Comments on: What I found on Wikipedia today

By: Scott Morrison

Scott Morrison — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 02:21:12 +0000

Actually, I just wrote such a tool, allowing you to find chains between arbitrary endpoints. It requires that you download a rather large file, and then decompress it to an even bigger file, so everything can be done locally—don’t even bother if you don’t have 8GB going spare on your hard drive.

More information, and instructions, are over on a comment thread at the Secret Blogging Seminar.

By: jcamfield

jcamfield — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 19:23:32 +0000

Obviously; we need an OracleofBacon.org tool, generalized to any start and endpoints in Wikipedia

By: asarwate

asarwate — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:23:22 +0000

Christian is not simple, he’s semisimple—his ideals are more complex than ours, and the form of our comments is Killing him. It’s really exceptional.

By: sglover

sglover — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 04:57:16 +0000

WikiPedia’s rich links don’t help my already gnat-like attention span any….

By: Justin

Justin — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 00:27:47 +0000

Man, my face is red—confusing Holbo and Quiggin. I swear I know the difference! I suppose your sensibilities just converged here.

By: christian h.

christian h. — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 20:23:49 +0000

Sorry guys, having a bad day. Too much Winter here in Chicago, the jokes are quasi-thin on the ground.

By: mds

mds — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 20:05:57 +0000

Please colleagues, not too many math jokes. Oh, you're one to talk, christian h. Surely you wouldn't expect this group to let sleeping dogs Lie. You're not that simple.

By: Sherman Dorn

Sherman Dorn — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 19:47:27 +0000

The key link here is Ann Coulter: This online forum in the Nashville Tennessean has the terms "monster lie" and "political correctness." Never mind that "monster lie" in that context doesn't refer to monster lie algebras. Oh, well, at least Ann Coulter is good for something.

By: Chris

Chris — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 19:47:01 +0000

already posted this comment at the secret blogging seminar, but:
5 clicks:

0. Political correctness
1. University of Michigan
2. Fields Medal
3. Richard Borcherds
4. Monster group
5. Monster Lie algebra

By: JP Stormcrow

JP Stormcrow — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 17:52:46 +0000

Too late christian, too late.

By: christian h.

christian h. — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 16:39:02 +0000

Please colleagues, not too many math jokes. People already think we are strange! Thanks.

By: David Speyer

David Speyer — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 16:04:58 +0000

Without looking at the others:

University of Chicago
Andre Weil
Theta Function
Modular Form
j Invariant
Moonshine Theory
Monster Group
Monster Lie Algebra

This should be able to be shortened a great deal; you are already in the right neighborhood with Weil, and once you get to modular forms you should be home free.

By: mds

mds — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 15:44:54 +0000

but the vandalism post was by John H. Thinking that all Johns are the same is often due to a misunderstanding of the J-invariant... which is, of course, linked to from the Monster Lie Algebra page.

By: thompsaj

thompsaj — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 09:36:09 +0000

I don’t believe you.

By: John Quiggin

John Quiggin — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 07:59:16 +0000

Exactly right at #7 Justin, but the vandalism post was by John H.

Update: Actually, I should have said “very close”, #10 is a bit closer. But, as noted there, it’s PC-FSG that is the difficult bit.