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Posts Tagged ‘fresh perspectives’

Interesting and New

Posted in Other, tagged , , , , on November 22, 2025| Leave a Comment »

For whatever reason, today I’m walking around seeing everything as component parts. 

For example: instead of seeing the comfy red chair in my office, I’m seeing that chair (so comfy!) with all of the materials that went into it lined up in a row. The tree that provided the wooden legs, the cotton growing in a field before being harvested, carded, spun, dyed and woven, the metal ore that needed to be mined, processed and extruded to make the wire frame, the stuffing made of… you know, I don’t know what it’s made of so let’s insert “amorphous, fluffy cloud of probably polyester fill” here.

It’s weird but also fun, like looking at a room upside down. Suddenly, everything is interesting and new.

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I even went with a dog pic today instead of one with a cat. Crazy! Photo by Max Bvp on Unsplash

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Earth Day: What’s Good

Posted in Holidays, Science!, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , on April 22, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Today is work work work but that doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about what’s good for the planet. If you are looking for ideas on what to do and how to do it, check out the Earth Day 2024 website or this Earth Day Action Toolkit.

And for ideas on how interacting with nature can help change our perspective, here’s an article by documentary film maker and student of octopi Craig Foster:

Earth Day 2024: ‘Saving the Planet’ Is the Wrong Goal

I was gifted with a new way of seeing the day I got mugged underwater…

Note to self: do not swim with novel shiny things!

As we’re discussing octopi and how they see the world, let me also recommend Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt. Is it fiction? Maybe!

(And yes, my favorite character was the octopus.)

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Photo by sheri silver on Unsplash

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Number 5

Posted in Holidays, Writing, tagged , , , , , , on April 30, 2021| Leave a Comment »

I had an unexpected rush at work today so here’s a bouquet of dried flowers I collected in Switzerland, and sketches of architectural and other details at the Swiss chalet* where I stayed. 

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Much of the work I did today involved editing for other people, bringing an outside approach to a problem. Fresh eyes can give a whole new perspective, and as the UK’s GCHQ has noticed,** a neurodiverse mind sometimes sees things in a new light.

Like the keyhole I drew at the bottom right of the picture below.

Walking down the hall on my tour of the chalet, I asked, “Are all the keyholes in the house shaped like upside-down and backwards numbers?” The family member who had been visiting his entire life hadn’t noticed. 

(I now feel compelled to say that I am not actually a spy.)

Happy Friday!

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click to embiggen!

* The original kind in Switzerland, not the one that will deliver roasted chicken with multiple side dishes in a cute little yellow car. Great, now I’m hungry.

** Americans, and anyone else wondering about the number-themed through-line between this bit and the sketch, think MI-5.

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