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...
Those poor babies will be murdered by some hunter just because they are albino!
True, because they’ll be so easy to spot by hunters.
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There is an entire community of albino deer in Upstate NY, by an old military base. They are protected and in a (very large) sealed off area. They are beautiful. I wonder if this pic is from around that area.
The deer in upstate NY are not albino (they don't have the red eyes), their white coloring is due to a set of recessive genes for all-white coats. The isolation of the herd causes high levels of inbreeding. When the base was still active no one was allowed to shoot/hunt the white deer and even now you must have special permission and are still not allowed to shoot the white deer. It is the largest population of white deer in the world (around 300). The military base is called the Seneca Army Depot and is located between the Finger Lakes of Seneca and Cayuga (I'm from the area)
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I love them and I hope their lives are so full! Look at them! It’s so cool.
i have a family of albino squirrels in my neighborhood (yes, a complete family of all albino squirrels)
I heard it's because of too much inbreeding. They die soon after. Also the regular don't want to be with the white deer like in Rudolph. The reason I looked it up is because we had one where I worked in Monterey, CA. white-deer...5daf1c.jpg 
sounds like the start of a fairy tale, expect to see a Disney Princess come walking out, cool
It’s from the fawns receiving a pair of recessive genes, which can be caused by inbreeding, but not always.
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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
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
Note: this post originally had 75 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.
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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