Coincidentally, I don't believe in coincidences.

#coincidence

There is no such #thing as a #coincidence #oblivion npc #satire #yt 🤣🤣🤣 👏👏👏

https://youtu.be/oe_0ujveNIo

#nemoradio

I can't help thinking that all these coincidences can't just be coincidence.

For example, this morning Steven was watching a video which featured Norah Jones singing Pink Pony Club, which he's never heard of before in his life. He came downstairs and checked his Mastodon feed, and someone is sharing a performance of Pink Pony Club as the first post he sees. Coincidence?

There was a tiny little caterpillar crawling across my placemat as I'm about to have lunch. I carefully take him outside to put him on the ground and find his twin on our step. I have never seen this particular kind of caterpillar before. And I don't see any others now. Coincidence?

Too weird.

#EllieKPosts #coincidence #caterpillar

Coincidence?

Coincidence appears often in our lives: For example, my turning on a light in my apartment building, at the moment someone else is looking up. This simple event—that perfectly timed light just as they look up—might strike them as being significant. But for me it may go unnoticed as an unremarkable moment. The perception of meaning in that coincidence depends on our contexts. It’s the context that is the special part, not the event itself. Understanding that, makes it possible to shift our perspectives.

Sonder: n. the realization that each random passerby is the main character of their own story, living a life just as vivid and complex as your own, while you are just an extra in the background

I’m just the random person flipping on a light. That other person, who I don’t even know is out there, is the main character of their story. But it’s just a coincidence.

Thirty years ago I bought a calculator. An HP-42S which, to this day, works perfectly in every respect. The keys don’t just still work but they are in perfect condition. They softly bump (the way a modern phone’s haptic motor dreams it might some day bump) and their labels remain pristine. It’s clearly a marvel of over-engineering. It takes 3 little button batteries, and they last about 3 or 4 years. When I bought it, it was moderately expensive. Not expensive per se, but also not something I’d want to lose. So I put a little white label inside the battery door and I wrote the date and my first name. (And I did once leave it in a laboratory, and retrieved it from lost+found by saying, “my name is inside.”) Being insane, I even wrote the month/year on that label as I changed the batteries. After about 15 years, the label was full and I stopped writing dates. A few days ago—on December 16th to be exact—the battery indicator said it was again, time. Normally (read “ALWAYS”), I’m a “jump up and do it now” sort of person. Instead, for no particular reason, I turned off my faithful 42S and simply set it aside. The very next day, I got three new batteries, opened the little battery door…

And it was December 17th. I bought my calculator on December 17, 1993. There I was, changing the batteries on December 17th, 2023. Exactly 30 years. It’s just an interesting coincidence, right?

ɕ

Force the Issue

Yesterday I wrote a post complaining about how long it takes a package of film to get from my house in Massachusetts to the development lab in California. I wrote the post on Monday, fully expecting that my package would not arrive at its destination until Friday.

Shortly after publishing the post I got an email saying my package had arrived. Really? So quickly? Amazing! Did my writing about the situation somehow affect the outcome? Did my post somehow warp space and time to allow the package to arrive right at that moment? Who knows.

Now here we are, a day later, and I am waiting for the lab to tell me the photos have been developed and scanned and uploaded to my account. I’m waiting… patiently… impatiently. It’s only 2:17pm in California right now but I’m thinking… I’m wondering… I’m pondering…

If my post somehow altered space and time yesterday… would posting again today have a similar result? If I write about it again, will the outcome I am hoping for come to pass shortly after I click publish?

Let’s find out!

🧵 1/6

I was sitting in an Austin Starbucks last weekend, absorbed in the recently published "New Deal Art: Culture and Crisis in the Great Depression" by John P. Murphy.

"Hello." A smiling man was standing by my table. "I'm the author of the book you're reading."

What a delightful coincidence! We sat together and chatted for a while about the book, the thirties, and the exhibition of American modernist art at the UT Blanton Museum where he was going to be giving a talk.

Even though I was already planning to post a few thoughts on the book, the chance meeting has provided me with additional impetus.

#NewDealArt #AmericanArt #NewDeal #ArtHistory #JohnPMurphy #Coincidence #USHistory #20thCenturyArt #1930s #ChanceMeeting