Salmagundi, (or potpourri), and a poll:

[capri0mni]

Salmagundi (noun):

1.a) A mixed salad of salted, cooked meat and vegetables.

1.b) An odd assortment of interesting things -- a Potpourri.

2) A Literary Magazine, started by Washington Irving in 1807, revived by the Harman Literary Society in 1904, and, apparently, a K-12 school in Oregon in 2009 (must be one of those cyclical things).

3) A local, independent, bookstore in the town where I grew up (and which my parents half-bought and help run when the original owner got into bankruptcy trouble --but then, her bad business habits continued, and got us into trouble, and we had to sell it; eventually, a retired history professor bought it and kept it going for a couple decades longer, until she had to move to Kentucky, a few years ago -- after I'd moved down here. She sold it to a semi-Independent Bookseller Dude, who changed the name).

4) A really, really fun word to say, that would also be a fun surname of a fictional character, don't you think?.

5) This post -- the "odd assortment" bit, at least. I'll leave it to you to decide whether it's "interesting."

*No, that was Solomon Grundy.

---

I'm not sure what triggered this thought, originally, but it's been surfacing and resurfacing on and off over the last six months or so:

My dad came home from a meeting one night (school board, I think), and relayed this line which someone had said to him in conversation:

"Anyone who says they don't believe in "luck" has just never had any bad luck."

And it is so true. This also translates to the whole subject of privilege, and how those who have it are blind to its power, and they end up confusing things that were given to them as a result of privilege with things they earned for themselves (as was often said of President Bush the Second: "He was born on third base, and thought he hit a triple." [/USian sports reference].

Last week sometime, there was a news bit on the radio, about the youngest person to sail solo around the world. In the radio report, I heard her say something like (paraphrased): "You can do anything if you have a dream and perseverance." ...And I couldn't help adding, in my head: "and a mummy and daddy who will pay for your sailing lessons, and buy you a boat..." Don't get me wrong: her acchievement is incredible, and she has a boatload (sorry) of skill and courage and smarts. She also has a boatload of very good luck. She couldn't have sailed around the world relying on luck alone, but neither could she have succeeded without it.

I think that's why people get huffy when their lottery-ticket-buying habits are mocked. Mocking their hope that they might have good luck only highlights the fact that you probably don't see the good luck in your own life that has led to you feel all superior. ...Or something.

---

Different pitches combine to create chords.

Different chords trigger certain emotions, instinctively.

This morning, the different pitches of the drones of my wheelchair-battery charger combined with: the humming of my refrigerator, the running water of a stuck toilet lever, and the lawnmower of one of my neighbors combined to create a chord so noxious, I dreamt that the sound was made tangible into a sticky, sulphur-yellow goo that was smothering me, and the entire dreamworld I was dreaming of.

Then, I woke up with a headache.

You know, in the circle of ASL Vloggers I subscribe to on YouTube, the question of: "Why are the Hearing so crazy?" comes up on a semi-regular basis.

I think this may be why: we've created a world where we're surrounded by electronic drones, and we might be subjecting ourselves to chords and chord-progressions through the day that make us feel like we really are living in "The Hotel California."

---

The Poll:

Poll #3230 Still not confident writing skiffy skience

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 2

View Respondents

In my Gabriel Story, what unsual sort of thing should happen during the Meteor Crash of Kablooey (or its aftermath) that would lead scientists to study said meteorite with an eye toward its energy-field attributes ('cause you don't find what you're not looking for, or paying attention to)?

View Answers

The expected global-scale dust cloud (of the sort that triggers climate change) does not happen.
1 (50.0%)

Plants regrowing in the crash site(s) grow weirdly, as if under unusual gravitational forces.
1 (50.0%)

Earth's weather gets weird in other ways, besides climate -- like, maybe lightning acts different in thunderstorms).
0 (0.0%)

Weird things happen with light around the crash site(s)
0 (0.0%)

Other. [If you click this, you better answer the next question. Or I will fwap you with the Rubber Trout of Ridiculousness (Virtual Version)]
0 (0.0%)

You have an other idea, do you? Don't keep it to yourself!!

View Answers

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Comments

[spiralsheep]

On luck:

"You know, I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe."

Marcus Cole to Franklin, in the Babylon 5 episode A Late Delivery from Avalon.

[capri0mni]

This. I think that's why people get prickly when you mock their asperations to good luck.

You are implying that their position in life is all their own doing, and that if their family has been poor for generations, it's because their ancestors were lazy bums as well...

That's one reason why the NewAge approach of "think happy thoughts to cure cancer" approach bothers me so much.