It’s not often that a technology provides so much instant enjoyment, astonishment, shaking, even tears.
Tim Blair found a movie of a colorblind man seeing color for the first time. And there are lots of videos out there.
See one artist reduced to tears. Watch this young boy react. (The next man seems very happy but says “your world is so much better than mine.”) Or this boy at 40 seconds.
Know someone colorblind? Great Christmas Present (costs $350 USD plus).
People with red-green color blindness have red and green receptors that both react to an overlapping band of wavelengths producing shades of “brown”. I gather these glasses filter out the overlapping light so that the red receptors only react to red light and the green only to green.
(OK, so the first guy does “go on a bit” so watch then skip forward…)
Technology Review explains Enchroma Glasses:
Most people have three types of color-sensing cones in their eyes: red, green, and blue. The wavelengths of light that these three cones absorb have overlapping regions. Color-blindness is often a result of a malfunctioning cone that causes wavelengths to overlap even more, resulting in poor color discrimination. The EnChroma glasses use a filter to cut out these overlapping wavelengths, allowing for a clearer distinction between colors, especially red and green.
The invention was derived from the work of Don McPherson, who earned his PhD in glass science at Alfred University. McPherson was trying to design protective eye wear for doctors performing laser surgeries. It wasn’t until he let a friend try on the glasses during a game of ultimate Frisbee that he realized the technology’s true potential. McPherson’s friend just happened to be color-blind, and the glasses gave both of them a shock.
There are competitors – Color Max has a color blind test.
Perhaps these are well known in the US, but I’ve never heard of them. How absolutely cool.
Based in Berkeley, California, McPherson, who has a PhD in glass science from Alfred University, originally specialized in creating eyewear for doctors to use as protection during laser surgery. Rare earth iron embedded in the glasses absorbed a significant amount of light, enabling surgeons to not only stay safe, but also clearly differentiate between blood and tissue during procedures.
In fact, surgeons loved the glasses so much, they began disappearing from operating rooms. This was the first indication that they could be used outside the hospital. McPherson, too, began casually wearing them, as sunglasses. “Wearing them makes all colors look incredibly saturated,” he says. “It makes the world look really bright.”
It wasn’t until Angell borrowed his sunglasses at the Frisbee game, however, that McPherson realized they could serve a broader purpose and help those who are colorblind.
Interesting. I always thought that colour blindness was due to absence of one type of cone. This is quite a new idea.
80
This could lead to development of more sophisticated glasses. Fantastic.
50
“Sophisticated Glasses”
I thank the lord every day that my visual problems can be corrected by eye glasses. I would be severely restricted otherwise. I could probably read large print. As it is my vision is normal (with glasses).
Imagine living in the 15th century. Old people were more or less reduced to begging for food!
One of the best things recently has been bifocal sunglasses. They have been around for about 10 years but are main stream now.
100
And multifocals.
I love them.
I can drive at 140 and see the roos half a K ahead.
Then check the speedometer without changing glasses.
50
Rarely, that’s the case. The more typical cases are not truly color blind. As noted, there is insufficient difference in the pigment’s absorption characteristics such that the retina’s initial contrast processing is insufficient. NB that this kind of thing happens in reverse, in a way. People with cataracts also get ‘color blind’ because of the effects the cataract in the lens has on the light reaching the retina. In my own case, the cataracts are not bad enough to require surgery; but when combined with filtering from corrective lenses, the contrast loss was bad enough to affect my ability to see at night. New corrective lenses helps but doesn’t completely overcome the effect. One day, if I live long enough, I’ll have the surgery.
30
Pity we don’t spend more of our research dollars on stuff like this, that has real meaning & value, rather than the Global Warming shysters, & their scam.
How many pairs of corrective glasses would the cost of just one windmill pay for?
110
Excellent point.
31
Couldn’t agree more. I believe that globally more than $1bn dollars a day is being lost pursuing the non-achievable aim of controlling our climate, while every day people die from preventable problems as lack of clean drinking water.
31
Some of these reactions sound a bit far fetched, to me. I’ve been red/green colour blind for 72 years. This meant that I used to have great trouble hunting down elephants in the strawberry patch – it was those red toe nails wot dunnit.
I also provided great mirth for my mates, growing up.
Back in 1990/1/2 (some time around then) I asked the local eye lass for a set of rose coloured glasses, as I had accidentally discovered that that colour (or perhaps a bright orange) changed the refraction of light & added in the colour correction I needed to see to pass that damned Ishihara (sp?) test.
