A Strange Case Of Uncanny Timing: Reader contribution

What does it mean?

You've been thinking about somone. Somone you haven't heard from in weeks, months or even years, and within a short period of time you receive some kind of communication from them. Twice I received letters from a woman I had worked with years before within a day of thinking about her for the first time in a long period of time. The second instance I even stopped in front of the mailbox and had the idea that there was going to be a letter from her because it had already happened once and sure enough, there was a letter in the box. My question is obvious. What is this phenomenon that boils down to a "Strange Case Of Uncanny Timing"?

Is it God? Is it the Universe? Entanglement? Are our brains Quantum computers? Is it the "Law of Attraction"?, or is it all nothing more than a coincidence? Carl Jung called it synchronicity and it happens all the time. Does it happen to you? It happens to me and I find myself wondering "What does it mean?". Decide for yourself as you follow my diary of another "Strange Case Of Uncanny Timing", also known as a S.C.O.U.T!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Reader contribution - A fainting goat named S.C.O.U.T.

Background - Caroline told me the story of her daughter watching “America’s Funniest Home Videos” and the clip she had seen of the goat that seems to “faint” when startled or excited. Her daughter couldn’t stop replaying the clip and giggling herself silly! She even replayed it for her Mom and Dad to let them in on the fun. “What an odd goat” they all thought, never having seen anything like it. Her daughter finally got enough and they all went on their merry way, not thinking another thing about it.

S.C.O.U.T. - The next day her daughter comes home from school and answers the question that had been swirling around the goat video from the day before… “What’s wrong with that goat?” That day, Caroline’s daughter learned about the “Tennessee fainting goat” at school. This goat is a particular breed of goat that inherits a gene for a disorder called “Mystonia Congenita” which causes their muscles, and specifically their legs, to “stiffen” when startled or excited. The goats often tip over from the effects and appear to “faint”. After about 10 seconds they return to normal and trot off as if nothing happened.

We named this goat S.C.O.U.T. because we are having trouble believing that, after seeing this breed of goat for the very first time; Caroline’s daughter coincidently learns about it in class the very next day and answers the question “what’s wrong with that goat?” Uncanny!!

Caroline’s husband noted that the goat isn’t nearly as funny now that we know what’s wrong with it. My goofy dog Scout agrees with Caroline’s husband and is also annoyed that somewhere out there, his namesake is a goat.