Random Rory: Blindspots
Not too long ago rory was watching a pair of lovely rattlers in company.
pair of rattlers. a boy and a girl. took a photo. never noticed the earthworm. in the picture, it looks like it's headin' the same way as the snakes. didn't see the earthworm 'til I got back and downloaded the picture. but it was there. just that it was invisible to my snake-charmed eyes 'n' brain. made me wonder if its image was in my brain at all. maybe just not at the conscious level. dunno. maybe it wasn't in there at all?
how in the hell could that be? dunno. made me think of a trick roryz dad showed him when he wuz a kid though. something 'bout a blind spot and a penny on the floor. the human eye has a blind spot where the nerves and blood vessels leave the retina. scotoma, some call it. fancy word for area of diminished vision within the visual field. so, you can check it out very easily. it's fun even if you've done it before. make something like this on a piece of blank paper:
make the marks about 2" apart. doesn't hafta be exact. doesn't hafta be an X and an O, either. could be a tiny george frickin bush on one side and a mouse turd on the other. rory knowz which one he'd make disappear first in that case. anyhoo, first close your left eye and look at the mark on the left with your right eye. move the paper slowly backwards and forwards in front of your face. At a certain point (fairly close ... maybe 20 or 30 cm) the mark on the right will disappear. For this to work you've gotta really focus on the mark on the left. no peekin' to the right. You can of course do the same thing other way around: close right eye; look at right mark with left eye; adjust distance of paper; left mark disappears. how come? 'cause there's a frickin' blind spot. see, we pretty much always make up some of the shit that we "see." happens in the brain. If you don't feel like makin' marks on paper, try it right on your computer screen with rory's x and o. should work okay, and you'll look funny to boot with one eye squinched and your nose a few inches from the screen.
all of which reminds rory. it's so damn easy to forget blindspots of all kinds. rory damn sure has more than those in the eyeballs. good to remember the existence of blindspots once in awhile. if at all possible. which it isn't too often.
pair of rattlers. a boy and a girl. took a photo. never noticed the earthworm. in the picture, it looks like it's headin' the same way as the snakes. didn't see the earthworm 'til I got back and downloaded the picture. but it was there. just that it was invisible to my snake-charmed eyes 'n' brain. made me wonder if its image was in my brain at all. maybe just not at the conscious level. dunno. maybe it wasn't in there at all?
how in the hell could that be? dunno. made me think of a trick roryz dad showed him when he wuz a kid though. something 'bout a blind spot and a penny on the floor. the human eye has a blind spot where the nerves and blood vessels leave the retina. scotoma, some call it. fancy word for area of diminished vision within the visual field. so, you can check it out very easily. it's fun even if you've done it before. make something like this on a piece of blank paper:
make the marks about 2" apart. doesn't hafta be exact. doesn't hafta be an X and an O, either. could be a tiny george frickin bush on one side and a mouse turd on the other. rory knowz which one he'd make disappear first in that case. anyhoo, first close your left eye and look at the mark on the left with your right eye. move the paper slowly backwards and forwards in front of your face. At a certain point (fairly close ... maybe 20 or 30 cm) the mark on the right will disappear. For this to work you've gotta really focus on the mark on the left. no peekin' to the right. You can of course do the same thing other way around: close right eye; look at right mark with left eye; adjust distance of paper; left mark disappears. how come? 'cause there's a frickin' blind spot. see, we pretty much always make up some of the shit that we "see." happens in the brain. If you don't feel like makin' marks on paper, try it right on your computer screen with rory's x and o. should work okay, and you'll look funny to boot with one eye squinched and your nose a few inches from the screen.
all of which reminds rory. it's so damn easy to forget blindspots of all kinds. rory damn sure has more than those in the eyeballs. good to remember the existence of blindspots once in awhile. if at all possible. which it isn't too often.
posted by Rory Shock at 6:44 PM
14 Comments:
thanks Rory. I rememeber doing a similar exercise a while back.
the snakes are beautiful, although I am a pussy and would probably run away from them
hell, rory, we all have those blindspots, sometimes much bigger than your X & O, sometimes as big as a whole country. As long as we remember them, we can compensate. It's the unrecognized blindspots that lead to sloppy thinking & faulty decisions with unintended consequences.
Here's an interesting fact: SQUID do NOT have a blind spot cuz their optical nerves exit out the BACK of the eye. This has been used as an argument against the divine perfection of man! (works for me) -- D.K.
dk, yeah ... like the world is w's eyeball and his optic nerve attaches in the middle east ... well, and everywhere else too ... actually I think w's optic nerve attaches somewhere in his rectum ... thanks graeme ... they are beautiful ... 'no man who "admits" to being a pussy can really be a pussy ...' [from "roryz rules"]
Sure, that would be the thing - you would have had one eye focused on the camera. Cool! Love the picture. All beautiful.
Were the snakes on their way to catch a plane?
Sometimes I wish I had more blind spots. Too many ugly things to see in the news.
thanks peacechick ... ah yes, snakes on a plane ... spreading stupidity with another inane movie
Interesting allusions there, Rory.
I was thinking it was an analogy, but it was more like you're alluding to other things via "blindspots...." Oh, hell, whatever it is, I LIKE IT!
Wow...the snakes are so lovely- and I don't even like rattlers ( bad childhood exprience- but I think if I saw them now I would stunned by their beauty....but I also might be frozen in place...)
Blindspots...I think we all have them...and frankly I think even with Eyes Wide Open we have them...for me it is about where my heart is...and what my mind is pondering it can give me blindspots...Like: the other day I was walking down the Street and I stopped to talk to Harry -local Homeless guy- lives in the Shelter right behind my building- and He was trying to get my attention- and I was congratulating him on being ONE YEAR sober- and I walked smack into a Stop Sign by the Construction pit in front of my building....We both laughed really hard...but I was so busy talking to him- the rest of teh world faded- including the friggin' sign my toe and head won't forget....
But Dk is right we have a whole damn Country that has BIG Blindspots...maybe we need to hit them with a STOP SIGN....what will it take to make them WANT to STOP Bush's Evil Shit???? ( and about Bush...it isn't just his optic nerve that is on the Middle East, you say Oil and It gets hard....)
Okay...enough of the Rude Friday Enigma....great post......
lovely snakes. i was born in the year of the snake. i too would have missed the worm. not because it was smaller but because it didn't have a rattle on it's butt.
i guess the point is we should all open our eyes more (to SOME things that is)
We used to catch rattlers outside the gates of the missile silos when I was in the Air Farce. Man, those things can get angry. Beautiful picture, dude.
Awesome snake picture! Surely the snakes knew that the worm was there. Maybe they weren't hungry.
I never knew about that blind spot trick! VERY COOL! Gilman would LOVE that!
How do you do it with the penny on the floor?
hey everybody ... thanks for coming by ... enigma ... ouch ... glad you didn't walk into the construction pit ... jublue thanks ... right on rose ... cool and thanks pt ... gugon ... penny on the floor ... I guess same technique ... only the penny on the floor is the x or the o ....
Do you live on a wildlife preserve? How do you get two rattlesnakes to pose like that?
And blind spots are good to remember. We all have them and they're not always just in the eyes.
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