Reading (or skimming) recommendation

Interesting analysis:

Abstract –As in statistical physics, the concept of universality plays an important, albeit qualitative, role in the field of comparative mythology. Here we apply statistical mechanical tools to
analyse the networks underlying three iconic mythological narratives with a view to identifying
common and distinguishing quantitative features. Of the three narratives, an Anglo-Saxon and
a Greek text are mostly believed by antiquarians to be partly historically based while the third,
an Irish epic, is often considered to be fictional. Here we show that network analysis is able to
discriminate real from imaginary social networks and place mythological narratives on the spectrum between them. Moreover, the perceived artificiality of the Irish narrative can be traced
back to anomalous features associated with six characters. Considering these as amalgams of
several entities or proxies, renders the plausibility of the Irish text comparable to the others from
a network-theoretic point of view

http://arxiv.org/abs/1205.4324

(no subject)

I have been puttering along this morning. I frittered away yesterday and fell asleep quite early in the evening. The task list seems ... alien.

I recognize that so much is doing really well. I like almost everyone i work with, my home life is lovely, calm and serene with splashes of delight and sorrow. And then there's the sense of depression that is drizzling here and there. Not a strong depression, but a shoes-stuck-in-rubber-cement, stick-in-the-mud, procrastination-game depression. Feh.

I sliced some vegan "sausage" i'd made a few weeks ago for Christine to fry up as part of a yummy grits and eggs breakfast. I am delighted that the gluten and smashed bean "sausages" are so easy and delicious to make. I feel i need to learn how to use corn husks as a wrap. The aluminum foil seems a waste.

I did get down the second of the two bike mounts that we put up on the wall a couple weeks ago. One cam out of the wall on its own accord about two hours after a hung a bike on it. REI's return policy for members seems incredibly generous: i returned them for a full refund today. Having been to the "garage sale" where returned items are resold, i packaged up the hooks in hopes that they will fetch a good price at the resale. Are there other massive co-ops like REI out there? I purchased a THIRD method to store the bikes. This is going to work, i hope, and i'll get my bike out of the living room for the summer.

I've also bought expensive shoe inserts in hope of helping my achilles tendon stop complaining. The walking i did around the pool reading e-books the first part of the year? Maybe not so good. Youtube has plenty of videos about therapeutic stretches, and the pool is heated. I'll just get out to the pool. It is not particularly warm and pool-inspiring this weekend, though. I do think the exercise could be a fine antidote to my moodiness.