I was given a single contact lens with a red dot in the centre – and tore it, trying to get it out a few days later. Never bothered again. Glasses would have been handy for choosing clothes, though – some horrible mistakes have left me red faced.
Camouflaged items, when in the Army) stood out just like those things on dogs. A ‘roo hiding in the scrub 400 yards away twitches an ear and I see it. Trees off in the distance, kilometres away, each stand out as individual trees – not as a mass as when vision is colour corrected. Most native animals and birds stand out clearly.
Red vehicles in shadow, with a dark green background, are simply not there. I’m still alive because the shadow ‘moved’ – on a number of occasions.
Traffic lights with those mercury vapour ‘yellowish’ lights in the background, at night, cause great personal consternation – and all you people who think those ‘green’ lights are ‘green – Nup, sorry – they are ‘blue’.
To this day I have a limited set of colour descriptives in my mental catalogue – but I have found that if I am open with people and tell them my predicament (when choosing clothes, for instance) they are always more than helpful – even if they can’t help giggling…
My long vision is still very good – just that my arms seem to be shrinking as I age and the print on so many thing has shrunk and turned a little blurry.
There are probably many other things that I see/don’t see – they just don’t spring to mind at the moment.
Ohh, yeah! Don’t rose coloured glasses help dyslexic vision?
00
I just remembered. As a plant operator I had the odd problem. People would drive in a number of pegs in the grass – then they would spray them nipple pink – and then tie nipple pink tape around them. And then, sometimes, they would spray bright pink line marking paint to show me where I had to cut, etc. Not even a (colour) guide dog could have helped me find any of that.
White, yellow or blue were OK, though.
Might be why I either wear blue or black clothes – but even black can be a worry.
00
I knew a little boy who was taught by his older sister to recognise colours by their wrong description, e.g. red – green and so on. One day his teacher told his mother that her son was colour blind, which really surprised her. At home she asked him to tell her what various colours were and his big sister started giggling as he identified them as she had instructed him.
Mother quickly realised what had been done and extracted the truth from her daughter.
They then re-educated him.
True story.
93
Not a dry eye …
The Red Wheelbarrow,
so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.
William Carlos Williams.
60
Hmmm. My crusade.
Takes me back, beththeserf.
Tell me about that red, rain glazed wheelbarrow and those white chickens.
30
Tell me about the rabbits Beth.
10
Say, white rabbits have been known to procrastinate, Yonniestone.
20
Hey Jo, no fair!!
I had to tell my wife I had an eyelash in my eye before leaving the room.
Let’s just stick to bashing warmists and lefties, OK?
101
Sorry, OT.
It seems the Australian government has just lost Barnaby Joyce according to the High Court in Australia. The NZ news media are unrestrainedly crowing.
So, please send him home.
This is currently the Globalists regional centre piece for Losers and the government of the Coalition of Losers could probably use an Australia adviser.
20
34 Qualifications of members
Until the Parliament otherwise provides, the qualifications of a member of the House of Representatives shall be as follows:
(i) he must be of the full age of twenty‑one years, and must be an elector entitled to vote at the election of members of the House of Representatives, or a person qualified to become such elector, and must have been for three years at the least a resident within the limits of the Commonwealth as existing at the time when he is chosen;
(ii) he must be a subject of the Queen, either natural‑born or for at least five years naturalized under a law of the United Kingdom, or of a Colony which has become or becomes a State, or of the Commonwealth, or of a State.
30
It would be interesting to learn the basic mechanism behind this.
KK
30
Here is an explanation. The assisted subjects are those who have greatly overlapping green sensing and red sensing cones. The glasses apparently filter out the overlap. This doesn’t entirely explain it to me because, in the presented colour versus sensitivity graph, the overlap is so great that if it were filtered out there would be almost nothing left of red and green. I would like to see two more graphs, one showing the filter’s notch and a final one showing the result when that notch is applied to the original graph.
20
There’s a good clue in one of the user responses.
The observer sees green as orange.
One part of the target is orange and the other green.
Problem is that he sees the whole thing as one colour, orange.
Green doesn’t register.
KK
10
I found another page. This one does show the notches.
10
Thanks for the references Sean.
I watched half of the first one but will have to wait until the scotch wears of before going through the second.
KK
10
The manifest joy seen in the de novo appreciation of colours restores faith in human nature.
I think we could well see a similar reaction when people experience freedom from bureaucratic tyranny for the first time and then demand it as a human right.
150
I am actually surprised by that. Seeing colour is great. That is why colour TV took over from black and white.
But I thought the visual process was much more complex than just fixing some receptors in the retina (or compensating for limitations). Visual processing takes place in ganglion cells behind the retina and also in the occipital cortex of the brain.
