Coincidence, Happenstance, Serendipity, or Oddity?

[army judge]

What are the chances?

Three American icons all passed away on Aug. 16.

Elvis Presley, Babe Ruth and Aretha Franklin died on this date. Each made their marks in music, sports and popular culture.

Elvis Aaron Presley, often referred to just by his first name Elvis, is known as the "King of Rock and Roll."

On Aug. 16, 1977, he was found dead at his Graceland mansion in Memphis. He was 42.

He began his singing career in 1954 and quickly became an international sensation. Doctors said he died of a heart attack, likely brought on by his addiction to prescription barbiturates.

Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, Presley is known for his renditions of "Love Me Tender" and "Jailhouse Rock."

The Great Bambino Babe Ruth died on Aug. 16, 1948.

George Herman "Babe" Ruth is one of the most recognizable baseball players of all time. On Aug. 16, 1948, just two months after he appeared at Yankee Stadium to have his No. 3 retired by the Yankees, Ruth passed away at the age of 53.

Ruth was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1946, and doctors were unable to stop the disease from spreading.

Thousands of fans came to pay their respects to Ruth at Yankee Stadium. Thousands also attended his funeral mass at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City.

America's "Queen of Soul" died Aug. 16, 2018. Aretha Franklin passed away due to complications from pancreatic cancer at her home in Detroit at 76, her family said in a statement.

Franklin's hits included "Chain of Fools," "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," and "Think."

Three giants of American pop culture. Rest in eternal peace.

https://www.kxxv.com/aretha-franklin-elvis-and-babe-ruth-all-died-on-this-date
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[adjusterjack]

What are the chances?

Excellent chances of multiple celebrity deaths on any given date.

August 17.to name just a few.

2015 Yvonne Craig, American actress (Batgirl), dies at 78

1990 Pearl Bailey, American Tony and Emmy Award-winning stage and screen actress, singer and dancer (Hello, Dolly!), dies of a heart attack at 72

1983 Ira Gershwin, American lyricist, age 95

1973 Vivian Vance at age 70. Ethel Mertz on I Love Lucy.

 

[army judge]

Excellent chances of multiple celebrity deaths on any given date.

I agree.

I recall a college statistics class from way back then. LOL
The professor loved astonishing us with his wisdom.
The first day of class he posed a question.
He posed the shared birthday probability to the class.

There are at least 30 people in any room.

What is the chance that any two of them celebrate their birthday on the same day?

Assume 365 days in a year.

The chance of not matching:

364/365 × 363/365 × 362/365 × ... × 336/365 = 0.294...

(I did that calculation in a spreadsheet,
but there are also mathematical shortcuts)

And the probability of matching is 1 − 0.294... :

The probability of sharing a birthday = 1 − 0.294... = 0.706...

Or a 70.6% chance, which is likely!

His hypothesis proved to be true, plus one.

There were three students in that lecture hall class of at least 100-120 on that particular day that shared the same birthday.

It proves your point, my friend, it isn't astonishing today to me as it was decades ago. LOL

In fact, over the years as I instructed others in training classes, I often used it as an icebreaker.

Thanks for illustrating the other side.

 

[adjusterjack]

Living proof here. About 20 something years ago the claim rep in the cubicle next to me turned out to have the same birth date as I. He's about 10 years younger. We were desk buddies for two years. Since then we chat on our birthdays every year.