Actually, there were in fact a relatively small number in the professional leagues. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are generally reserved for cup competitions, few of which are currently running. There was only one professional football match last night in the UK and a handful in the other major leagues. Maybe 20 games tops. Spread over the whole of a continent. So it is quite an unlikely coincidence in those terms.

Jon

Nah, it's a general rule that applies to all situations, it's just probability, if it had happened in any other team game that would have been the focus, if it was predicted to happen on that day, in football, in that match, then that reduces the odds somewhat, reduces the pool of numbers drastically, then it starts to become a significantly unlikely result, but there was no suggestion of limiting the criteria before the event, it was just spotted in any sport, any country any team. The only limiting factor really was that it had to be about 12 and it had to be on that one day, everything else was up for grabs.

And it was the 57th minute, not the 12th minute, so it even had to be bent into place once it was spotted.

If something to do with 12 HADN'T have happened on Earth yesterday, that would have been more unlikely, just because there's so much [LIFTED] going on.

Yeah, I'm aware of the fact that the coincidence made it news which I suppose you could describe as a form of confirmation bias but nevertheless your logic isn't entirely valid. The fact that loads of different things happen every day doesn't affect the probably of one given event happening or not.

Jon

Which event? Any confluence of things with 12 in it, doesn't matter where that occurs, it's just pattern recognition in a planet full of chaotic stuff. It was wholly unremarkable that someone had a 12 on his back, on a wednesday and scored in the 57th minute, mundane even.

I'm saying in a sky there is a very high chance of a cloud looking uncannily like a rabbit on Easter day at some point.

Somewhere, there's a good chance, given all the clouds in the world, all the people looking from different angles, and the 48 hour window of "Easter Day" every year.

Now for that one person who saw it, that's quite remarkable. Jesus appears on toast somewhere - boring. Jesus appears on YOUR toast, now you start looking for 'reasons'!

For anyone else, who wasn't there. to remark that it's 'remarkably improbable' to have happened doesn't understand probability.

To take it further and apply it to miracle cures and such like: If you take a miracle to be something that is "very very rare" It would be a miracle if miracles didn't occur regularly on Earth, given all the 'stuff' that happens to everyone all the time.

America petitioned to build a death star.

50 shades of Barbie NSFW

http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/12/11/wicked-wandas-window-display-draws-controversy

Game sorta music thing: http://january.cc

I kept wanting it to turn into this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg0cmhjdiLs

Do bats fly over water?

Mark

I think this answers your question.

Watching Graham Norton and wondering where the subtitles for Nadine are?

Over a lake? Yes, and they will drink from the water while flying. But if you mean over the sea then I dunno.

"be wise, strain the wine, and scale back your long hopes"

Strain? I've seen it translated elsewhere as "sink". All very culinary, but the latter seems preferable. My first thought is that cheap, young wine didn't used to be clear and perhaps needed straining? Compare Bordeaux and Claret. The deeper meaning being that you may as well drink the cloudy wine, because you may die before it's cleared. If you've ever brewed your own wine, you may relate to this.

Translation from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpe_diem#Source

Over a river.

Mark

This post is all sorts of WIN, Paul.

Mark