vendredi 2 septembre 2005

Photo Theme... Signs Pointing Fingers and Arrows As I said on August 9th, my "photo themes" are really fillers. Not only have I been doing them for as long as I can remember, but I've been doing them without knowing I'm doing them. By that I mean it's not a planned approach with an idea jotted down on paper and researched before I pick up a camera. Sometimes these themes simply evolve... after I have taken an initial shot. When a second example appears through the lens, and I click the camera, that image may connect with the previous one I made and an idea gels... or at least doubles the number I have in my memory bank and on the light box. When several more have been seen, snapped, selected and stored a collection has started to grow into a theme. Some of my previously described themes are Numbers, Car Number Plates, Wall Textures, Bleu, Blanc et Rouge, Post Boxes and Chairs... now I have Pointing Fingers and Arrows. But what can I say about them? Not a lot really... so exploring the wuh-wuh-wuh-dot (or as they say over here, "doo-bluh-vay... doo-bluh-vay... doo-bluh-vay... pwa") led me to some interesting sites backed up by some neat party tricks. But first, to assuage the fears of many males from little boys to grown men... in "Men's Health" magazine Dr. Petra Boynton wrote... "There are a number of lay beliefs that penis size can be predicted by foot, nose, hand, or index finger size/length. However, the evidence on body parts being predictive of penis length isn't all that strong. Firstly, of the research that has been completed, it tends to rely on men reporting their penis and other body part size, as opposed to actual measurements..." Read the rest of the article here. After those basics, here are the actual basics on the Index Finger... from Wikipedia. You should be moved by the writing on a web site created by the profoundly blind and deaf James Gallagher... which brought home to me how fortunate I am, as a photographer and writer, to have both those essential senses. James says, "95% of what we learn about ourselves and the world around us comes through our sight and hearing. Lacking these two "distance senses," deaf blind people find that their mobility, communication and access to information is usually greatly affected. However, his A-Z of Deafblindness site has links to and graphic examples of hand sign languages from America, Britain, Germany, Greece, Norway and Sweden... to learn to use one of these would be a worthwhile personal project to help others in need. For those who are ambidextrous, or at least who don't get tied up in knots, you could try making String Figures from Around the World by interlacing your fingers with loops of string, thread or wool. For those who are all fingers and thumbs it may not be advisable to try the following (I won't with my Mont Blanc fountain pen), but the cool Pentrix site does show how to spin a writing implement 360 degrees around your index finger... as well as many other neat tricks. But don't blame me for any spills... only tell me the thrills! And from EurekAlert!... "Academics find that finger of destiny points their way." Apparently, "Male scientists are good at research because they have the hormone levels of women and long index fingers, a new study says... A survey of academics at the University of Bath has found that male scientists typically have a level of the hormone estrogen as high as their testosterone level. The length of fingers is genetically linked to the sex hormones, and a person with an index finger shorter than the ring finger will have had more testosterone while in the womb, and a person with an index finger longer than the ring finger will have had more estrogen...." Read the complete article here. Also want to know what it means when you have a certain angle between your fingers and thumb? Thought so... go to the Distance Between Thumb And Index Finger page. And for those who aren't untying knotted string or scrubbing ink stains from their fingers (don't try the string and spin-the-pen games at the same time)... go to the "Washington Post / Slate" site where Timothy Noah writes "Does a Short Index Finger Make You Gay?" Oh yes... There's an old saying that when you point one finger at someone else, the other fingers are pointing back at you! 10:16:54 PM    comment []