Deciding what it is that colour blind people actually see, when wearing the glasses, might take some time to work out.
Their initial reaction however does seem to be quite emotional.
30
You’ve raised a very interesting question there Peter.
Just what is it they are now seeing.
Is their experience of “purple” the same as those with normal colour vision.
KK
20
Hear hear, Manfred!
30
High Court Ejects Dual Citizen MPs.
I have only seen the Headlines so far. Five of the dual citizen politicians are out the door.
Bad luck that Malcolm Roberts is gone. I do not know what will happen with his replacement. Is it possible for One Nation to replace him with himself? He is a one nation citizen now.
The good part is that the High Court has taken a black Letter view of the Constitution. Interpreting and protecting the Constitution is their primary function. There has been some criticism of the High Court taking liberties with their interpretations of the law.
Well not this time. I am glad. Only a referendum of the Citizens of Australia can change the Constitution. That is how it is now and how it all ways should be.
70
And despite the howls from labor about decisions made by Barnaby as minister now subject to court action the high court views his time as minister stops with their decision today so from today any decision he makes as a minister would be null and void .
20
The Greens leader made a big show about his team’s integrity.
KK
20
Beautiful story.
30
This is so cool.
Due to an exotic sinus problem I’ve completely lost my sense of smell, but, because the problem is exotic, some days my sense of smell returns. I can assure you I carry on like a kid when that happens, opening jars of oregano, looking for gardenias outside etc.
I know from experience the cure won’t last beyond an hour, but my goal is to get cured completely, which I work on every day. The most infuriating thing for me is when people who can smell use the sense largely to find problems. It’s surprising how many people want to eliminate aromas that are just a good part of life.
To all who have that sense intact, enjoy! And, when I whinge, remind me to use my vision and hearing to find fun rather than to find worries.
Anyway, back to kicking warmies…
111
“Anyway, back to kicking warmies…”
You want some “warmies” to kick,
There is group calling themselves https://climatefeedback.org/About/
All about “fixing” errors in the press..
“… distinguish inaccurate climate change narratives from scientifically sound and trustworthy information in the media……
…..We are nonpartisan“………. roflmao
A look through their “community” list brings up some names we have all heard before.
All the big boys of the AGW S**M are there. !!
Betts, Pitman, Shepherd, Venema, Dessler, Gleick, Hausfather, Hoegh-Guldberg, Terry Hughes, Lewandowsky, Michael Mann, Carl Mears, Stefan Rahmstorf, Scambos, Gavin Schmidt, Steven Sherwood, Kevin Trenberth
etc etc
The very cream of the crop of the AGW priesthood. Non-partisan….. BULLS**T !!!
PROPAGANDA PAP from head to toe.
https://climatefeedback.org/community/
52
I’ve got a very dull sense of smell. Only the strongest smells get through.
For some reason perfumes always get through. I don’t know what it is, but it smell acidic to me. I call them high pitched smells because they sting the nose. The duller organic smells like garden mulch have a lower pitch.
40
This just in from the MSM “Due to climate change perfumes will turn to acid”….. nice one Greg. 🙂
20
“wonderful weekend post”
Jo thanks for posting such a wonderful story. 😀
50
great story, but…
***it would seem the CAGW mob want countries to grow less food!
26 Oct: Daily Mail: Green levies mean families are paying too much for energy: Report says taxes are too high while falling costs are not being passed on to customers
British households are paying too much for their energy, a report has found
Falling energy prices are not being passed onto the billpayer, the report said
Green taxes – 20 per cent of electricity bills – are also higher than needed
By Colin Fernandez
The excessive costs are hampering industry and perpetuating fuel poverty, the report said.
Green taxes – 20 per cent of electricity bills – are also much higher than necessary to reduce greenhouse gases and need to be reduced, the report said.
Oxford University Professor Dieter Helm was commissioned to produce the report by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
Higher green taxes can partly be laid at the EU’s door, the report said.
The EU’s renewables directive calls for all EU countries to produce 20 per cent of its power from low carbon, renewable sources by 2020.
