2013 Journal of Amazing Things - Week #1

I was thinking several things this week that all came together into a nice little idea.  If you're a regular follower, you'll know that the weekly blog project of 2012 was the gratitude photojournal.  In 2011, the project was to take a photo every Sunday.  I was not the original idea owner of those two projects - they came from my friend Avis, and I just played along.  I checked the blog of Avis for her 2013 idea, but so far she is not forthcoming.  It's possible she's a bit preoccupied with having a baby and stuff.

This week I was also thinking this is a year of learning new things.  I plan to get my scuba diving certification.  At work a bunch of us have started a video learning series on electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) that includes reading assignments and homework and stuff.  And, I believe I may also be assigned to take some leadership training at work.  Plus the other random trainings that I might attend or might administer to other people.

As my past couple of posts may have also given you a hint about, this week I have been marveling at the genius of many of the people in the science and engineering field.

This week as I was thinking about the fact that the gratitude photojournal was ending and I was missing my Sunday post routine, I came up with the idea of making a journal of amazing things every week.  I'm still not sure if it will be a words journal or a photojournal.  I kind of like the photojournal thing, but not completely sure it will stay that way since many of the things I marvel at may not have a readily available photo.  I may have to settle sometimes for photos from other people or links to interesting articles.  I also fear that the line between amazing and thankfulness might get a little blurred, but we'll see how that works out.  I'm setting my goal at two amazing things per week.  We'll see if that's realistic or not.

If you want to join me in this project, add it to the comments of my post.  A link or just a list of your amazing things right there in the comments would be acceptable.  Let's get down to business.

Things I found amazing this week:

1.  Scientists and Mathematicians of the Past.  For example, in 1864 James Clerk Maxwell harmonized the electric and magnetic field equations of the past into his four equations for electromagnetic radiation based purely on math.  He had no physical proof that electromagnetic radiation existed, but based on the math from previous experiments and equations, he theorized that it must exist and wrote the equations that we still use today to define electromagnetic radiation.  Based on this, he also theorized that light is a form of electromagnetic radiation.  I have many more examples, but I don't want to bore you. (Too late you say!)

2.  Immigrants.  One of my co-workers is from Nepal, and he took vacation over Christmas and New Years to go back to Nepal for the first time in eight years.  That boggles my mind.  I live a ways from my family, but I usually still see them several times a year.  This also caused me to think of my ancestors back in the early 1900's who left the old countries to come here.  How would it feel to leave your extended family there knowing that you might never see them again for the rest of your life?  These days we have the telephone, Skype, Facetime, Facebook, etc. to keep in touch.  Back then all they would have had was paper and pencil.  It would take a lot of faith, courage, and emotional stamina to make that leap of faith I think.  These days we take a lot of things for granted.