tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post4424429943073268706..comments2023-10-17T22:56:42.784-04:00Comments on Only in The Republic of Amherst: Rescue MeLarry Kelleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02614645831526190536noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-77121922604900219702014-04-28T09:04:32.204-04:002014-04-28T09:04:32.204-04:00Ed, have you ever found yourself at a party wonder...Ed, have you ever found yourself at a party wondering why everyone who comes in contact with you quickly excuses themselves to refresh their drink, use the bathroom, or just find a red hot needle to stick in their eyes?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-74337807021880024462014-04-26T17:19:02.491-04:002014-04-26T17:19:02.491-04:00Or my damn iPhone switched to a filter without tel...<i>Or my damn iPhone switched to a filter without telling me.</i><br /><br />Or switched one off.<br /><br />My guess is that you activated an option to let you record the *actual* colors instead of an image adjusted to reflect what the human eye would see -- the problem being that the overhead lights aren't really white, with the colors being distorted as a result.<br /><br />Florescent lights not only flash 120 times a second -- an aspect of 60 cycle/hertz AC power and how the lights work, but also aren't white.<br /><br />They flash too fast for you to notice -- although there is quite a bit of research indicating that this exacerbates aspects of ADHD in children who have it. (Your digital camera somehow automatically adjusts for this and you never know otherwise.)<br /><br />Furthermore, were you to break apart the light in that room, you'd see spikes in certain wavelengths -- you'd see more of some colors than of others, and possibly more of some specific shades of some colors. My guess is that you'd see a disproportionate representation of the yellows & greens.<br /><br />As a result of that, everything is going to have a yellowish/greenish hue to it -- which your brain is automatically going to correct for, the same way it told you that the (I presume) yellowish/greenish lights overhead were "white."<br /><br />You "know" what colors things should be, and you hence "see" what you expect to see. But the camera doesn't lie and unless it is told to adjusts for it, it will see what is really there.<br /><br />And hence you have (I'm guessing) what is the actual image. The same way that everything you see is actually upside down due to the optics of your eyes -- and your brain just "fixes" that as well.<br /><br />My guess is that the IPhone has an option to turn off the automatic (default-on) color adjustments because scientists may need to be able to do that -- and knowing Apple, it is entirely possible that this is automatically done as part of something else.<br /><br />I detested Apple products for a quarter century because in a legitimate attempt to make the machines "user friendly", things are so linked together that in the course of changing one setting to what you want it to be, you inevitably change about 20 other settings to things you absolutely don't want.<br /><br />Bottom line -- look for options to turn *off* color adjustments -- my guess is that what you did.<br />Dr. Ednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-51619514519680422292014-04-26T07:53:34.428-04:002014-04-26T07:53:34.428-04:00Art.
Or my damn iPhone switched to a filter wit...Art. <br /><br />Or my damn iPhone switched to a filter without telling me.Larry Kelleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02614645831526190536noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-28581679598259382932014-04-26T07:49:22.933-04:002014-04-26T07:49:22.933-04:00Why do your fotos look like they have been sitting...Why do your fotos look like they have been sitting in a drawer for 60 years?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-70720667551563257642014-04-25T17:02:23.715-04:002014-04-25T17:02:23.715-04:00Larry, I probably should have added that that this...Larry, I probably should have added that that this isn't just an academic point -- it could lead to tragedy.<br /><br />Firefighters can count, and if you report "they" or "them" in the context of reporting the <b>one</b> victim you have heard "calling for help", particularly if your report is relayed through multiple people, they well may go back in for the second victim -- that doesn't exist -- and they well may die in the process.<br /><br />My point is not just academic. Remember, I'm from the ocean -- I'm thinking of real situations where it was damn important for people to understand what you meant.Dr. Ednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-91827479117810248712014-04-25T15:37:16.237-04:002014-04-25T15:37:16.237-04:00Even if a victim is inside calling for help, the b...<i>Even if <b>a</b> victim is inside calling for help, the best you can do is try to keep <b>them</b> calm by reassuring <b>them</b> help is on the way.</i><br /><br />Larry, this is one of the things that wants to make me scream -- <b><i>you</i> absolutely can not have<i> singular and plural in the same sentence!!!</i></b> Subject and verb must be either both singular or both plural -- it's like being "half pregnant", it's either one way or the other. <br /><br />As you have mentioned attending Catholic school, I'm guessing you were taught their style of grammar with subject & predicate and the diagramming of sentences -- all that stuff, in any given sentence, must be either singular or plural.<br /><br />Words like "them" and "their" explicitly state "two or more" of, in this case, victims. These are the plural versions of him/her/it and his/her/its, respectively.)<br /><br />In the English language, an animate/living thing of unknown gender (e.g. mouse, cat, person -- and note the "son" ending on person) is considered to be male, an inanimate/nonliving thing (e.g. motorcycle, airplane, aircraft carrier)is presumed to be female.<br /><br />This comes directly from the Latin, a language which has masculine, feminine and neuter cases for absolutely everything. Spanish also comes from Latin and is considerably more explicit (or flagrant) in doing this sort of thing. "El Tren" -- a train is male, "La Casa" -- a house is female, and you are required to use the "El" and "La" to identify them as such.<br /><br /><b>And you simply can not substitute the plural "they", "them", & "theirs" for "he", "him", and "his"!!!!!!!</b><br /><br />When I teach this -- and it's one of about three "Middle-School Grammar" things that graduate students somehow don't know and which I inevitably have to teach -- I first ask my students if it is wrong to teach the Spanish language in K=12 because (as I understand it) it is a language where absolutely everything is either male or female. <br /><br />If that's not an issue, I ask, then why is this? If you can tolerate the Spanish language having far more egregious aspects than this, and if your intent is to have the reader understand what you are trying to say, why intentionally make errors that serve to only confuse the reader? <br /><br />My second point is one which the woman who taught me how to write made to me. She had come of age before the Equal Pay Act and her concern was that the university pay her at least as much as they paid her husband, also an English professor at the same university. Equal pay (and equal faculty status), being treated/evaluated/respected on the same basis as a man, was important to her. This stuff she considered foolishness.<br /><br />And third, you can bypass the whole thing by writing your sentences differently. For example: <br /><br />"One must remember that the subject and verb must always be 'in agreement', both must be either singular or plural, much as one is either pregnant or not pregnant -- there is no 'halfway' on either."<br /><br />Dr. Ednoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-29923621022601391062014-04-25T09:20:47.964-04:002014-04-25T09:20:47.964-04:00This is one of the positive residual effects of 9/...This is one of the positive residual effects of 9/11, as well as firefighters finally receiving the respect that they deserve. Richard MarshAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5035949355013113578.post-19077307764229740222014-04-24T22:18:26.689-04:002014-04-24T22:18:26.689-04:00Great tips. Nice to know people are doing this.Great tips. Nice to know people are doing this.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com