Month: September 2013

Posted on

Life Imitating Art

I am reminded of an episode of the old Outer Limits where an air force fighter pilot and his wife are trapped in an alternate reality suspended in time—or a variation of the time dilation idea that was later used in an episode of the original Star Trek.

From iO9:

A new study suggests that small animals like birds and flies can observe movement on a finer timescale than larger creatures. Compared to us, many of these animals are able to perceive the world through a Matrix-like "bullet-time," allowing them to escape larger predators.

We know that animals sense the world in any number of ways depending on the species. Dogs, for example, have awful eyesight and low horizon line. So instead of depending on their vision, they perceive the world primarily through sounds and smells. In addition, animals have varying dynamic ranges when it comes to their senses; dogs can hear up to 40 kHz, dolphins up to 150 kHz, and bats up to an astounding 212 kHz. Much of this has to do with the various ways animals have adapted to their roles as predators and prey.

Now it appears that there's a kind of dynamic range that exists in vision, as well — and it has to do with the rate at which the world can be perceived. As the new study published in Animal Behavior shows, small animals like insects and small birds can take in more information in one second than a larger animal, like us bulky humans.

Indeed, all you need to do to get this impression is simply watch the way a small bird, like a budgie, twitches as it scans its surroundings. What looks like near-spasmodic behavior to us is an animal that's essentially working at a faster "clock rate" (so to speak). To them, humans, or larger predators, appear to move in slow motion; we likely appear impossibly slow and cumbersome through those eyes.

To measure this rate of visual perception, a team from Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Ireland, used a technique called critical flicker fusion frequency — a system that measures the speed at which the eye can process light. It works by measuring the lowest frequency of flashing at which a flickering light source is perceived as a constant. The team looked at more than 30 species, including rodents, eels, lizards, chickens, pigeons, dogs, cats and leatherback turtles.

So, for instance, at the low end of the scale, deep sea isopods (or woodlice) could only see light turning off and on four times per second. At rates just slightly faster than that, these creatures perceive the light as being constantly on. Flies, on the other hand, have eyes that react to stimulus more than four times quicker than the human eye. Compared to us, flies see the world in slow motion.

(more)

Posted on

It's Coming…

And we are not amused. Autumn used to be my favorite time of year until we moved to Colorado. In Arizona it marked the end of the long hot summer, punctuated by much cooler mornings and a new crispness; a new clarity to the air itself. It was like someone flipped a switch and you just knew summer was over. In San Francisco it was just as much loved, albeit for different reasons. Fall marked the end of the notoriously cold late summer fog, the beginning of Street Fair season, and usually provided  a few short—if delectable—weeks of Indian Summer. While I still enjoy the arrival of cooler—and eventually—cold temperatures here in Denver, now autumn is simply a precursor to eight long months of it-may-suddenly-drop-ten-inches of snow-at-any-time and makes my anxiety level go through the roof while anticipating trying to get around town.

As I drive around the city and see the all those golden leaves starting to appear, all I feel is a pit in my stomach and I fully understand why my mother—after divorcing my dad and returning to her ancestral homestead in Wisconsin—lasted precisely one winter there before returning to Phoenix. Unfortunately, I do not have that luxury because Ben has made it clear that while he's willing to relocate once his indentured servitude is complete in Denver, he sees no future back in Arizona whatsoever.

Posted on

And Apple Wins Again

Just amazing.

I tried catching this scene earlier today using my old "prosumer" (not my digital SLR) Sony digital camera. It failed miserably—by not only refusing to stop the moth's wings in flight, but also in failing to capture the deep purple color of the flowers. As I was about to give up and walk off, I returned with my iPhone.

MIND. BLOWN.

Posted on

Wayback Machine

A Curious Phenomenon

March 2nd, 2007

I have been blogging for close to two years now. What I've noticed during that time is while I've made new friends through the endeavor, several of my long-time fellow travelers in life's journey have drifted away. One of whom in particular—a guy I've known nearly a quarter century—has all but vanished, and I'm starting to wonder if it's because of something I've written along the way. Blogging's semi-anonymity has allowed me to voice thoughts that even my closest confidants may not have known I was mulling.

This raises a fundamental question. Isn't it better to have people love you for who you really are, other than for who they think you are?

While not nearly as political as I am, I know my buddy has no love for George Bush, so I doubt that's the source of his withdrawl. The only other thing that may have caused this apparent chilling of our friendship are the writings about my increasing agnosticism. He's not a religious guy, but a very spiritually oriented one; something that initially drew us together and that we'd shared these many years. I still respect his New Age beliefs, but at this point in my life I'm just finding it impossible to ascribe to a philosophy that's become as rigid and entrenched as any other faith-based doctrine and offers no more proof of its validity than the fairy tales of traditional organized religion.

Before I started blogging, we'd chat or email each other several times a week, and I always felt welcome visiting. But over the last year or so (along with my posts examining my crumbling faith in New Age thought), all my emails seem to vanish into a black hole, never to be answered. (His excuse is that he gets so much spam he doesn't even bother opening his email, despite my attempts to show him how to filter it out at his ISP before it ever reaches Outlook). So I've just given up emailing him altogether. At some point you just reach the point where you think, "Why bother?"

I no longer feel like I can just call and come down for the weekend like I'd been doing for years. It seems he always has houseguests, or previous plans, or the planets aren't in proper alignment. The last time I was in the neighborhood, the ex and I just dropped in on him (we did call first), and neither of us exactly got the warm fuzzies while we were there. And don't get me started on him coming here. It's been over a year and a half since he's been up to Phoenix. His excuse is that his back bothers him. It's not like going to San Francisco, for Chrissake.

So I'm kind of at a loss. I have a feeling he's dealing with some demons of his own, but he hasn't shared any of it with me, and when I've asked if everything was okay he said it was. I'm not losing sleep over it, but it concerns me that a friendship I thought I would take to the grave with me may be coming to an end after having survived and flourished nearly twenty-five years.

Posted on

Recipe

For those not wishing to contract salmonella.


Eggless Cookie Dough

(to eat, not to bake)

3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup milk
1 cup flour
pinch of salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Mix together in a bowl, grab a spoon, and put on a movie.