Before I started here at PIC (all of about three days ago, for those at home keeping score), I had another blog, “The Dude Abides”. Those of you worth your weight in salt will recognize this as a line from one of my favorite movies of all time, and those of you who don't recognize it either just have bad taste in movies or don't know your ass from your navel. It's OK. We all get a little confused sometimes.
Under my blog pseudonym “The Dude”, that same pseudo-name I published a few front page articles under here on The Points, I did much what I aim to do here; I made my readers laugh a few times, helped guide and direct them through life with what little wisdom I have, and gave them a window through which to view my unique and twisted mind.
Now that I've moved on to bigger and better things, and now that I have an audience that gave me more site hits in two days than I had in about 6 months of solo blogging, I figure I can revisit and rewrite a few of my TDA posts, sos I can share them with a new generation of readers. This is a nice way to say that, not only am I lazy enough to re-hash posts I've already thought of, but I value my own writing above any journalistic integrity that you thought I might have. Suckers.
And now for something completely different.
I don't exactly remember why or how I came up with this idea, but I did. I was sitting in front of my laptop one night in my brother's apartment (I was living there at the time instead of the NC State dorms, for reasons to be disclosed at a later date) when I went to Wikipedia and wondered to myself just how interconnected the information on the site really is.
Anyone who has visited Wikipedia knows that in any given article, certain words or phrases are highlighted in blue, linking the entry you're currently viewing to other entries. This, in theory, is in place to form a large, constantly revised, many-thronged web of information that makes the Encyclopedia Britannica look like an outdated sex-ed pamphlet that still attributes unwanted teen pregnancies to a vengeful gremlin Hell-bent on ruining the lives of those who don't save themselves for Catholic marriage.
Like I said, I sat there, wondering just how deep this rabbit hole went, and I decided to see for myself. I set out from the front page of Wikipedia to see if I could navigate through the web of links, starting from the front page, to an article on any alcoholic beverage (did I mention I'm a drunk? I did? Good.) in under six clicks. I don't remember my exact path, but I do remember getting there in four. Four clicks from a seemingly unrelated, randomly generated Wikipedia article to the “Alcoholic Beverage” entry.
I tried again the next night, when the front page had changed all its articles. Three clicks, this time.
The next night, five, the next night, six, and so on in that fashion.
Here's the progression that I logged (June 19th) when I originally posted my theory on TDA:
1. Link to the article on the word “rebel”.
2. Link to the article “American Civil War”.
3. Link to the article “North Carolina”.
4. Link to the article “NASCAR”.
5. Link to the article “Moonshine”.
Don't believe me? Well, I'm heartbroken, you cold bastards. Fine. Just try for yourself. I'll wait.
Here was today's booze safari:
1. Link to “Lyndon B. Johnson”.
2. Link to “Franklin D. Roosevelt”.
3. Link to “Winston Churchill”.
4. Link to “Alcoholic Beverages”.
It's not too hard when you put a little thought into it. It's a game I encourage all my readers to try, and if you find a really interesting path to the hard stuff, shoot me an email (link's on the right, at the bottom), I'll post it and give you some credit here on The Tyler Effect. So remember, you're not just playing for fun. Oh, no. You're playing for INTERNET FAME.
Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving, readers. May your turkey be moist and your cranberries, like yourselves, be sauced. See ya Friday.