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Charting Phrenology

January 17, 2021 by Simon Robinson Leave a Comment

I stumbled over a book on psychology while rationalising our book shelves. It has several names inscribed inside the cover so that I know at least three people in this family have read and annotated various passages. I speed-read it back in the day and on seeing it again, took umbrage at phrenology, and not for the first time. Umbrage is the right word. The dark shadow beneath a tree, the shadow that represents my doubts about the foundations of the ‘science’ of psychology (and especially psychoanalysis) that followed on from the bumps of phrenology.

On reflection, Freud wasn't right. This is a picture I took today while I was thinking about phrenology. — Building Fence Pool Reflections © Simon Robinson
Fuji X-T4 | Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 L Macro IS USM | 160 mm | 1/320s | f/11 | ISO 2500 | handheld

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Not Just Another Book

January 16, 2021 by Simon Robinson Leave a Comment

Imagine imagining publishing a book that would sell for £16,500 per copy. I mention ‘per copy’ lest you think that’d be the price for the whole print run. Yes, The Sistine Chapel is a brand-spanking new, limited edition, three-volume book available now from your nearest Callaway Arts & Entertainment supplier. I’d ask ‘wtf’, ‘why’ and ‘who’ but I think you probably beat me to it.

I took this image earlier today. The low angled morning sun turned the roiling green sea to jittery, jingly, shimmery brown. The wind was howling so I used the Dun Laoghaire pier wall as a shield. I set the aperture to f/16 to maximise the depth of field, set the shutter to 1/1000 to minimise the shake with the big lens, handheld on a windy day. Then I overexposed the distant lighthouse with an ISO of 3200. And hoped the two image stabilisation technologies – OIS in the lens and IBIS on the sensor – would do their thing.

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Dog Walk HDR I

January 8, 2021 by Simon Robinson Leave a Comment

Like all dogs, Gus is getting slower as he ages. His main pump is failing; slowly but inexorably. If you accept that there is there is a relationship between the mammalian heart rate and overall life expectancy, you will already to know to expect late life heart issues for otherwise healthy pets. This may say nothing about their enthusiasm. For example, Gus loves the snow and today, he was out and about, running on snow and slipping on ice. He was segmenting and ranging on familiar paths, back and forth, excited by the snow while I was taking photographs. Today’s ambition, for me, was to take a series of high dynamic range photos of relatively mundane subjects as I walked quickly around our local hill.

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Dumb Observations

January 7, 2021 by Simon Robinson Leave a Comment

Surplus

You instinctively know how to gauge restaurant sizes or bus capacity by seat count rather than floor area. But would you buy farmland by the hectare or the number of goats it can support? We humans make value assessments in our personal lives all day long and rarely pause to question if the way we do it is appropriate.

My photo of a toy car on the roof of a parked car illustrates some Dumb Observations that include driving over the lens that took this photo. — Car on Car © Simon Robinson 2010

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Still An Issue

January 6, 2021 by Simon Robinson Leave a Comment

It was back in 2003 when first I read that John Pilger had won the Sophie Prize. He was surprised, to judge from the tone of his acceptance speech. His journalism has always been quite outspoken about the imperialist and colonialist agendas of many ‘western’ countries like his native Australia, the UK and of course, the US.

This photograph of mine that I've printed onto one of my scarves, links to my memories of Jostein Gaarder, Sophie's World and the Sophie Prize. — Library Rising © Simon Robinson 2013 (this day, Jan 6)
A place to read *Sophie’s World* or a scarf to wear. See others at FabHappy

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Book of My Year

December 31, 2020 by Simon Robinson Leave a Comment

Despite the challenges, I consider myself to have been very lucky this year. I have lots of reasons to be cheerful. One of these is that I have reliable sources of book recommendations. So many people have made such excellent book recommendations that have I haven’t yet read them all. And the lockdown is the primary reason I was able to read as many as I did.

New Year’s Eve 2006 *The Last Stand* (Leinster Rugby beat Ulster).
It was the last game in Landsdowne Road before the stadium was demolished.
Remarkably, Johnny Sexton is still playing top flight rugby.

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