Binocular Vision

As I suspect many of you realize, I like word associations.  I like taking words that have multiple meanings and thinking about and seeing how the multiple meanings may finesse and or shape the potential meaning of a word in a given context.  In some fashion, I am doing that today in this effort.  This effort shall be, however, a rapid-fire typing "throw down" effort without any form of editing during the brief time frame I have. To deliver as much of the nonsense that is percolating in my head onto this electronic paper as possible, I am going to utilize my favorite cobbling method of communication..... bullet points:

• I mentioned Thanksgiving was a rather roughshod affair.  Well.... two factors were especially instrumental in making it a difficult time.... a) my mother-in-law's continued mental decline which means she may at some point sooner than later have to leave her home for a new life in a new location..... something she is vehemently opposed to, and b) the presence and actions during the holiday of the person whom I cannot talk about here.  For me, the deepest pain and anguish of (b) occurred on Sunday, but for my wife, as it takes her a bit of time to process how events and actions make her feel.... she is feeling the lion's share of her own grief, pain and anguish about (b) today.  I have been speaking with her over the phone as much as possible given our schedules. 
  

• In one of my lectures this morning, I was speaking about the embryological origins of the development of the neural ocular system and about the factors that influence eye placement within the skull at a taxonomic level.  In this topic, I often speak of how physiologically and anatomically we have neural pathways and eye placement that allow us to have considerable binocular vision.  This form of vision is what allows us to perceive depth of field (to judge distances).  In this topic, I often bring into discussion the metamorphosis of frog body morphology, as it offers a very tangible way to compare and contrast the variations in body morphology for the development of vision across species.
  

• I just noticed I was prattling on too long about binocular vision, so I will summarize the most interesting part I like to explain to my students..... the general trend is that herbivorous species tend to display a laterally placed eye position and limited binocular vision..... to assist in avoiding predation.... and carnivorous species tend to display an anterior eye placement with extensive binocular vision..... to assist in prey capture.  The frog is a beautiful example for this in that it displays lateral eye placement during its tadpole stage (herbivore at this time) and anterior eye placement in adulthood (carnivorous in adulthood).  That of course is interesting in and of itself.... but the real excitement is to talk through all the details of how cell migration and morphology of the skeletal, urinary, digestive and nervous systems all are shaped by the transition the frog makes from being an aquatic organism to a terrestrial one.  But, I probably should not bore you with that level of detail.

• Sunday evening I began soaking, not one pound, but TWO pounds of dried black beans.  On Monday, I set up BOTH of our crock pots so I could accommodate all the beans..... half in each crock pot.  I make my black beans with a bit of a "Caribbean" sort of flair.   Besides water, I add curry, paprika, ginger, coarse black pepper, allspice, salt, garlic, a bullion cube, and mango (or peaches if I do not have mango).  I let the beans and spices and fruit then cook in the crock pot on low for usually 20 - 24 hours.  They are amazing in flavor and texture.  One crock pot of beans I divided into five smaller samples to freeze for "quick meal" use.  My wife and I will be making nachos tonight for dinner with the other crock pot of beans (and freezing any that are left). 

• It is a true shame that pipes and pipe tobaccos have a) some negative health associations with  indulgence in the duo, and b) currently negative societal opinions about both. For, in a "big-picture" sort of way, I can still state clearly that I see both pipes and pipe tobaccos as a) beautiful, b) artistic, c) nurturing, d) graceful, e) classy, f) friendly, g) familial, h) contemplative, i) fun, j) both simple and exotic concurrently, k) comforting, l) affirming, m) tasty, n) stimulating, o) relaxing, p) quieting, q) invigorating.... and often multiple of the above simultaneously.  

• So.... word association?!?  Well, I was thinking of the simultaneous meanings and uses for "vision" from the biological to the spiritual, and others that exist in-between.  I was also thinking of the Latin origins of "binocular" which of course suggests "two eyes" and how I can and do try to see the world with a variety of "eyes" from the scientific to the religious, to the metaphysical to the philosophical.  And then that stirred a neuron or two in my brain to think about the term "linguistics" as I was writing this today, and I flashed on how the origin of the beautiful word "linguistics" is actually of Latin origin in reference to the tongue, which of course is intimately associated with writing as the tongue is a tool for communication... verbally... and is also an integral aspect of development in amphibian metamorphosis.... and I forgot to mention that in lecture today, but I probably should have.

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