When I put a moon in a story, I always double-check to ensure its phase aligns with the time of the day, season and whatnot. I've always wondered whether any readers thought of this.
Even if they don't notice the moon phase itself (and some of us will, like me!), I think they'll still more or less consciously notice that you cared about getting the details right.
It's interesting to think that these types of incorrect 'chunks' of information have probably been a relatively benign sociological artifact for most of history -- until the present age of instant networked communication.
If you were part of some well defined group or community before the era of global inter-subjectivity, and your group had some incorrect chunks, you'd probably eventually come across another group that had different and conflicting chunks. Then you would at least have a jarring moment of coming to terms with that conflict. But now we're all apart of the same global shared consciousness, with all the inconsistencies and strangeness that entails.
Thanks, this is a really useful perspective to talk about another of my pet topics — the value of cultural diversity. Clichés are often different across cultures, and the more our culture is globalized, the more our clichés also are.
I came to read this because of your year end post and because I’m interested in video games. And it was a great post, the cacti and camels, snowy trees and rising crescent moons are very interesting. What I’ll really remember though is the sentence about tree rings showing growing seasons and waiting seasons. I think that if people had rings, we’d see the same thing. There’s a lot that I want to consider about that idea, and thank you!
You might be interested to hear that vertebrates can in fact have the analog of growth rings in their bones, and this is used to determine the age of specimens: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeletochronology
However, this is visible mostly in species that undergo hibernation and therefore don't grow continuously throughout the year, like a lot of reptiles and amphibians but not humans and most mammals, except in cases of bone-related disorders.
Jan 28, 2023·edited Jan 28, 2023Liked by Étienne Fortier-Dubois
Very insightful, thanks for incorporating Shishkin's paintings into your post. One of my favorites is Morning in a Pine Forest (sometimes also called Bears in the Woods and found on the famous-in-Russia chocolate candy wrappers), although the bears themselves were painted over by another artist, Savitsky (oft uncredited). This was a rare collaboration between two artists -- that most people likely don't know about -- whose painting resulted in one of the most popular works of art.
When I put a moon in a story, I always double-check to ensure its phase aligns with the time of the day, season and whatnot. I've always wondered whether any readers thought of this.
Even if they don't notice the moon phase itself (and some of us will, like me!), I think they'll still more or less consciously notice that you cared about getting the details right.
This was such an enlightening post. I look forward to many more!
I was waiting for pedantism but got only really interesting information.
I am so very sorry to disappoint.
I just started playing Banjo-Kazooie again. For the first time in, what, 25 years? This time with my kids. Fun to see an image of it pop up.
Anyawy, I like these types of posts, fresh and original topic & perspective. Thank you!
My brother and I played Banjo-Kazooie once, for one really intense week, because it was a game rental, and we still talk about it.
It's interesting to think that these types of incorrect 'chunks' of information have probably been a relatively benign sociological artifact for most of history -- until the present age of instant networked communication.
If you were part of some well defined group or community before the era of global inter-subjectivity, and your group had some incorrect chunks, you'd probably eventually come across another group that had different and conflicting chunks. Then you would at least have a jarring moment of coming to terms with that conflict. But now we're all apart of the same global shared consciousness, with all the inconsistencies and strangeness that entails.
Thanks, this is a really useful perspective to talk about another of my pet topics — the value of cultural diversity. Clichés are often different across cultures, and the more our culture is globalized, the more our clichés also are.
I came to read this because of your year end post and because I’m interested in video games. And it was a great post, the cacti and camels, snowy trees and rising crescent moons are very interesting. What I’ll really remember though is the sentence about tree rings showing growing seasons and waiting seasons. I think that if people had rings, we’d see the same thing. There’s a lot that I want to consider about that idea, and thank you!
You might be interested to hear that vertebrates can in fact have the analog of growth rings in their bones, and this is used to determine the age of specimens: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeletochronology
However, this is visible mostly in species that undergo hibernation and therefore don't grow continuously throughout the year, like a lot of reptiles and amphibians but not humans and most mammals, except in cases of bone-related disorders.
Thank you for reading!
Very insightful, thanks for incorporating Shishkin's paintings into your post. One of my favorites is Morning in a Pine Forest (sometimes also called Bears in the Woods and found on the famous-in-Russia chocolate candy wrappers), although the bears themselves were painted over by another artist, Savitsky (oft uncredited). This was a rare collaboration between two artists -- that most people likely don't know about -- whose painting resulted in one of the most popular works of art.
More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morning_in_a_Pine_Forest
And yes to undoing clichés!
Huh, I didn't know about the chocolates, that's pretty cool!
Yep, it is, and they look like this (the classic version at least): https://www.wildberries.ru/catalog/57535569/detail.aspx
This was such an enlightening post. I look forward to many more!