Trivial coincidences from everyday life.

[DonM435]

A sad one-- the day that Sally Ride's death was announced, I was talking with some other people at work about how newspapers and press offices have pre-written obituaries for famous people and how awkward it would have been to be the person tasked with writing them and hoping not to see your work published for many years.

I suppose that, in cases like this, one is simply writing a mostly-positive mini-biography of the person in question. It will probably be someone else who slaps on a lead sentence about the cause of death.

[Paul Beardsley]

Hmm, being quite serious for a moment, it would be an interesting exercise to write obituaries of living people we know. We might be surprised at how many nice things you can find to say about them - and we might be glad we thought of the things so we were able to say it to them while they're still alive.

[Jim]

Hmm, being quite serious for a moment, it would be an interesting exercise to write obituaries of living people we know. We might be surprised at how many nice things you can find to say about them - and we might be glad we thought of the things so we were able to say it to them while they're still alive.

Funny you mention this.

Some years back, the family was gathering to celebrate my father's 90th birthday. My stepmom told all of us to write out fond memories or thoughts on how he had affected our lives and we gave them to him. I kept a copy of what I had written on my computer.

A little over a year later, my father passed away. I used what I had written for that birthday as the basis for his eulogy. I don't think it could have been half as good otherwise.

[Trebuchet]

Hmm, being quite serious for a moment, it would be an interesting exercise to write obituaries of living people we know. We might be surprised at how many nice things you can find to say about them - and we might be glad we thought of the things so we were able to say it to them while they're still alive.

No thanks. I've had to do too many for real the past few years.

[Jeff Root]

I've been occasionally worrying about having to write
obituaries in the not-too-distant future. I don't seem
to be able to write that kind of thing. But you may
have suggested the solution for one person. I helped
get lots of other people to write about my dad for his
80th birthday. I can probably draw on that material.

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

[KaiYeves]

I suppose that, in cases like this, one is simply writing a mostly-positive mini-biography of the person in question. It will probably be someone else who slaps on a lead sentence about the cause of death.

From what I observed during my communications internship last summer, the former seems to be the case, it just strikes me as awkward for the obituary-writers to know that if their work is published, it means a famous person who they may admire and respect has died.

[Paul Beardsley]

From what I observed during my communications internship last summer, the former seems to be the case, it just strikes me as awkward for the obituary-writers to know that if their work is published, it means a famous person who they may admire and respect has died.

Yes. Normally when you write something you want it to be published, so I can see how it can feel a bit odd when you know that publication of your work is bad news.

[DonM435]

Perhaps if we all got the chance to read our own obituaries, it could inspire us to greatness, as we sought to rewrite the lines before they were composed. Perhaps we'd all lead more productive lives! Perhaps a new age of excellence would await. Perhaps ...

Nahhhh!

[DoggerDan]

Funny you mention this.

Some years back, the family was gathering to celebrate my father's 90th birthday. My stepmom told all of us to write out fond memories or thoughts on how he had affected our lives and we gave them to him. I kept a copy of what I had written on my computer.

A little over a year later, my father passed away. I used what I had written for that birthday as the basis for his eulogy. I don't think it could have been half as good otherwise.

I'm sorry to hear of your loss, Jim. My father did much the same shortly before my grandfather passed away. The results were interesting, not in a strange way, but in a delightful one.

[potoole]

You're in a grocery store, in an aisle all by yourself, looking at the canned vegetables. Suddenly your innards develope a huge pressure of flatulant gas. The pressure cannot be held in, but you are alone. No one in sight at either end of the aisle, so you release the gas, as easily as possible, but - the smell - ooh doggies.

Sure enough, within a second after the release, an attractive woman turns into your aisle, heads your way, then stops, right beside you. So what do you do? Grab a can of green beans, turn, head towards one end of the aisle, and never look back. However, at the checkout, guess who pulls up right behind you?

[Ara Pacis]

You're in a grocery store, in an aisle all by yourself, looking at the canned vegetables. Suddenly your innards develope a huge pressure of flatulant gas. The pressure cannot be held in, but you are alone. No one in sight at either end of the aisle, so you release the gas, as easily as possible, but - the smell - ooh doggies.

Sure enough, within a second after the release, an attractive woman turns into your aisle, heads your way, then stops, right beside you. So what do you do? Grab a can of green beans, turn, head towards one end of the aisle, and never look back. However, at the checkout, guess who pulls up right behind you?

That happens so often that I'm convinced it's not coincidence.

Also, it doesn't stop her from hopping in the car next to you and insisting you take out the garbage when you get home.

[starcanuck64]

I dropped by my sisters office last fall to pick up some documents she had for me. She wanted to know where I was headed next and I mentioned a used bookstore nearby that I was going to visit. She said there was this book that had been on her mind for some reason and asked if I would look for it while I was at the store.

She went on to explain it was an Ian Rankin book from a number of years ago called The Hanging Garden. Without saying anything I reached into my pack and pulled out the book she wanted me to look for, I'd been reading it on the bus the last few days.

[HenrikOlsen]

It may have been on her mind for the same reason you chose to read it, do you remember what triggered your choice?

[KaiYeves]

To add to the earlier coincidences I experienced related to the late mountaineering photographer Bradford Washburn, last night, I was reading a biography about him at a Shakespeare in the Park event while waiting for the show to start. A young man sitting near us turned out to be going to the same prep school that Mr. Washburn had!

