Joining Instagram

Posted on May 19, 2012 by Mathias San Miguel
Instagram

A welcome screen... Not quite classy...

Just a few days ago I finally started using Instagram (for those who lives under rocks, it’s a social network, based on photography with/out filters). In some way, I find it really good, on the other hand, I look at all those filters and see how they can make any picture great… I feel a little sad… I rather publish unfiltered photographs, at least.

I must admit, I really love a great photo. I like photography, take pictures, capture a drop of light and colors on an image, virtually forever. Despite that, I got a serious interest in photography months ago and since then I’m taking pictures every time I got ¡, with my iPhone. And lucky I am to have one.

You’ll say a DSLR will always take better pictures, stunning images. True, but taking into account that a DSLR is, well, a DSLR, an expensive super-camera, and an iPhone is a lot of things, and a 5mpx camera, I consider iPhone photos great, when you take then right.

The thing with cameras and photography is that your camera doesn’t make the photographer in you. Of course, a 14mpx will take enormous pictures, fully detailed ones. But, what does that matter when you only take the picture of coffee cups, feet, the sunset and couple of other “predefined” themes? Not much.

I’m not saying I’m a great photographer. For God’s sake, can’t stand anybody saying that. I’m just referring to all those who think that having that camera make them great. You first have to get to know what do you do, what kind of different tones do you like, lights, colors and shapes. That’s not a thing to actually think about, but with time you get to know it, as some sort of instinct.

Again, I’m sounding a little “know-it-all”, or “think-you’re-a-expert”. I’m not, I don’t pretend to.

Photography should be a hobby, and should consider it that until you can see, as well as other (and that obviously important in some way) that you’re actually good at it; then is when you consider to be a professional, or to get near that point. Unless you don’t like photography, in which case I don’t see why you’re reading this.

I’m a hobbier (I just made that up), a person who looks for hobbies, just like photography, drawing, coding, etc. Sadly enough, my hobbies usually end, like, by seasons. For months I could just draw, then suddenly I find it boring. My mother calls it “lack of consistency”, and, well, mom’s always right.

Well, as I was saying, I joined Instagram, my ID/Name/Alias/Username or whatever is it called there (can’t remember) is “mathiassm”, as it is my twitter, last.fm profile, stumble page, and so on… Just got a few photos, I’ll put some here:

By the way, all taken with an iPhone 4.

Posted in Experiences, Thoughts | Tagged , , , |
Leave a comment


Being blind for a while…

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Mathias San Miguel
"Blind people" sign, Belfast - by Albert Bridge

"Blind people" sign, Belfast - by Albert Bridge

Hello there, guess you missed me… or not, whatever.

I had not been constant on the blog with new articles. Alright, this kind of blog requires a special kind of articles that need me to think of new ideas, different perspectives or just about something. The thing is, I haven’t been thinking so much this last months. Why?… I can’t give an honest answer for that.

But, here I am, writing again. This time, about some sort of experience I’ve got. You see, I use contact lenses on a regular basis since like a year ago. But I used glasses way before that, since I was on 1st grade. The reason I didn’t use contact lenses until, as I said, a year ago, was that I was sort of afraid that would be unhealthy. And by that I mean that I was afraid that it would get infected and well, all the consequences of that.

Well, it got infected… And I got this thing called “corneal ulcer” (sorry mom, dad, I’m not a doctor like you; when you said “ulcer” I wasn’t quite sure what you meant but that it was bad, and since it was on my eye, it was pretty bad).

I had to take them off, throw them away and start using some eye drops (or whatever they’re called in English), and, in small words, being blind for days. Why blind? the thing in my eye made the cornea to enlarge and it caused me to see really blurry, but, just in one eye.

So, I spent 3 or 4 days not opening my eyes because of the photophobia and also Doctor’s recommendation and then a couple of days with sight but fine in one eye, blurry on the other.

Ok, to explain this, and how it affected me, I’ll propose 3 exercises.

  1. If you use glasses, take them off and place them so one eye can see through one of the glasses, and the other can’t. If you don’t use glasses, look for somebody else’s glasses (with a little high myopia) and do just the same. Read.
  2. Now, think your hand are dirty, and your eye sensitive, so you can’t, in any way, touch your eye (or face, for that matter), with your hands. You can’t see as on exercise 1, so you try to close one eye (the one with which you can’t see, right, in my case), only using your face muscles. Read, watch TV, try not to close them.
  3. Now that you figured out you can’t see with exercise 1, it’s too painful or so to see with exercise 2, close both eyes. Think of 3 things to do, other than talking to people (you can’t expect people to talk to you 24/7), and listening to music, or the TV.

