Present day leaves

One of my photographer mentors advised that I try to shoot SOMETHING every day. And this morning I finished reading Phil Zimbardo's "The Time Paradox," from which I learned (for the 800th time) that my perspective is skewed way toward future time orientation, which causes me to miss out on the present, especially ordinary things that are actually quite stunning. Therefore . . . I gave myself an assignment to take photos of leaves from the backside, illuminated from the front by direct sun. I tried to simply enjoy their beauty, but couldn't help contemplating their incredibly sophisticated function. IMG_2216 Leaves IMG_2261 Leaves 2 IMG_2299 Leaves 2 IMG_2321 Leaves 2 IMG_2324 Leaves 2

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How does my voice sound when I’m talking into my cell phone?

I've been trying out some headsets for my smart phone. Some of these are cheap, but got good reviews on Amazon. For instance, this Panasonic $9 headset (yes, I meant nine dollars), which requires a 3.5mm male to 2.5mm female adapter to use with a cell phone (as opposed to a cordless phone). I use headsets when talking on the phone at my desk to keep my hands free. I like the ones with microphones that wrap around right in front of my mouth, so that I need not disturb others when in my collaborative workspace. I've tried some other headsets too, including a bluetooth set that people complained about constantly.  I simply don't want people staining to hear what I'm saying.   I've found myself asking other how my voice is coming through when I speak on my cell phone (through the phone itself or using a headset).  People will give vague answers, such as "It sounds OK."   I've been wondering what my cell phone really sounds like on the other end.  I think I've found an answer.   I found a phone number that plays back your voice:  909-390-0003  .  That's all this phone number does.  When you call this number, you don't even hear a phone ringing.   But you can immediately speak into it and hear what you sound like.  Excellent.  Problem solved. I'm going to recommend it to others.  For instance, a friend of mine sounded all muffled.  I told him about this a couple years ago.  He eventually got a new phone and his voice quality immediately improved.  I wondered whether fuzz or dirt got into his phone's microphone.  Now his new phone sounds muffled.  I can't hear his consonants.  I'm going to give the test number to him, so he can hear it for himself. It turns out that my Panasonic $9 headset "sounds OK."    No, really.  It's a keeper.  It sounds great.

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The properly divided brain

Psychiatrist and writer Iain McGilchrist agrees that the brain is divided, but not at all in the way that is it is commonly thought. This is one of those quick-draw RSA Animate illustrated videos, deeply thought-provoking and also entertaining. Here's a transcript of McGilchrist's lecture on the divided brain.

So you have, essentially, two kinds of attention, one that narrows a thing down as much as possible to a certainty so that you can pick it up and get it and sort it out. This is very useful for manipulating the world. It’s not good for understanding the world. For understanding the world you need what I would call a relational attention in which you don’t see yourself as somehow disconnected from everything around but realize how interconnected you are with it and need to be aware of all of it. [More . . . ]

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