Less than 24 hours after the Homer City Council held its longest meeting in recent memory — 4 hours and 8 minutes, but who’s counting? — a 6.3 earthquake shook somewhere under Iliamna Volcano. The psychologist Carl Jung called this “synchronicity,” or an acausal connection between events.

Now, the Betster doesn’t mean to say that by going into overtime the council can cause an earthquake to happen. Yeah, there might be a few council members who think their rhetoric can make the earth move, but get real, Betsteroids: not even Donald Trump is that powerful. 

It seems to be more than coincidence, though, that the day after a superlong council meeting, shazam, there’s a big earthquake known to have knocked a few vases off shelves. OK, maybe it is coincidence. The Betster believes in a vast and powerful universe whose ways cannot be known by we puny little naked monkeys. These two random events probably don’t have any connection other than in time. Event A happened before Event B and that’s that.

Wouldn’t it be cool if two seemingly random events were connected? Wouldn’t that be an exciting and bizarre place to live? It would be like the 14th century. Don’t offend the gods lest a big natural disaster happen. If you do, bring in the shamans to fix things. The city council might have to hire a cosmic fixer along with a city clerk to keep things on track. Uh oh. The meeting went too long. Sacrifice an ox and fire up the altar.

Now that the Betster thinks about it, such a world might be too strange even for yours truly. Give us a good ol’ rational world, with causality and all that. Sure, it lacks a bit of magic, but it’s not surprising. Well, too surprising. A 6.3 quake at the end of a long working day sure can get the adrenalin pumping. That’s all the more reason to celebrate this awesome corner of the universe, perhaps with these Best Bets:

BEST KEEP IT CLEAN BET: That’s clean as in the oceans, the mission of Cook Inletkeeper. Join CIK for its 18th annual Splash Bash starting at 6 p.m. today at Bishop’s Beach. Celebrate clean water and healthy salmon with music by the Howlin’ Whales, a salmon barbecue and local beverages. It’s a thank you by the Keeper for its members, volunteers and friends.

BEST FLIPPIN’ FUN BET: Speaking of salmon, what’s become the Kenai Peninsula’s biggest music festival starts Friday at the Kenai Peninsula Fairgrounds. That’s Salmonfest, of course, formerly known as Salmonstock, and now in its new incarnation and sponsored by the Kachemak Bay Conservation Society. The music starts Friday morning and runs until Sunday night. For details, see story, page 10.

BEST GOOD OVERTIME: Sometimes it’s OK when events go into overtime, like the Salmonfest After Party, where the music is so hot it just goes on and on. Check it out at 8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday at Alice’s Champagne Palace. Salmonstock bands Great American Taxi and Cajun Country Revival play Monday and then Moonalice and Great American Taxi on Tuesday. Tickets are $15 and benefit KBBI.

BEST GET INSPIRED BET: Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or a wannabe, there’s plenty to inspire in the Homer Garden Club’s Gardeners’ Weekend. Talks, workshops and the annual garden tours are all part of the weekend designed to educate and, well, inspire. Garden tours happen Sunday; tickets are $15. Free talks by expert Bill Cullina are at 6:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Kachemak Bay Campus.