fine whine

I have no excuses for my (regularly scheduled) posting lapse. I'm no less interested, or interesting, I merely haven't posted anything. My apologies to my few remaining readers.

That said, one of the trivial mysteries of my life may well have been solved: I think I've figured out why I dislike looking in mirrors in the dark*. I avert my gaze from mirrors in low lighting because I can't make out faces, particularly my own. Every fifth or sixth grader knows that the human eye uses cone and rod cells for vision in bright and dim lighting, respectively. The rods are what let people see in near-darkness, but they're concentrated more on the outside of the retina and function best in peripheral vision. To look directly at something, then, with the rods is to see less than glancing at it sidelong.

Enough mumbo jumbo (if you want more, feel free to read up on rods and the eye at the Wikipedia). In the dark, if I look directly at my reflection in the mirror, I am unable to make out the details of my face. This seems to be unnerving, as I find myself deliberately looking in mirrors in the dark.

At least, that's my hypothesis, and I'm sticking to it.

* Well, other than the old childhood childish 'Bloody Mary' superstition, which I'd like to think I've long since outgrown but haven't tested to be certain.