a different angle on continuity

I have (at least since I started the PhD, and probably longer) derived particular joy from looking at the publication dates of academic papers I am reading, and thinking about where I was and what I was doing at the approximate time that research was being performed. I have a particular soft spot for the work done while I was in primary school, for no particular reason other than sentiment, but in general it's just very soothing to watch this continuous chain of human endeavour directed toward Understanding Shit Better in a way that -- from my particular perspective -- funnels down to me. (Anthrophic principle, innit.)