Article Title of the Day: "Ex-bullfighter and Maths Genius Among Candidates Standing for Macron"

The title of this article is fantastic! (Note that the article preview on Facebook has a slightly different title, with "Female" before the word "ex-bullfighter".)

I had already heard that Cédric Villani is one of the candidates standing for Macron (and that itself is awesome!), but I really like the article title in this case.

Also, the second sentence in the article's description of Villani is amusing: Cédric Villani, 43, who in 2010 won the Fields medal, the equivalent of the Nobel prize in mathematics, will stand for Macron in a suburban Paris district. The mathematician is known for his dandy-ish looks, long hair and collection of floppy bow ties.

(Tip of the cap to Yves van Gennip for this specific article.)

What Have People Been Googling Since the Election?

This probably says a lot about my sense of humor, but I think the funniest state googling lead, hands down, is Mississippi (especially in the context of what everybody else is asking about). People in that state have googled "3 Doors Down" more than any other state.

(Tip of the cap to George Takei.)

Pictures of Hope

Pictures like the still at the beginning of the video in this article give me hope (which is much needed these days).

Update: Here is a Vox article, which includes among the first of the pictures I saw yesterday. I also saw pictures from friends yesterday who were beginning their treks, and of course it's been great to see many pictures of the well-attended Women's Marches today (especially the one in Washington, D.C.).

Update: Here are a bunch of pictures. When the dust settles as to the numbers in the Marches worldwide, I'll post put a link to an article that hopefully gives a reasonable indication of them. I have read that this may be the largest Presidential Inauguration protest in U.S. history. (Many more people have shown up to the Women's March protest in Washington, D. C. than showed up for the Inauguration.)

Update: The protests have been occurring across the globe, including in Antarctica!

Update: The number of protesters worldwide is estimated to be more than 2.5 million people.

Update: Here are more pictures from around the world. Such a historic event! The world will remember this day.

Update: Here are some estimated numbers.

Update: I would like to make the following comment: "20 January 2017: A day that will live in infamy (though, technically, not as much infamy as 8 November 2016). 21 January 2017: A far more important day, and one of the most important days in United States history."

Update: The Women's March protest is now estimated to be the largest single-day protest in U.S. history. Excellent! I approve!

Update: In solidarity with the Women's March, Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox of the Eurythmics posted a music video of their song Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves. It's hard to think of a better fit for today.

Update: In Washington, D.C., numerous protesters left their signs at Donald Trump's D.C. hotel.

Update: Apparently, there were a grand total of four arrests in the U.S. Protesting peacefully is the way to do it. Very good!

(Tip of the cap to way too many people to mention.)

Update (1/22/17): One of my favorite pictures from yesterday is this one.

Update (1/22/17): Here is yet another great sign. (Tip of the cap to Wendy Ames.)

Update (1/23/17): Fivethirtyeight.com estimates the total number of participants (I didn't check whether this was an estimate for the U.S. or for the world) in the Women's Marches to be about 3.2 million people, though they were concentrated mostly in Blue states.

Update (1/23/17): Here is another excellent sign, although over the years I have seen many pictures of old people at protests with these words (or similar ones) on a sign. I saw this picture on Saturday, but I forgot to include a link then, so I'm glad to see it again.

Update (1/23/17): Here's another nice sign.

Update (1/24/17): Here are a few more signs. I like the Star Wars one.

You Are Now Entering the Twilight Zone: Trumped-Up Edition

And, once again, Scotland proves that it's awesome.

(The Scots are also very good at flinging insults.)

PhD Comics: "Comforting"

The new PhD Comics is about post-election comfort, especially as it applies to tenure. I am amused. :)

"Facepalm Diplomacy"

Once upon a time, the U.S. had "Ping-pong Diplomacy". I hereby propose the term "Facepalm Diplomacy" for the new regime's strategy.

A Summary of November 2016 Using Ice-"Cube" Trays

2016 U.S. Election Cartograms

Mark Newman has again posted cartograms for the United States election results.

(Mark ought to give those of us who know him a secret link for the sarcastic version.)

Aside from the joy of squishing the continental USA, they also provide a very nice visual way to normalize out by something (population, population density, etc.) to help make maps less misleading.

History-Book Chapter Title Proposal: "Mr. Trump's Wild Ride"

Inspired by Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, I want to advocate "Mr. Trump's Wild Ride" as the chapter title for history books when they discuss our current adventure (assuming there is somebody left around to write history books).

Please place the royalties next to my grave.

Among my lessons this week is that 24 hours is about how long it takes for my snark to get back up to full blast after very bad news. (It came back in fits and bursts well well before then, and my sense of humor is pretty dark anyway.) Actually, I think I knew this before, but I was reminded of it.

Update: And if you don't know The Wind in the Willows, then I strongly suggest you look up the character Mr. Toad. In certain respects, the resemblance is uncanny. ;)

Joint Statement from California Legislative Leaders on Result of Presidential Election

You can read the California government's statement of defiance on this page. Go California!

My home state will be a beacon amidst the darkness.

(It's a brave new world.)

We've Made a Huge Mistake

Thanks to Peter Mucha for passing along this compilation of clips from Arrested Development. It made me laugh, and I really needed that this morning!

The world is still fucked, but it's been a good run.

Making Beds and Falling Dominoes

Anybody who knows me at all knows that of course I am not happy about the result (to say the least). But it is what it is. We made our own beds.

Mainly, right now I'm scared. And I think I am not welcome here, though I know I need to stand in line on that one. (Atheists and scientists/intellectuals and social liberals weren't singled out, as other have been lately, but we probably will be.) Maybe I'll apply to my old job in Oxford, though I'll give myself some time to process things first. Selfishly, it's good news for me that California is in many ways its own world.

What else? I am, emphatically, a 'citizen of the world' before I am an American. (Theresa May, eat your heart out.) And good luck to all of us.

On a positive note, I did see some hope today — e.g., the scene at Susan B. Anthony's grave was incredible, by the way, and the video from my peeps at the Sante Fe Institute was fantastic — and sometimes we have to get through a wake-up call. (It is easy to understand why people are angry. And people didn't pay enough attention.) Despite proverbial echo chambers and majority illusion — what, did you think I wouldn't get network analysis in here somewhere? — I have quite a few friends who hold significantly more conservative views than I do, but they are my friends, they are well-spoken, they are civil, and they often make very good points. We disagree (sometimes very strongly), but it's proper and productive discourse, and I learn from them. And I am very happy to have them as part of my network.

There is a nice quote from Star Wars that I think is relevant now, so I'd like to share it:

"Remember, the Force will be with you always."

We'll (hopefully) all get through this. I am sure it will be rough and it will take time, though. And as long as we don't all nuke each other before we work things out (proverbial falling dominoes, etc.), we'll make it through.

Thank you for listening.

Now does anybody want to talk about math? (Or games or D & D or ... ?)

Update: Not that I need a link to the actual event for this post, but here is one anyway. Clinton has now conceded to Trump. We live in interesting times. Here is what The Guardian had to say about the America's new populism.

Land of Confusion

Here's a thematic song (an awesome song) for the night before. It also has one of the all-time great music videos.

Today's Electoral Map: Make It Stop! (Or Perhaps Existential Dread?)

This electoral map sums up how I feel rather well.

(And I will add: Like living in a Coen Brothers movie and watching a train wreck in slow motion. Just like Brexit.)

(Tip of the cap to Stephanie Vardavas.)

Vote for Me. :)

I am one of the two candidates to become Secretary (2012-2013) for SIAM's Activity Group on Dynamical Systems. You can find a listing of the candidates for all positions and links to their professional biographies and candidate statements on this web page.

Parliament well hung?

Not that I was paying much attention to the UK elections (because I wasn't), but of course that was a big deal to lots of the people I know around here. A colleague of mine just walked by the door and said the result was interesting, so I decided to look it up---the BBC is apparently predicting a hung parliament.

Last night, I was talking about this a bit with a friend and a colleague (I'm referring to 2 separate people), although I headed off to do my own thing when dinner was winding down and the discussion got a bit more "technical" [not necessarily the best term, but it seems good enough]. They were mentioning about watching it no matter how painful the results were. Naturally, this made me compare it to watching the Dodgers year after year no matter how much they keep breaking my heart, though they didn't see it as the same thing. :) I do understand that, but when one lives in a bubble the way I do, it sure seems that way.

There were two main things I followed with respect to the election: (1) I was pretty glad that my article in a fancy journal got delayed a week to the 14th because otherwise there'd basically be no chance of getting any UK publicity. It's not quite like when the PS 3 was announced right when my PNAS paper came out (I think it was the PS 3 and not some other system...), but it still conflicted with my self-interest; (2) I saw a survey, with results divided primarily by self-identified party affiliation, regarding statistics for people not wanting people like me immigrating into the UK.

Interesting times, I suppose. Now when will they give me the data so that I can write a paper on it... ;)

Oh, and the article includes the awesome sentence beginning "Education secretary Ed Balls hung on in Morley and Outwood..."

Bring on the Fireworks

There are several reasons for celebration today.

On the familial side, my brother Adam turned 40 today (using decimal numbers). This round number is definitely worth a blog entry.

The official fireworks tonight were in honor of Guy Fawkes night, and like last year we had them in the Somerville quad. As I wrote last year, it's absolutely incredible to have fireworks in one's own backyard like this.

There were apparently also fireworks right after McCain's concession, but I was fast asleep and it didn't wake me up. After some conversations today, it became evident that the parties last night were in large part because of the expected outcome. The consensus over here is best summed up by a comment from one of my colleagues (which I am paraphrasing slightly because I can't remember the exact wording) during those conversations: "This election was a big victory for worldwide democracy." The general reaction here was one of elation, and that was from people from all sorts of cultural and world origins.

The one thing that seems to have gone wrong is the Prop 8 business in California, though I guess it's not officially sunk yet. (Hello, People? Others should be able to boink whomever they want and get the same legal benefits because it doesn't hinder your life in any way! Let them be!.)

Republicans are out of there!

Barrack Obama got his expected victory and the House of Representatives and Senate will also both be under Democratic control. It's about fucking time that the Republicans are out of the White House!

Here's an appropriate song to celebrate the occasion.

2008 Election Cartograms

Mark Newman, one of my coauthors, is again posting cartograms for the election. At the moment, the site has his educated guesses for who is winning what, but as things progress, the cartograms will include actual results (and, eventually, will give the results by district).

Picture of the Day

Here's the picture. You provide the caption.

(Tip of the cap to Jenny Fang, who posted this picture on Facebook. Part of me thinks it's fake, but it does seem to be on a legitimate BBC news website... Maybe Photoshop + hacking? Another theory that has been espoused is that BBC used a photo that it thinks is real but was photoshopped. Then there's the theory of the photo actually being real.)

Here's one (though one can get much, much worse): "I am sooooo hungry."