The directive excludes nuclear power but includes biomass – which includes burning wood pellets – which the report said was not that different from burning oil or coal in terms of creating greenhouse gas…
High levels of green taxes ‘risk undermining’ democratic support for switching to a low-carbon economy, the report said…
***Electricity only produces 24 per cent of carbon emissions – so other areas which produce greenhouse gases, such as farming, which produces 10 per cent of greenhouse gases need to be looked at – ***and farmers could be potentially called on to produce less…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5018489/Green-levies-mean-families-paying-energy.html
7 Oct: ClimateChangeNews: Brazil’s carbon emissions rose 8.9% in 2016, despite recession
After a surge in illegal deforestation, Brazil’s carbon emissions have risen for the third year running, according to a new study
By Fabiano Maisonnave in Manaus
Despite Brazil’s worst recession in history, national greenhouse gases emissions are estimated to have risen 8.9% in 2016 and reached the highest level since 2004, ***agriculture and illegal deforestation were the main culprits…
The figures comes from the new edition of Seeg (the Greenhouse Gas Emissions Forecasting System), launched on Thursday by the NGO Observatorio do Clima. Seeg uses data produced by government reports and research centres to predict emissions…
While the major source of extra emissions was from forest loss, emissions from ***agriculture also rose by 1.7%…
http://www.climatechangenews.com/2017/10/27/brazils-carbon-emissions-rose-8-9-2016-despite-recession/
20
O/T But tackling “colour blindness” another way
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/10/26/delingpole-an-impertinent-pup-from-snopes-tried-to-fact-check-me-on-global-warming-heres-my-reply/
11
To watch the delight and surprise,
And hear the overjoyed cries,
As the colours of light,
Are revealed to the sight,
Leaves viewers with watery eyes.
120
While on the subject of “colour blindness” – how about “reality blindness” – by that I mean the MSM’s reporting of “AGW” – AGW is in fact a myth but most of the MSM is blind to this fact.
30
Wonderful Jo.
Thank you.
Chocolates on the way.
40
Impressive & moving, but I was surprised to learn a few years ago that there is more to human colour perception than just the frequency of light detected.
This site has some excellent examples. Scroll down to the ‘color cube’ – my favourite bit of weirdness.
http://brainden.com/color-illusions.htm
40
one of the girls at work brought that picture of the first dress to work. She could see blue and white, most of the rest of us could see gold and white.
I had to bring the picture into Paint and extract the colour to finally see it as blue.
21
I see blue and gold.
20
Brazil????
20
Oh goodness me! These are what I see:
Dress is blue with either brown or dark red banding.
A= charcoal, B= white.
Yep.
A=Dark Green; B=Yellow; C=Brown (or green?).
B is still slightly lighter.
Yellow dog OK, Blue dog is black with purple legs.
Upper chess pieces white, bottom black.
Light red stripe + brown or green stripe on light green background.
Moving bar stays grey.
Moving green dot causes the lilac dots to have offset green dots attached to them, although those green dots fade in and out and also move around/change position relative to the lilac dots.
Ahhhh, yuck!
I hope that gives everyone an insight – if not a good giggle.
By the way, I ‘think’ digital TV shows me reasonable colours if I remove red saturation. I know the old analogue TVs often had far too much red saturation for me. With the introduction of colour TV I could finally see the cricket balls and golf balls – whoo hoo!
However, physically playing cricket or tennis when a young bloke was a washout – the balls kept disappearing on me. More bruises, less laughs but lotsa opposition giggles.
10
Thanks Ray Warren,
It shows that perception and reality are not always the same.
Philosophers have worried about that since the time of Plato, or maybe even earlier. It got to the point where they even started to worry about our (or their) very existence. That is pushing existentialism to the limit.
Rene Descartes cut through all that with his famous “Cogito ergo Sum: ( I think therefore I am), A bit like Alexander cutting the Gordian knot with his sword rather than trying to unravel it. However that approach still leaves many unanswered questions.
20
If I think, I am.
If I don’t exist, how do
I know about me? 🙂
H/t David Bader.
30
Thanks Beth,
Better explanation of DesCartes.
Please explain about David Bader. I am not familiar with his work.
20
Peter,
Far as I know,
jest another of those
Jewish ‘Get Smart’
humorists –
I luv them so.
Picked it up
as Penguin Classic.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/704880.One_Hundred_Great_Books_in_Haiku
10
CAGW alarmist Kaufman, nasty as ever. can’t get the list linked at the bottom to function properly; perhaps others can:
25 Oct: HuffPo: Here’s The List Of Climate Change Deniers Considered For The EPA’s ‘Red Team’ Debate
The hard-line climate change deniers at the right-wing Heartland Institute sent the agency a list 205 names to consider.
