# 2016: Year of remarkable or seemingly-improbable events **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 15, 2016, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-year-of-remarkable-or-seemingly-improbable-events/772042 "2016-11-15T05:21:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-year-of-remarkable-or-seemingly-improbable-events/772042/21 "2016-11-19T08:08:46Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > This month has five Tuesdays, as did March, May, and August. 2017 will have four months with five Tuesdays. I am pretty sure this HAS to happen several times a year. Any month except February that starts on a Monday or Tuesday will have five Tuesdays, and a 31-day month can start on a Sunday and have five Tuesdays. Pretty sure that any leap year that has February 29 on a Tuesday will have 5 Tuesdays. In fact, February 29, 2000 was a Tuesday. Normally every year divisible by 100 is not a leap year, but every year that is divisible by 400 is a leap year. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-year-of-remarkable-or-seemingly-improbable-events/772042/22 "2016-11-19T17:31:43Z")
Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize in literature. When I first heard it had been awarded (before the radio announced to whom) my thought was “I wonder if I’ve heard of the guy?” ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2016, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-year-of-remarkable-or-seemingly-improbable-events/772042/23 "2016-11-19T19:05:17Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Future generations will look back and see it as THE pivotal event that shaped the creation of their world. Which is actually pretty obvious if viewed from the perspective of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics: we only ever get to experience worlds in which there are still observers around to, well, experience them. But, given the amount of nuclear weapons around, and the amount of times we’ve already been to the brink of annihilation, in the vast majority of worlds, we’re long since gone; and the remaining worlds are then the outliers, the weird worlds, where random shit happens. And of course, any sensible, non-weird world includes Lemmy (I think we can take that as axiomatic). Hence, Lemmy’s death is a direct consequence of us living in one of the weird worlds in which we haven’t yet managed to eliminate ourselves. Of course, this also means that things are only going to get weirder from here on out. So, let’s all look forward to 2017! ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2016, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-year-of-remarkable-or-seemingly-improbable-events/772042/24 "2016-11-20T02:02:53Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > Which is actually pretty obvious if viewed from the perspective of the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics: we only ever get to experience worlds in which there are still observers around to, well, experience them. But, given the amount of nuclear weapons around, and the amount of times we’ve already been to the brink of annihilation, in the vast majority of worlds, we’re long since gone; and the remaining worlds are then the outliers, the weird worlds, where random shit happens. > > And of course, any sensible, non-weird world includes Lemmy (I think we can take that as axiomatic). Hence, Lemmy’s death is a direct consequence of us living in one of the weird worlds in which we haven’t yet managed to eliminate ourselves. > > Of course, this also means that things are only going to get weirder from here on out. So, let’s all look forward to 2017! I like the way you think, **Half Man Half Wit**! The really weird thing is that Lemmy would have approved of things getting weirder. Alright 2017; bring it! BRING THE WEIRD! ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-year-of-remarkable-or-seemingly-improbable-events/772042/25 "2016-11-21T02:52:15Z")
The second free ascent of the Dawn Wall on El Capitan (Yosemite Valley) now looks to be [within reach of Adam Ondra](http://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/climbing/dawn-wall-adam-ondra-on-cloud-nine-on-el-capitan.html). There’s a good chance he finishes this by Tuesday. The first free ascent (of “the hardest big wall climb in the world”) was done by Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgenson in Jan 2015, after amazing effort spanning ~5 years. Its difficulty is beyond crazy. Ondra’s been at it for several weeks, and yesterday completed the crux pitches. What remains is meaningfully easier (which is to say that there are probably a dozen or so people in the world who might manage it). ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2016, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-year-of-remarkable-or-seemingly-improbable-events/772042/26 "2016-11-21T02:59:59Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Five Tuesdays in a month is very common. There have been four of them this year, including this month. Are you suggesting that chain mails are an unreliable source of information, sir? ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2016, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-year-of-remarkable-or-seemingly-improbable-events/772042/27 "2016-11-22T00:51:25Z")
Update: [Adam Ondra finished the second ascent of the Dawn Wall](http://www.rockandice.com/climbing-news/adam-ondra-sends-the-dawn-wall) today. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/2016-year-of-remarkable-or-seemingly-improbable-events/772042.md?page=1)