MemeBars

What is that odd looking strip of apparently random photographs across the top of the Feral Scholar home page, you may be asking yourself… it’s a Meme Bar :-)

A Meme Bar is a graphic we recently invented that represents a cluster of memes or a train of thought. The point of a meme bar is to express in one rapidly perceived image a complex series of connections that cross disciplinary borders — connections that are often obfuscated by cultural bias, habit, political chicanery, our own ignorance, etc. Our motto here at FS is that we make connections. The Meme Bar is a way of visualising the connections we try to make, and on this page we’ll deconstruct each Meme Bar and explain the train of thought it represents…

MemeBar 1

1 Apple Pie 9 Apple Tree 17 Blossoming Apple Tree
2 Apples 10 Planting a Seedling 18 Polish Apple Pickers
3 Newton Pippin 11 Tree Root System 19 Fermenting Apple Cider
4 Apple Cross-Section 12 Mycorrhizae Microphotograph 20 Electron Microscopy of Yeast
5 Radial Symmetry of an Apple 13 Earthworms 21 Glass of Cider
6 Apple with Seeds 14 Electron Microscopy of Root Cross section 22 Apple Blossom
7 Apple Seeds 15 Honeybee with Apple Blossom 23 Apples Crated Ready for Transport
8 Apple Seedling 16 Apis Mellifera (Honeybee) 24

What is the point? the connections. No tree without a root system below ground that mirrors the volume of the tree aboveground. No root system without mycorrhizae and earthworms. No cider without apples. No cider without yeast. No seedling without seeds. No crates of apples without apple pickers. No apples without pollinators (honeybees). The apple pie — the glass of cider — are the tip of the iceberg. No apple pie without earthworms. Do we really know where our food comes from?