An Otter's "Careless Whisper"

For the love of god UNMUTE THIS pic.twitter.com/MA48mit8MX

— Nerd Girl Says (@Rachael_Conrad) February 23, 2020

(Tip of the cap to Card Colm Mulcahy.)

"Automatic Generation of School Bus Routes in Los Angeles"

Our report for the UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies from our collaboration with the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is now publicly available. Here are some details.

Title: Automatic Generation of School Bus Routes in Los Angeles

Authors: Mason A. Porter, David J. Spender, and Cu Hauw ("Willy") Hung

Abstract: The goal of our project is to automatically generate school bus routes for the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). We examined four algorithms, including two from the existing literature and two new ones that we developed. A major focus of our work was the construction of “mixed-load routes,” which transport students from multiple schools. Based on our measurements (whose imperfections we discuss), three of the four algorithms perform at least as well as the existing route plan, and one of those three performs better than the existing route plan. We also delivered a user-friendly routing program to LAUSD that uses one of these algorithms, and we have made our software publicly available. Our insights and results are also applicable to other school districts that permit mixed-load routing.

A Comic-Book Café in Korea

Wow!

I want to go and hang out in this café.

(And I want to play "Take On Me" as background music while I am there.)

Remote Login: "A Lot Like Astral Projection"

I approve!

pic.twitter.com/PFBB90zs2Q

— Science Diagrams that Look Like Shitposts (@scienceshitpost) January 26, 2020

(Tip of the cap to Charles W. Clark.)

Stay Tuned for My Mathematics Opinion Piece :)

Achievement Unlocked: I'm pretty sure that this is the first time I've felt the need to promise to an editor that I would not swear in an opinion piece that I'm going to write about mathematics.

Note: You should have seen the smile on my face when I was asked to write this. :P

— Mason Porter (@masonporter) February 17, 2020

In case you're wondering, the correct analogy (which you'll understand if you are familiar with Dragonlance) is "Tasslehoff was bored." (Nothing on Krynn is more dangerous than a bored kender.)

A sudden thought: I wonder if this counts as an Invited Tirade?

"Contributed Tirades"

My contribution is "Contributed Tirades". I wonder if I have ever had any Invited Tirades?

Thanks to Dan Larremore for the inspiration!

Dodgers Acquire Mookie Betts (and David Price)!

The Dodgers have acquired Mookie Betts in a trade with the Boston Red Sox! In addition to Betts, we get David Price, who is still a good pitcher (although he is worth much less than his hefty salary these days). Alex Verdugo goes to the Red Sox and Kenta Maeda goes to the Minnesota Twins, who are sending prospect Brusdar Graterol to the Red Sox.

Wow!

Update: And right after the big trade above, the Dodgers traded Joc Pederson to the Los Angeles Angels for infielder Luis Rengifo.

Update (2/09/20): After the original version of the trade hit a snag (because of a medical test on Brusdar Graterol), the Dodgers, Red Sox, and Twins have now officially agreed on a trade (so it's now a done deal). Our trades with the Red Sox and Twins are now two separate deals, and a couple of other Dodger prospects (shortstop Jeter Downs and catcher Connor Wong) are now also going to the Red Sox.

Update (2/09/20): The Dodgers also get another prospect and a draft pick from the Twins, and (according to David Schoenfield) the trade of Joc Pederson to the Angels (which apparently was contingent on the trade for Betts) appears to be a casualty of the delay in finalizing the trade for Betts.

"Online Reactions to the 2017 ‘Unite the Right’ Rally in Charlottesville: Measuring Polarization in Twitter Networks Using Media Followership"

A new paper of mine came out in final form a few days ago. Here are some details.

