
No matter what we think we know about odds-defying things, the truth is they do happen and they happen more often than we think. British statistician David J. Hand claims that even “extremely improbable events are commonplace.”
This is due to the improbability principle that’s comprised of five laws “analogous to the four laws of thermodynamics or Newton’s three laws of motion.” David insists that “These laws, the law of inevitability, the law of truly large numbers, the law of selection, the law of the probability lever, and the law of near enough, explain exactly why we should expect to encounter highly unlikely events, and indeed why we should expect to do so on a regular, even frequent, basis.”
One Man's Best Friend
In 1990, A Panel Of The Windscreen On British Airways Flight 5390 Fell Out At 17k Feet, Causing The Cockpit To Decompress & Its Captain To Be Sucked Halfway Out Of The Aircraft. The Crew Held Onto Him For More Than 20 Minutes As The Copilot Made An Emergency Landing. The Pilot Made A Full Recovery
I Know Twins Have Similarities But God Damn
This is where mathematics comes into play to define these principles and calculate what effect they have on each other. For example, the law of near enough “says that events that are sufficiently similar may be regarded as identical,” David explains.
In fact, this similarity is what precisely makes a dramatic difference. David adds the law of truly large numbers and the result is that “given enough opportunities, the probabilities of even very unlikely events can mount up to be almost certain.”
Those laws raise the number of opportunities for any unlikely happening to actually happen. Read more about David’s philosophy of probability in his book “The Improbability Principle.”
This Hero Has Luck +9000
Unexpected Reunion
What a lucky coincidence for them! They probably would have never found out otherwise.
That’s Gotta Be A First
Two Strangers Sit Next To Each Other On A Flight And Meet Their Doppelganger
Couple Proposes To Each Other At The Same Time
Genes Are Everything
Lucky Nurse
The Laura Buxton Coincidence
“And I Took That Personally” - Tsutomu Yamaguchi (Probably)
Neighbor Brings Owner Identical Cat
Saw This Photo Posted Here.. Noticed I Have The Photo The Grandmother Took That Day. (Bought At An Antique Shop Years Ago In Phx)
Lightning Striking Simultaneously On Chicago's Three Tallest Buildings
None Of Their Feet Are Touching The Floor
The First Time My Friend Visited My Apartment She Was Mind-Blown That My Shower Curtain Looked “Exactly” Like One Of Her Shirts. I Half-Seriously Said That Her Story Sounded Made Up And Promptly Forgot About It Until She Returned The Following Week To Demonstrate. I Forever Stand Corrected
This Mother Deer Has Two Albino Fawns...
My Grandma Died On My Grandpa’s Birthday. My Grandpa Died On My Grandma’s Birthday
This Is A Tomato That Accidently Grew Inside Of The Fence
I think this is absolutely stunning! It looks like a necklace pendant!
Taking A Picture Like This
Thanks Jesus
Twins Married Twins To Give Birth To Another Twins
I read somewhere that the tendency to have twins runs in families, but even so - wow!
Theoretically only non identical twins run in families. The chances for identical twins is random while the ability to have two eggs in one cycle is hereditary.
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Up voted you, cause no one looks happy. It was the first thing I noticed too. Usually the adults at least fake a smile in family photos
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my brother, who understands the genome said this "That’s quite a family! Genetically, the kids would be fraternal quadruplets if they were all the same age, but they are genetically siblings and not cousins."
My youngest son and his girlfriend are pregnant and due in April. We're thrilled but they are young so more than one baby would be so overwhelming. That said, she is a twin whose twin had triplets..... I was sweating bullets until the ultrasound.. just one sweet baby girl! I can't wait to meet my first grandbaby!
Not that huge a coincidence, this stuff happens all the time. If you and your sibling are alike, you might have the same taste in people, and if the other set of twins are alike, they might be both your type. People probably introduce them on the basis of them having twinship in common, or else one sibling falls for a twin and they set up their siblings. The rest is just genetics, twins are predisposed to have twin children. (My sister-in-law is a twin, I'm hoping she and my brother have a pair for me to dote on.)
With few exceptions, most data points to only fraternal twins being predisposed to having twins, not identical twins. Of course there are exceptions.
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Ok. Now, don't let the cousins marry between them! That's old Egypt!
It would be more than confusion if the children got drunk!
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Can't wait to see the kids find other twins to marry and continue the series.
Why does everyone hafta get married? Why does every1 hafta breed? There are more singles in U.S. than marrieds...we're getting smarter.
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There's a great invention called aspirin [since 1897]. Stop whining~~is zat all you got?
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Plot twist: The man on the left did the one on the right, and vice versa...
Landslide Splits Just Before Hitting A Farm In Iceland. Happened This Morning. No One Got Hurt
Went To Take A Picture Of The Rainbow And Lightning Struck At The Same Time!
What A Close Call
A Well Captured Photo Of Lightning Struck The Eiffel Tower
This Hare Caught On Google Street
This Is How The Newspapers Were Stacked Up At My Job
Beluga Whale Saves An iPhone!
We Were Seconds Away From Losing Our Home To The California Fire. Thank You To All The Firefighters That Saved Our Community!
Arrow In A Power Cable
The Cat Knocked My Daughter’s Fish Bowl Off The Dresser
The perfect opportunity to get a decent size aquarium for the fish. A bowl is too small.
