Save this date. Back on May 1, 2009 on Associated Content before it became Y!CN, one of those strange and inexplicable events transpired that leaves a person enveloped in wonder and asking why things occur and how these actions are set in motion.

The characters on this particular stage of life were Dan Reveal and myself. Both of us have published on on the old Associated Content and the new Y!CN platforms. Since the middle of April in 2009, when we first realized the other one existed, we have enjoyed reading each others online articles, pots and poetry. From time to time we have exchanged messages. The last such communication prior to the initial publication of this article was on April 26, 2009. This communication seemed normal with no hint of a mystical connection lurking beneath the surface.

However, on this day a sequence of events unfolded in a manner that can be described best as simply bizarre. By all accounts, each of us had been living our day in normal fashion. Neither of us had an inkling as to what the other was doing. However, sometime shortly before 7 PM, I got an urge to go to Dan Reveal’s Associated Content (Y!CN) page and read some of his articles. Apparently, also shortly before 7 PM, Dan Reveal had a desire to visit my Associated Content (Y!CN) page and peruse some of my material. Shortly after 7:00 PM, I stumbled upon Dan’s uplifting piece titled; “Ideal Barbershop in Seymour, Indiana: The Traditions of Barbershops Raise Community Spirits.” At about the same time, Dan Reveal happened upon my troublesome tale of a different sort of barbershop titled; “A Barber, a Barbershop and a Head Filled with Memories of Haircuts.” After reading each others literary masterpiece, both of us, independent of each other, decided to offer a written comment on each others work

No sooner had I left a written comment on Dan Reveal’s article when I noticed that I had just received a notification from Dan, indicating that Dan had had just written a comment on one of my articles. I opened the notice and saw that Dan had just commented on my barbershop article. I thought to myself; wow, this is odd. I was intrigued, so I went right back to the articles. Using my finely tuned computer forensic skills, I noted Dan’s comment was time stamped May 1, 2009 at 7:05:36 PM and that my own comment was time stamped on May 1, 2009 at 7:05:38 PM.

So in summary, Dan and I, two apparently normal individuals, who had no direct contact with each other on this day, at approximately the same time, sought out each others published work. Also, at about the same time, we each selected an article to read that the other had written about a barbershop. We both chose to comment upon the work of our fellow writing comrade. The time stamps indicate that our individual comments were officially posted within two seconds of each other.

If this is not weird, I don’t know what is. It certainly makes a person take a step back and ask themselves how and why did this happen. To say that this supports the view, that it’s a small world after all, is a definitely understatement. It is too bad (Y!CN) deleted all old comments. Therefore, the physical evidence is no longer visible to the naked eye.

Note 1: Associated Content / Yahoo! Contributor Network (Y!CN) is defunct. These links to the original pieces are provided courtesy of the  https://archive.org/web

Ideal Barbershop in Seymour, Indiana: The Traditions of Barbershops Raise Community Spirits

A Barber, a Barbershop and a Head Filled with Memories of Haircuts

Note 2: As I prepared to post this written work of mine on my website, I discovered that since May 31, 2009, my piece has been posted in it’s entirety here:  http://wettub.com/strange-times-at-associated-content/ . This is 100% thievery and it appears that this site has swiped plenty of other content from other potentially unsuspecting Associated Content / Y!CN Contributors.

Originally published on Associated Content / Yahoo! Contributor Network (Y!CN) on May 2, 2009

© Copyright, Han Van Meegerin – All Rights Reserved

Pen it or Buck it...