DDT
Last night at dinner with neighbors, conversation turned to environmental causes for disease. Our neighbor M. has Parkinson’s and I asked her if it was appropriate to question her about it, especially when she first realized something was wrong. Her husband brought up studies which demonstrated possible environmental links to this and other similar diseases. So I told them this story from shortly after WWII. DDT’s insecticidal properties were discovered in 1939, and it was post-war that it became widely available, and was touted as a miracle, the end of all insects.
Wisconsin is blessed with ferocious mosquitos, so several times each summer a truck would drive every street, laying down a thick, dense fog of DDT. Many kids discovered that they could follow the truck on their bikes, and only their heads would be visible above the fog layer. Environmental awareness was minimal and we continued doing this for years. It was so cool!
Telling the story last night reminded me of a connected story. We were in a restaurant in Reno and I had just told Mrs. side pocket this story for the first time. She was shocked; none of her circle in a city 30 miles away had done this. As we were leaving the restaurant we passed a table near the door. Someone at that table was telling his group the exact same story! There had been no communication between our tables whatsoever. I told our dinner companions last night this story, and the husband said that was the most coincidental story he had ever heard of, almost unbelievable. I wish I had remembered the story when I wrote a KTK called Coincidence in 2015, which contained my previously most coincidental experience.
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On a musical note (ha!) I have been listening to various stations on my headphones, as suggested by Alexa. One of these is called Paul Simon Radio and it features an eclectic mix of music of many genres. One of these was Africa by Toto. I enjoyed it so much that I looked it up on Google to find out about it. I remembered that people had been opinionated about the song. What I found may surprise you:
Is the best song of all-time “Africa” by Toto?
Actually, Toto turns out to be remarkably good and sophisticated according to musicians. Toto was a group of hardcore, highly respected studio musicians. They crafted those songs pretty carefully and were incredibly successful with those four albums. And musicians actually really love Toto.
Science says “Africa” is the best song ever made. Says a scientist.
Now I lean toward Sultans of Swing in that category, but some might not agree.
So it would be appropriate to comment on pesticidal coincidental musical favorites or any combination thereof. Unlimited, actually, since this is an open thread.