Title: Online Reactions to the 2017 ‘Unite the Right’ Rally in Charlottesville: Measuring Polarization in Twitter Networks Using Media Followership

Authors: Joseph H. Tien, Marisa C. Eisenberg, Sarah T. Cherng, and Mason A. Porter

Abstract: Network analysis of social media provides an important new lens on politics, communication, and their interactions. This lens is particularly prominent in fast-moving events, such as conversations and action in political rallies and the use of social media by extremist groups to spread their message. We study the Twitter conversation following the August 2017 ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA using tools from network analysis and data science. We use media followership on Twitter and principal component analysis (PCA) to compute a ‘Left’/‘Right’ media score on a one-dimensional axis to characterize Twitter accounts. We then use these scores, in concert with retweet relationships, to examine the structure of a retweet network of approximately 300,000 accounts that communicated with the #Charlottesville hashtag. The retweet network is sharply polarized, with an assortativity coefficient of 0.8 with respect to the sign of the media PCA score. Community detection using two approaches, a Louvain method and InfoMap, yields communities that tend to be homogeneous in terms of Left/Right node composition. We also examine centrality measures and find that hyperlink-induced topic search (HITS) identifies many more hubs on the Left than on the Right. When comparing tweet content, we find that tweets about ‘Trump’ were widespread in both the Left and Right, although the accompanying language (i.e., critical on the Left, but supportive on the Right) was unsurprisingly different. Nodes with large degrees in communities on the Left include accounts that are associated with disparate areas, including activism, business, arts and entertainment, media, and politics. By contrast, support of Donald Trump was a common thread among the Right communities, connecting communities with accounts that reference white-supremacist hate symbols, communities with influential personalities in the alt-right, and the largest Right community (which includes the Twitter account FoxNews).

Note: And only now after several rounds of page proofs, right after it's too late, do I notice that the typesetters changed "Right" to "right" in the paper title, even though it is a proper noun. Well, we had plenty of chances to notice this typo that they introduced, so it's frustrating that this is another one of those that I notice immediately as soon as it's published (while not catching it in my numerous chances to see it).

Boycotting a Coin Over a "Missing" Oxford Comma

Perhaps Philip Pullman is overreacting in his boycott of a coin over a missing Oxford comma, but this does pull at my heart strings. :)

(Tip of the cap to Sam Howison.)

"Quantifying “Political Islands” with Persistent Homology"

Here is a new expository article (in SIAM News) by my Ph.D. student Michelle Feng and me about our work on spatial topological data analysis.

I finally get to share my new @TheSIAMNews article (by @michellehfeng and me): "Quantifying “Political Islands” with Persistent Homology"https://t.co/ocpZN43EHg

— Mason Porter (@masonporter) January 28, 2020

You may also be interested in our associated research article and our recent follow-up article.

New 2020 Baseball Hall of Famers

I am a bit late with this post, as I have been traveling and very busy during the past few days.

Anyway, the new Major League Baseball Hall of Famers that were just elected by the writers are Derek Jeter (in his first year of eligibility) and Larry Walker (in his 10th and final year on the writers' ballot). I'm really pleased that Larry Walker was voted in by the writers! He should have made it years ago, but thankfully he made huge gains in each of the last three years (and especially in each of the last two years). For Jeter, the only question was whether he'd be unanimous; one person left him off of their ballot. Jeter and Walker join Ted Simmons and Marvin Miller as 2020's inductees into the Hall of Fame.

This year's vote totals are available at this website, and you can also take a look at the Hall of Fame Voter Tracker, which I was following assiduously in the weeks leading up to the announcement of the new inductees.

Scott Rolen was polling at close to 50% before the results were announced. He gained a ton of votes, but after seeing where he was before the announcement, I was a bit surprised to see the final total at "only" about 35%. Todd Helton made major gains to almost 30%, perhaps because he's no longer on his first ballot. They're in good shape, but it will take a while.

Curt Schilling got to 70%, so he'll make it in 2021. Nobody who has a shot is debuting on the ballot next year (well, maybe Tim Hudson will make it eventually), so 2021 is Schilling's year.