by Alexander C. Kaufman
HuffPost has obtained a list of prominent climate deniers that the Heartland Institute, a right-wing think tank, assembled and submitted to the agency in May…
The names included on the list suggest that the Heartland Institute wants the debate to go directly after the scientific and legal underpinnings of the EPA’s regulations on climate change. Rather than debating the regulatory approaches, they want to undermine the conclusion that climate change is a real problem…
“If Scott Pruitt tried to challenge the endangerment finding, he’d be laughed out of court,” David Doniger, director and senior attorney for Natural Resources Defense Council’s climate and clean air program, told HuffPost. “Sometimes I think Scott Pruitt talks up the red-team, blue-team thing as a way of avoiding the regulatory or legal attack on the endangerment finding, which he’s bound to lose.” …
A source who requested anonymity provided the list to the watchdog Climate Investigations Center, which shared it with HuffPost…
(LINK) Heartland Scientists List
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/epa-red-team_us_59efa14ce4b0bf1f8836893e
11
I would say that the Heartland Institute has identified the real issue!
10
I checked that thing over a month ago. Lots of bad reviews. I would prefer to be able to change the relative intensities on my computor monitor and my TV screen. Incidentally, my colour vision improves when my pupils are dilated.
[It’s not clear what “that thing” refers to. If you could clarify it would help readers know what you mean. Jo refers to a number of external articles and videos.] AZ
00
pathetic:
27 Oct: Guardian: Frydenberg says government will further reduce emissions to meet Paris target
Energy minister says he expects the states to act in the national interest and sign on to national energy guarantee
by Katharine Murphy
(LINK)
The energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, says he expects the states to sign on to the national energy guarantee, despite the current pushback, and that the government will pursue further emissions reductions in other parts of the economy as part of meeting the Paris target.
In an interview with Guardian Australia’s Australian Politics Live podcast, Frydenberg said he expected state governments would act in the national interest when they meet in November and consider the national energy guarantee proposal on its merits.
“We are not expecting them to say no,” he said.
Frydenberg also flagged more wide ranging action to reduce carbon emissions as part of the climate policy review, which is expected to report by the end of this year…
Frydenberg said the government intended to pursue additional emissions reductions beyond the electricity sector once it had completed its review of climate policy, including in the transport sector. “We have a climate review. We are looking at action in a whole range of sectors,” he said…
“It may be an inconvenient truth for many, that now the emissions intensity of the Australian economy is at its lowest level in 27 years, or the amount of renewables that came in in 2016 was a five fold increase on 2015, or the fact there is $8bn worth of investment this year in renewables, which is a record amount equivalent to around 4,000 megawatts,” he said.
“There are more people in Australia on a per capita basis with solar panels on their roofs than in any other country. I mean there are a lot of good signs across the emissions reduction story.”…
He said the government’s objective was to build versatility into the generation mix. “It’s not about being pro-coal or anti-coal, or pro-renewables or anti-renewables, it’s about getting the right kind of generation mix. If you are a renewable energy company, you know the cost curve is in your favour,” he said.
“You also know the cost curve for batteries and storage is coming down. I can foresee an energy market where you have a solar plant next to a gas fired power station, one backing up the other, or indeed a pumped hydro facility next to a wind farm, or indeed large batteries.”…
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/oct/27/frydenberg-says-government-will-further-reduce-emissions-to-meet-paris-target
30
Josh would be smart to start saying whatever Turnbull’s replacement thinks is appropriate.
40
Frydenberg is a real problem. I can only hope that he is out the door soon along with Turnbull, Bishop, Hunt and Pyne.
30
while Frydenberg & co brag about renewables…
FT is behind paywall:
26 Oct: Kurdistan24: Iran claims it will sign over $20B of energy contracts in 2018
Despite US sanctions and President Donald Trump’s threat to increase pressure, Iran says it will seal at least $20 billion in energy contracts, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.
The international oil companies to sign with Iran include Royal Dutch Shell, the Anglo-Dutch group, and Kremlin-controlled Rosneft.
Iran’s deputy oil minister for international affairs Amir Hossein Zamaninia said the Islamic Republic was negotiating 28 provisional agreements with foreign oil companies.
These include Maersk Oil and Rosneft who plan to develop the oil layer in South Pars, the world’s largest gas field. Additionally, Russian firms Lukoil, Gazprom, and Zarubezhneft plan to develop oilfields in Paydar Gharb, Abteymour, Mansouri, and others.
“Any international oil company that you know, we are negotiating with…except the Americans,” Zamaninia said…
http://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/4f543b9a-9417-4f45-adf1-af93b9d6eb7f
2 pages: 27 Oct: Nikkei: Rising US energy exports could prompt seismic shift in Asian market
Middle East, Russia on defensive as cheaper fuel floods in
by TAKESHI KUMON
TOKYO — Energy markets across Asia could be about to undergo a huge overhaul. Driven by the shale drilling revolution, U.S. exports of crude oil and liquefied natural gas are growing rapidly and likely to make significant inroads into the market share held by Middle Eastern producers.
