SYNCTOPIA - Weird Coincidences in My Life and Others I Noticed

Welcome to Synctopia - defined as weird coincidences I noticed in my life and other coincidences I have noticed. This will expand as I remember or think of more or if more happen. This is only a partial listing.

In My Life

Before the parade, I submitted only three articles - all to my company's newsletter and that was over a period of 8+ years with the company.

Yes, miracles still occur on 34th Street..

I have since published at least a couple articles about the MIT Club of Boston web site in the Club Newsletter in the July/August 2000 issue. The article count is now four since the parade, not including event announcements for Digital Photography events I run for the MIT Club of Boston!! I have also co-authored two abstracts each for the 2001 Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society in Albuquerque, NM, the 2002 Meetings in Orlando, FL and Portland, OR and the 2003 Meeting in Long Beach, CA and several more since then. I am the lead author of four of the abstracts.

Only two of my 24 publications were before the May 11, 1994 Annular Eclipse I saw up in Vermont. The 24th publication was posted on the AMS website exactly three years to the day of the November 8, 2003 lunar eclipse mentioned just below and also during a Mercury transit.

Some of my digital photos were published on a now-defunct internationally famous web site the morning after the total lunar eclipse of November 8, 2003.

Surpassing the above coincidences is the unusual clouds I photographed when I was on my way to a Calendrical event ran by the MIT Club of Boston at the MIT Museum on February 29, 2000. That date is extremely rare in itself. I published one of my photos on the MIT Club of Boston website on the Visual Trivia page.

The years that I or a co-hort at work had a paper presented at an AMS Annual Meeting are the years that Boston's winter snow fall is below the average of 45". The years where no papers were presented (1994 and 1996) - Boston had record snowfall - over 100" in 1996!! The pattern finally broke during the winter of 2002-2003, about when the palindrome year 2002 was ending.

There was no snow in Boston during the 1999-2000 winter until January 13, 2000 - the day my paper got presented at the AMS Annual Meeting in Long Beach, CA. Go here for some pictures of fresh snowfall taken February 20, 2000 - the second anniversary of launching my personal (and first) web site.

That day was also exactly six years and a day after my very first use of the Internet - using FTP to collect visibility sensor data from a Canadian test site at work. Read what has happened in my life since then!!

MIT Club of Boston held its Gala 2000 on January 22, 2000 - almost exactly seven years after my first paper was presented at an AMS Annual Meeting.

I received the e-mail from the host of my church's web site authorizing me to build and post it almost exactly four years after my very first time on the Internet. The letter confirming the approval was postmarked on January 22, 1998 - exactly two years before MIT Club of Boston held Gala 2000!!

I first launched my personal web site on February 20, 1998 - exactly 36 years after John Glenn's historic space mission. I launched the church web site the day after. Exactly six years before and to the very day, I did my first international downloading of visibility and weather sensor data at work. Exactly four years to the day I launched my first website, the Palindromic Minute occurred at 8:02pm because, written in European format, that minute is 20:02 20-02-2002. That means John Glenn's historic space flight was exactly 40 years before the Palindromic Minute. Two days afterwards, Jupiter appeared very close to the Moon. Exactly 10 years to the day I launched my first personal web site, I photographed a total eclipse of the Moon and I posted the web page on the 10th anniversary of the launch of my church's first web site.

I noticed that the frame around the red door featured in my church web site's splash page is gray. Red and gray are also the school colors of MIT and are the predominant colors of the MIT Club of Boston web site. I became webmaster of that web site a little over a year after launching my church's web site - shades of foreshadowing!!

I started my current job with System Resources Corporation in 1991 which is a palindrome year meaning it is the same backwards and forward. This job has outlasted both my previous jobs combined by a lot starting in 1993. The next palindrome year is 2002 which is just 11 years or a sunspot cycle after 1991. Normally palindrome years are 111 years apart but the 11 year separation is an effect of Y2K. 1991 is an odd number and 2002 is an even number - I finally moved to my condo after the end of 2002. It is turning out that 91, 92 and 93 are increasingly important numbers to me - go here to learn more.

Mars was at its closest approach to Earth EVER on my birthday which occurred on August 27, 2003. I found out the planet Venus transited the Sun on June 8, 2004 which is on my middle brother's anniversary. Venus transits occur in eight year pairs that are separated by more than a century.

And while on my birthday, August 27 is often written 8/27. Note that 8 is 2³ and 27 is 3³. Both numbers are two of the Red Sox's retired uniform numbers. Also, my wife's birthday is April 1, written 4/1. Note also that 4 and 1 are two more of the Red Sox's retired uniform numbers. Go here for more of my Red Sox observations.

The Red Sox made the playoffs less than a month after Mars' closest approach to Earth. Mars and Medusa are getting higher in the sky during playoff season. That alone makes me think the Curse of the Bambino's fate is about sealed!!!

