Coincidentally
This is sure to join the D-Day Crossword Puzzle, and the Titan/Titanic on the short list of history’s spookiest synchronicities.
Power told the host that at the exact same time that the London bombings were taking place, his company was running a 1,000 person strong exercise which drilled the London Underground being bombed at the exact same locations, at the exact same times, as happened in real life.
Bet they were really nervous about kicking off the next simulation.
Unless I'm misreading the crossword story, the only thing remarkable about it is that anyone might think there something remarkable about it, it seems to me. The key fact seems to be in this phrase: "Another answer that appeared in that month’s crossword was Mulberry."
That month's. Well, yes, if you collect a month's worth of daily crosswords, among the some 2400+ words, that a few are code names is hardly remarkable. Which is why it was perfectly plausible at the time that it was a coincidence. What's unclear is why this would be seen as remarkable today?
I don't find the rest of the original article's point terribly convincing, either, I'm afraid. (And for good measure, the points about the Titantic all seemed entirely plausible, utterly unastonishing, speculation, too: gosh, ocean liners will have three propellors!; hitting an ice-berg is bad!; people tend to believe myths based upon pride!; who could imagine?!?)
But, boy, that prisonplanet site is chock-a-block with tin foil hat stuff.
Posted by Gary Farber on July 19 2005 22:11
Y'see with the D-Day crosswords, it should be possible to do a statistical analysis of the fifteen-or-so years of crosswords previous to the revelation of the coincidence and quantify how unlikely it was for the code words to pop up just at that time. Sadly, Thirty Seconds of Research reveals no such study online.
Posted by Dan Percival on July 20 2005 10:38