Tonight we had a really terrific storm. The combination of the recent heat wave and the tremendous wind sent up all sorts of strange atmospheric phenomena. For instance, in the moments after the storm had abated, the entire outside was bright, neon yellow-green.
It was fascinating. The entire outside was a radically different color than it normally is. It was like wearing filtered glasses. People were out on the streets marveling at it. It really was something you couldn’t capture in a photo, because people have seen filtered photos before and that’s exactly what it would have looked like. But seeing it with your own eyes was something else.
It occurred to me that the most likely explanation was just that we were seeing the same sort of water-based light fracturing that produces rainbows, but from a different angle. We were inside the rainbow.
It’s a fun reminder that everything you see is a combination of the angles from which you’re seeing it, and the lenses you’re seeing it through. Nothing really looks like anything – it’s all just you, and how you look at it.
The Opportunity Machine 