The Mythical Man-Month

David Lazer gave today's complex systems seminar, and he actually brought up The Mythical Man-Month. Wow. I hadn't thought about this book in years.

(Now if only we could get Steve Taylor to come back and say "pointers" just one more time... He appears to be at Dartmouth these days, but the website doesn't include his CV, so I'm not 100% sure it's the same guy.)

Ah, the halcyon days of CS 1...

Sin-trees

Apparently, there is something called a sin-tree in probability theory. Obviously, they're a religious bunch. (Do a 'find' on the website to which I link if you want to see what a sin-tree is.)

This equation is stochastic as shit!

I really like today's xkcd. Among other things, It makes me think of George Carlin. :)

Mapping Europe According to Stereotypes

Here are some maps of Europe (and surrounding environs) according to stereotypes. This is priceless.

(Tip of the cap to Karen Daniels.)

Update (9/27/10): Mariano Beguerrise Díaz also points out the Tory Atlas of the World, which is also pretty amusing.

"I am way too cool for this place."

I seem to have purchased a very skeptical stuffed phoenix at Dragon*Con.

I also posted pictures of the other pieces of art I bought.

Ichiro gets 10th Straight 200-Hit Season

Let me follow up Zifnab's lead by following up a negative post with a positive one (at least if you care about baseball).

Ichiro Suzuki extended his own record last night, recording his 200th hit this season in what has become his 10th consecutive year with at least 200 hits. That extends his own record for most consecutive 200-hit seasons. Ichiro's 10 career 200-hit seasons is the American League record; Ichiro is tied with Pete Rose for the Major League record. Wow!

Some more baseball records are possibly coming up. In particular, I am interested in whether Cliff Lee can break the Major League record for best single-season strikeout/walk ratio.

RIP Jerry Marsden (1942-2010)

I just received an e-mail (via Caltech's Control & Dynamical Systems mailing list, which is probably the one list where I still get relevant e-mails via my UGCS address) that Jerry Marsden died of cancer last night. I knew he was sick, but apparently things got extremely bad lately.

Here is what I just wrote as my Facebook status: RIP Jerry Marsden. Your supervision of my first research project, excellent lectures, and tons of recommendation letters, and much more meant so much to my career. (Not the e-mail I wanted to get...)

This bothers me a lot. Jerry was one of my biggest mentors, especially in the early stages. (I ultimately decided that my research style and preferences were different from his, but of course we all ultimately decide our path based on our various experiences. This is a sad, sad day.)

9/23/10: One of my collaborators has posted an appropriate quote from MacBeth, and I'll just assume (though perhaps incorrectly... I didn't check and I don't plan to ask) that it's for the same piece of news as reported in this blog entry. I knew that Jerry's death would bother me, but it's definitely hit me harder than I was expecting. Our relationship was entirely professional, but that is meaningful all the same.

9/24/10: Here is (a version that had some 1997 modifications of) my SURF Report from my project with Jerry.

9/26/10: There is now a remembrance page set up at Caltech.

10/01/10: Caltech has now posted an obituary.

Durham hosts 4th ACiD Workshop

Don't believe me? Then just take a look at this website. Yup, those mathematicians are doing ACiD.

This is a great choice of acronym for a mathematics workshop, isn't it?

Today's xkcd

Today's xkcd has an excellent final panel. It's just so well-phrased.

Can I at least get to choose my accent?

Apparently, brain damage can make one sound foreign. That's just bizarre.

Yar! (Oops)

I totally forgot that today be an important holiday! I'm not aye what I should do starboard now. Maybe I can find a substitute day t' celebrate properly once I'm aft home. There be more likely t' be pirates in Oxford than in Durham (North Carolina) anyway. I remembered last week that International Talk Like a Pirate Day was comin' up, but for some reason it totally escaped me as t' actual day drew nigh. And then I completely forgot. Maybe it's that I'm extremely perturbed these days because t' Dodgers continue t' suck this year? Can I use that as me excuse.

In conclusion, yar!!

Don Mattingly to Succeed Joe Torre as Dodger Manager

It looks like Joe Torre will step down as Dodger manager after this season, and he'll be replaced by Don Mattingly. I'm not at all convinced that Mattingly is the right choice as manager.

However, I do know some things that we need [not necessarily in order, except #1 is definitely first]: (1) better owners [the McCourts both need to go away!], (2) a better starting catcher, (3) a better starting first baseman, (4) better pitching, (5) a better attitude for Matt Kemp, and (6) stuff that didn't come to mind in my current hypergeometric-function-induced haze.

Man, this season has been frustrating.

Awesome New Disaster Movie

If you thought that The King of Kong was an excellent movie (and I know I did!), then I suggest that you take a look at this trailer for Pixel, an awesome new disaster movie with special guest appearances by (among others) Donkey Kong, Frogger, several Tetris pieces, and even Pac-Man. I approve!

(Tip of the cap to Puck Rombach.)

Term of the Day

I have decided that I love the term National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities. It's even better than "ambassador of capitalism".

Sometimes it's amazing how much a small set of words can amuse me when they're placed together.

XKCD on Physicists

Sometimes, xkcd gets it exactly right.

Wow. This is so amazingly true! Not to bite the hand that helps feed me, but...

(Tip of the cap to physicist Karen Daniels.)

Gaming and Decision Quickness

A new study suggests that gamers (with, in particular, action games---I didn't check the paper to see how that's being defined) make decisions faster and just as accurately as non-gamers. Of course, please note that what was observed was a correlation rather than causation.

This is my new excuse, and I'm sticking to it. :) It looks like all of those hours playing games like Ms. Pac-Man paid off.

(Tip of the cap to Louis Wang.)

King Felix versus C.C. Sabathia

C.C. Sabathia has a lot of wins and is considered the favorite to win the American League Cy Young award, though he has not actually been the best pitcher in the A.L. this season. For example, Felix Hernandez has been better thus far, though unfortunately poor run support is going to doom King Felix (as his win-loss record is pedestrian). I love this particular graphical representation of relative performance, though of course whether one "believes" this plot depends fundamentally on what one thinks of the diagnostic called Game Score.

(Tip of the cap to Rob Neyer.)

LOLCAT Method

That's right. There is apparently a LOLCAT method, which is a particular implementation of the Gillespie Algorithm.

That is just wrong.

(Tip of the cap to Liam Pomponi.)

Stranded Magazine

Stranded magazine is finally out. This is the magazine induced by ash clouds that was produced by stranded people. I have a couple of contributions in it.

"All proceeds go directly to the International Rescue Committee to help people stranded in a more permanent way."

Epic Fail

EPIC FAIL: When the building is going to be shut down at 5:30 pm and all vehicle access to the building will be shut down along with it, I should be informed of this situation (which was apparently well known to the people who run the building) before 4:40 pm on the same day---especially when I had previously arranged to be picked up at 7pm. SAMSI, this is yet another epic fail on your part. This is what mailing lists are for.