a weblog by cameron marlow
A small, chubby bunny who enjoys aggressive behavior, late-night snacks, swanky jazz and bathroom humor. Oolong? No way, he’s dead.. It’s Mashimaro! He’s adorable and grody just like your five year old cousin.
Sometimes I’m blown away by the stuff that’s been out there for 3 years that I still haven’t seen. What else is waiting in the dark matter that is .jp and .kr?
Today commences the battle of the pirates, and I’m sure that one of the pirates will totally kick ass. But we must remember in times like this that the only thing badder assed than pirates are ninjas. It would be totally sweet if a ninja flew in at half time and started chopping pirates heads off. All the pirates would storm the ninja and everything would look bad for our ninja friend except a guitar would start wailing and all of the crowd would rip off their skin and then there would be 40,000 ninjas waliing on sweet guitars.
Why, you might ask, isn’t there a ninja football team to kick the pirates asses? The answer is obvious:
As part of every Ph.D. there comes a time when your superiors decide to test your knowledge in order to ensure that you’re academic material. In my case, these are tests called general examinations, consisting of 3 written and one oral examination. Today I’m taking the first written one, a 24 hour essay marathon on the topic of Social Networks.
The test was supposed to begin at 10am, but as these things usually turn out, I’m sitting here waiting for my professor to send me the questions. I think the closest analog would be a marathon runner waiting for the gun, giddy with excitement, ignoring the pain and anguish that surely lies ahead, and of course focused on the relief that will come when the race is over. Of course I’ve never run a marathon, but I’m sure it’s probably the same feeling.
The NYC Marathon introduced a new technology recently, a tracking device that allows the organizers to make sure people stay on course, and remote spectators to keep track of their friends and favorite runners. I thought I’d do the same for my test of endurance. Stay tuned for updates on the experience:
8:30am: Up and ready for the battle, 800 pages of literature organized and neatly laid out for quick access.
9:30am: Jitters gone, two cups of coffee ingested, and waiting for the gun. A little bit of pre-marathon blogging to keep the chops up.
10am: Waiting…
10:45am: Sent an email to make sure that we’re still on.
11:08am: Word from professor: test is coming momentarily.
11:17am: Got the test over email. Two parts, each with two questions, one must be answered from each. The first part covers either social capital or diffusion of information, the second asks for either a literature review on “Online communitites as social networks” or designing a study to retest Milgram’s small-worlds hypthosis.
11:28am: Chose my questions. I’ll be taking on social capital and changes to Milgram’s original hypothesis.
1:07pm: I just finished an initial literature review, and created some basic structure for both questions. I was feeling a bit stressed and distracted when I realized that I had been staring at a computer screen in complete silence for 1.5 hours. Add Swazak to the mix and things are calmer and more organized.
7:26pm: Ok, that took longer than I thought 🙂 Finished a rough draft for the first question, break for dinner, then start the second. The first answer is roughly 2500 words, and needs quite a bit of fine tuning.
8:00pm: Finished my yummy risotto, now time to recoup. I just introduced a second pot of coffee into the equation.
11:50pm: As expected, the second question flowed much more naturally. It should be fine with some minor revisions. Since it’s an Internet-meets-social-networks question, of course I need the internet to answer it 🙂
1:14am: Ahh, finally the first draft of the second paper is done. Actually, this one came right on schedule. A little over 2600 words, I’m confident that it’s pretty strong (I even included some last minute research on instant messaging). I think there’s time for a quick bath and some much-needed sleep before I begin the revisions. Somehow blogging this entire experience has made it much more beareable.. I’m simultaneously freaking out, watching myself freak out, and writing about it. Blog therapy.
7:02am: Mmm.. social capital dreams… my favorite! Up and at ’em.
9:32am: It’s the final stretch.. I’m on my second, third, or fourth wind, and it seems like things are coming together. But wait until you see my apartment (definitely not together).
10:54am: Done! Exam submitted.
Total time: 23:37 minutes, 18:50 minutes spent writing. Just over 5100 words. That’s roughly one completely edited and intentional word every 10 seconds. Not bad 🙂
Erdös said “Mathematicians are machines for turning coffee into theorems,” and someone else the lesser known corollary, “Computer Scientists are machines for turning coffee into urine.” Well it appears that social network researchers are machines for turning coffee into a hell of a lot of words. Amen. Now I return to bed.
After 8 years in withdrawl, Kevin Mitnick was finally allowed to browse the web again this Tuesday. What was his first stop on the infobahn? His girlfriend’s weblog, where she had been documenting their relationship for some time. How sweet! And it was on public television. Said Mitnick:
Electronic toilets? Where are these mysterious networked disposal devices? And why is the US government hiding them from us?
Wired News: Live on the Web: Kevin Mitnick
There’s something unsettling about sad clowns. Then I saw this completely indescribable image. I’m at a loss for words.
Truth or urban legend:
During the construction of the Alaskan pipeline, workers consumed alcohol to distract their minds and bodies from the bitter temperatures they were working in. On more than one occasion, a worker would leave a glass of alcohol sitting in their car overnight, return in the morning and take a big swig. The subzero alcohol would freeze their throat and stomach on contact, killing them instantaneously.
Some facts that might help you in your journey for truth:
My friends are divided 50/50, with half in utter disbelief, and the others skeptical. The source of the story is, of course, completely convinced of its truth.
Choice quote of the night:
Friend A: “Celibacy is just like veganism. It’s just a phase that people go through.”
Friend B: “Oh yeah? I date one of them.”
Techno legend Derrick May has been given the keys to the city in Detroit for this year’s Detroit Electronic Music Festival. Riddled by bad management and shady dealings, the event has almost lost its backing many times over the past three years (we all remember “I support Carl Craig”).
Handing over the organization to one of the city’s many techno legends is a good step towards reliability for years to come.
My good friend Soren Kirkegaard once said about irony:
That said, is the The Celibate FAQ trying to be ironic? Read it closely. I mean really closely. It’s so darn close to blackpeopleloveus I can’t belive it is written in all honesty. I’m just trying to have life in finitude.
Last summer my good friend and former bandmate Dan Paluska was shipped off to a remote island off the coast of Scotland to compete in the latest reality competition, TLC’s Escape from Experiment Island. The second episode airs tonight at 10PM.
The plot is simple. It’s Junkyard Wars meets Survivor. Characters within and between teams are pitted against each other during the off hours while they compete in engineering tasks on the playing ground.
Three adjectives Dan would use to describe himself: Intelligent (wait, that’s only one?).
overstated 