Rogers Clemens and Barry Bonds crept over 60%. I'll be very surprised if the writers elect them, as people have drawn lines in the sand, but one of the current incarnations of the Veterans Committees will put them in the Hall someday.

Omar Vizquel (sigh) broke the 50% barrier, and his eventual election is inevitable.

Billy Wagner, Gary Sheffield, and Andruw Jones made big gains. (I wonder if the latter two were helped not only by there being only one obvious newcomer but also by Harold Baines now being in the Hall? Both Jones and Sheffield were much better players than Baines.) We'll see how much Wagner gains over the next years.

Jeff Kent also made major inroads, and he'll likely make it eventually via one of the Veterans Committees.

A bunch of others (such as Manny Ramirez and Sammy Sosa) also gained a decent amount, but I doubt they'll go much of anywhere on the regular ballot (and Sosa has achieved around this many votes in some past years as well, I believe).

Bobby Abreu managed to get just enough votes to stay on the ballot next year. That's good.

And the latest entries in the exactly-one-vote club are Adam Dunn, Brad Penny, Raúl Ibañez, and J. J. Putz (who once hit Kevin Mench with a pitch, marking the only time in Major League Baseball history that a Mench got hit by a Putz).
There aren't any Hall-of-Fame-caliber standouts debuting on the 2021 ballot, so perhaps it will only be Curt Schilling from the regular ballot next year.

David Schoenfield wrote about this year's winners and losers in the Hall of Fame voting.

Here is my blog entry about the result of last year's writers' votes.

What Happens in Kuala Lumpur Stays in Kuala Lumpur

I just arrived in Kuala Lumpur for a friend's wedding!

I am very tired. :)

Quote of the Conference: Geodesic Spaces of Normal Shrinkage

"I call it 'geodesic spaces of normal shrinkage', in honor of George Costanza."

This may be the quote of the conference. The talk in question is this one.

Depeche Mode is in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame!

Depeche Mode has been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame! Yay!

Also: It's about time!

What Happens at the Joint Mathematics Meetings Stays at the Joint Mathematics Meetings (2020 Edition)

I am heading over to the Joint Mathematics Meetings! I am looking forward to spending less time horizontal than was the case at my last JMM.

Also, here is the schedule of talks from my group (and a friend of my group).

I'm looking forward to @JointMath #JMM2020!

Here are talks from group members (@michellehfeng, @HZinnbrooks, Me) and a friend of the group!

See you at the meeting!https://t.co/Lzf9ykyJqZhttps://t.co/NPufVrBgpshttps://t.co/u0JtlWqyfMhttps://t.co/3wPmwBN6M9 pic.twitter.com/swQsszZdXU

— Mason Porter (@masonporter) January 10, 2020

Love Will Tear Us Apart: Geographic Edition

Make elevation maps of any location in the world in the style of Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures album cover (i.e. a ridgeline map) https://t.co/FQ3KSvU0FU

— kottke.org (@kottke) January 8, 2020

(Tip of the cap to Dan Anderson.)

(Alignment Chart)^2

Today's XKCD has an (Alignment Chart)^2! I approve!

A Band Called "f(x)"

I know nothing about the band — and K-Pop isn't exactly my style anyway — but I definitely like the band's name!

The End of a Decade, with a Fair Starting Day

I'll let you know when my decade ends.

To do that, I'll first need to figure out when it started. ;)

Now, which starting point will allow me to maximize or minimize something interesting...

Oh, never mind; let's do this with a random-number generator: I get 2017.55793, which rounding to the nearest day (I'll round up), gives me a start to my decade of the 204th day of 2017.

My decade apparently started on 23 July 2017, so talk to me in 2027 about the end of my decade.

P.S. Happy New Year! (Well, in a few hours.)

Tales from the ArXiv: How Many Updates is the Record?

Well, the answer to the question that I posed two years ago was apparently "yes", but the authors did eventually stop uploading updates of their paper to arXiv after another three weeks or so (and five more updates).

I wonder if 16 versions of a paper is an arXiv record?