What?, you can’t? Me neither. But if you do, leave a comment below, and tell me, and the rest of readers, what do blind people do? I’m being polite (I’m trying), what do they do to not freak out? Of course, they’re used to it, and they can learn to read braille, but, other than that… What? I mean, I consider them not only brave, to go out and face the world not seeing it, but also incredible, people who deserve, in every aspect respect just for being blind.

Posted in Experiences | Tagged , , |
Leave a comment


Different Cycles for Both Sides of the Brain

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Mathias San Miguel
Brain - by TZA

Brain - by TZA; not quite classy... but it pictures the idea very well

It was scientifically proved, a long time ago, that the left brain controls most of the logic actions of the body, and that the right side controls the creativity, the action of creation. Now, what I’ve seen so far, is that both brains are almost independent on that aspect, and being that, each have its own cycle, that generally is opposite to the other brain.

What I mean for cycle is… let’s say a sort of on/off automatic cycle. Obviously, half of a brain won’t just shut down for a minute, nor an hour, nor a day. I’m talking about the creative and logical understanding.

In some way, I believe this cycles are not something you born with, but something that reshapes with time.

So far, I’ve seen a lot of different cycles, but the majority is a day/night cycle, in which one brain is activated on either day or night, and the other side on the other part of the day. By that, I mean people that, for an instance, are more creative in the day, that they are in the night. That in the day the can easily come up with an idea, but, on the other hand, are incapable of concentrate, at least easily, on a math exercise.

Also, as you may have thought, some people think logically more on the day than in the night. Don’t know, perhaps they feel more awake on a night, compared to being sleepy at the morning.

And talking about the morning. I’ve seen a couple cycles, mine for example, most of the time, as a 6 hour cycle, more or less. Morning/Evening/Night6-12/Night12-6 cycle, that works, obviously, turning one brain off and turning the other on.

Being logic on the morning, creative on the evening, logic on the night, and maybe creative past 00:00 am. Seems a little “you’re a psychopath…”, but the truth is that I’m talking with a wide perspective, in general. I don’t have a 6 hour cycle that stays word by word. Yet I can go to a math test and be drawing the next hour, no problem. I can be reading a book and imagine the scene, at the time I try to understand the numerous plots (on a complex book). Me, and you, and the rest of us can use both brains at the same time. We are, actually, by moving both sides of our body.

Just think about it. Can you, or can’t you?

Posted in Psychology, Thoughts |
Leave a comment


Traveling in Time

Posted on April 24, 2012 by Mathias San Miguel

To Say Nothing of The Dog

To Say Nothing of the Dog is a novel written in 1997 by Connie Willis. I read it a couples days ago and got amazed by how she related the story. It takes place in 2057, time travel is made possible and it’s been used for historical research. As so, it got to make investors to see time travel as a commercial venture; it turned out it doesn’t have any profit value as bringing any object from the past would alter the continuum and change history, or in the worst cases, destroy the continuum, and any logic in the universe, making it to collapse.

Any way, it in fact have  historical value as scientist may send historians to the past to retrain information, descriptions and well, more data they never got.

The book is centered in an historian, Ned Henry, who is “commanded” by Lady Schrapnell, a rich woman obsessed with restoring historical structures, like, in this very case, the Cathedral of Coventry, destroyed in a raid on the WWII. The mission she gave any historian on duty was to get information about the Bishop Bird Stump, lost during the raid, presumably destroyed.

Anyway, Ned’s mission is that, but after some drops (time travels), he got an illness, something called time-lag (resource used on many other books and TV Series). It caused him to not been able to hear well; a real problem that later will cause him a lot of trouble later… or early? well, in 1888, where when he’s sent.

The most remarkable thing about this book is the humor. Willis got me with her dialogs, Ned’s thoughts, the absurd of cats’ extinction on 2004 (it was written in the 90′s, perhaps she hated cats). Mixing Victorian era with the XXI century, something not very original, but hilarious nonetheless.

