---

E-mail shrinks the world 

---

The theory that almost everyone on Earth is connected to anyone else via a small number of acquaintances seems to hold true for e-mail, too. An experiment has found that messages only have to be forwarded between five and seven times to reach almost any other e-mail user. The idea was tested by asking participants to forward an e-mail to friends, relations or colleagues they thought were closer to a randomly chosen target e-mail user.  The experiment updates a pioneering test of the small world idea carried out in the late 1960s.

Testing times
In that investigation, social psychologist Stanley Milgram asked randomly selected people in the US Mid-West to help get letters to a stockbroker friend in Boston on the East Coast. The letters could not be posted. Instead, those taking part were asked to hand them to people they knew well who might have social ties that might take the message closer to the target.

             SAMPLE MESSAGE CHAIN
             1) Bruce - Eastbourne, UK sends message to Uncle
             2) David - Kampala, Uganda, sends it to net friend
             3) Karina - Moscow, Russia, sends it to school friend
             4) Zinerva - Novosibirsk, Russia, who studies with
             5) Olga - Novosibirsk, Russia, who is the target

The results of the experiment established the idea that almost everyone is only six  friends or acquaintances distant from anyone else. Some websites such as Friendster use such chains of acquaintances to help people meet and make new friends. Since Professor Milgram's work established the small world idea, it has been tested a few times, and there are signs of similar intimate, interconnectedness in many physical systems.

The small world idea has now gained support from the work of a research team headed by Peter Dodds and colleagues from the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy at the University of Columbia in New York, US. In their experiment, the scientists recruited 61,168 individuals and asked them to try to relay messages to one of 18 target people in 13 countries. As in Professor Milgram's experiment, the message could not be sent direct. Instead, participants were asked to forward it to a friend they thought was closer. The researchers tracked 24,163 distinct message chains, only 384 of which managed to get the message to the target.

The experiment revealed that messages had to be forwarded between five and seven times to get from a starting point to a target, which confirms Professor Milgram's result that people are separated by only a small number of steps. The researchers said that the results did not seem to rely on people who had so many acquaintances that they act as "hubs" for messages. "We conclude that social search appears to be largely egalitarian," the researchers say, "not one whose success depends on a small minority of exceptional individuals."

The researchers also point out that the enthusiasm of participants and their perceptions play a vital part in explaining the results. "Network structure alone is not everything," they conclude. The results of the experiment are published in the journal Science.

