Monday Memories

I hope all of you had a good weekend.  I certainly got a lot more accomplished than I had anticipated, but there is always still more to do.  Still, Monday is a good day to rekindle some of that good-weekend energy and help it carry us through the day--and perhaps the rest of the week, too.  So today I have a few memories--and a few funny little items to share with you all.


In keeping with last Friday's Star Wars theme, I found a little treasure from The Mary Sue to share with you all.

Although this painting has all ready sold, David Vancook has several other paintings to choose from.  His gallery page is linked from the picture above if you'd like to see more of his work.

And here's a little music from the Cowboy Bebop OST, "Memories".


This anime series remains one of my favorites, and this song always carries me back to that final moment when everything falls apart.  The beauty of the song, however, is a testament to an idea.  Some people might say the idea is love--romantic love.  I'm not sure that's the only idea this song celebrates, though.  Maybe it's the beauty in tragic things--the inevitable outcome of our flaws, or the fragile petals of a falling rose in the rain.  Whatever the case may be, the memory is one that remains with me--all these years later.

Some of our greatest memories come from stories that are passed down from one generation to the next.  While not always the most accurate, these stories pass down ideas that frame our beliefs and often are a means of teaching those beliefs to those who come after us.  I came across an article today that speaks about the mythology of ascension into heaven (or the heavens).  For many, these stories share the belief that there is another world beyond our own--a place where the divine rests and where we might go instead of dying.  It's worth the read, and I hope you'll have a look.

So remember that article I referenced last week about science and the need for scientists to start speaking in terms that regular people could understand?  This next article that I read seems to play out that argument with regard to investment potential.  It also harkens back to the 19th century when grand shows and exhibitions were created to not only inform the public about new technology and discoveries, but also to drum up money for further research and study.

Telecommunications is currently trying to work through a fast-approaching problem--that of data glut.  Unfortunately we don't have an infinite number of radio bandwidths to carry our cellular information, and with more and more information being transmitted, eventually there will simply be too much information needing to be transmitted via whatever bandwidths various telecommunications companies have access to.  They're working on the problem, of course--but sometimes a different perspective is needed.  And if that different perspective yields results, it can cause quite a stir among those who have been studying the issue for a long while.  In short, engineers and scientists aren't always on the same page--and if one or the other of them stages a big show about what they believe to be a "new discovery", the other group might not believe it--or worse, they may ridicule it into the ground.

These debates, however, seem to be worthwhile for science and engineering both.  And the public spectacles?  Well, ...as long as there's sound science and evidence to back it up, and a good debate is had after the show, I think it's fantastic.

Last, but not least, ...I had to look up what SWAG meant today--mostly because it's been bothering me lately that I had no idea what it was all about.  But now, I have the power.  Check out the link above if you would like to know all about the swag, too, and happy Monday memories, everyone!