The big get!
Bulls*** Asymmetry Principle
The amount of energy needed to refute bulls*** is an order of magnitude bigger than that needed to produce it.
Also known as Brandolini’s Law, the Bulls*** Asymmetry Principle captures a circumstance we’ve all experienced. Those with an indifference to the truth are at an advantage. An argument is easily made. But dissecting a claim and verifying propositions and evidence is tiresome. And what if it’s part of the bulls****er’s plan to keep us busy refuting his nonsense?
I share the above principle, created in 2013 as a segway into this photograph. It is from my archives and was taken on 07 October, 2018 in Silver Glen on the docks of The Juniper Club.
As a tradition, I pass on photographing blue herons as they have become like robins…they are everywhere and way too easily photographed! In this case, a large pickerel looking to be near death swam slowly just below the docks. The heron stabbed it, snatched it up, walked it over to the grass behind the dock and proceeded to try and swallow it. As I sat in my chair fishing, I lifted my camera that unfortunately had my 600mm on it, deciding to capture its attempt to swallow the fish whole. This shot is not cropped vertically, it was all I could get without getting up and walking away.
Watching as it lifted it, I did some “Fancy Cyphering” (Jethro Bodine reference) and realized that the length of the fish was greater than the length of the heron body (minus tail feathers) and if swallowed, some of the fish’s tail would surely be in the heron’s neck. Not to mention the girth of the fish. I sat my camera back down to watch the action. The heron rocked the pickerel back and forth a few times building momentum, then with what seemed to be all the strength it had, while maintaining this grip, swung the fish high in the air and swallowed it with ease!
I watched in amazement as the large lump in its throat quickly slid out of sight and into its stomach! My mind quickly spun back into fancy cyphering mode as I tried to guess the weight of the bird* vs the weight of the fish…and if it would be able to fly now with that heavy a load of cargo?
*I just googled the average weight of a blue heron. It can range from roughly 4-8lbs. Let's call this one 6lbs…the fish was certainly in the 4-5lb range…that is a huge get for this hunter!
It continued to stand around for a few minutes until I decided to change locations. Once I got up, it swatted down for takeoff, pushed off the dock into the air. Remarkably, the weight of its meal didn’t seem to slow it down a bit.
Had I not seen “the swallow” for myself, I might have thrown the BS card on someone else telling this tale!
The big get!
Bulls*** Asymmetry Principle
The amount of energy needed to refute bulls*** is an order of magnitude bigger than that needed to produce it.
Also known as Brandolini’s Law, the Bulls*** Asymmetry Principle captures a circumstance we’ve all experienced. Those with an indifference to the truth are at an advantage. An argument is easily made. But dissecting a claim and verifying propositions and evidence is tiresome. And what if it’s part of the bulls****er’s plan to keep us busy refuting his nonsense?
I share the above principle, created in 2013 as a segway into this photograph. It is from my archives and was taken on 07 October, 2018 in Silver Glen on the docks of The Juniper Club.
As a tradition, I pass on photographing blue herons as they have become like robins…they are everywhere and way too easily photographed! In this case, a large pickerel looking to be near death swam slowly just below the docks. The heron stabbed it, snatched it up, walked it over to the grass behind the dock and proceeded to try and swallow it. As I sat in my chair fishing, I lifted my camera that unfortunately had my 600mm on it, deciding to capture its attempt to swallow the fish whole. This shot is not cropped vertically, it was all I could get without getting up and walking away.
Watching as it lifted it, I did some “Fancy Cyphering” (Jethro Bodine reference) and realized that the length of the fish was greater than the length of the heron body (minus tail feathers) and if swallowed, some of the fish’s tail would surely be in the heron’s neck. Not to mention the girth of the fish. I sat my camera back down to watch the action. The heron rocked the pickerel back and forth a few times building momentum, then with what seemed to be all the strength it had, while maintaining this grip, swung the fish high in the air and swallowed it with ease!
I watched in amazement as the large lump in its throat quickly slid out of sight and into its stomach! My mind quickly spun back into fancy cyphering mode as I tried to guess the weight of the bird* vs the weight of the fish…and if it would be able to fly now with that heavy a load of cargo?
*I just googled the average weight of a blue heron. It can range from roughly 4-8lbs. Let's call this one 6lbs…the fish was certainly in the 4-5lb range…that is a huge get for this hunter!
It continued to stand around for a few minutes until I decided to change locations. Once I got up, it swatted down for takeoff, pushed off the dock into the air. Remarkably, the weight of its meal didn’t seem to slow it down a bit.
Had I not seen “the swallow” for myself, I might have thrown the BS card on someone else telling this tale!