Let's mess with Pete — the Cosmos' teasing sense of humor

© 2019 Peter Free

 

22 Mar 2019

 

 

I have mentioned the simulation hypothesis before

 

The Cosmos (however we conceptualize it) seems to have a fondness for lightheartedly messing with us.

 

One such story is here.

 

 

Here are two more

 

Story one — the vanishing hawk

 

Yesterday, trying to get pictures of exceptionally shy water turtles (before they noticed me), I saw a hawk swooping, unusually low, in a spiraling loop just above creek trees' newly leafed crowns.

 

During the swoop, the bird positioned itself to show off colorful feather details.

 

My camera has difficulty focusing on moving birds, so I tricked it into achieving infinity focus. So as to capture the swooping bird, as well as spring season's new-green trees.

 

A glance at the camera LCD indicated that the shot was grossly overexposed. The screen was white.

 

Huh?

 

The hawk immediately, unexpectedly came back. Another unusually low loop.

 

Again, I managed to trick the camera into quickly achieving proper focus.

 

Same result. Completely white screen.

 

Naturally, the bird departed.

 

In checking my camera settings, I noticed that — for the first time in Pete's recorded history — the camera had (anthropomorphically speaking) managed to set itself to a whopping 5 stops of overexposure.

 

First time ever for a fat finger issue of that magnitude.

 

There went my two, assuredly "skillfully" focused, bird photos.

 

 

Story two — dawn and the supermoon

 

At dawn today, I noticed the rising sun reflected in our neighbor's window.

 

Just above his roof, perfectly positioned, March 2019's waning supermoon whitely hung.

 

Scattered pastel clouds elegantly nuanced the morning's beauty.

 

Good picture, thought I.

 

I went inside our house to get a camera and a graduated neutral density filter.

 

I would use the filter to take the edge off the moon and window-reflected sun's brightness.

 

It took me two minutes to find and mount the holder and its filter.

 

When I returned outside, clouds had covered sun and moon. Not just one or the other — they being located on widely separated sky horizons — but both.

 

Cloud cover stayed that way the rest of the morning.

 

 

The moral? — Coincidence?

 

Maybe not.

 

The universe, God — or their simulations — enjoy teasing us.

 

That's part of the Plan.

 

I cultivate Zen equanimity.

 

Punctuated with wryly smiling curses.