Story from BBC NEWS: 2003.08.07

---

The Funniest T-Shirts of 2003: Part One 

---

By Bob Levey

• "I Used to Have a Handle on Life, But It Broke" -- Lori Curtis.
• "Out of My Mind -- Back in Five Minutes" -- Lori again.
• "If a Cow Laughed, Would Milk Come Out Her Nose?" -- Margo Wicks of Dahlgren, Va.
• "Some Days You're the Pigeon, Some Days You're the Statue" -- Becky Dietrich.
• "I Childproofed My House, But They Still Get In!" -- An e-mailer named Angee and (a little later) Skipper Oliver of Woodbridge.
• (On the front) "60 Is Not Old" . . . (On the back) "If You're a Tree" -- Allan Shedlin.
• "I'm Still Hot -- It Just Comes in Flashes" -- Karen Kallmeyer of Haymarket, who saw it in Texas.
• "At My Age, Getting Lucky Is Finding My Car in the Parking Lot" -- Ed Roman of Woodbridge.
• "My Reality Check Just Bounced" -- Beth Parker of Oakton.
• "Never Underestimate the Stupidity of Humans in Large Groups" -- spotted in a Northern Virginia shopping center by Yours Truly.
• "Life Is Short -- Make Fun of It" -- Gail Larrick.
• "I'm Not 50 -- I'm $49.95 Plus Tax" -- Ann Roberson of Olney.
• "Men Are Like Grapes. If You Stomp on Them and Keep Them in the Dark Long
• Enough, They Might Turn Into Something That You Would Take to Dinner" -- J.G. Kramb.
• "Annapolis -- A Drinking Town with a Sailing Problem" -- Corey Reid, who saw it while aboard Metro last year.
• "I Need Somebody Bad. Are You Somebody Bad?" -- Gary Goldberg.
• "Physically Pffffft!" -- Martin Overholt.
• "Cancel My Subscription -- I Don't Need Your Issues" -- Paula Bentley of Surry, Va.
• "Buckle Up. It Makes It Harder for the Aliens to Snatch You From Your Car" -- a Bostonian named Jennifer.
• "Welcome to Tennessee -- Set Your Watch Back 20 Years" -- an e-mailer whose initials are RSC.
• "Use Vowels Every Day or You'll Get Consonated" -- Bruce W. Van Roy.
• "I'm Not a Snob. I'm Just Better Than You Are" -- Stacey Wions of Alexandria, who saw it aboard a high school girl at an amusement park.
• "It's My Dog's World. I'm Just Here to Open Cans" -- Shawn Swartwood of Cottage City.
• "Earth Is the Insane Asylum for the Universe" -- Raynetta Lewis.
• "Suppose You Were an Idiot . . . And Suppose You Were a Member of Congress . . . But I Repeat Myself" -- Andrea Fogliani of Germantown.
• "Keep Staring -- I Might Do a Trick" -- Sally Wess.
• "We Got Rid of the Kids -- The Cat Was Allergic" -- Milly Kowalski and (a few days later) Theresa Taylor.
• "I'm Destined for Greatness -- I'm Just Pacing Myself" -- Nada Dickerson.
• "When the World Wearies and Ceases to Satisfy, There Is Always the Garden" -- Anne Hanchett of Annapolis.
• "Dangerously Under-Medicated" -- Heather Patterson, whose husband bought it for her when they were dating.
• "I Saw Your Mother on the Internet" -- Tammy Piegols of Silver Spring, who thinks (correctly, if you ask me) that this is the 21st century version of "Your Mother Wears Combat Boots."
• "Got Pickles?" -- on a maternity shirt, of course. Thanks, Kelly Rector of Charlotte.
• "Things Could Be Worse -- I Could Be Married" -- Angela Yates.
• "Marry Me and Fly Free" -- Patricia Foley of Columbia owned it when she worked for US Airways. "I Did and I Do," read the companion shirt that her late husband used to wear.
• "My Mind Works Like Lightning -- One Brilliant Flash and It's Gone" -- Joan E. Runge of Columbia.
• "Hang Up and Drive" -- Rosalind Modlin of Alexandria.
• "Every Time I Hear the Dirty Word 'Exercise' I Wash My Mouth Out With Chocolate" -- Richard C. Smith of Springfield.
• "I'm retired -- this is as dressed up as I get" -- Huck
• "Once I Thought I Was Wrong, But I Was Mistaken" -- Harriet H. Leonard of Reedley, Calif.
• "Give Peas a Chance" -- Pia McKay of Northwest Washington.
• "Grandmas Are Just Antique Little Girls" -- Alma Denton of Waldorf, who got it as a gift from a granddaughter (of all people).
• "I Started With Nothing and I Have Most of It Left" -- Kitty Calvert of Northwest Washington.
• "I Know I Came into This Room for a Reason" -- Kitty again.
• "Cats Regard People As Warm-Blooded Furniture" -- Kitty a third time.
• "Live Your Life So That When You Die, the Preacher Will Not Have to Tell Lies at Your Funeral" -- Kenny Adams of Falls Church.
• "In God We Trust -- All Others We Polygraph" -- Kenny again.
• "Everyone Has a Photographic Memory -- Some Just Don't Have Any Film" -- Nury Serafini.
• "If You Think Nobody Cares, Try Missing a Couple of Payments" -- Nury again.
• "Chicks Dig Scrawny Guys" -- aboard a "skinnyish teenaged guy," according to Mariana T. Osorio.
• "My Wife Comes With Instructions -- Lots of Instructions" -- Robert Lanza.
• "I Invested All My Money in Enron and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt" -- A reader who asks to remain anonymous.

© 2003 The Washington Post Company

---

Learn a new word each day

---

• Arbitrator: A cook that leaves Arby's to work at McDonald's
• Avoidable: What a bullfighter tries to do
• Baloney: Where some hemlines fall
• Burglarize: What a crook sees with
• Control: A short, ugly inmate
• Counterfeiters: Workers who install kitchen cabinets
• Eclipse: What an English barber does for a living
• Eyedropper: A clumsy ophthalmologist
• Heroes: What a guy in a boat does
• Left Bank: What the robber did when his bag was full of loot
• Misty: How golfers create divots
• Paradox: Two physicians
• Parasites: What you see from the top of the Eiffel Tower
• Pharmacist: A helper on the farm
• Polarize: What penguins and white bears see with
• Relief: What trees do in the spring
• Rubberneck: What you do to relax your spouse
• Seamstress: What you do to clothing when you wear a size too small
• Selfish: What the owner of a seafood store does
• Subdued: A guy that works on one of those submarines
• Sudafed: Bringing litigation against the Government

