1.0Harvard Gazettehttps://news.harvard.edu/gazettegazetteimporthttps://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/author/gazetteimport/rich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="LPBu3qJh6P"><a href="https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2005/05/clearing-up-programming-myths/">Clearing up ‘programming myths’</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2005/05/clearing-up-programming-myths/embed/#?secret=LPBu3qJh6P" width="600" height="338" title="“Clearing up ‘programming myths’” — Harvard Gazette" data-secret="LPBu3qJh6P" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script> /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display="none";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):"link"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute("src")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener("message",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute("data-secret"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+="#?secret="+t,e.setAttribute("data-secret",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:t},"*")},!1)))}(window,document); //# sourceURL=https://news.harvard.edu/wp-includes/js/wp-embed.min.js </script> There are these amazing distributions called power laws that seem to come up over and over again throughout nature and science, explains newly tenured Professor of Computer Science Michael Mitzenmacher. Under a power law distribution, rare events happen much more frequently than one would expect. They can come about not because of any great design or plan (by humans or by nature), but by, for example, monkeys typing randomly.https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/wp-content/uploads/2005/05/3-mitzenmacher1-225-2.jpg