Ideas that Spread and Creatively Build on Each Other

Today’s thoughts are about how ideas pass through and around community and are built and creatively expanded upon.

A friend  seems to have figured me out and has exceptional taste in the books she recommends I read. One of those has been On Looking by Alexandra Horowitz who takes walks with experts and has conversations about what they notice.

One of the walks was with a wildlife expert in New York City. Rats came up. They’re not my most favorite of animals. I’m really not a fan. But an interesting behavioral quirk was mentioned. Rats are the type of animal that groom themselves from top to tail in order, so if you were to ever catch a rat in the midst of grooming, you could guesstimate fairly well how far along in their grooming process they are.

I mentioned this interesting bit of trivia to my kids who thought it was hilarious. The next morning when I came downstairs, this info graphic from my daughter was sitting on the kitchen counter:

K. Toomre’s coloring and note enhancement regarding rat hygiene on a drawing of a rat.

I love how ideas and information can pass from one person to the next and how the idea can be built upon and creatively enhanced. Being really funny doesn’t hurt either!