---

Elvis producer Phillips dies

---

Sam Phillips, the US music producer who launched Elvis Presley's career, has died in Memphis at the age of 80. Phillips founded the Sun Records label in Memphis, Tennessee, and produced Presley's first record in 1954. Phillips was also credited with launching the careers of Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and Jerry Lee Lewis, sparking the beginning of the rock and roll era.  He died at the St Francis Hospital but no other details of his death have been released. Previously a radio announcer and music talent scout, Phillips started Sun Records in 1952 at the now legendary Sun Studio, where the motto was "We Record Anything, Anywhere, Anytime". He was keen to take on musicians with no formal training, mainly working with black artists including BB King and Rufus Thomas. Sun got its first national R'n' B hit in 1953 with Thomas' Bear Cat.

Unusual

When a young Presley went to the studios to record two songs for his mother's birthday, Phillips recognised his raw talent and signed him up. Realising the market already had enough crooners in the mould of Tony Bennett and Perry Como, Phillips wanted Presley to draw on their shared love of rhythm and blues and black music.  "He was a very unusual-sounding person so I had to make sure we didn't go down the beaten path", said Phillips.

     Phillips produced Presley's first record, the 1954 single That's All Right. But after four more singles Phillips sold his contract as Elvis' manager to major label RCA records for $35,000 (£21,700) to help clear debts accumulated by Sun. I Forgot to Remember to Forget - Elvis's last single for Sun and first for RCA - went to number one in the country charts. Other artists who recorded on the Sun label were Carl Perkins, Conway Twitty and Charlie Rich. Phillips sold Sun Records in 1969 and later oversaw operations at the WLVS radiostation in Memphis, while Sun Studio exists as a tourist attraction. Phillips was elected into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. His sons Knox and Jerry are also record producers.

BBC News Thursday, 31 July, 2003

---

Sun label founder Phillips dies at 80
Producer set bedrock for rock 'n' roll, blues

---

By PETER COOPER Staff Writer ~ Tennessean.Com
Thursday, 07/31/03

Sam Phillips, 80, who opened his Sun Records studio doors and ushered in a rock 'n' roll revolution that irrevocably altered American music and culture, died yesterday at St. Francis Hospital in his home base of Memphis. Phillips died of respiratory failure, his son Knox Phillips said. He said his father had been in declining health for a year.

Unquestionably one of popular culture's most fascinating and consequential figures, Mr. Phillips was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as the man who recorded music that started the careers of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Charlie Rich, Carl Perkins, Howlin' Wolf, B.B. King, Roy Orbison and many others. "Sam Phillips, in scarcely a decade of full-scale involvement in the record business — and for most of that decade functioning largely as a one-man operation — created a legacy comparable to no other, really, provided the stylistic bedrock not just for rock 'n' roll but for much of modern blues as well,'' wrote journalist and Elvis Presley biographer Peter Guralnick in the foreword to Colin Escott and Martin Hawkins' book, Good Rockin' Tonight: Sun Records and the Birth of Rock 'n' Roll.

''It was no accident of spontaneous generation but, rather, the culmination of a social and historical vision,'' Guralnick wrote. Had Mr. Phillips' contributions stopped with his decision to record a 19-year-old Elvis Presley's first professional session, he would have secured a place in music history. That historic session reaped a 1954 single that featured That's All Right, Mama and a rocked-up version of Bill Monroe's Blue Moon of Kentucky. Presley rose to popular favor and eventually became the King of Rock 'n' Roll.

The resulting domino effect changed the sound of youth-oriented music, changed the way kids dressed and addressed their elders, and changed the way rock 'n' roll would develop for decades. It is inconceivable that The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Nirvana or any other legendary rock act would have sounded the way they did unless Mr. Phillips had recorded Presley singing That's All Right, Mama at 706 Union Ave. in Memphis in 1954.

But Mr. Phillips did not begin or end with Elvis. He opened his Memphis Recording Studio doors in January 1950, concentrating on blues, gospel and country music but operating under the slogan ''We Record Anything-Anywhere-Anytime.'' Memphis Recording Studios later became Sun Records.

