Granted

Bumpspark* just received a substantial amount of funding from Western Connecticut State University's annual President’s Initiatives Fund. This year's initiative was any project that "advances the learning opportunities that differences can create."

WestConn President James W. Schmotter said, "Project Bumpspark presents an opportunity to develop a media venue that will permit the sort of cross-disciplinary dialogue that is all too rare today, both on university campuses and in the broader society. Because of the deluge of information and specialization that characterizes all fields of endeavor in 21st century America, we all tend to live and to think in our own cultural and intellectual silos. These can be comfortable, but they are also constraining. Bumpspark* provides an intriguing way to break down those silos and address the big, challenging questions we all face today.”

Couldn't have summed it up better, but here is a press release anyway.

Missed

On March 19, the world lost Arthur C. Clarke, a man never afraid to think out loud with his imagination. He was on my original list of what if, Bumpspark* counterparts: someone who could no doubt converse across many subjects and who's train of thought could be brought out by unexpected conversation and recorded for posterity. A missed opportunity.