Did you enjoy that Figmentum about whatever it was? We at Figmentums do our best to bring you healthy and tasty little essays that nourish your brain and while stimulating your imagination. Over the last year we have brought you over 70 short but dense mini-essays on a variety of topics relating to science, education, fun, and fantasy. Presumably you have found at least some to be stimulating, entertaining, and even provocative.

We still have a nearly unlimited supply of Figmentums waiting to bring you, but your public Figmentums cannot survive without your kind donations. We need your pledges to continue. Not pledges of money, but pledges of shares. Without your active participation in sharing and linking and forwarding Figmentums to others, without your comments, we have no reason for being.

One thing we enjoy doing here is to tie together interesting concepts in innovative ways, particularly mixing physical or social science with fantasy. For instance, relating our pledge drive to battling The Nothingness in The Neverending Story. In that movie, a boy named Bastian was engrossed in a book called The Neverending Story. Gradually he became aware that by reading the book, he had become an active participant in it. And unless Bastian would take responsibility to verbally give the Child Emperess a name, The Nothingness of apathy would destroy the wondrous world in the book forever. She pled desperately with Bastian to overcome his hesitation and say her name out loud.

The Nothingness threatens our world of Figmentums as well. By reading it, YOU are a part of Figmentums. Remaining passive is to forsake your role in our little world. Unless you actively share it with others, the magical land of Figmentums will be lost to The Nothingness.

So this week is pledge week. To keep Figmentums alive, just browse back over our last year’s worth of Figmentums and if you are reminded of one that particularly grabbed you, forward it to a friend, post a link on a discussion forum, or post a comment. Resolve to share more in the future. Work together to create a gorgeous jump in our reader statistics and become an active participant in the world of Figmentums. Don’t let The Nothingness claim us.

Bastian, give me a name!