XKCD and Wikipedia crawling
In the alt-text for this XKCD, Randall suggests that following the first content related link (ie not in italics and not in parentheses) on any Wikipedia post will lead you inevitably to philosophy. Naturally, I had to try this, but it doesn't seem to work for me. Once you hit mathematics, the links lead the reader in a circle that comes back to mathematics. Many pages lead to this topic, so this seems like a fundamental flaw in his proposed logic or a lack of understanding of his rules on my part. Or, he's satisfied that he's ended up in "philosophy" once he reaches "property (philosophy)". If I skip loops by moving on to the second link in an affected post, then, yes, I do seem to end up at philosophy in the half dozen pages I tried. Sometimes by very convoluted paths.
This was an easy bit of thumb-twiddling during a meeting where i only had to listen to folks on the phone.
This was an easy bit of thumb-twiddling during a meeting where i only had to listen to folks on the phone.