In 1951 Mr. Phillips had recorded a track that helped lay the groundwork for what would become rock 'n' roll: Jackie Brenston's Rocket 88 was a breathtaking, energetic record that featured Ike Turner's rollicking piano and the distorted, wild sound of Willie Kizart's electric guitar played through an amplifier that had fallen off the top of a car and undergone a fundamental change in tone. That tone turned out to be something new, and Mr. Phillips was always keen on finding something new. A few years later he found commercial success with Presley and with many others. ''We were starting from scratch together,'' he told The Associated Press in 2000.

Although he is primarily known for his rock and blues legacy, the famed producer also is a member of the Nashville-based Country Music Hall of Fame. He saw the talent and commercial possibility in future country stars such as Cash and Rich and also mentored ''Cowboy'' Jack Clement, who became an important Nashville producer and songwriter. The early rock 'n' roll and ''rockabilly'' sounds Mr. Phillips produced at Sun made a tremendous mark on country music. For a time, that mark seemed not so positive. Many country stars of the 1950s — Webb Pierce, Little Jimmy Dickens and others among them — found their careers damaged by the rock revolution. Later, country music found a way to retain its own identity by borrowing from, but not bowing to, the sounds of rock and pop. ''For so long we plowed different furrows,'' Mr. Phillips said at his Country Music Hall of Fame induction in 2001.

''The greats — be it of country, rhythm and blues, rock 'n' roll — you know what they were doing? They were messing with your heart and soul. That's what it was. Nothing has the strength, the power of music.''

---

TRIVIA: Who invented the pencil? 

---

Pencil, a derivative of the Latin word pencillus for "little tail," originally described a small, fine, pointed brush.

N. J. Conte, in 1795, successfully produced pencils, after the later famed Faber family of Nuremberg, Germany, failed to do so, by using a pulverized graphite base to create a substandard, crude prototype of a pencil. Conte's method, the basic recipe used by all pencil manufacturers today, differed from the failed Faber fiasco, as he ground graphite, mixed it with certain types of clay, pressed the "dough" into sticks, and finished them in a kiln. The Faber family followed suit, and achieved the fame and fortune that previously eluded it.

The recipe used by modern pencil manufacturers, calls for dried, ground graphite, a form of carbon, mixed with clay and water in varying proportions. Pencils made with more clay produce a harder pencil, and, conversely, pencils made with more graphite produce a softer pencil. In either case, the ingredients are mixed until they reach a doughy consistency, then pass through a forming press, which presses the dough into a "pencil thin," smooth, glossy rope. After workers straighten the rope, they cut it into the desired lengths, and bake them in industrial ovens. 

---

TRIVIA: Dear Doctor Science,

---

Is belly button lint trying to get out of my body or in?

It depends. How often do you bathe? Take the time to examine your lint under a low power microscope. Does it resemble a small, many legged moose with antlers at both ends, or does it look more like a series of bowling balls connected by chains? If it's the latter, it's trying to get in, to coat the lining of the gut and possibly prevent a hernia. If it's the former, then it's not lint at all, but a parasite that can eventually tunnel into the brain and cause chronic addiction to psychotherapy and expensive bath products. In either case, it's best just to let the lint "do its thing", and go about the business of doing yours, if indeed, you have a thing to do.

---

TRIVIA: A Website to Enjoy
http://www.shibumi.org/eoti.htm

---

TRIVIA: Mars Neighbour

---

Never again in your lifetime will the Red Planet be so spectacular.  During July and August  Earth is catching up with Mars, an encounter culminating in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history. The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287.

Due to the way Jupiter's gravity tugs on Mars and effects its orbit, astronomers can only be certain that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the last 5,000 years but it may be as long as 60,000 years. The encounter will culminate on August 27th when Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles and will be, next to the moon, the brightest object in the night sky.  It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will appear 25.11 arc seconds wide.  Mars will look similar as the full moon to the naked eye at a modest 75-power magnification and will be easy to see.

---

TRIVIA: Map Direction

---

What do you call that thing on a map that shows directions?

A compass rose. It's usually in a corner of the map, may be beautifully illustrated, and has points to illustrate North, South, East, and West. The compass rose has appeared on maps since the fourteenth century. It usually has many points instead of just four because at one time it indicated the directions of the winds. It's called a "rose", of course, because the many points make it resemble the flower.
 

