9 o'clock in the morning

They say life began on earth around 3 billion years ago. The earth should continue to support life for another 5 billion years, hopefully. If we see this period as 24 hours, then we are now at 9 o'clock in the morning, humans having diverged from apes about a minute ago and the human species existing 1-2 seconds ago. Thank you Dr. J. Palme for the analogy. It puts the concept of change into perspective.

Unchanged

Four fingers and an opposable thumb. Technology is getting smaller, faster and made to fit in the palm of our hand. There are hand-held devices and handy apps. Our digital tools are changing rapidly, but they still fit the same hand we have had for over 100,000 years. Tools do change but the hand that holds them, has not.

Books and clay tablets

Will today's book be tomorrow's "clay tablet"? Some say books will become obsolete in today's advancing digitized world while others say it will become an art form. Perhaps this type of discussion is really moot as the literary device should not be the object of concern. Instead the preservation of the literary word for tomorrow's generation of readers should be the focus of the literati. Lugalbanda, our oldest story written on clay tablets 5000 years ago, was republished in 2006. Perhaps in 5000 years children will still read the story of the Sumerian king in an art form we can only imagine.

Leather aprons

Welcome to the world of libraries. Ben Franklin belonged to the Leather Apron Club and created one of the first lending libraries in America by donating his personal collection. If I lived back then, though I doubt a woman could join, I would want to join his club. Their philosophical discussions ranged from morality to politics with each member required to produce one or more queries on one or more of these topics. It was a library of minds. Research in possibilities. Inquiry-based learning. It was today's school library!