OT: Musings on CFC afterimages

Sylvia Else · 2011-01-21T14:28:26+00:00

As I look at a CFC from my armchair, I observe that it is so bright that I cannot see the spiral structure. Presumably the receptors in my eyes are saturated.Yet when I look away, I find that in the afterimage, the structure is clearly evident. Apparently receptor saturation is not such a simple process.That is, something invisible in the image is visible in the afterimage.Not sure what, if any, significance this has, but if there's a Nobel prize in it, I could do with the cash.Sylvia.

Jan 21, 2011 29 Replies

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Trevor Wilson 15 years ago

**Nope. Never. I've seen notebooks that have been incorrectly described as such, however.

The wire bit doesn't

**No. It looks like a helix.

Trevor Wilson www.rageaudio.com.au

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Phil Allison 15 years ago

"Trevor Wilson"

** The pedant mode switch is stuck on.

..... Phil

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Phil Allison 15 years ago

"fritz"

** Not a typo when it is made twice - in the heading and the body of the post.

.... Phil

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Phil Allison 15 years ago

"T.T."

** Dictionaries have always been DESCRIPTIVE rather than PROSCRIPTIVE publications.

Shame that few schools explain this to students or detail how one is created or all would realise the fact. Instead dictionaries are used solely as references for correct spelling and meaning - which leads to all the trouble.

Plus, languages are living things - new words arise all the time and old ones acquire new or altered meanings. Hence the constant need for new and updated dictionaries.

BTW:

Even the worst pedants will normally acknowledge a famous dictionary as authoritative - but not our TW!!!

The monumental fool is way out on the lunatic fringe, even among pedants.

..... Phil

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JW 15 years ago

Where's "WhySoSerious?" when you need him? (Probably still trying to come up with a plausible reason for not handling high ohm resistors by their leads...)

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