The main problem in the book is that a cat was bring back from the Victorian era, 1888, and the all agreed Ned must bring it back again to the Victorian era. The thing is, even when they explained Ned, he didn’t hear. After sometime he met Terence, Cyril, Professor Peddick, Tossie, Princess Arjumand,  Verity (historian who brought the cat to 2057)…

I have always liked to imagine what things would be affected from a time travel. Imagined the time line and the jumps on it and wondered if it can really be collapsed in some way. I mean, existence is supposed to be a matter of perception; a concept so hard to describe it can’t be. So, would everything stop existing if the time collapsed? time shouldn’t be a physics magnitude; shouldn’t be one at all. It just happens. That way to see it made me wonder if time really do exist, and we could “jump” to another era, or if all is our imagination. Perhaps.

In the book Willis wrote two theories on time travel. One, any changes to the continuum would be repaired by the same continuum. Or two, a big change to it would not be repaired as it may not be possible to repair,  so the contiuum will just break down and dissapear, apparently. I could add one: Any change to the contiuum have already happened so it wouldn’t be a change, but just the course of history in a chaotic system.

Between professor Peddick and professor Overforce argument, I chose to the beginning to mix both theories, individuals do count, and so do great scale forces (a little ironic for him to be called Professor Overforce).

I like the way the book is structured. First it was all comedy, really funny to followed Ned’s blind steps in 1888 to God knows where, and then find Verity and realize he may have screwed up. But later in the book the whole thing became a mystery, the incongruity is now a real problem, the freaking cat keeps being annoying and we still don’t what, where, or when is the Bishop’s Bird Stump. Yet, the book is still amazing. There isn’t one thing I would criticize about it.

Really happy with this book, and for all who had read it: missing pronoun, penwipers, cats, Cyril, jumble sales, Princess Arjumand, Lady Schrapnell, “It began with a N…”, “Oh, you’re the Calamity!”, “I say, …”. Hope I made you smile. If I didn’t, well, go read it again.

 

Posted in Books, Review | Tagged , , , , |
Leave a comment


How myopia may affect a child in the future?

Posted on April 1, 2012 by Mathias San Miguel
the myopia project, part 5 - by askal.bosch

the myopia project, part 5 - by askal.bosch

Alright, I’m a 15 years old guy with myopia since I was a kid. In first grade I was already using glasses and it wasn’t until last year that I began using contact lenses. Anyway, using glasses haven’t been a problem, in a matter of school bullies or anything (not that I remember, at least). But to have a decadent sight did make some impact in myself, in my personality and my way to be.

Imagine a new-born child, growing up, seeing different things, learn from them, understanding the world step by step. The same child, going to school, going out with parents, traveling, and extend his own knowledge and perception of the world.

Now, imagine another child, who has myopia, with which even using glasses the child does not see everything as sharp as a “not-myopic” person. He would grow up as see what he has around, but with a limit. He would not see more that the guy sitting next to him, the girl walking by, the floor or even a wall if he’s close enough. I’m not saying he won’t see the rest; I’m saying he won’t see it well, he won’t recognize a friend in a crowd if he is far from them. But yet, he’ll see there’s a crowd of people ahead.

Now, the perception of the world to that kid will be just a bubble. He’s the center of that bubble, and everything inside that bubble he will see, and understand. Everything out, doesn’t exist; or at least it does, but metaphorically too far away to deserve attention.

He can make friends, he can interact with other people. But even then, he probably will choose not to. Why? Because it’s easier not to expand that bubble and try to concentrate on things that didn’t matter. It’s like a teenager when becoming an adult, he will need to understand a lot of things and pay attention to many thing that haven’t been so important, like saving money, work, and stronger personal relationships.

Now, what about kids with myopia who didn’t want to use glasses? Those kids will, also, make a bubble. What’s the difference? if the grade of myopia if high enough, the bubble won’t be see-through; the rest doesn’t exist. Will be like an asteroid in the space, wandering around until it crashes with something. But if the myopia is low, perhaps the bubble will not be strong enough. He will see everything (not as well as a “not-myopic” person…) but will not try to understand anything. Somehow relationships will matter less, because physically he will not see people different, not quite different, at least.

First of all, they will be more sociable, they will have more relations with others, but in my opinion, those relationships worth less than those from a myopic who uses glasses. The latter chose to see, to make the rest matter, to care. The former didn’t.

Posted in Psychology, Thoughts | Tagged , , , , |
Leave a comment