3 ms·

I was driving my wife's car a few years ago when I managed to look down and see that the temperature was 55 degrees, and the odometer read 55,555. For a split s

I was driving my wife's car a few years ago when I managed to look down and see that the temperature was 55 degrees, and the odometer read 55,555. For a split second I couldn't believe my eyes; what are the chances?

ipaddr 2y ago
Based on NOAA weather data, a rough estimate for the probability of experiencing exactly 55°F at any given time in temperate U.S. cities is around 2-5% on average
neilv 2y ago
That this-can't-be-correct reaction can be useful in emergencies, if it gets your attention, and activates a mode in which you can focus and act decisively in an instant. I once was applying a spray-can anti-slip treatment to a bathroom floor, when I might've heard a whoosh, looked up, and had a thought (that I remembered afterwards as) "fire shouldn't be coming from that direction". From the adjacent room, there was this flash fire shooting across the floor at me. That got my attention, and activated an emergency mode, parts of which I had no recollection. I somehow leapt backwards up onto the tub edge in an instant. Then the floor was on fire and lapping at the walls of the small bathroom I was in. The next thing I knew, I'd leapt over the flame, into the next room, somehow gotten the fire extinguisher from inside a cabinet, and was putting out the fire. Which worked nicely. Then, I guess, as that mode was winding down, without really thinking about it, I put the exhausted fire extinguished back in its spot in the cabinet. As I went to call the fire department to check out that there were no lingering problems. (Turned out that the floor treatment application also emitted a highly flammable gas, which rolled across the floor, into the next room, until it hit the pilot light in an old nat-gas oven.) Now, if we had an adrenaline reaction every time we saw unlikely numbers, that would be a problem. But, however the cognitive scientists deconstruct it, I'm fond of having what I'll call a good emergency mode feature.
- ezekg 2y ago
  > Now, if we had an adrenaline reaction every time we saw unlikely numbers, that would be a problem. I think there's a relatively new TV show about this, actually.
  - LoganDark 2y ago
    Wasn't this a plot point of the original Call of Duty: Black Ops as well? "The numbers Mason, what do they mean?"

ipaddr 2y ago

Based on NOAA weather data, a rough estimate for the probability of experiencing exactly 55°F at any given time in temperate U.S. cities is around 2-5% on average

neilv 2y ago

That this-can't-be-correct reaction can be useful in emergencies, if it gets your attention, and activates a mode in which you can focus and act decisively in an instant. I once was applying a spray-can anti-slip treatment to a bathroom floor, when I might've heard a whoosh, looked up, and had a thought (that I remembered afterwards as) "fire shouldn't be coming from that direction". From the adjacent room, there was this flash fire shooting across the floor at me. That got my attention, and activated an emergency mode, parts of which I had no recollection. I somehow leapt backwards up onto the tub edge in an instant. Then the floor was on fire and lapping at the walls of the small bathroom I was in. The next thing I knew, I'd leapt over the flame, into the next room, somehow gotten the fire extinguisher from inside a cabinet, and was putting out the fire. Which worked nicely. Then, I guess, as that mode was winding down, without really thinking about it, I put the exhausted fire extinguished back in its spot in the cabinet. As I went to call the fire department to check out that there were no lingering problems. (Turned out that the floor treatment application also emitted a highly flammable gas, which rolled across the floor, into the next room, until it hit the pilot light in an old nat-gas oven.) Now, if we had an adrenaline reaction every time we saw unlikely numbers, that would be a problem. But, however the cognitive scientists deconstruct it, I'm fond of having what I'll call a good emergency mode feature.

ezekg 2y ago
> Now, if we had an adrenaline reaction every time we saw unlikely numbers, that would be a problem. I think there's a relatively new TV show about this, actually.
- LoganDark 2y ago
  Wasn't this a plot point of the original Call of Duty: Black Ops as well? "The numbers Mason, what do they mean?"