Down You Go
It's Gotta Be Weird To Go To The Mall One Day And Run Into... Yourself
Car Found After An Amber Alert Near Me
Two Drunk Guys Imitate Connor Mcgregor As He Drives Past
Poor Cambodian Guy Was Trapped Like This For Four Days After Slipping While Alone In The Jungle. After Finding Him, It Took Ten Hours Of Chipping Away At The Rock To Free Him. He's Alive And Now Recovering In Hospital.
I am claustrophobic and get chills looking at this. I am glad he got rescued.
Pigeon Poops Portrait Of Itself On A Leaf
Red Cross Team Accidentally Captures Meteor On Camera
My Doctor Told Me It Was Heartburn For 8 Months, Cancerous Tumour Encapsulated The Kidney, When Removed It Was The Size Of A Honey Dew Melon And Hadn't Spread - Oncologist Couldn't Believe It. Nearly 6 Years Cancer Free 😊
How Close This Was
This Guy Became An Instant Millionaire When A Meteor Crashed Into His Room Worth Around 1.4 Million Euros
I'm A Woodturner & Found A Lovely Bowl In A Vintage Store, Made By The Guy Who Inspired Me As A Kid. On Closer Inspection I Felt The Bowl Was Very Familiar, So I Flipped Through The Very Book That Inspired Me, 31 Years Ago, & There It Was!
My Brother Hit Every Pin Except 7 8 9 And 10. How Odd Is That?
A Pole Flew Through My Friends Windshield While Driving Down I-80 Outside Of Berkeley, California Almost Impaling Him
Oh man, it hit just a hairs-breadth away from the Daddy Zone. OUCH.
Was Swiping At The Dispensary When I Looked Up And Saw The Girl I Was About To Swipe On
Brother Spent A Year Trying To Get A Lightning Photo. He Caught This Last Night, I Just Noticed The Boat In The Bottom Left.
Germany And Canada Tie For Gold In Olympic Two-Man Bobsleigh
Only Realised He Was Sat In Front Of Me Half Way Through The Game
How Do You Even Make That Shot?
So basically he put a bullet in his head, pulled the trigger, now he's dead.
I Matched A Random Duo With A Guy, And His Name Was Not Something I Was Expecting...(Hunt:shotdown)
Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! I'm sorry I tried not to say it but couldn't resist
My Vanity Mirror Fell In My Bathroom. It Was Saved From Shattering By My Toothbrush
Liquid nail will solve that. The humidity in the bathroom over the years probably loosened the old glue. Check the wall before putting it back up. Make sure it's not damp.
Score Is 69 To 69 With 69 Seconds And The White Jerseys Add Up To 69.
One teams colors are green and while while the others are white and green.
Finding This In Geoguesser
So My Grumpy Cat Calendar Knew What The Future Would Bring
Someone In /R/Nintendoswitch Posted About Losing Their Nintendo Switch At An Airport. Another User Posted About Finding A Nintendo Switch. It Was A Match And It's Being Returned To The Owner.
The Faulty Sign Still Says The Same Thing.
Five is v in Roman numerals. B is pronounced "bee". So V B Low can mean 5 Be low
This Car Not Being Swallowed Up After The Earthquake In Alaska
The Police Facebook Page Posted A Picture Taken By A Speeding Camera. The Bird Saves The Day
Now You're Playing With Power!
Similarities Between Joe Theismann And Alex Smith Injuries
A Leaf Fell In Front Of My Phone The Second It Took A Timed Photo
I Wouldn’t Have Believed It
Really Glad I Bought This Robot Vacuum...
Steven Hawking Has Died On Albert Einstein’s Birthday
Styrofoam Box Jumped Back Into The Van... Twice !
In the video it actually does this twice https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BRRlTkNLjh4
Oh Jesus Christ
I Took The Photo Before 1|3 Symbol Appeared On His Phone Screen
Nice Curve
I had the flu once and was vomiting so much my side was killing me. We thought (at the time) it might be my appendix and I was rushed to the hospital where I had a CT scan. Doctor came in, said my appendix looked fine but told me there was a lump on my kidney. Short time passed, lump was removed, and it turned out to be cancer.
Can't believe the story below didn't make it onto this list. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/09/03/nurse-meets-baby-she-helped-save-28-years-later-and-hes-doctor/1184421002/
Sorry, but I ain't quite as trusting as I was pre 2020. I'd need some proof on quite a few of these.
Thanks for mentioning Hand's book. Perfect for a math-science nerd like me, so I immediately ordered it through our public library interbranch lending system ....
Per journalofethics: "Appendiceal CT scans are considered to be 98 percent accurate in diagnosing acute appendicitis when read by an experienced radiologist."
Load More Replies... I had the flu once and was vomiting so much my side was killing me. We thought (at the time) it might be my appendix and I was rushed to the hospital where I had a CT scan. Doctor came in, said my appendix looked fine but told me there was a lump on my kidney. Short time passed, lump was removed, and it turned out to be cancer.
Can't believe the story below didn't make it onto this list. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2018/09/03/nurse-meets-baby-she-helped-save-28-years-later-and-hes-doctor/1184421002/
Sorry, but I ain't quite as trusting as I was pre 2020. I'd need some proof on quite a few of these.
Thanks for mentioning Hand's book. Perfect for a math-science nerd like me, so I immediately ordered it through our public library interbranch lending system ....
Per journalofethics: "Appendiceal CT scans are considered to be 98 percent accurate in diagnosing acute appendicitis when read by an experienced radiologist."
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