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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>OK so we have been grinding away on describing a concept called qualia to a bunch of guys, many of whom think mathematically. Many if not most of us here are engineering/science/math/technology geeks. OK so we can deal, an engineer sees a problem, solves a problem, ja? It’s our nature. That’s how we got to be geeks. I propose a game, a challenge to those of us guys who have to work at it to distinguish between colors that our female counterparts can easily see. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Open an excel spreadsheet, click in any cell, then go up under that paint bucket icon, upper leftish, left click on the black triangle, go to the bottom of that menu and select “more colors.” OK now you have a hexagon filled with various colored hexagons, 127 of them (black is missing, which is why the painfully non-symmetric ugly 127 instead of the beautiful soul-calming 128.) This is your box of crayons.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Start out with the easy one. Pick the one which is the most red. OK no problem, most of even us lads can find that one. It looks to me nearly indistinguishable from the hexes to the right and left of red, so I choose the one in the middle. OK guys, left click once on that hex, now go under the tab above called “custom” just to the right of the “standard” tab, left click once to drop that menu. There it shows you how much red, how much blue, how much green is the hex you chose. If you hit it right on the first try, 255 red, 0 blue, 0 green, then you are gay. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Kidding, bygones. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>OK that one was easy. Red is a good descriptor for qualia, since we pretty much all define red the same way. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Repeat experiment, harder this time. Pick the hex you think is purple, defined as 0 green, 255 red, 255 blue. Did you hit that one on the first try? OK try orange then. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Third test, harder still: yellow. Recall the emissive spectrum is a little different than the absorptive: when you play with crayons and watercolors, your primary colors are red, blue and yellow, and mixing colors makes them darker, heading towards black. In the emissive spectrum it is the dual of that: primary colors are blue, red and green, and mixing colors makes them lighter, heading towards white. I would be surprised if anyone here hits yellow exactly right on the first try. If you do, then come on out of the closet, you are among friends here, we won’t tell. {8^D Kidding bygones.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>We can imagine creating a continuous spectrum in which we vary the cell color continuously, then have the geeks pick the most red, the most orange, the most yellow etc. Cool!<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>spike<o:p></o:p></p></div></body></html>