(Submitted by reader Andy Harding)

We had just moved into a new house and couldn’t find the cable to connect my printer to my computer. I gave up looking and decided to go into town and buy a new one.

As I left the house I found the cable I needed laying in the road. The weekly garbage truck had passed a few minutes earlier.

No, it wasn’t the cable I had lost; it was shorter and a different color. I later found the missing cable in a different box.

When I tell people about this I get some funny looks, I don’t think anyone believes me.

Below are the extended notes provided by cognitive psychologist and statistician Barbara Drescher for use in Skepticality Episode 221.  Take a look and leave your comments below. Also, please be sure to listen to the podcast for our own sarcastic and hilarious commentary. Also, visit Barbara’s blog.

This is a very impressive story, but I have little analysis to offer.

It’s highly likely that the cable is very common, since most printer cables are pretty standard, but it’s not very often that people just throw out cables. To top that off, how often do those cables fall out of trash bins (or a car, or wherever it came from) to be found lying on the ground? And right when he needed it?

I’d say this one is just one of those extremely unlikely events that we must expect a few of in our lives.

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