'Fishermen and Kings' (Olive Edis)

Photo courtesy Norfolk Museums Service (Cromer Museum)

Self-portrait by Olive Edis, c. 1912

Oh, for Pete's sake—I've forgotten Olive Edis!

Olive was the instigation for the British-themed post yesterday. And then what did I go and do but leave her out altogether. I'd say I'm getting absent-minded, but I've always been absent-minded. I'm just getting more absent-minded. (One of my takeaways from the otherwise overwhelming The Thing About Life is that One Day You'll Be Dead by David Shields, a book about aging, is that as we get older, we tend to get better at the things we were always good at and worse at the things we were always bad at. Which means I ought to be a superhero as a lover by now, and yet...oh, never mind.)

Anyway. The excellent Olive Edis (later Edis-Galsworthy), who was a discovery for me, is in the middle of a show called "Fishermen and Kings" at the Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery, in Norwich, a city in East Anglia, an area rich in photographic history. "Although relatively unknown," says a posting at the Heritage Lottery Fund, "Olive Edis was one of the most important photographers of the first half of the 20th century and the first accredited female war photographer. Edis also used portraiture to record the lives of influential women of the time to demonstrate the changing role of women in society." There are 190 of her photographs on display in Norwich, taken between 1900 and 1955.

Here's another self-portrait—taken for a tour, she's wearing the badge of the National War Museum to signify her status as an official war photographer.

There's more (much more) here.

Mike
(What's worse, I can't recall who sent me this tip—thanks, whoever it was. UPDATE: It was Andrew Lamb, who sent me the link to this article at the Times Literary Supplement. Thanks Andrew!)

ADDENDUM:

Mrs. Einstein and Albert were leaving the house for a dinner. Before they got in the car, Albert turns to his wife and says, "Do I look all right?"

"Albert," says Mrs. Einstein, "your socks don't match. Go back in the house and put on matching socks."

Albert is gone for ten minutes, too long a time, and when he returns he is wearing one sock.

"Albert, you got distracted and forgot what you were doing, didn't you? You were to put on matching socks."

"Oh, yes, I remember," says Albert, and disappears into the house again.

This time he is gone even longer, and when he returns he is wearing no socks at all.

"Albert! We're going to be late! Go back in the house and put on socks!"

This time he is not gone very long, but when he returns, he is again wearing socks that don't match. "I've forgotten what I went in there for," he says, "But I noticed I'd neglected to put on socks. Have I forgotten anything else?" he asks.

"You look fine, dear," says Mrs. Einstein. "Get in the car."

Best joke I know about absentmindedness.

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

David Miller: "thank you for the introduction to Olive Edis. Wow! (And other inarticulate exclamations of amazement.) Let's see—with the money I'm going to save because these images have wiped out my desire to buy new flash equipment, could I get a cheap flight to Norwich before the exhibition closes?"

Andy Crouch: "It's a great exhibition in my home town of Norwich, England. The exhibition is in the Norman Keep of the Castle in the centre of our 'fine city.' The Castle has had many great exhibitions, e.g. Jeff Koons, and a permanent display of Norfolk Artists. If you're over give the Castle a look! N.B. I haven't received any money for saying this!"

Comments

[Andrew Lamb]

I sent you the link to this. It was in the Times Literary Supplement, believe it or not.

[Frank Gorga]

I have no clue about its veracity, but my favorite Einstein story goes like this:

Einstein was walking across the Princeton campus one day when he ran in to an acquaintance.

After a short chat, and as they were about to part ways, Einstein asks his friend "Which way was I headed?".

The friend points the way and Einstein replies "Aah then, I must have already had lunch.".

[Nick]

Fascinating, thank you so much! Very glad indeed to learn of Edis. I don't know if I'll get to the show but I should try, and there's still time. Best wishes, Nick

[Simon]

I live in Norwich and will be visiting the exhibition hopefully this weekend. I''ll report back when I do.

http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/Visit_Us/Norwich_Castle/Whats_on/Exhibitions/index.htm

[Bruce Appelbaum]

even though the socks did not match, I bet he had another pair just like the ones he was wearing.

[Trecento]

Hi Mike,
I've been curious about absentmindedness for a while, and I think it's different from aging related difficulties. I think it is caused by the working memory store being overwhelmed by trying to pull in and push out too many different things. The conventional idea is that we have five plus or minus two slots for pushing data into and out of short term memory as we work with it. Having to deal with a complex or unsolvable problem - like understanding grief - takes up a bunch of slots, and sometimes other stuff gets pushed out and dropped or written to memory incorrectly. Like being unable to remember where you parked after coming out from a job interview.

It would be interesting to see if people who do things like jump horses (can't let your mind wander on the way to the jump), or Zen Buddhism, or other concentration heavy practices have better luck with this sort of thing. Somehow they are able to clear out their working memory and yet still have things in a "saved state" to come back to later.

[Trecento, re concentration, there's a truism out there that race car drivers have better reflexes than most people. Some researchers actually tested this once, and found that race car drivers' reflexes are no better than anyone else's--the big difference is that their ability to focus continuously--to concentrate--is off the charts, measured in hours, whereas for most people it is measured in minutes. I thought that was interesting. --Mike]

[rick barry]

An elderly couple were lying in bed watching TV, when the wife said to the husband, "I sure would like some Ice cream." The husband agreed and got up to go to the kitchen. "Write it down so you don't forget" she cautioned him. "It's just a bowl of ice cream, how could I forget?. A long time passes and then finally he returns. On a large tray, he brings her, eggs, bacon, toast, jelly, juice, coffee etc. All the trimmings. She looks up and says, "I told you to write it down, you forgot the hash browns"