Sitting at my desk today, taking notes during a conference call, I noticed a pattern of ovals - light spots in a line on my paper from light passing past the curved ends of the partially closed blinds on my windows.
Grabbed by a spirit of doodling, I quickly traced the outline of each oval. My attention was diverted for some time - but not long - tens of seconds, not minutes. When I glanced down again I was surprised at how far the light spots had moved from the tracing.
Then I watched. There was a tiny bit of motion in the blinds, so a tiny wiggle of the spots on the paper back and forth, but a discernible directional movement as well. I've noticed this before, watching shadows. The movement of the Earth, rotating 360 degrees in 24 hours, is right at the limit of what I can discern. If I'm really focused I can perceive the movement, but at a more casual glance things seem to be still. It's easier to be aware of the motion glancing back at longer intervals, because the accumulated movement appears as a significant jump. In real-time, the motion seems incredibly slow.
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