Mondays always seem to be the tag ends for me. It is the day that all kinds of little things come up and eat their share of the clock. Thus you get to suffer through my potpourri of things to blither on about.

In the Two Degrees of Dan, several readers came up with their own two degree comments. It is always interesting to see how people can be connected. One of the reasons for the Two Degrees thing was to get some low degree linkages with readers. Those can then be used to illustrate the social network property that any two people on the planet earth are seldom more that six degrees away from each other. For example:

Kris Loves Chocolate: Kris->Airline Passenger (aunt of Condoleezza)->Condoleezza Rice
One of the former ministers of our church, Beth, attended Denver University and her roommate was none other than Condoleezza Rice. So I am related to Kris by the fifth degree Dan->Beth->Condoleezza->AP(aunt)->Kris.

♥ Kathy:Kathy->Dad Dan->Gene Wilder
To which I connect via the following tidbit. Back in the days before the IBM PC, I bought a CP/M based computer from a small Hollywood company that sold a script editing and production system and had to manufacture their own computers to run the software. So they developed a sideline of selling these computers to techies like me. The company was so small that they only had one salesman, named Bill. Bill was very proud of the fact that he had dealt personally with Gene Wilder to sell the script system to his production company. Thus, we have Kathy->Dad Dan->Gene->Bill->Dan. The fifth degree strikes again.

Now here is a question that I have never seen an answer for: What is the relevance of the peoples age in the degree of the relationship between them? Obviously, newborns don’t know anyone yet and so they get at least one extra link via their parents to anyone else. I.e. newborn1->mom1->mom2->newborn2. But at some point they meet enough other people unknown to their parents that they can link without first going through the parents. I.e. newborn1(older)->newborn2(older). So does that mean babies have longer link chains than they will have when they are older? You can tell that I am a scientist because I worry about such things. Anyone ever heard a good answer to this question?

In other things, it was warm here today, close to 80 degrees. It was so nice that I walked to city hall and then walked over to Mom’s to collect some stuff and then walked out to the nursing home to deliver it. Mom is doing well and really hopes to get back home Friday. All depends on what the doctor has to say. So I got my seven miles in without Molly the dog today (she is busy moping since Laurie headed back to the mountains today).

One final random meandering and then I’ll let you go. I have noticed that there are several ladies in the nursing home that have broken bones as the cause of their stay. In many cases they suffer from low bone density and the bones in question (hips, legs, ankles and even backs) just snapped while they were doing such mundane things as standing at the kitchen sink. I want to remind all women to make sure that they are having their bone density checked as they age. It’s not something that anyone thinks of when they are younger, but beyond a certain age it can be a real problem. These are all alert and lively ladies that are now confined to wheel chairs. There are treatments that can help if the lowered bone density is caught in time. Please take care of yourself so that it is not you in their place in the coming years!

Last week I promised a poll to determine the fate of the LinkWithin widget at the bottom of each post, so here it is:

Note that you can vote as often as you like and this page will allow voting thru the 21st. Thus if you really have strong feelings, you can vote a lot. This is one election the *YOU* definitely can buy. Contact me if you want to bribe me to make the vote turn out in your favor – I’m open to any and all offers. {*grin*}