2:11 AM - sex and improbability
I was looking at books about evolutionary psychology on amazon tonight. I kept seeing these things called SIP's followed by words that were just links to other things. I figured that this must be something similar to when you find Billy Idol links on a page for David Bowie. Customers who bought this also bought that sort of thing. Yet, the words and their links were just really bizarre and almost seemed random.
I looked it up and it's called Statistically Improbable Phrases. What they do is run the book through a computer and pick out which phrases are the most unique then find other books that also contain that same unusual combination of words. For example, the term "monogont rotifers" appears eight times in one book, five in another, and so on.
The whole point is that they just want to sell you another book. Having nothing better to do, I just kept clicking away from one SIP to another. Now it is possible that I just have sex on my mind, but somehow I think that's improbable. That sort of web surfing is done in private and not on amazon.com. Yet, the links kept becoming more and more graphic.
The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature
Sex and Death in Protozoa: The History of Obsession
and so on until I came to a very adult book.
Look closely at the Statistically Improbable Phrases of that last title. Those are the type of unique phrases that are more closely associated with STD's instead of merely being SIP's.
I guess I should be thankful that it didn't end up on my recommendations list.
