The Speed of Karlovo Namesti

Since February 4th of this year, I've been based in Prague, Czech Republic. I've been here studying, traveling, and for the most part, experiencing all that life has to offer. It has been one of the most incredible spans of my entire life, and I've become quite nostalgic as of late, because this happens to be my final week here.

Since arriving in Prague, I've seen incredible sites, formed strong relationships, and lived a full and very happy life. The process of studying abroad is an amazing one that I implore all students to take part in. It has changed my life to say the absolute least.

However, I don't want to stray too far into the deep and murky abyss of my thoughts as they relate to my experiences abroad, because I could probably go on forever. Rather, lets get back on topic. So, what was the topic anyway?

The reason I bring up Prague is because today's post relates to a burning question that has plagued me and my friends since we have arrived here those many months ago.

Prague has a variety of modes of public transportation. For instance, you can take the bus or trams around the city, and they work very frequently and are usually on time. There is also a very organized and efficient Metro (or Underground) system that you can take around the city. There are three different lines that intersect around the city center, which makes transfer and navigating the system very simple and easy.

One of the unique things about the Metro, and I'm sure you would take notice of it if you were to take it yourself, is the massive length of the escalators that take you down to the Metro stations. They are ridiculously enormous. If you are afraid of heights, taking one of these escalators may alarm/scare the shit out of you. They are certainly not for the faint-of-heart. A Metro stop called, Namesti Miru, is actually the longest elevator in the European Union at 285 feet (87 m).

Aside from their sheer size, getting on to one of these escalators is a task in itself. The steps whiz out of the platform very quickly and if you're not paying attention you may slip.

Additionally, as the escalator comes to the end at the bottom or top platform, getting off can be just as complicated as getting on. I've had friends who have gotten caught in the escalator, because it is going so fast.

This presented me with an interesting experiment that I have been meaning to conduct. My friends and I have been impressed with the size and speed of these escalators, but I wanted to know more.

I wanted to determine the speed and length of one of the escalators I use most frequently when traveling the Metro.

This happens to be the Karlovo Namesti Metro stop. Karlovo Namesti is a stop on the Yellow Line or B Line; whichever you prefer. It literally translates as "Charles Square."

If you exit at this Metro line you will either end up at Charles Square, a modern day park that used to be a cattle market when it was originally founded in 1348 (Source), the Emauzy Monastery (Source), or Fresco Vento, a popular pizza place that I like to eat at.

This particular experiment refers to the escalator found as you exit towards Palackého náměstí, a pretty park next to the river.

• Therefore, the purpose of this experiment was to figure out the speed and length of the escalator found at the Palackého náměstí exit off of the Karlovo Namesti Yellow/B line Metro stop.
• I hypothesize that the escalator's speed is 5 mph (8 kph) and the length of the escalator to equal 150 feet (46 m).

I will now run you through how I came to my conclusions.

• Observations

Essentially, in order to figure out speed, all one needs to know is a time and distance (speed = distance/time). Therefore, I needed to establish a standard distance that I could measure the movement of the escalator through over time. My first attempt was a failure.

Next to the handrail of the escalator, there are silver metal strips that are placed evenly apart from one another through the length of the escalator.

My plan was to figure out the distance between two silver metal strips, and figure out how long it takes to go from one strip to another. This method works well, except for the fact that I don't have access to a ruler or measuring device long enough to record the distance between the two metal strips.

In an attempt to simplify things, I took a picture of my glove between the two metal strips and expected to be able to figure out the distance based on the picture. This ended in catastrophe, and my findings were inconclusive and wrong. I abandoned this method seeking other means.

• The Jack Wheeler Method

After a while of stagnating and not really knowing how to truly get to the bottom of this problem, I was introduced to the Jack Wheeler Method for determining the speed and length of an escalator. The Jack Wheeler Method was developed by Jack Wheeler, a University of Michigan - Ann Arbor student, in the spring of 2008. It was developed while in Budapest, Hungary. The Method can be explained simply:

• Measure the distance of a step of the escalator
• Take a video of the step entering/exiting the landing platform
• Use simple arithmetic to arrive at conclusions

Just like that, new life was breathed into my experiment. So, by using the aid of a clothes hanger and black marker, I determined the length of a step of the escalator. Then I took videos of the steps entering/exiting the landing platform.

I broke these videos up into various increments. What I mean by increments, is the amount of steps I took into account in each time trial. Therefore, I had four separate videos two of which were made up of 5 step increments, one representing the speed of the escalator going up and the other going down, and two other videos with 10 step increments, representing the speed of the escalator going up and going down.

