When Improbability Starts Adding Up

I’ve experienced an unusually high number of coincidences throughout my life. Four stand out to me—three of which I can physically demonstrate, and one that I can mostly support using dates and public records.

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1. The “A in the Palm” Coincidence

The lines in the palm of my hand form the letter A. The crossbar is faint, but it’s there. I’ve shown it to many people, and they agree it looks like an A.

With an “A” placed at the beginning of my last name, it spells Apostlethwaite.

Out of curiosity, I asked Google about the probability of palm lines forming a recognizable letter. The response suggested the probability was extremely close to zero. When I asked what that might mean mathematically, Google gave a range between 10⁻⁵⁰ and 10⁻¹⁰²³.

I don’t claim precision—only improbability.

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2. The Name-Anagram Coincidence

Using the letters in my full name—Kevin Postlethwaite—I can spell the sentence:

“’e knew path to liv E.T.s”

What’s missing is a single apostrophe (to replace a dropped “H”) and a long vowel marker over the “i” in liv. In English, dropped H’s are common, and long vowel sounds are often implied.

I didn’t explain these allowances to Google. I simply asked what the odds were of forming a meaningful sentence from the letters of an 18-letter name, without noting that the sentence would be personally relevant.

Google’s estimate: less than 1 in 6.4 quadrillion.

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3. The “Hi ‘A’: God” Coincidence

Years ago, I brought a book back from Bolivia. Later, rearranging the letters of its title, I discovered they spelled:

“HI ‘A’: GOD” (including the colon)

My name isn’t “A,” but Google indicates it’s rarer to have an A shape in one’s palm than to actually be named “A.” Over time, I began to think of myself as the “A” in this coincidence, given this and other unlikely events in my life.

This is another coincidence I can physically demonstrate.

When I asked Google to estimate the odds, the comparison was something like winning the lottery repeatedly or being struck by lightning multiple times. I chose seven—the highest number mentioned—partly because of additional unlikely factors, and partly because seven is the most times a person has reportedly been struck by lightning.

Based on that, I arrived at an estimate of 1 in 1 octillion.

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4. The Blue Moon Coincidence

This one I can’t fully prove, so I’ll keep it simpler. In 1999, I was reading Mein Kampf—not out of political sympathy, but curiosity. I came across the line:

“Only once in a blue moon is a diplomat born that can lead large masses of people.”

I put the book down, turned on the TV, and the weatherman said: “Go outside and see the blue moon, people. There will be two this week.”

I went outside and saw a blue moon—visibly blue, the color of a husky’s eyes. Being part of a coincidence involving a celestial body has a profound impact.

Later, Google estimated the odds of this sequence of events at 1 googol to 1. According to something called Berel’s Law of Chance (which I found via Google and hope is real), the Earth doesn’t exist long enough for events with probabilities as low as 10⁻⁵⁰ to occur.

Taken together, the odds of just these four events amount to something like 10⁻⁴⁰,⁵⁰⁰,⁰⁰⁰—far beyond what should be possible within the lifetime of the Earth.

So I’m left wondering: Is this simply another example of the fallibility of Google? Or is something else going on?