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Book reading instead of Social Media
At the beginning of the
Reading So far this year:
Abandon : A book about a mining town whose inhabitants disappeared from one day to the next.
Snowbound: About a father and daughter who end up travelling a big distance
Dark Matter: A book about all the alternative infinite number of realities we could experience as a result of every decision we make
Gray Mountain: A book about the American coal mining industry and its disregard for human rights
Books I am currently reading
The Written World: The Power of Stories to Shape People, History, Civilization: This is an interesting booking tracing the history of the written
Churchill’s Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare: The Mavericks Who Plotted Hitler’s Defeat: The audible version of this book is entertaining. It is read in such a manner that I had to remind myself that this book is meant to be factual. It’s a fun read.
La
Long periods of focused attention
By replacing Social media with book reading I feel that I am going back to a habit that many of us lost with the emergence of social media. We went from reading chapters a day to reading tweets and Facebook entries. We went from the long form to the short form.
The short form of Tweets and Facebook posts was rewarding when it was about conversations and keeping up with friends. As the focus on friends has dwindled and as the quality of content has decreased so the pull factor of long-form content such as books came back.
Reading devices
I have a kindle Paperwhite and a Kobo Aura H20. I prefer reading on e-readers, especially when I spend several hours a day on rainy weekends reading. The batteries last for a long time and there are no distractions. Mobile phone screens slow down my reading speed and tablets don’t feel as comfortable for reading.
I use my mobile phone and an ipod classic when I read audiobooks.
The Global Action Day For Burma – London
Today was the Global Action day for Burma. The event was centered around a march from the Tate Britain, via the Houses of Parliament before arriving at Trafalgar Square at which point several speeches were made.
You can recognise those who were part of the protest for the red ribbons they wore and the t-shirts.
I met two friends who were taking photographs, Danfung Dennis and Crina Boros. Danfung has had quite a few interesting assignments. Crina was doing an MA whilst I was completing my final year of studies.
Village Photography
On Google Plus, one of my muses, I saw that instead of Street photography someone suggested Village photography. I like the idea because villages are such an integral part of my life.
Life in villages is a privileged one. Every time we go for a walk we cross people we do not know and say hello. We walk from field to field and along paths. We see which crops have been planted and which ones are being harvested. We see frequent horses and dog walkers. We also see families. We hear the sound of rifle practices at the local gun range. The practice is for military service most of the time.
We also have fountains and old buildings. We hear the church bell every half hour and hour. We see the fountains with wooden chalet to protect from the cold in winter.
Villages are seasonal. In summer the sounds of children playing, of fireworks and of barbecues can be heard. In Autumn the sound of wind blowers can be heard. In Winter we see lights on as the neighbours prepare their evening meal.
In the mornings we see parents bring their children to school before the bell rings and they head in to their classes to sit and wait impatiently for the school day to be over so that they may go out on adventures.
That’s why village photography captivates my imagination. I know villages well. I appreciate them. I look forward to looking at images from the past, and preserving today for future generations.
Freeze complete – Lac de Joux
The lac de Joux eventually froze over completely. As a result of this you could walk on the ice. Some people were kitesurfing whilst others were having Marrons chaud. In one or two places you could see that the water level had decreased as a result of which the ice sheet had broken.
Walking across the ice was an interesting experience. The ice can be seen through. Due to recent snow melt on the ice you were walking through a few centimeters of water in place. The feeling is disconcerting.
Enjoy the beauty.
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