the.com/flicker
the universe's stutter, where light forgets its lines for just a heartbeat
means To flicker is to shine or burn with an unsteady, wavering light that keeps dimming and brightening, or to move with quick darting motions.
from From Old English 'flicorian' or 'flycerian,' meaning to flutter the wings, as a bird does — the word first belonged to motion before it belonged to light. It's an imitative word, born from the sound and sense of rapid, restless movement, and a cousin of 'flutter' and 'flacker.' Only later did the trembling of wings transfer to the trembling of flame, so that a candle now 'flickers' the way a startled bird once did.
- flame physics
- Candle flicker comes from invisible turbulence in rising hot air
- screen myth
- Old CRTs flickered at 60Hz, faster than conscious sight
- the bird
- Flicker is a woodpecker that oddly prefers eating ground ants
- brain trick
- Flicker fusion lets 24 still frames become smooth motion
- horror staple
- Flickering lights signal danger because failing power once meant real death