Oliver Smoot is one of the quintessential pieces of MIT folklore: in 1962 as a pledge of Lambda Chi Alpha Mr. Smoot was flipped over 365 times to measure the Harvard bridge while his fraternity brothers marked off important milestones along the way. Smoot was deemed a unit of measurement, and the Harvard bridge listed at 364.4 Smoots plus an ear. In Smoot’s words:
As with many pledge tasks, there was an easy way out if a little ingenuity was exercised — namely use a string. In any case, Pete, Gordon, Nate and Bill agreed to help us and we set off with the paint, chalk, etc. Unfortunately, a brother in the class of ’61 thought this task was so hilarious that he accompanied us. With him there, we had no choice but to do the actual measurements. I can tell you that even then I could not do the equivalent of 365 push-ups, so much of the way I was carried or dragged.
Cut to 42 years later. Oliver P. Smoot is now chairman of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). He is being forced to step down because he has just accepted the position of president of the International Standards Organization.
Is it just irony that a unit of measurement was elected to be the Grand Poobah of international standards? Or is it that Smoot has been cast into this position by that one fateful night, unable to escape his role as a measuring stick? Or perhaps he is an obsessed megalomaniac who will settle for nothing less than the Smoot being recognized as the basis for all measurement?
In any event, I’m sure his position is quite deserved, as in the past he has shown us all that he is a great ruler.
ANSI: Oliver R. Smoot elected head of ISO
MIT Museum: The Definition of the Smoot
It’s bitterly cold outside today. I’m not exactly sure what the high was, but I’ll bet that I could count it with my fingers. And the wind is a searing whip of pain that cuts through all types of clothing, even those labelled wind-proof or wind-blocker. I’m prepared though, having spent 4 years in Chicago as an undergraduate, and my experience has led me to all sorts of wonderful, futuristic materials (most anything that ends in ene, tex or max). Despite all of this, I’ve still been saying to myself quite a bit today, "goddamn it’s cold! But I’m sure it was colder in Chicago…"
Over the MIT Independent Activities Period (IAP) I’ll be teaching a course about the recent trend of power laws in various academic disciplines and applications, from disease propogation to weblogs. The course will be held over the month of January and include a few guest lecutures by researchers doing some of the most important work in this area. The course webpage can be found here:
After 9/11/01, the CDC Division of Public Health Surveillance with help from Homeland Security implemented a new program for tracking possible bioterrorist threats, known as 
This week I was down in the ATL at a CDC-related meeting, and had the wonderful opportunity to fall in love with the south all over again. Eating collards and fried chicken, talking about STDs, and of course listening to 107.9. If you haven’t noticed, Atlanta hip hop (Ludacris, T.I., Youngbloodz, Bonecrusher, Lil’ Jon, Outkast, etc.) have been dominating airplay in America for the last few months, and the ATL is quickly becoming the most prominent city of hip hop. And Hot 107.9 is the epicenter of of it all.
There comes a time in every informant’s life where they realize the value of their information and circumnavigate all of the middle men and speak directly to their audience. After two years of hearing me blather on about weblogs, my social networks/sociology mentor Keith Hampton has decided to become a primary source himself. Instead of keeping this fact a secret, and maintaining a structurally advantageous position, I’ve decided to make this information public for the greater good of the Blogosphere. Aren’t I nice?
Reality TV might be the institutionalization of Warhol’s 15 minutes of fame, and I want to make sure to see all of them. While jonesing for more Queer Eye lately I’ve adopted MTV’s 
I’ve been around for a number of fashion eras and witnessed the invention of new fabrics galore (thank god for space age polymers). But I have to say, I’m a little distressed at the overwhelming popularity of a recent mass courture: the stretch pocketless jean. For a while there pockets started to shrink on womens’ pants, and then all of a sudden *poof* no storage in the trunk.
overstated 