• Data

The length of 1 step of the escalator is 16.375 inches (41.593 centimeters). This was found by measuring the clothes hanger with the black marker on it using JR Screen Ruler.

• The length of time for 5 steps to enter the platform when traveling down the escalator was 2.10 seconds* (courtesy of Movie Properties on Apple QuickTime Player).

• The length of time for 5 steps to exit the platform when traveling up the escalator was 2.07 seconds*.

• The length of time for 10 steps to exit the platform when traveling down the escalator was 4.20 seconds*.

• The length of time for 10 steps to enter the platform when traveling up the escalator was 4.13 seconds*.

• Analysis

Now that I had all of my data, all I had to do was crunch a couple numbers and the rest would be easy.

If I know that 1 step is equal to 16.375 in. (41.593 cm), then 5 steps is equal to 81.875 in. (207.963 cm), and 10 steps is equal to just double that or 163.75 in. (415.93 cm).

• Let's deal with the sample involving 5 step increments first.

As a I told you before, Speed is just equal to Distance divided by Time. We finally have both distance and time, so now all we need to do is simple mathematics.

When traveling down the escalator, the 5 step increment calculation appears like this:
81.875 in./2.10 seconds = 38.99 in./second (99.03 cm/second).

To put these numbers in more understandable terms, I converted them to miles per hour and kilometers per hour respectively. In order to go from in./second to miles/hour, you multiply by 0.0568181818 miles/hour (Source). Therefore, 38.99 in./second is equivalent to 2.215 miles/hour.

To go from cm/second to kilometers per hour, you multiply by 0.036 kilometers/hour (Source). Therefore, 99.03 cm/second is equivalent to 3.57 kilometers/hour.

When traveling up the escalator, the 5 step increment calculation appears like this:
81.875 in./2.07 seconds = 39.55 in./second (100.47 cm/second).

If we do similar math to the first part we arrive at the following:
39.55 in./second x 0.0568181818 miles/hour = 2.25 miles/hour.
100.47 cm/second x 0.036 kilometers/hour = 3.62 kilometers/hour.

These numbers were all confirmed by the sample size taken of 10 step increments.

Finally, I also wanted to figure out the length of the Karlovo Namesti Metro escalator. This was done by measuring the length of one full ride on the escalator. I found that one full ride was equal to 54.6 seconds. By using the same equation, with a minor manipulation, we can figure out the distance.

Instead of dividing Distance by Time, we instead multiply Time and Speed to give us distance. On average, the escalator travels at 39.27 in./second (99.75 cm/second). Therefore by multiplying Speed and Time, we arrive at the following equation:
54.6 seconds x 39.27 in./second = 2144.14 inches (5446.12 cm).

In a more usable form, we can put inches into feet. There are 12 inches in a foot, therefore, we divide our previous answer by 12 to arrive at how many feet long the escalator is:
2144.14 inches/12 in./foot = 178.68 feet (54.46 meters).

• Conclusions

So, after all of that here's really what you need to know. The speed of escalator is 2.215 miles/hour (3.57 kilometers/hour) when going down, and 2.25 miles/hour (3.62 kilometers/hour) when going up. I am unsure as to why there is a variance in the speed going up or down. The length of the escalator is 178.68 feet (54.46 meters). I think I can finally put this one to rest.

McKinsey Preview Weekend

I was recently directed to a potential opportunity this summer with mega-consulting firm, McKinsey & Company. They are running this Mckinsey Preview Weekend in Washington, DC from July 25th to the 27th. According to the web page:

McKinsey Preview Weekend (MPW) is designed to provide rising juniors and seniors with an early introduction to management consulting in general, and McKinsey & Company in particular.

This participatory weekend workshop will include:

• Group discussions led by current consultants to help you explore the consulting industry
• Team activities designed to help you experience first hand the type of work we do at McKinsey
• Opportunities to connect with McKinsey consultants and fellow student participants

Preview Weekend is open to rising college juniors and seniors.

candidate criteria for MPW

• Rising juniors and seniors, from all majors, who are beginning to explore their career options
• A demonstrated ability to successfully balance academics with other responsibilities, including leadership roles and work experience
• Enjoy working on teams and solving problems

Application Details

The on-line application will take 10-15 minutes to complete. To apply, you will need the following:

• Resume
• Transcript (unofficial is acceptable)
• Essay (see topic below)

I figured that there would be no harm in at least applying to it. I must admit though, even though I am a fine student, McKinsey truly only admits the best into their company, and I feel like my chances of getting this are slim. But, if you don't ask, you don't get. So, I figure the worst thing that could happen is I don't get it, and then, I'm no worse off than I ever was.