---

LOOKING BACK AT 8TH GRADE 1895

---

Rebuttal:
See the Urban Legends page at:
http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.htm

Subject: And you thought your school was tough

Remember when our grandparents, great-grandparents, and such stated that they only had an 8th grade education?  Well, those old timers were better educated than we thought.

Could any of us have passed the 8th grade in 1895? This is the eighth-grade final exam from 1895 Salina, KS. USA. It was taken from the original document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, KS and reprinted by the Salina Journal.

8th Grade Final Exam,  Salina, KS - 1895:

Grammar (Time, one hour)
1. Give nine rules for the use of Capital Letters.
2. Name the Parts of Speech and define those that have no modifications.
3. Define Verse, Stanza and Paragraph.
4. What are the Principal Parts of a verb? Give Principal Parts of do, lie, lay and run.
5. Define Case, Illustrate each Case.
6. What is Punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of Punctuation.
7 - 10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use of the rules of grammar.

Arithmetic (Time, 1.25 hours)
1. Name and define the Fundamental Rules of Arithmetic.
2. A wagon box is 2 ft. deep, 10 feet long, and 3 ft wide. How many  bushels of wheat will it hold?
3. If a load of wheat weighs 3942 lbs., what is it worth at 50 cts. bushel, deducting 1050 lbs. for tare?
4. District No. 33 has a valuation of $35,000. What is the necessary levy to carry on a school seven months at $50 per month, and have $104 for incidentals?
5. Find cost of 6720 lbs. coal at $6.00 per ton.
6. Find the interest of $512.60 for 8 months and 18 days at 7 percent.
7. What is the cost of 40 boards 12 inches wide and 6 ft. long at $20 per metre?
8. Find bank discount on $300 for 90 days (no grace) at 10 percent.
9. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance around which is 640 rods?
10. Write a Bank Check, a Promissory Note, and a Receipt.

U.S. History (Time, 45 minutes)
1. Give the epochs into which U.S. History is divided.
2. Give an account of the discovery of America by Columbus.
3. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War.
4. Show the territorial growth of the United States.
5. Tell what you can of the history of Kansas.
6. Describe three of the most prominent battles of the Rebellion.
7. Who were the following: Morse, Whitney, Fulton, Bell, Lincoln, Penn, and Howe?
8. Name events connected with the following dates: 1607 1620 1800 1849 1865

Orthography (Time, one hour)
1. What is meant by the following: Alphabet, honetic, orthography, etymology, syllabication?
2. What are elementary sounds? How classified?
3. What are the following, and give examples of each: Trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate letters,
linguals?
4. Give four substitutes for caret 'u'.
5. Give two rules for spelling words with final 'e'. Name two exceptions under each rule.
6. Give two uses of silent letters in spelling. Illustrate each.
7. Define the following prefixes and use in connection with a word: Bi, dis, mis, pre, semi, post, non,
inter, mono, sup.
8. Mark diacritically and divide into syllables the following, and name the sign that indicates the sound: Card, ball, mercy, sir, odd, cell, rise, blood, fare, last.
9. Use the following correctly in sentences, cite, site, sight, fane, fain, feign, vane, vain, vein, raze, raise, rays.
10. Write 10 words frequently mispronounced and indicate pronunciation by use of diacritical marks and by syllabication.

Geography (Time, one hour)
1. What is climate? Upon what does climate depend?
2. How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?
3. Of what use are rivers? Of what use is the ocean?
4. Describe the mountains of North America.
5. Name and describe the following: Monrovia, Odessa, Denver, Manitoba, Hecla, Yukon, St. Helena, Juan
Fermandez, Aspinwall and Orinoco.
6. Name and locate the principal trade centers of the U.S.
7. Name all the republics of Europe and give capital of each.
8. Why is the Atlantic Coast colder than the Pacific in the same latitude?
9. Describe the process by which the water of the ocean returns to the sources of rivers.
10. Describe the movements of the earth. Give inclination of the earth.

Gives the saying --- "she/he only had an 8th grade education"--- a whole new meaning.

For a more balanced perspective see:
See the Urban Legends page at:
http://www.snopes.com/language/document/1895exam.htm

---

ALL TIME MOVIE BOX OFFICE August 2003
Ref: Data Copyright © 1998-2003 by Box Office Mojo. All rights reserved. and Internet Movie Data Base

---