the two degrees of brisvegas

Nobody seems to have mentioned this classic brisvegas observation, so here goes...

You have probably heard of the movie/concept Six Degrees of Separation; whereby nobody on the planet is more than six 'hops' away from you.... ie. someone you know will know someone else, who knows someone ..... who knows you.

In Brisbane, you get two degrees of separation - your friends know your friends. If you meet someone new and go to a party at their place, you're quite likely to know someone already. This phenomenon still catches me out sometimes - for instance, hello Nick! I admit, I am one of the people responsible for repeatedly dragging Nick to loud, hot, smoky subculture dives to consume beer and complain about the useless air conditioning.

I do extend the two degrees theory, however. As much as it does hold true, there seem to be entire groups of people in Brisbane with absolutely no connections between them. My theory is this: there are an unknown number of large Cells of people, who all know each other via nodal individuals like my (and Nick's) mate Kevin [nodal individual = person who connect large numbers of otherwise unrelated individuals]. These cells may overlap slightly but generally they have very little interaction. However, should two nodal individuals get together; suddenly entire Cells open up to each other.

And so the cycle of social life begins anew in Brisvegas.