Dendrochronology

Facebook photos are like rings on a tree stump; they are reverse chronological from the outside in and they can tell us a great deal about history. The visible bark on the tree is the present, as our first few FB photos are also generally the present. As we go backward from the outside in and study the rings on a tree, we can deduce events that happened to the tree, changes in climate, age, and other specific scientific data. As we go backward from the outside in and study the photos tagged to you on FB, we can deduce hair and clothing changes, friend changes, events, uh... climate...changes- and so on.

I'm sure we've all taken the time to surf back through our photos and think, "Woah, I can't believe that I..." or "Man, I really miss...". This is a wonderful thing! To so easily be able to do a character study on yourself! Never before has being self-aware been so achievable. We have the capability of conveniently evaluating our station and progress in life. We can be happy in how far we've come or we can realize how far we have to go (both good things).

Recently there has been a confusing ring formation on my stump. With no context, it would appear that my body has regressed from young adult form to toddler/infant (Mork and Mindy style). However, this ring merely represents the time period where my mother bought a scanner and uploaded pictures from over 20 years ago: