Sunday, September 30, 2012

Acronyms and "Sophistication"

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Fun Fact: If you give something an acronym, it will sound more sophisticated even when it really isn't. Some examples: DNS for "d...
Saturday, September 29, 2012

The Golden Ratio

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Steve Strogatz's latest piece in the New York Times discusses the golden ratio. I didn't like this article as much as many of his...
Friday, September 28, 2012

Congratulations to Dr. Joseph Schaeffer!

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It is once again my pleasure to announce the successful thesis defense of one of my good friends. Welcome to the club, Dr. Joe Schaeffer, ...

Postdoc Opening in My Lab

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We have reposted the advertisement for a 3-year (technically, 34-month) postdoctoral position at University of Oxford to study multiplex net...
Thursday, September 27, 2012

The Perfect Valentine's Day Gift

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Yup, arranging your partner's funeral ("Surprise!") is the perfect Valentine's Day gift . At least "overwhelmed...

"Mason, what do you really think?"

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Quote of the day: "Mason, what do you really think?" Granted, I have gotten numerous variants of this over the years. (Techni...

RIP Herbet Lom (1917-2012)

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Herbert Lom died today. He is best known for his role as (Former) Chief Inspector Dreyfuss in the Pink Panther films. My eye has started t...
Monday, September 24, 2012

"Political Moneyball"

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Here is a exceptionally cool visualization of political donation networks. (Tip of the cap to Peter Mucha and someone else who I can'...
Sunday, September 23, 2012

Today's Rant: Passive Voice

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The subject of today's rant is passive voice Before going on, let me first acknowledge that passive voice is sometimes necessary. Tha...
Saturday, September 22, 2012

Why Your Friends Have More Friends Than You Do

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What? You don't believe me? Just read the discussion in Steve Strogatz's latest article in The New York Times . By the way, this ...
Friday, September 21, 2012

2012 Ig Nobel Prizes

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Here are the 2012 Ig Nobel Prizes . For the most part, they're not as funny as usual---though the literature one is brilliant and I ha...
Thursday, September 20, 2012

"What Evidence Is There for the Homology of Protein-Protein Interactions?"

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Another of my papers has appeared in final form. Here are the details. Title: What Evidence Is There for the Homology of Protein-Protei...

GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls

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I love Kickstarter because it allows one to back eminently worthwhile projects like GoldieBlox: The Engineering Toy for Girls . Help fight...
Wednesday, September 19, 2012

"Taxonomies of Networks from Community Structure"

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Well, this paper has certainly taken a while to finally appear in final form. The project started in December 2007 as Stephen Reid's s...

Infinite Loop

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Unfortunately, the immigration form I am currently filling out has an infinite loop .

Exploring the World of xkcd

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Wow, today's xkcd is awesome ! I haven't explored all of it yet --- and maybe I haven't gotten anywhere close to all of it? --...
6 comments:
Tuesday, September 18, 2012

‎"Hi, it's [name] from reception. I've got Jesus here to see you."

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The important point is that this was done in complete English deadpan with an English/biblical pronunciation (rather than a Spanish one) of ...
Saturday, September 15, 2012

What To Do About Unlabeled Axes

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So.... should I warn the new students about this when they arrive next month?
1 comment:
Friday, September 14, 2012

Mathematics Ability Requires Crosstalk in the Brain

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This is a very cool study and, I think, highly amenable to further work that builds on this using methods along the lines of what my collab...
Thursday, September 13, 2012

My New Favorite Baseball Name

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That belongs to Cincinnati Reds shortstop Didi Gregorius (who is Dutch). That name is just amazingly awesome---it's the kind of name t...