U.S. crude oil prices have been so low that new customers have even been found in India, while American LNG comes relatively free of restrictions — a big draw for major buyers like Japan…
The shake-up has not been limited to crude oil. U.S. exports of LNG to Asia jumped 12 times on the year in the first seven months of 2017.
“U.S. LNG has such great potential that it could change the market fundamentally,” said Yuji Kakimi, president of the world’s largest LNG buyer JERA, on Oct. 18 at a conference in Tokyo attended by ministers from LNG producing and consuming countries…
On the consumers’ side, emerging economies in Asia are likely to have a much greater presence as buyers in the LNG market. The number of importing countries is expected to rise to 47 by 2022 from 38 in 2016.
The number of importing countries is expected to rise to 47 by 2022 from 38 in 2016. Bangladesh and the Philippines are beginning to import LNG to fuel rapid growth in electricity consumption and technology innovation…
https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/Economy/Rising-US-energy-exports-could-prompt-seismic-shift-in-Asian-market
20
Since I’m not colorblind I can’t ever know what the world of the colorblind is like. But these days my hearing is bad enough that I need hearing aids. And even though they can never make up for the hearing I’ve lost over the years, the improvement is dramatic. So I can understand the reactions of those who see better because of a simple pair of glasses.
40
Years ago I did some work for a company that makes equipment using high intensity UV lasers and the problem of eye protection was their foremost concern. The stuff can’t be seen but is capable of eye damage and burns to exposed skin. Since they couldn’t simply shut off the laser when not in use because it took too long to start it up again, they would park it aimed at a spot on the metal frame of the machine. The frame was just the same black angle iron stock you can buy anywhere. It didn’t take very long with the laser parked in the same place to turn that spot from black to a shiny metal appearance. And if we put a piece of paper there before the laser was turned on, the paper would usually catch fire in less than a minute.
If glasses designed to protect from that kind of stuff can also benefit people with colorblindness I’m impressed.
I was glad to be able to leave that company when a better contract opportunity came along because working with something you can’t see but is that dangerous is not an easy feeling.
70
We have three color receptors, but most birds have four color receptors, and mallard ducks have 5. As far as birds are concerned, we humans all suffer from color blindness.
[If you can provide some references I’m sure they would be of interest to readers.] AZ
40
There is only one confirmed case of a human having four receptors.
http://www.popsci.com.au/science/medicine/this-woman-sees-100-times-more-colours-than-the-average-person,396736
Apparently many people do have four receptors, but the fourth is always non-functional.
20
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrachromacy
00
I have a friend who admits to red-green colour-blindness. “Everything in those colours are just shades of grey,” he has told me. I am lucky and don’t suffer from any colour-blindness. Consequently, with the true arrogance of the able-bodied (or able-eyed?), I have only fleetingly considered what it would be like. I’ve never considered possible causes other than those he offered up which were what were commonly considered an explanation decades ago.
For this discovery, and for these lenses to work as they do, is truly awesome.
Thank you for bringing that discovery forward and sharing it, Jo.
40
After cataract surgery many people can see into the UV spectrum.
https://www.extremetech.com/computing/118557-the-eyes-have-it-seeing-ultraviolet-exploring-color
21
I had surgery on both eyes in recent past years to remove developing cataracts and a lens inserted which gave me almost perfect long vision but worse short vision, my choice. I was also offered a long vision and a short vision eye lens alternative. I am very happy with the result but continue to wear spectacles because one eye is slightly less perfect than the other and bifocal is convenient rather than having to reach for reading aid.
But I am not sure that my “UV spectrum” has changed, so it probably hasn’t.
20
I find this difficult to understand, according to a person years ago who had a child with zero hearing and attended regular meetings of parents and professionals regarding issues and care it is worse being deaf than being blind.
To not be able to see the world around us must be a terrible handicap I believe. According to my informant to be born deaf means inability to communicate normally with other people and to gain the impressions and understanding of human relations is worse.
20
Helen Keller was born able to see and hear but disease robbed of both senses at the age of 19 months. She overcame that terrible handicap that left her almost totally isolated and became a well known activist for the blind and deaf, even earning herself a Bachelor of arts degree.
