Fragmentation Addendum

I’ve gone about as far as I should go with Habitat Fragmentation, discussed last Friday, but you’ll find fragmentation or fragments popping up elsewhere.

Another example from science is the process by which certain lower plants and animals break into two or more fragments that grow into complete individuals. Although planaria, the free-living flatworms that reside in quiet bodies of water, probably don’t get very titillated by fragmentation, as asexual reproduction goes, it’s pretty cool.

Fragmentation in planaria. (www.tutorvista.com/content/biology/biology-ii/reproduction/asexual-reproduction.php#fragmentation)

Shifting from science to engineering, you’ll find fragmentation referring to inefficient computer storage that reduces the computer’s capacity or performance, or both. More commonly, you’ll read that you should periodically defragment or consolidate the files on your hard drive to make your computer hum with happiness.

Estimated hard disk usage before and after defragmentation, top vs. bottom bar. (Multiple websites.)

If you venture into military engineering and antipersonnel weapons, you’ll quickly come across fragmentation, which is nothing to joke about.

M67 fragmentation hand grenade. (Multiple websites)

Take a break, watch a movie. I’ve sat through many I thought were fragmented, yet there’s at least one titled Fragments. The R-rated movie, released in 2008 or 2009, was based on a book, Winged Creatures, and also went by the book’s name. It’s a story about strangers forming a unique relationship after surviving a random shooting at a Los Angeles diner.

Poster for movie Fragments, also called Winged Creatures. (Multiple websites, www.imdb.com/title/tt0948547/)

If you’d prefer to read rather than watch a movie, you’ll find books titled Fragments. No doubt the one with the most attractive front cover is a collection of poems, notes and letters by Marilyn Monroe. The hardcover version was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 2010.

Marilyn Monroe’s book, Fragments, published in 2010. (Multiple websites)

Sticking with the arts, you’ll find fragmentation in music composition and photography as well as in other art forms. Wikipedia offers that postmodern art eradicates the boundaries between high and low art forms, disrupting conventions with collision, collage and fragmentation.

Fragmented Art by boxdemon (www.thatcreativefeeling.com/fragmentation-deconstruction-art/)

Finally, if you sometimes feel your life is fragmented, just think of countries like the Philippines with over 7100 islands or states that need a bridge to hold it together.

The Mackinac Bridge connects the Upper and Lower peninsulas of the fragmented state of Michigan. (Multiple websites; www.maps.com)