Thursday 12 September 2013

Thoughtsplat! #1 - The Friendship Algorithm

Todays Thoughsplat! involves these guys :D
So, today is the wonderful and clearly super awesome release of my new series of posts called Thoughtsplat! (The exclamation mark doesn't end the sentence, it's part of the name. Just saying. This full stop after the brackets will end the sentence. Look, this one. No, that one, right there --->). I've explained a little about it before in my last post, but I think I better explain it more here.

Thoughtsplat! is a series in which I show you the kind of thought processes that go on in my head, by taking a single thought, either a random thought passing through my mind, or a specific topic, and follow that thread through until I decide to stop, at which point you'll see just how crazy and off topic I can get. Having said that, when I have a lot of time it can be great for intellectualising and thinking through of problems! Some solutions just sort of fly out of nowhere! But mostly it's just fun. Anyway, let us begin!

So, The Friendship Algorithm. I chose this because it happens to be on the front of my notebook sitting on the desk right beside me. It's a really nice notebook actually, nice and smooth and pretty much pocket sized. But anyway, The Friendship Algorithm is supposed to be Dr Sheldon Cooper's protocol for making friends. If you don't know who he is, go and watch The Big Bang Theory! Right now! Then you can come back and continue reading. Interestingly, the character of Sheldon Cooper has a lot of the symptoms of Asperger's Syndrome, but obviously exaggerated for comedic effect. In fact, I think if you asked the show's creators, they'd tell you he's based on someone with AS.

Of course, now someone chooses to send me a message. In the middle of my blog post. I'll be back. (Not that you'll notice I'm gone, unless you're reading as I type, in which case where are you, and why would you bother reading again after I post? And if you're not here, I could be typing this after checking and you'd never know. In fact, I could be making the whole thing up). I'm back! Not that you noticed I'd gone. It was just someone on Facebook. Facebook's a funny thing. I mean, have you ever thought about how a message gets from you to the person at the other end, who could be halfway round the world? It involves a lot of wires and cables and routers and other things that I'm learning about in Computing.

I mentioned that to the mock interviewer at an Oxbridge event the other day actually. That made quite a good mock interview. Apparently I'm quite knowledgeable and actually make good communication between myself and an interviewer. I didn't think I'd manage that... But then there a lot of things I don't think I can manage. Unlike some of the students at other campuses, who seem to think so highly of themselves that gold flows out of every orifice. I'll not go on about them, they're not really worth my thinking time. Does that make me sound like I think highly of myself too? I always try not to think of myself too highly.

Some of the questions at the Oxbridge event were a bit weird. Apparently it's the kind of thing they ask in interviews, to see how you think. I quite enjoy trying to come up with answers. One of the questions was 'How many piano tuners are there in NYC?'. I'll not bore you with the details of my guess. Anyway, I think this Thoughtsplat! is getting long enough. Maybe I'll make longer ones sometime, maybe shorter ones, maybe they'll all be exactly the same length. But what would be the chances of that? You could work that out actually, if you counted up the number of characters, worked out my typing patterns, and assumed a few other variables. I wouldn't bother trying though. Unless you're as sad as me, then by all means go ahead!

Well, I'll see you guys soon with another post!

Chris

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