I fight with trifocals myself after cataract removal in both eyes. But I’m never tempted to complain much after I saw the movie, The miracle Worker, 1962. It can probably be bought from any number of sources on the Internet and in spite of its being monochrome in the age of color is well worth watching not only for the broader message but for the performances of both Patty Duke and Anne Bancroft which are superb.
50
It’s a great story but…
My wife has looked into these exhaustively. She is green-brown color blind, as are my sons. At least here in the USA you can’t hardly find them for love or money. Speaking of money, she was quoted a price of $400 per pair. Ouch!!
A pet peeve of hers is the various math instruction sites that require you to count the “green” circles. Which are right next to the brown ones. She has never gotten a positive response from any of the organizations, and it breaks my heart when my seven-year old is reduced to tears because the damn colors keep him from getting the right answer.
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D.J. – Try to grab hold of a swag of different coloured pieces of glass or plastic, then do the tests again, looking through each of the pieces.
Also, try it with different light sources. Artificial light, incandescent versus neon does make a big difference. I recall reading, many years ago, that ‘daylight’ neon tubes should be included with soft white for a better spectrum balance.
I fully understand your heartbreak with your 7 year old.
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The thing that fascinates me the most is Synaesthesia. No, I don’t have it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia
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You may be interested in the form of synesthesia I have; albeit it has faded considerably since its peak.
When I hear music, I can close my eyes and see swirling colors and patterns: think of the psychedelic scene in “2001”.
When I was in university, everybody around me did drugs for entertainment. I just lay on the couch, put on a set of headphones, and listened to music. The true mind blower was “Spem in Alium”; the visual effects contributed to my lifelong love of medieval choral music.
The colors and patterns I see are always mesmerizing. I never did need drugs. Well, sex and booze were OK….
This is also why I never go to fireworks shows that are accompanied by “sound tracks”. The visual effect of the fireworks display invariably clashes with what I see produced by the music, and invariably triggers a migraine.
Tragically, now that I am an old fogie, the effect is about 5% of what it was in my youth.
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I have experienced something similar, though to a very limited extent. A couple years back I did a music course through tafe one day a week. I chose the drums as my preferred instrument. They’d break us into groups of three or four and give us one week to learn 3 songs to be played the next week. I wasn’t a good drummer so I’d put in an hour every afternoon and up to 8 hours of a weekend drumming to the songs chosen. I began to see the music. That was quite something I can tell you.
PS: I was on another forum years ago chatting to a girl who had graphene synaesthesia. I asked her what happened when she saw a new symbol she’d never seen before. She said that uncommon or new symbols where plain black to her, but if she viewed the same symbol for a couple weeks it would begin to take on a colour.
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That’s interesting.
It is curious that drumming would produce the effect in that drumming would essentially be the same sound frequency, but repeated? Maybe the rhythmic patterns are all that is required?
I found that different types of music would produce different colors and visual effects. Ie: rock music like CCR would produce flashes of bright light and linear elongated shapes. Electronic music like “Oxygen” would produce dark blue or black unfolding curls. Choral music like “Spem in Alium” would produce muted colors but in giant, slowly rotating circular swirls overlaid with smaller spinning spiral galaxies and exploding star fields.
My regret is that in my old age the effect has almost disappeared.
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This must be absolutely wonderful for those who are colour-blind, and being able to see full colour for the first time.
I have a bit of trouble with blue and green, and red and brown, but can still pass the tests for colour blindness, although I struggle when blue is imbedded in green or vice versa.
However this seemed to give me an advantage when as a youth I used to gidgie (“spear” for you non West Aussies), cobbler, flathead and flounder because I could always see them before my mates. The same went for hunting in the bush as I would often shoot an animal before my mates saw it. I’ve often put it down to the fact that I see colours a little bit differently to most people.
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http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/41928025
The RAF made use of this during WW11
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IIRC colour blind soldiers were often made scouts in Vietnam for similar reasons
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But be aware that these glasses don’t help every type of colorblindness.
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Notch filters? Separated incoming RG bands more clearly and removing the area of overlap. Now for GB.
Reminds me of a theory about global warming.
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I’m colourblind (red-green). Not sure if I could handle seeing a new world of colour in my retired years. It’s like a peek of what was never mine to see across a lifetime. Colourblindness prevented me entering certain types of work.
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I was ineligible for the Air Force because of colour blindness. Is that even relevant today and was it really truly an issue in the past?
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Good point David,
Electricians sometimes have to be able to distinguish lots of different coloured wires. Lots of colour blind people can pass a trade test and still qualify for the work.
As far as Air Force pilots are concerned it is probably irrelevant. A car driver has more critical colour perception issues (traffic lights). I do not know if the Air Force has changed its standards since you applied.
