Archive for Alan Turing Institute
rigour, imagination and production in London
Posted in Statistics, Travel, University life with tags Alan Turing Institute, Andrew Gelman, black box, Great-Britain, Kings College London, London, paradigm shift, public lecture, Theory and Method Challenge Fortnights 2024 on June 16, 2024 by xi'an
a journal of the conquest, war, famine, and death year [minus two fingers]
Posted in Books, Kids, pictures, Statistics, Travel, University life with tags Alan Turing Institute, Annam, BD, book review, books, British Library, Broken Angels, COVID-19, Daniel Defoe, dark fantasy, fig-tree, film review, finger, gardening, horror story, Japanese invasion of China, Journal of the Plague Year, Korean history, MIlo Manara, Notre-Dame-de-Paris, Paris, Russian invasion, The Name of the Rose, Ukraine, Umberto Eco, Vietnam, WW II on November 8, 2023 by xi'an
Read The House of Shattered Wings, by Aliette de Bodard, which involves a character with two fingers eventually missing. A British Science Fiction Association Award and for once a rather impressive horror story taking place in an alternative 1900’s Paris partly destroyed by a war between Houses run by fallen angels. With connections with French occupied Annam. The construct is quite original, with some great characters, if over-prone to introspection. Got through as well Trouble on the Thames, by Victor Bridges (!), a British Library thriller classic I bought when visiting the Alan Turing Institute. A light and short spy story from the 1930’s with amusingly outdated dialogues and postures, a nice way to go through a sleepless night. And received as B’Day present the BD version of Umberto Eco’s Name of the Rose by Milo Manara, a pleasant return to this great book, with fantastic colours and creative miniatures. As usual with Manara, the depiction of the female character is unrealistic and anachronic.
Watched the Korean TV show, Songs of the Bandits, which as a coincidence also involves a character with two fingers eventually missing. While providing an interesting foray into Korean history under Japanese pre-WW II occupation and offering an original scenario among K dramas, with an Eastern Western flavour, the fighting scenes are ridiculous (and gory), while the Japanese occupiers are caricaturesque. The final episode further feels inconclusive.
Made jars and jars of fig jam till early October, as the fig tree was bursting with ripe figs that were mostly escaping marauding birds. As well as more jars of rhubarb jam.
a journal of the plague, sword, and famine year [no end on sight]
Posted in Books, Kids, pictures, Statistics, Travel, University life with tags Alan Turing Institute, ATI, bagels, book review, books, Compiègne, COVID-19, Daniel Defoe, dosa, film review, flan, flight, Fort-de-France, France Inter, Gözleme, hojicha tea, HWA Gold Crown awards, Jamie Lee Curtis, Journal of the Plague Year, Kenilworth, kokicha tea, le Masque et la Plume, Martinique, matcha tea, Mathematical Sciences Building, Maurienne, Michelle Yeoh, pandemics, Paris occupation, Philippines, Russian invasion, The Guardian, The New York Times, Turkish food, Ukraine, WW II on March 12, 2023 by xi'anRead the second volume of The Craft Sequence, Two Serpents Rise, by Max Gladstone, with great difficulties as I found the story (again) poorly constructed, despite some characters being mostly well-designed (no connection with volume 1, except for taking place in the same universe, if at another time period). Mixing steampunk and hard fantasy involving gods does not work well in general and particularly there…. Following a New York Tĩmes review of the sequel, I also went very quickly through the Unwanted Dead, a first volume by Chris Lloyd, HWA Gold Crown for Best Historical Fiction winner for 2021, following a (s)hell-shocked PTSD-ed Paris police detective during World War II, when German troops arrive in the city. Not very realistic imho, as the nosy inspector happens to cross paths with Hitler during his very brief and unique visit to Paris as well as in Compiègne, and with a disappointing resolution of the wagon murders, but well-documented and with no obvious anachronism (except the unlikely presence of bathrooms in all apartments!, and the detective drinking whisky). (A wee nitpicking: Neuilly-sur-Seine (west of Paris) seemed to be confused with Neuilly-Plaisance (east of Paris), but the author acknowledged to me a general tendency to confuse east and west, just like I usually confuse right and left…) Overall, I found the Berlin Noir (Philip Kerr’s) novels more impressive and engaging!
Had a matcha flan in Paris, following a tip from Le Monde!, but was somewhat disappointed by its mild flavour, if comforted by the hojicha kokicha (made solely of tea stems) they served. And an excellent Filipino dinner in Kenilworth. And a yummy lamb Turkish Gözleme next to the ATI in London. While snacking the rest of week on Mysore dosas made on the street next to the Statistics Department at Warwick.
Watched (via a neighbour screen, on the flight to Martinique!) La Nuit du 12, a French thriller that got elected as Film of the Year (2022) by the Le Masque & La Plume (France Inter) audience, following a police investigation in the Maurienne valley after a particularly grisly murder of a young girl, one of the most fascinating aspects being that the crime remains unsolved despite the police efforts. In an impromptu home-made (!) Michelle Yeoh cycle, rewatched Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon after reading a particularly positive article in The Guardian. While the fighting scenes are definitely worth watching, esp. the trio fight on ice, the story remains rather lame. And Everything Everywhere All at Once, which I had also partly watched in the plane, but found highly unsatisfactory overall as lacking purpose, despite some great scenes between Michelle Yeoh and Jamie Lee Curtis ! Concurring with the strongly critical analyses in The New Yorker and the Guardian at the failure of the Daniels to find a purpose and a pace. (To quote from the latter, “these often impressively nutso formal backflips land in a position of pedestrian sentimentality, and then upbraid anyone resisting the viscous flood of sap for their cynicism.”) The scenes around the Everything Bagel are interminable…
Data science for social good fellowships [DSSGx UK 2023]
Posted in Kids, Statistics, Travel, University life with tags Alan Turing Institute, artificial intelligence, data science, data science challenges, Data science for social good, DSSG, DSSGx UK 2023, fellowships, Germany, Kaiserslauten, machine learning, NGO, UK, University of Warwick on November 9, 2022 by xi'an
Warwick is (again) running a 12-week summer programme bringing together some of the top student talents from data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence, all over the World, to work on real-world data science challenges and deliver positive social impact. Applications for DSSG 2023 are now OPEN! Click here for the application form (please read the information carefully) and click here for the FAQs for 2023. (The application also works for a similar programme in Kaiserslauten, Germany.
DSSG helps not-for-profit organisations and government bodies to achieve more with their data by enhancing their services, interventions and outreach, helping fulfil their mission of improving the world and people’s lives.
The programme gives not-for-profit organisations and government bodies unprecedented access to inspiring, top-tier data science talent. This helps build their capacity to use cutting-edge quantitative methods to address societal challenges in areas such as education, health, energy, public safety, transportation and economic development.
At the same time, it provides intensive case-based and supported training to students to create industry-standard data science products in collaboration with government agencies and NGOs, to deliver positive social impact. And it builds a world-wide community of data scientists who care about the social good.
In 2019, the University of Warwick together with the Alan Turing Institute brought DSSG to the UK. The University of Warwick has run it each year since and now preparation is well underway for DSSGx UK 2023, which will be held at the University of Warwick, UK, from 5 June to 25 August.
Ada L. at the ATI [6 October 2022]
Posted in Statistics with tags Ada Lovelace, Alan Turing Institute, artificial intelligence, ATI, Britain, City of Westminster, data science, London, sculpture, STEM, University of Warwick on September 29, 2022 by xi'an
