7 Aug 2007 ncm   » (Master)

Today I deleted the Orkut group "Stupidity". It was the only one of my Orkut groups that achieved membership of more than 1000. (Curiously, the overwhelming majority were Pakistani nationals.) However, it utterly failed in its purpose, which was as a place to discuss Prof. Cipolla's theory of stupidity, with its enigmatic constant σ, the fraction of any given population, however selected, who can be counted upon to exhibit stupidity. (There may be some irony there: quite possibly the value of σ found in that pocket universe would have sharply contradicted the hypothesis of its constancy.) The theory, meanwhile, is in eclipse, as the professor's literary executors have worked diligently to scour what they claim are immature drafts of it from visibility on the 'net, effacing him from public memory in the process. It's not clear whether that is also ironic.

I noticed recently that dmarti's diary entries were marked with an interest level of "1", obscuring them from most readers' view. I added a "10" to the mix; I hope that's enough to restore him to visibility, but he may need others' help too.

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