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See Ted M at #29 above.
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Just slightly different, Peter C – I ahve to get one of my sons to identify each colour of the 7 strand, 12volt wiring for fitting a plug to the trailer. If swapping an old for new, I just do it by the numbers.
I do have some experience in blowing fuses…
Re Air Force – my cousin was also R/G colour blind – didn’t stop him being a navigator on F-111s.
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Just talked to channel 9 on the phone and asked why Hillary’s democrats are not newsworthy because they are in legal trouble.
The answer from a journalist in the news room was “It’s just a conspiracy”.
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Understandable reaction from a MSM journo.
That is why most of Fly Over America, ie the middle bit which voted for Trump, gets their news from Breitbart.
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Be aware, this is not a solution to all types of colour-blindness.
Yes, they’ve been around since 2015 and have helped some people, but the colour blind child I know has not been able to be helped by them. Yes, check and see if it’s a possible solution, but don’t raise false hopes.
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Joanne, the “Or this boy at 40 seconds” link is most likely pointing to wrong place, could you please have a look at it?
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O/T
‘The Bureau of Meteorology is predicting above-average temperatures in north and south-east Australia over the next few months.
‘The bureau released its climate outlook for November, December and January on Thursday, which also forecast a dry November for Western Australia.’
ABC
———-
I predict below average temperatures in east Queensland and south-east Australia over the next three months.
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How about glasses that allow viewers to discern the difference between raw and deliberately distorted temperature data series? This would be as useful as the lizard glasses from teevee sci-fi that enabled one to differentiate between real humans and alien fifth column invaders.
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I’m not convinced by this. Mid green is 532nm while red is 610 (If my memory is correct) they combine to make yellow, not brown (for most people). While yellow shows in a prism or rainbow between red and green it doesn’t actually have its own wavelength being a mixture or red and green (I can’t explain that).
But visual colour is the brain interpreting light, who can say that two people seeing yellow or purple are actually seeing the same thing or just a colour they understand is called yellow or purple. There are lots of sunglasses that make the colours come alive and are quite astonishing.
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Thank you for that explanation, Tim. It brought home to me an error or two from my posts above. Yellow that I see might be another person’s green – yet I can see ‘that’ yellow and a yellow coloured spray paint can top (coloured yellow for contents) as being exactly the same.
A lot of the difficulty arises in descriptions of colours. I will often describe what I see as a lighter or darker shade of a particular colour name – even if I get that ‘colour name’ wrong.
Gray is often seen as black or sometimes even green.
Perhaps all those green leaves on trees and green grass in the paddocks are really yellow? Or some other colour?
I’ve always enjoyed my orchid blooms – yet after reading some of the opinions of posters on here I’m beginning to think they will be nowhere near as intricate and enjoyable as they used to be – but my short term memory might solve that problem.
What I do think I see is a greater variation in shades of colours that I am seeing – versus what others with ‘normal’ sight see.
I have always seen colour blindness as being advantageous when hunting – and am of the opinion that it was a genetic advantage when man had to hunt, sometimes in dangerous environments, for his food – the ability to see a camouflaged predator, as well as the desired prey, (or even a camouflaged enemy) had to be an advantage.
It is a distinct disadvantage when hunting in the aisles of supermarkets, though, when they change the packaging colour or the item location – or, horror of horrors, both.
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Enchroma glasses can only address instances of anomalous trichromacy, where the passband of one of the cones is too close to that of another. Colorblindness resulting from an absence of a cone type cannot be remedied by the filtering these glasses provide.
http://www.colourblindawareness.org/colour-blindness/types-of-colour-blindness/
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EnChroma made my weekend – couldn’t stop looking at the videos. But who were these wonderful true scientists that invented this product that changes so many lives? Clearly they aren’t blowing their own trumpets. Compare this to the many so-called “climate scientists” who only create alarm and misery yet want to make a name for themselves, without adding anything to our society.
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I am 47 y/o and color blind and I am about to purchase a pair of glasses for myself for Christmas. I wanted to fly fighter jets and was devastated when i failed the colour test at age 16. My life has worked out well however. I will let the blog know how it goes. I am hoping for a nice result.
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Wish we could filter out the overlapping red and green warmists.
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You might want to check this news out . Delingpole: Trump Vindicated; Now Even the UN Confirms That the Paris Climate Accord Was a Complete Waste of Space. http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/11/01/delingpole-trump-vindicated-now-even-the-un-confirms-that-the-paris-climate-accord-was-a-complete-waste-of-space/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+breitbart+%28Breitbart+News%29
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