Another reason I really wanted to apply for this, aside from the fact that it would be an amazing learning experience and awesome way to get to know new people and the company itself, was I really liked the essay question that they wanted the applicants to answer. Here is the essay question along with my answer.

• It has been said that one quality leaders possess is vision. In your opinion, what are other qualities that great leaders possess? (500 words or less)

In the film, Any Given Sunday, Al Pacino plays Tony D’Amato, the leader and coach of modern day gladiators who battle in their own Colosseum, the football arena. Prior to a pivotal game, Al Pacino stands before his warriors and proclaims, “life is just a game of inches/the margin for error is so small/ One half second too slow or too fast and you don't quite catch it.” These fateful words point to one of the most essential qualities that great leaders must possess and that is the ability to execute.

Whether you’re the leader of a school group project or a Fortune 500 company, an effective leader must have the ability to demand and produce results. People can sit around and talk all day, but if nothing is ever accomplished, then all is lost.

The ability to execute is a quality directly tied to a leader's effectiveness. It is critical to have an unbelievably strong sense of self if you are planning on leading others to success. If you don’t have a clear understanding of yourself, then how can you expect others to understand who you are? Self-awareness is a state of being that leaders should want and work to master.

Leaders must also craft a culture of execution. Those visions and goals that leaders inherently possess should be translated into tangible deliverables and actions to streamline and guide the team to achieve. Every action should have a purpose. Every team member should wake up motivated to accomplish the same ends as his counterparts.

Being able to effectively execute also means having the capacity to place the right people in the right places. Having a thorough understanding of how to delegate tasks can make or break any undertaking. A team is only as strong as its weakest link, and leaders should have the foresight to provide coaching or training if necessary.

If a leader has any hope of producing results, he or she must also have an unwavering commitment to assessing reality. Leaders cannot be thrown or distracted by smoke and mirrors. Leaders must be able to dig through a swarm of absurdity, maintain poise, and remain firmly on track to realizing the goal. Superb leaders do not have time to get lost with the rest of the crowd.

Without doubt, the art of execution separates the few from the many. Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, also thinks that execution is an essential part of leadership. According to Ballmer, “I like to tell people that all of our products and business will go through three phases. There's vision, patience, and execution.”

Outsmarting The Great Facebook

I typically have two tabs open on my FireFox when I'm browsing the Internet. The first is my Gmail, because I am very adept at keeping up with correspondences, and who doesn't enjoy procrastinating once in a while. The second tab is Facebook, in my opinion, the king of social networking.

Facebook is a tremendous site and it continues to get better and better. It constanly adds new features; most recent is the instant messenging (IMing) that you can do with all of your Facebook friends when they are online at the same time as you. That's just brilliant. It brings you to the site, and keeps you there. This has got to make advertisers very very happy. They've also had their fair share of problems with the addition of new features. Who can forget when Facebook added their controversial News Feed.

This feature addition provoked an uproar by the Facebook community and even elicited a public apology by Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO and creator of Facebook. However, for the most part, I would say Facebook keeps their users happy and content. I continue to use their service everyday (multiple times a day), because it's the best means of keeping in touch with people and also now with the addition of applications, video, pictures, etc., the best means of representing something about you to the world and the people you know. Your Facebook can say a lot about you, beware.

I, like a lot of people probably, also like to think about how to improve and use Facebook better. What can Facebook do to make my life that much easier? The funny thing is that every time I think something up that would make Facebook better, I login the next day and see that they've already done what I was just thinking about.

This actually just happened to a friend of mine. He was thinking about a new way to transmit news, where the Internet gives the power back to the people and takes it away from the large media giants like BBC, CNN, etc.

But, just as he dreamed it up, he checked through the Internet for a little and came across, iReport, which is published by CNN and was essentially his idea already formed.

This doesn't discredit my friend's idea though; it is impressive that he was able to think something up ahead of time that CNN has gone through the trouble to develop and put in place.

That being said, this time I'm going to be one step ahead of the Great Facebook. It is no joke, they are great, and they have an army of 70 million to prove it. I think that there is one critical feature that they are lacking that would make the service that much more desirable to users (or perhaps just me), and to Facebook as well.

We have to understand one thing first, though. Facebook is a business. They are doing very well. Facebook is in the business of Marketing and Advertising.

Facebook does not have any reason to change anything on its website at the moment if it doesn't further their business; they are doing fine enough as it is. So, if there is upside from a Marketing or Advertising perspective, then Facebook should add a new feature, but not before.

Quite simply, Facebook should add a "RANDOM FRIEND," link somewhere on their page. When a user clicks the "Random Friend," button it takes them to a random profile page of one of their Facebook friends. The location of this new feature doesn't really matter. It could be on the left panel below the "Applications," or across the top bar by the "home," "account," "privacy," and "logout" hyperlinks.

I don't care where they put it really, but they need to add it, and the sooner the better. If you want a prototype of this idea, I suggest checking out the "Random Article," link on Wikipedia.

• First, I'll explain why this is an awesome and necessary feature, and second I'll explain why Facebook should do it to help their business.

The "Random Friend," link is a really helpful tool to Facebook users, because it makes their browsing less active and so much more passive. By the simple click of a button, one can be whisked off to a new Facebook friend's profile without even having to think about it. There are several ways that I find my friends today on Facebook that, in my opinion, take far more work than the simple, "Random Friend," button. I can:

1. See a NAME or PICTURE on the News Feed
2. See who's STATUS has been updated
3. See who is CURRENTLY ONLINE
4. See which friends have RECENTLY UPDATED
5. Click on friends who have written on my WALL
6. Click on friends who have commented on my PICTURES

These are all excellent ways of finding your friends and visiting their profiles. However, I'm often pleasantly surprised when I see someone's name pop-up on my News Feed who I haven't spoken to in a while.

I visit their profile, look at their pictures, then usually write them a message or post on their wall. This helps me keep in touch with them which is, or should be, the primary function of Facebook. I feel like it is easy to fall into a loop of seeing the same people's profile over and over. In that sense, Facebook is making our world smaller, rather than enlarging it as it could.

By having the "Random Friend," link, I will be better able to stay in touch with my friends, because I may more frequently, or at least once in a while stumble upon their profile.

I think that this is also a necessary feature for Facebook to add, because it has gotten to such a size where certain members have accumulated 200, 500, or even 1000 or more friends on Facebook. According to Buzz Canuck, a blog on viral communication, the mean number of Facebook friends a person has is 164.

At such a size, it becomes hard to track all of those people. When discussing social networks, people will often cite the Dunbar Number, which explains the "cognitive limit to the number of individuals with whom any one person can maintain stable social relationships: the kind of relationships that go with knowing who each person is and how each person relates socially to every other person."

That number isn't exactly known but it is often referenced at 150. That means that beyond 150 people, based on evolutionary psychology, anthropological findings, and sociological studies (not to mention a reference in The Tipping Point), human beings have trouble maintaining stable social relationships.

The beauty of Facebook, I believe, is that it can make this Dunbar Number larger. However, we are wired in such a way currently to have this 150 capacity. Facebook can help us develop our own social skills by broadening our horizons, rather than trapping us in the same social loop.

Facebook would also want to add this feature to help their own business. There are two things that advertisers are looking for when they decide to publish an advertisement on a web page. One of the first things they look for is, how long people stay on that web page. This is critical, because it indicates how much exposure the advertiser is getting and how much time their advertisement is likely to be seen.

Facebook has done this tremendously well with their newest IMing feature. People are going to stay on Facebook for obscene amounts of time now, because they can chat with their Facebook friends easily. That will keep people at their computers.

The second thing that advertisers look for when publishing on a web page is the amount of impressions or visits a page has. This is important, because it suggests how many people your advertisement will be exposed to and how frequently that will occur. This second concept is improved by the "Random Friend," link.

**Click the Image to see it more clearly**
Now, I realize that Facebook's advertisements, usually on the vertical ones on the left hand side below the "Applications" section refreshes every time you go to a new page.

What I'm more interested in, however, is how many pages I and the rest of Facebook users go to on a regular visit to the site. This will impact overall page views for the entire website.

What is interesting to note is that even with all of these incredible new applications and new features that have been put on Facebook, according to Alexa.com, a web information company, in the past 3 months the number of unique pages viewed per user per day for Facebook has declined 20%. Facebook still receives an obscene amount of unique pages viewed per user per day, around 20, but Facebook is a business, and if a component of their advertising allure (page views) declines by 20% in a quarter, no one is going to be happy.

Quite simply, Facebook needs to add a "Random Friend," link in order to maintain and potentially improve their very successful site.