2013.12.30
For Plato, contemplation was the highest form of human activity. A similar view existed in ancient India. The aim of life was not to change the world. It was to see it rightly.
I've been thinking about how focus matters in photography, spurred on my shelling out for my first DSLR. (grabbing a "fast 50" lens, inspired by this article )
Shallow depth of field, where only one part is in focus, is probably appealing because it's how our vision work, our eyes (and consciousness) pick on one thing to really look at. Similarly, the "tiltshift effect", where something looks just like toys simply because only one part of it is in focus, is astonishingly effective; focus is a lot more important to our perception of the world than non-professional photographers tend to realize.
I had a Spiderman suit as a kid that I wore and wore and wore until it didn't fit anymore and the crotch split and you could see my tiny balls hanging down whenever I climbed walls/trees/shelves. That's actually the perfect metaphor for comic book fandom.
Oh, man. Walking home from work I just started to get these crazy flashes in my eyes.... I've always had some "floaters" but these are much larger and flashier, and have last for 10-15 minuts now. This is not not scary.
(followup-- technically I am waiting in the ER but the symptoms passed after 20 minutes or so, most likely "ocular migraine" but need to investigate chance of retina damage of some kind, at the suggestion of my PCP)