The Red Sox finally broke the Curse of the Bambino a few minutes before the end of the total phase of the October 27, 2004 lunar eclipse. Go here for more. Medusa was there to witness it!! This happened after Medusa got Shermy's wife Shirley and I got Shirley's brother Woodstock.

While on Medusa, I noticed that the New England Patriots never won a Super Bowl until a few months after she got her pet corn snake Shermy. The Pats have since won Super Bowls 2002 and 2004.

I observed a rare planetary grouping of Mercury, Venus and Saturn on Monday, June 27, 2005 with my 10x50 binoculars. Mercury and Venus were less than a half degree apart - I saw the pair through my 70 mm refractor. That was two days before the second anniversary of my photo shoot for a world famous web site.

Others I Noticed

Go here to learn about some coincidences about Spring 2002's Comet Ikeya-Zhang!!

Here is an interesting coincidence I found related to Algol (Medusa) and Comets Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake!!

In the Long Hair - East Meets West department, fellow long hair lover MrHaroldG2000's birthday and DYQ's birthday are one day apart (April 17th and 18th respectively) and Jennifer Eve of TLHS and Wang LiJuan have the same birthday on August 13th which happens to be a day after the Perseid meteor shower peaks annually. Also, Catherine of TLHS and DYQ were both born on Easter Sundays of their respective years (1956 and 1965 respectively).

There was a total lunar eclipse on the night of January 20-21, 2000 - just two nights before MIT Club of Boston held Gala 2000. Unfortunately, it snowed that night because I would have liked to have taken some pictures of it. Go here to learn why I wanted the pictures.

The day before the annular solar eclipse I saw in Vermont in May 1994 a famous hack occurred on the Great Dome at MIT. That very same hack was showcased at the MIT Museum during the Calendrical event on February 29, 2000.

While trying to fix a Y2K bug in a program at work, I noticed a FORTRAN statement that's been there for a while:

The statement had the side effect of predicting the date of MIT Club of Boston's Gala 2000. I have heard of side effects of program statements in C - but FORTRAN!!

Add 128 (2⁷) to the year Boole introduced binary numbers in 1856 you get 1984 - an early hint on how Big Brother is going to watch everyone??:=)

Probably the most recited verse in the Bible is John 3:16. I have noticed that 3.16 is a close approximation to the square root of 10. Hmm... I wonder if there is any significance given there are 10 Commandments in the Old Testament.

Also, Pi day is March 14th (3/14) - two days before the square root of 10 day - March 16th (3/16). The Reciprocal of Pi Day is July 22nd (7/22). BTW: I started my current job with SRC on 7/22/1991.

NEW!! - I found out that February 7, 2018 is Euler Constant (or e) Day (2.718).

The American Meteorological Society Annual meeting of 1995 was important not just because I co-authored a paper at the conference. It was the year Mount Washington Observatory won an award and at one point, the temperature was actually colder in Dallas-Ft. Worth, TX area than on top of Mt. Washington as Mt. Washington recorded its all-time high temperature for January at 47 degrees F. I have discovered another coincidence related to the 2002 AMS meeting!! It was when Blue Hill Observatory (BHO) won an award and I received my very first e-mail from my future wife after I returned home from the conference. Furthermorre, she is related to the founder of the BHO Weather Club. One of my MIT professors won three awards at the 2007 AMS Annual Meeting held in San Antonio, TX.

I noticed that in the past 28 years, whenever the rock group U2 releases an album during a Presidential election year, the Republican (R) candidate wins the election, The Presidential election years with no U2 album releases have been the years the Democratic (D) candidate wins. Here's the chronology:

• 1980 - U2 released its first album "Boy". Ronald Reagan (R) won his first term as President.
• 1984 - U2 released the album "The Unforgettable Fire". President Reagan won his second term.
• 1988 - U2 released the album "Rattle and Hum". George Bush (father of President George W. Bush - both Republicans) became president.
• 1992 and 1996 - U2 did not release any albums. William Clinton (D) won his first and second terms as President.
• 2000 - U2 released the album "All that You Can't Leave Behind". The album even has a song titled "New York"!! George W. Bush (R) became President. The trend continued...barely!! I think some U2 fans are named "Chad"!!:) Maybe the Republicans experience an "Elevation" if a U2 album gets released during a Presidental election year!!:-)
• 2004 - U2 released their single 'Vertigo' during the early autumn with a new album coming out in late November. G. W. Bush won re-election.
• 2008 - U2 released their album 'No Line on the Horizon' in early 2009. U2 has, however, re-released several remasterings of their earlier albums. Sen. Barack Obama (D) has been elected President, continuing the pattern, giving the USA a much-needed 'Elevation', particularly the economy.
• 2012 - I checked U2's web site and did not find any new major album releases scheduled for the remainder of 2012 as of mid-November. Thankfully, President Barack Obama (D) was re-elected. Looks like the pattern still continues!!!