Let's go.........RANDOM!

[Colytic]

One of the most startling ways Facebok can link people is by cross-reference the contacts list of users' e-mail accounts with the addresses of every other FB account. So say this friend had your e-mail address, and she gave Facebook permission to scan her Gmail contacts, it would make a suggestion. Although, it doesn't sound like this was so in your case.

All in all, data algorithms can be rather frightening sometimes. Blame people like xander for this.

[xander]

Blame people like xander for this.

Wait... what?

xander

[Colytic]

Blame people like xander for this.

Wait... what?

xander

Data scientists and other mathematicians

[xander]

Blame people like xander for this.

Wait... what?

xander

Data scientists and other mathematicians :D

My goal in life is to produce beautiful mathematics that are absolutely no practical use outside of mathematics. Nothing that I do has any use for organizations like Facebook, the NSA, or data miners. I hope it remains that way, at least until well after I am dead.

xander

[Colytic]

My goal in life is to produce beautiful mathematics that are absolutely no practical use outside of mathematics. Nothing that I do has any use for organizations like Facebook, the NSA, or data miners. I hope it remains that way, at least until well after I am dead.

Well I didn't mean to insinuate anything, it was only meant as a friendly jab. But that's a noble aspiration nonetheless.

[NeatNit]

I'm still waiting for proof for the Collatz conjecture, xander. And there's NOTHING practical about that.

I give you two weeks.

[xander]

I'm still waiting for proof for the Collatz conjecture, xander. And there's NOTHING practical about that.

I give you two weeks.

Unfortunately, I am working on the Riemann hypothesis, instead. Which, unfortunately, likely has practical applications. :(

That being said, the Collatz conjecture is one of those awful, awful number theoretical results that is very simply stated, yet insanely difficult to actually prove. I am reasonably certain, however, that one could equivalently show that the Collatz fractal is connected (or some similar condition), which is moving towards mathematics that I know something about.

xander

[Feud]

And here I was, for whatever reason, thinking xander was an archeologist.

[microchip08]

And here I was, for whatever reason, thinking xander was an archeologist.

an archeologist of numbers!

[xander]

And here I was, for whatever reason, thinking xander was an archeologist.

I used to be, though it has been more than a decade since I have done work as such.

xander

[Feud]

I guess that's what happens when the real world keeps turning, things you learned when you first join go out of date.

[xander]

I guess that's what happens when the real world keeps turning, things you learned when you first join go out of date.

Indeed. You still doing the law enforcement thing?

xander

[Feud]

Nope, went to and graduated law school. Taking the bar exam in a few weeks, weighing the career options. Got selected for a military JAG position, but we'll see what comes up while the paperwork on that is going through.

[xander]

Nope, went to and graduated law school. Taking the bar exam in a few weeks, weighing the career options. Got selected for a military JAG position, but we'll see what comes up while the paperwork on that is going through.

My brother took the bar 3 years ago---third highest score in the state that year, still unemployed (though it sounds like he maybe found legal work this week). Good luck.

xander

[NeatNit]

To whom it may concern (likely no-one): I was recently released from the army! 3 years of service.


I will never fire a gun again. (among many other things that I will never do again!)