Television easter eggs

[beez7777]

i was watching south park last night, and it was the episode with the underpants gnomes. as the boys entered tweek's room his digital clock said 10:09. so, i looked over to my clock, and sure enough, it was 10:09. anyone else ever notice any weird occurrences such as this?
:)

[mymemory]

Dude, can I go to the US to touch you?:p

The other day I was watching a movie where the girl was making a phone call and my phone started ringing...

[vniow]

I remember one time when we had intercoms in our old house and I was watching DS9, when Quark said something like 'do you hear that'' right when my sister buzzed me.

I thought it was on TV so I ignored it, then she buzzed me again, right when Quark said 'there it is again!'

Almost scared the ***** out of me before I found out it was the intercom.http://img.ranchoweb.com/images/veronica/eek21.gif

[Doctor Q]

Originally posted by beez7777
...his digital clock said 10:09. so, i looked over to my clock, and sure enough, it was 10:09. anyone else ever notice any weird occurrences such as this?
There are 720 hour:minute combinations on a 12-hour clock. So, if completely left to chance with all times being equally probable, there is a one in 720 chance that a time you see will be the current time. You probably see a lot of clocks on TV. So, on the average, your apparently amazing coincidence will happen once every 720 times you see a clock. For the 719 that don't match, you probably wouldn't think to notice. But when that match happens, you're amazed.

In other words, the chances of a specific coincidence happening at a specific time are low, but the chances of some coincidence happening over a period of time are quite high.

On the evening news last month, they reported with great fanfare that the winning numbers in the New York lottery were 9-1-1 on September 11 . The chances were low for that to happen, but it was likely that something to do with the number 911 would happen on that day. Whatever it was, that was the story that would end up on the news as an "amazing coincidence".

For more about common misinterpretations of the mathematics behind everyday occurrences, I recommend Innumeracy:_Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?isbn=0809058405) by John Allen Paulos. Even people who "hated math" in school have enjoyed reading this book.

There's no harm in enjoying the surprising coincidences that show up, like those mentioned above. Mathematics guarantees that there will be plenty of them to enjoy!

[zimv20]

Originally posted by Doctor Q

There are 720 hour:minute combinations on a 12-hour clock. So, if completely left to chance with all times being equally probable, there is a one in 720 chance that a time you see will be the current time.

good point. but i think there's a better chance. the editors/writers knew that the episode would air at either the hour straight up or at :30 (in reruns, anyway). so they timed it nine minutes into the show (including commercials).

assuming everyone's clocks are accurate, there is a 1 in 12 chance of that happening if the show starts on the hour. if you take into account it could start at :30, then there's a 1 in 24 chance.

NOW --

we're assuming random distribution of satellite feeds, timewise. but what if, for the new shows, southpark aired at ten pm? (i don't have cable, so i don't know).

the producers would know their timeslot. and if comedy central does a multi-feed to the satellites (so that it ALWAYS airs at 10pm, regardless of timezone), then there is no probability. it was intentional.

[Doctor Q]

Whether it was a coincidence or a cleverly arranged trick, the South Park clock synchronization was amusing. On the ugly side, I noticed an apparent coincidence in yesterday's newspaper: "Sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad purchased the blue 1990 Chevrolet Caprice on Sept. 10 from Sure Shot Auto Sales Inc." If the dealership name is merely a coincidence, it is another example where we notice the connections that do happen and don't miss the many possible connections that could have happened but didn't.

[funkywhat2]

that episode of south park did air at ten o'clock. i was watching it with him.

i've noticed similar occurances in shows like the simposons, but i cannot think of a particular episode.

[Doctor Q]

There was a show on Fox last season named 24, which took the whole season to follow the events in a single 24 hour period, one hour per episode. I never saw it, but I've been told that each episode was synchronized so that, as the episode played, the minutes past the hour on a real clock would match the minutes after the hour of the story. That was definitely on purpose.

[buffsldr]

Originally posted by Doctor Q
Whether it was a coincidence or a cleverly arranged trick, the South Park clock synchronization was amusing. On the ugly side, I noticed an apparent coincidence in yesterday's newspaper: "Sniper suspect John Allen Muhammad purchased the blue 1990 Chevrolet Caprice on Sept. 10 from Sure Shot Auto Sales Inc." If the dealership name is merely a coincidence, it is another example where we notice the connections that do happen and don't miss the many possible connections that could have happened but didn't.

I thought I read that the guy who sold the car to him was being held for questioning. Perhaps the dealer was involved with firearms and named his dealership partially for that reason. Any confirmation from anyone else?

[rainman::|:|]

Originally posted by Doctor Q
There was a show on Fox last season named 24, which took the whole season to follow the events in a single 24 hour period, one hour per episode. I never saw it, but I've been told that each episode was synchronized so that, as the episode played, the minutes past the hour on a real clock would match the minutes after the hour of the story. That was definitely on purpose.

Friggin' DUH? and the two episodes that were for i think 7:00 (AM and PM) matched my auto-set cable box and VCR. but yes, if you got the whole set on DVD (RJ went out and bought it, i wasn't a big enough fan) and started watching it at midnight, you'd see a day unfold on TV the same as it was IRL.

since it was happening in real-time, if it *didn't* sync up, it'd be a little disappointing...

only bad thing was commercials and the few minutes between shows cut in, so exactly every hour the characters should have noticed that absolutely nothing happened for like 4 minutes :)

pnw

[Doctor Q]

Originally posted by paulwhannel
only bad thing was commercials and the few minutes between shows cut in, so exactly every hour the characters should have noticed that absolutely nothing happened for like 4 minutes
For some biologically unexplainable reason, people in movies and on TV shows rarely if ever need to go to the bathroom. Maybe the mysterious 4 minute gaps in their lives are the bathroom breaks we never hear about!

[rainman::|:|]

Originally posted by Doctor Q

For some biologically unexplainable reason, people in movies and on TV shows rarely if ever need to go to the bathroom. Maybe the mysterious 4 minute gaps in their lives are the bathroom breaks we never hear about!

This is very true, i didn't even think about it. Either it's a bathroom break, or all the characters weren't very regular!

:)
pnw