One of the things I like about the internet is the ability to access information. Some (most?) information on the internet is junk. But some of it is really fun, really informative, sometimes both, but usually frivolous.
So try this: without opening any new tabs or windows, follow your internet surfing. Then, after a while, go back and look at your history. It's kind of like retracing your steps, or trying to remember how a particular conversation thread got started. Sometimes I will even do this with my own thoughts: I'll find myself thinking about apples, which makes me think about apple pie, which reminds me of cinnamon, which makes me want to know more about how cinnamon bark is processed into spice, which makes me think about the Spice Islands, which makes me think about the Dutch East Indies, which makes me think of the Jan Compagnie (VOC), which makes me think of Table Mountain, which makes me think of apartheid, which reminds me of the Xhosa, which reminds me of Nelson Mandela, which makes me think of the Nobel Prize, which makes me think of Alfred Nobel, which reminds me of dynamite...
You know, like that. After thinking about dynamite for a bit, I'll try to retrace my mental steps to determine how I started thinking about dynamite in the first place... Sometimes I can do it, but usually I get distracted about half-way through, thinking of something else. For me, internet surfing is much the same...
I've been growing some coastal redwood seeds in my office. It's pretty cool to think that some of the tallest trees in the world are germinating on my windowsill... They're only about an inch tall, while fully mature trees can be thousands of years old and more than three hundred (!) feet tall. For reference, the Statue of Liberty is about 300' from the base of the plinth to the top of the torch. So pretty tall.... I ordered these seeds after doing some research on trees for our local tree ordinance for our City. I started thinking and wondering if I could get them to grow here - while it (usually) rains enough for them to grow here (I think!), I wonder about the temperature extremes - particularly the summer-time heat... For now they are safely growing indoors at my office, but I wonder how they'll do long-term and in our soils... Should be an interesting experiment.
I wonder if all minds are as scattered as mine. :)
So try this: without opening any new tabs or windows, follow your internet surfing. Then, after a while, go back and look at your history. It's kind of like retracing your steps, or trying to remember how a particular conversation thread got started. Sometimes I will even do this with my own thoughts: I'll find myself thinking about apples, which makes me think about apple pie, which reminds me of cinnamon, which makes me want to know more about how cinnamon bark is processed into spice, which makes me think about the Spice Islands, which makes me think about the Dutch East Indies, which makes me think of the Jan Compagnie (VOC), which makes me think of Table Mountain, which makes me think of apartheid, which reminds me of the Xhosa, which reminds me of Nelson Mandela, which makes me think of the Nobel Prize, which makes me think of Alfred Nobel, which reminds me of dynamite...
You know, like that. After thinking about dynamite for a bit, I'll try to retrace my mental steps to determine how I started thinking about dynamite in the first place... Sometimes I can do it, but usually I get distracted about half-way through, thinking of something else. For me, internet surfing is much the same...
I've been growing some coastal redwood seeds in my office. It's pretty cool to think that some of the tallest trees in the world are germinating on my windowsill... They're only about an inch tall, while fully mature trees can be thousands of years old and more than three hundred (!) feet tall. For reference, the Statue of Liberty is about 300' from the base of the plinth to the top of the torch. So pretty tall.... I ordered these seeds after doing some research on trees for our local tree ordinance for our City. I started thinking and wondering if I could get them to grow here - while it (usually) rains enough for them to grow here (I think!), I wonder about the temperature extremes - particularly the summer-time heat... For now they are safely growing indoors at my office, but I wonder how they'll do long-term and in our soils... Should be an interesting experiment.
I wonder if all minds are as scattered as mine. :)
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