June 25, 2006

The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon You may have heard about Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon before. In fact, you probably learned about it for the first time very recently. If not, then you just might hear about it again very soon. But, there is Littlewood's law, which states that we each can expect a miracle to happen to us at the rate of about once a month. It appears our grip on reality is slim.

Baader-Meinhof is the phenomenon where one happens upon some obscure piece of information– often an unfamiliar word or name– and soon afterwards encounters the same subject again, often repeatedly. Anytime the phrase "That's so weird, I just heard about that the other day" would be appropriate, the utterer is hip-deep in Baader-Meinhof.

posted by At Swim Two Birds 17 years ago
  • Woah. I was just thinking about Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon. Weird!
  • Woah. I was just thinking. Weird!
  • You eat a lot of acid, Miller, back in the hippie days?
  • Let me just finish this plate of shrimp.
  • That's incredible! I was just attacked by a singing shrimp!
  • I was just thinking of gathering together with a group of like-minded friends and launching an armed uprising against capitalism, death and the Spectacle, so it is indeed a wild coincidence.
  • I think an armed uprising of singing shrimp could conquer the world!
  • "That's so weird, I just heard about that the other day." I wonder what sentient new monkey Sterny thinks of this. Sterny: "Oh Jesus! A bawdiest, adroit truth. The ratty hothead." Uncanny. I'm gonna hide under the bed, now.
  • The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon, Not to be confused with the Stockholm Syndrome.
  • Whoa, that is uncanny. I was just hiding under the bed! At least I think I was--it's that old grip-on-reality thing, you know. And humans are sooooo good at seeing patterns in things--we even have a name for it.
  • When the mind of a beholder connects two otherwise apparently unconnected events in such a way that they seem meaningful = synchronicity. Can't see there's anything to be gained by breaking this down further according to the particuloar type of event involved. So Baader-Meinhof seems unnecessary. Unless one is heading for port in the Land of Seeming.
  • Woah! That's uncanny! I was just heading for port in Land Of Seeming!
  • Cool link ASTB! Thanks! First time i heard of Littlewood's law. I imagine i'll be hearing more of it quite soon though.... *eerie music*
  • That's not the same as when you and somebody else near (or not so near) you think of the same thing at the same moment, is it? I've experienced that many times, with people I have some affection or attraction to. Out of the blue, something pops out and both talk of a concept or idea or event that has no connection to current situation.
  • Hmmm. Could MoFi's two coinciding Harriet the Dismally Defunct Tortoise threads be construed as a kind of miracle, or miracle-in-embryo? That is, assuming that Nickdanger and the collective that is the petebests were not acting in collusion. VertexOfLife, daresay we meet on/in/through the internets, aka the Land of Seeming.
  • Woah! That's uncanny, I was just making myself some soup!
  • Apophenia.
  • Is the Uncanny Valley in the Land of Seeming? I hear the call to adventure! Follow your bliss, pal.
  • I fear me this uncanny glen where fog buries us deep and uncovers us again
  • How did Marxist bank robbers have the time to develop this theory between assaulting the system and dieing mysterious deaths in prisons?
  • WHO'S BAAD?
  • Petebests? Whoa!! Synchronicity.
  • Pareidolia. Creativity. Imagination. Tell me where is Fancy bred ...?
  • Next to the whole wheat?
  • Wow! I was just thinking of having a sandwich.
  • Monkeyfilter: It appears our grip on reality is slim.
  • Monkeyfilter:Tell me where is Fancy bred ...? Monkeyfilter:Next to the whole wheat?
  • Just last week, i bought whole wheat bread when meaning to get the fancy Wonder Plus white bread!
  • Pairedolia. And now I am reading Sync. Uncanny! This is apophenia's page.
  • Electric Voice Phenomenon which seems to me even odder than spotting patterns visually. Clustering Illusion Cognitive Biases
  • I'm sure I read this thread not two days ago. Blimey!
  • I knew you were going to say that.
  • Someone is going to mention "plate". Or "shrimp".
  • £5000 a plate dinners, here we come! ;]
  • Origins.. There is a long running feature called Bulletin Board in my local paper, the St. Paul Pioneer Press called Bulletin Board. People write/email/call and leave a message, and it all gets compiled into a half-page of text. People choose handles to submit under. Mine's The Tired Techie, for what it's worth. There's a series of headings that are used, kinda like but more set than Slashdot's dept-of-whatever usage, for classifying entries. One common one is "Warning! Cute kid story ahead!" Which is, of course, for cute kid stories. One of the ongoing set pieces is what BB refers to as the "Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon." As far as my google-fu can determine, BB coined the term from a reader's entry where they were amazed at how often the subject came up after they first read about it. Reader vie with each other for 'certified' B-Ms, as they're called. :) http://http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/living/people/
  • What's that little shrimp Pete up to now?
  • Sorry I'm plate.
  • You're in first plaice, actually.
  • Prawn queue!
  • *resists urge to conch petebest on head*
  • Watch out, he's got muscles.
  • Hmm....mussels. *gurgle gurgle*
  • You better com'er Pete. If I catch you, I'm gonna whale on you.
  • In the immortal words of path: Clam down!
  • You're a b'oyster us bunch today.
  • Whelk, I think we've run aground.
  • Sea Horse what you've started?
  • Aaah - baloney!
  • Good Cod, we's floundering!
  • D'oh!
  • La Fin!
  • Gobi silly somewhere else.
  • Always carping.
  • Buncha pikers
  • Mahi mahi, GranMa, you certainly are a snapper today. What a crab. Have you no sole? Show us yer mullet!
  • Er, "GramMa", sorry. My typing's crappie today.
  • Ticky, I fillet like I was quite a bass hole earlier. My apologies.
  • Could you repeat that, please. I'm a little hard of herring.
  • Well it's nothing to get stuck in your crawfish.
  • Did salmon say something?
  • Sea? Monkeys!
  • Always crabbing about something, 'tis a bad hallibut we have. Can't always be gold, I guess. Silver's a fair possibilty, though.
  • This thread is not sponge-worthy.