As I remarked to my mother "That's kinda creepy."

[tnjrp]

My deceased significant other Sanna's sister is called Minna and she used to have two sons as of two days ago (when her baby girl was born). My current significant other as of almost a year ago is called Minna and she has two sons (most likely no more children on the way tho). Sanna and the latter Minna are redheads but the coincidence doesn't quite extent so far to her having a blonde sister Sanna...

[Extravoice]

Yesterday, I noticed that our mantle clock had stopped running, but didn't want to deal with resetting it.

Today, I walked down the stairs and remembered that I needed to wind and reset the clock. When I checked, it was set for exactly one minute in the future...just enough time to wind it and restart it without having to mess with the hands.

[DonM435]

Back when I worked on launch support at Cape Canaveral, I reported one night for work about two hours before the scheduled liftoff, as required of my duties.

Once in the building, my first look at the launch countdown clock showed "-111:11", which is what it shows when it's NOT counting.

As we had a short window on this one, I assumed that we had just scrubbed, and so began to make preparations to return home.

But I noticed that no one else seemed to be doing so, and so looked again: "-109:53" or something like that. :52, :51 ... .

I had just happened to look at it when it really was minus 111 minutes and 11 seconds. Bad timing!

[swampyankee]

I have two daughters. My younger daughter is at Southern Connecticut State Univ (SCSU), where there are three other people with the same first name and surname, and one with almost the same first name (minor spelling difference). There's only one other person with the same first name and surname as my older daughter. The woman with the same name as my older daughter is an artist with the local arts council, where my younger daughter is another artist.

[starcanuck64]

It may have been on her mind for the same reason you chose to read it, do you remember what triggered your choice?

It's one of my favorite books from the Rebus series.

The thing is it's one of his older books and I was rereading it. When my sister told me she wanted me to look for an Ian Rankin book she'd been thinking of lately that she hadn't read yet, I assumed she wanted me to look for a more recent book. He has a pretty large catalogue now and I find it interesting she would have suddenly gotten the urge to read a book I'd just bought a few weeks earlier and was reading myself.

[Paul Beardsley]

I haven't read that one yet, but I gather it's the one with quotes from the song of the same name by The Cure. He had (and presumably still has) good taste in music.

[starcanuck64]

(spoiler alert)

An important feature of later stories takes place in the novel as Rebus' daughter is crippled by a hit and run driver.

I'm not sure about the links to The Cure song, but Rankin(through Rebus) does seem to have a pretty good background in music. The Stones and a number of UK bands I'm not familiar with are referred to a lot.

[DoggerDan]

I once came across the love of my life from third grade. Different state, four years later, but she did not love me.

Live went on.

[Van Rijn]

Really trivial coincidence, since it was mostly psychological, but when reading the "sickly sweet" phrase in the S&T thread about anesthesia (and this is probably an inaccurate description of anesthetic smells, but never mind).

Anyway, when I read that, I thought of a certain Star Trek episode where the vampiric gas cloud had a "sickly sweet" smell noticed just before attack. The coincidence is that at that very moment, I start hearing "wooowhoooh" Star Trek wind sounds, what you would typically hear on a planet where you were likely to find something like this. It was enough to mildly startle me, to make me think for a fraction of a second that just maybe there could be a nearby vampire ghost cloud . . . anyway that went on for a second or two of thought until the sound changed and I could identify it as the brakes on a large truck.

But is sure did sound like Star Trek for a few seconds there. And it was fun. I try to remember when I come across science fiction like sound in real life situations, not associated with watching an appropriate video, or listening to an audio file. Happens quite a lot, actually.

[Jeff Root]

Van Rijn,

Yesterday, for no reason that I can recall now, I was
thinking about a very distinctive sound that was used
many times for different purposes on the original 'Outer
Limits'. I probably haven't heard it in decades.

When I read the thread with "sickly sweet", I knew the
expression was familiar. Could be from that Star Trek
episode.

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

[swampyankee]

My first name is the same as the first name of the second man to walk on the Moon.

[Trebuchet]

I had to look up his real first name. My middle name is the same as his.

[swampyankee]

I had to look up his real first name. My middle name is the same as his.

''

...and your middle name is the same as my first!

It is not a coincidence, however, that my first name is the same as one of Lincoln's cabinet members. It is, however, certainly coincidental that my middle name is the same as the founder of Black Star Line.

[Trebuchet]

''

...and your middle name is the same as my first!

I'm confused. You said your first name was the same as the FIRST name of the second man to walk on the moon. I said my MIDDLE name was the same as his. Now you say my middle name is the same as your first. Something's not adding up!

[swampyankee]

I'm confused. You said your first name was the same as the FIRST name of the second man to walk on the moon. I said my MIDDLE name was the same as his. Now you say my middle name is the same as your first. Something's not adding up!

I misunderstood -- probably because I was posting when I should have been sleeping -- and thought your middle name was the same as his first name.

[SeanF]

I had to look up his real first name. My middle name is the same as his.

His real first name is Buzz. Edwin is his former first name.

Edwin, FWIW, was my grandfather's first name, and the astronaut was named after him.




And by that I mean my grandfather was named before the astronaut was.