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What's Going On?

#1
Zinjanthropos Offline
This stuff just doesn't happen, does it? Must be proof we live in a simulated universe Wink  

I just went through an hour of weirdness. Been talking about simulated universe so much lately that I think the simulator is having fun with me. In order of occurrence:

1. Decided to fix leaky Moen faucet at bathroom sink. Went to hardware store to find a replacement cartridge. Couldn't find it on the shelves so I asked a guy if they carried the product. He asked me what number it was but I had assumed they were all the same. He asked how old and I said 15 years. He told me he was making an educated guess and went to a drawer behind his kiosk and pulled out a cartridge, said it should work. No wonder I couldn't find it. Then to my surprise he said it was a warranty part and there was no charge. I can only assume there must have been a recall at one time and Moen decided to give replacements away.. I said to my wife when I returned to our car, 'that's strange....something for free" plus running into the right guy.

2. We leave hardware store and enter a drive through coffee shop line. We both order tea and a muffin, about $5. Get to the pay window and cashier tells me the guy in front of us had paid for our goods. Never saw who it was, just his arm when he reached for his order. Free cartridge followed by free snack. Too much

3. Drove to spot along Niagara River to enjoy our goodies and once finished I backed out of my parking place. It was then a guy who was walking his dog behind us informed me that one of my back up lights was out. 

WTF? In less than an hour I received no less than three good deeds by unknown citizens. Plus it never cost me a cent. By the way the faucet cartridge was the correct one and works fine. Also helped there was an exact video of the replacement job on YouTube so I learned some new things. 

Kind acts are such an infrequent happening these days that if I were to calculate the odds of three in less than hour I think they would be astronomical and about as weird as it can get.
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#2
Syne Offline
Maybe you just forgot how friendly Canadians were.
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#3
C C Offline
(Oct 17, 2020 04:46 PM)Zinjanthropos Wrote: This stuff just doesn't happen, does it? Must be proof we live in a simulated universe Wink  ...

Anonymous: "Coincidences are the transcendent's way of intervening in the natural order of the world incognito, behind the mask of probabilities. But often heralding either the work of an idiot or a significance that remains mysterious."

Johann Gottlieb Fichte on (mysterious) chain-reactions: "You could not remove a single grain of sand from its place without thereby ... changing something throughout all parts of the immeasurable whole."

In terms of personal experience, coincidences can tend to occur in streaks or packed bunches a lot,{*} whether it's a spurt of specific items repeating themselves throughout a period or differing incidents that can be subsumed under the same category (like yours). When we discern a "face" on a random, textured surface (pareidolia) -- that also requires multiple components to constitute a pattern. They're just simultaneous or collectively together rather than expressed in a linear distribution.

- - - footnote - - -

{*} I'm not saying that numerical data experts agree that coincidences usually happen in lengthy bursts. But a real, particular individual does not live in their generalized world or the idealized constructs on paper/computer that are abstracted from multiple events and things. A mathematical rendering like that doesn't capture the characteristics of experienced reality and its accidentals, nor condescend itself to the value of personal encounters.

Generalization, for instance, can conclude that a drug or supplement or technique is ineffective for the overall population or the fictional "average person", even though it may work locally for a particular individual (when there is no explanation for _X_ being remedied by the mechanistic limitations of a psychological placebo effect).

Who hasn't collided with something that contradicts what the establishment claims or even the immediate folk around you, and yet you still came away with tangible results? (I twice treated poisonous snakebites by doing the very opposite of what is medically recommended now -- what is actually supposed to make the condition worse. Such was resolved so quickly that I was walking around a day and half later [both times] as if my foot hadn't been a swollen, dark purple mass earlier -- without ever visiting a clinic or hospital. But the same treatment probably would indeed yield the popularly expected negative results for most others.)
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#4
Zinjanthropos Offline
The coincidences followed a diminishing scale of value. First one I expected to pay 15-20 bucks for a cartridge, the second I expected to pay $5 for tea & muffins, the third cost me $5 for new bulb. Then there’s the old ‘things happen in threes’ adage. Glad there wasn’t a fourth Big Grin.

Quote:Maybe you just forgot how friendly Canadians were.

I like the ‘were’ part. Honestly I’ve never noticed.
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#5
Secular Sanity Offline
I had the same experience with Moen's warranties. No surprise there, and I wouldn’t say that kindness is all that rare, but running into the right guy, absolutely. Competence is rarer than kindness.

I had to have a few labs before I left town. The lab was packed. Probably close to an hour waiting time. Nowhere to sit, etc. Some guy came down and offered to take a few of us upstairs to a lab that’s normally for appointments only. They weren’t busy. So, during his down time, and to keep people safe, he took it upon himself to help with social distancing. I was in and out in ten minutes. The odd part was that he kept thanking me for coming up there. He was polite and competent...very strange combination. It felt like the Twilight Zone.

Now that I think about it, I should have looked at his name tag to call and remind his boss just how rare competence is nowadays, and let him/her know that they should be thankful to have someone like him as an employee. It’s like that House of Cards quote: "Competence is such a rare bird in these woods, that I always appreciate it when I see it."
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#6
Zinjanthropos Offline
(Oct 18, 2020 04:08 PM)Secular Sanity Wrote:  It felt like the Twilight Zone.

It will be the next time you go back there and the lab and attendant aren't there, as in never were. (Cue TZ music)
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#7
confused2 Offline
Dr Calmody died in 1973.
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#8
Secular Sanity Offline
(Oct 18, 2020 07:28 PM)confused2 Wrote: Dr Calmody died in 1973.

???



(Oct 17, 2020 04:46 PM)Zinjanthropos Wrote: This stuff just doesn't happen, does it? Must be proof we live in a simulated universe. Wink
 

Maybe you're right. After tonight's debate, some anchor said..."It was a debate of substance."

WTF? Huh
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