Only Six Clicks Away From Reaching Whoever You Want
Most of you are familiar with the six degrees of separation theory where everyone on the planet is reacheable through six people. You call your friend in Boston, who is a friend of someone in Paris, who is related to someone in Lyon, who knows the mayor, who once studied with the Pope.
Now the theory has been applied to the internet. I would have thought if anything that the ability to connect would have been greatly reduced to three or four degrees of separation.
From theage.com.au - The Age:
"Email users are only six mouse-clicks away from anyone else in cyberspace, a team including two Australian researchers at New York's Columbia University has found.
Drawing on the six degrees of separation theory, the experiment involved more than 60,000 participants in 166 countries who registered online.
Volunteers were asked to begin an email chain to reach 18 'target' people in 13 countries, including Australia.
Each person in the chain was to forward the email to someone they thought would get it closer to the target. Although some message chains died out, researchers found that emails could reach their targets in an average of five to seven steps.
'This study was based on a much older study conducted by Stanley Milgram in the 1950s and out of which the phrase 'six degrees of separation' is likely to have arisen,' said researcher Duncan Watts, who studied physics at the Australian Defence Force Academy before further study in the US.
Associate Professor Watts said the internet allowed researchers to gather detailed information from a large number of participants. "
Friday, August 8, 2003
Who Need Pre-marriage Counseling? Algebra is What is Needed!
From Yahoo! News - Algebra points way to a happy marriage:
"A mathematician says he can predict with almost total accuracy which newly wed couples will enjoy a happy marriage -- using two lines of algebra.
Professor James Murray says the two formulae he devised have a 94 percent success rate when it comes to forecasting whether a couple will stay together, the Daily Telegraph reported on Friday.
The formulae were calculated during a 10-year study of 700 couples in the United States conducted by Murray, a mathematics professor at the University of Washington, Seattle.
The experiment, conducted with the help of a psychologist, involved observing the couples during a 15 minute conversation when they were newly married, Murray said.
He presented his findings to a conference in Dundee, Scotland, for the first time on Thursday, the Telegraph said.
A couple's ability to communicate on subjects such as sex, child-rearing or money was measured using a scale that gave positive points for good signals, such as smiles and affectionate gestures, and negative points for bad signals, such as rolling of the eyes, mocking and coldness."
From Yahoo! News - Algebra points way to a happy marriage:
"A mathematician says he can predict with almost total accuracy which newly wed couples will enjoy a happy marriage -- using two lines of algebra.
Professor James Murray says the two formulae he devised have a 94 percent success rate when it comes to forecasting whether a couple will stay together, the Daily Telegraph reported on Friday.
The formulae were calculated during a 10-year study of 700 couples in the United States conducted by Murray, a mathematics professor at the University of Washington, Seattle.
The experiment, conducted with the help of a psychologist, involved observing the couples during a 15 minute conversation when they were newly married, Murray said.
He presented his findings to a conference in Dundee, Scotland, for the first time on Thursday, the Telegraph said.
A couple's ability to communicate on subjects such as sex, child-rearing or money was measured using a scale that gave positive points for good signals, such as smiles and affectionate gestures, and negative points for bad signals, such as rolling of the eyes, mocking and coldness."
No, You Think?
CBS distorted the document?
From Catholic World News (CWN):
"A CBS network news report, claiming that the Holy See orchestrated a cover-up of sexual abuse by Catholic priests, is based on a gross misinterpretation of a 1962 Vatican document.
In a sensationalist report aired on August 6, CBS Evening News claimed to have discovered a secret document proving that the Vatican had approved-- and even demanded-- a longstanding policy of covering up clerics' sexual misdeeds.
The document cited by CBS does nothing of the sort.
In fact the network's story misrepresented the Vatican document so thoroughly that it is difficult to attribute the inaccuracy to honest error.
The CBS story is based on a secret Instruction issued to bishops in March 1962 by Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, then the prefect of the Holy Office (now known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith). That document sets forth the canonical procedures to be followed when a priest is charged with the ecclesiastical crime of 'solicitation'-- that is, using the confessional to tempt penitents to engage in sexual activity. "
CBS distorted the document?
From Catholic World News (CWN):
"A CBS network news report, claiming that the Holy See orchestrated a cover-up of sexual abuse by Catholic priests, is based on a gross misinterpretation of a 1962 Vatican document.
In a sensationalist report aired on August 6, CBS Evening News claimed to have discovered a secret document proving that the Vatican had approved-- and even demanded-- a longstanding policy of covering up clerics' sexual misdeeds.
The document cited by CBS does nothing of the sort.
In fact the network's story misrepresented the Vatican document so thoroughly that it is difficult to attribute the inaccuracy to honest error.
The CBS story is based on a secret Instruction issued to bishops in March 1962 by Cardinal Alfredo Ottaviani, then the prefect of the Holy Office (now known as the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith). That document sets forth the canonical procedures to be followed when a priest is charged with the ecclesiastical crime of 'solicitation'-- that is, using the confessional to tempt penitents to engage in sexual activity. "
Thursday, August 7, 2003
In Africa if You Don't Believe--Get Out!
In this country that would mean the exit of 60% of the teachers.
From allAfrica.com: Uganda: Leave Catholic Schools, Non-Believers Told:
"THE Bishop of Lugazi Diocese, Dr. Matthias Sekamaanya, has said parents and teachers who do not want to obey Catholic rules should not seek vacancies in Catholic-founded schools.
'It is not my problem that I am a Catholic, but my mission is to see Catholic ideologies imparted in the followers of the Church. Parents and teachers who cannot obey these rules should look for other places to work,' he said.
Sekamaanya was on Saturday speaking at St Peter Clavier Church, Namagunga during the Teacher's Day celebrations.
'We have initiated a new education policy for Lugazi Diocese that will guide Catholic schools. It is coming out soon.
'We want to see that Catholic students are given higher priority in admissions,' he said."
In this country that would mean the exit of 60% of the teachers.
From allAfrica.com: Uganda: Leave Catholic Schools, Non-Believers Told:
"THE Bishop of Lugazi Diocese, Dr. Matthias Sekamaanya, has said parents and teachers who do not want to obey Catholic rules should not seek vacancies in Catholic-founded schools.
'It is not my problem that I am a Catholic, but my mission is to see Catholic ideologies imparted in the followers of the Church. Parents and teachers who cannot obey these rules should look for other places to work,' he said.
Sekamaanya was on Saturday speaking at St Peter Clavier Church, Namagunga during the Teacher's Day celebrations.
'We have initiated a new education policy for Lugazi Diocese that will guide Catholic schools. It is coming out soon.
'We want to see that Catholic students are given higher priority in admissions,' he said."
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