Archive for Louvain-la-Neuve

francescoverdose [update]

Posted in Books, Kids, pictures with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on October 12, 2024 by xi'an

“Peace requires before all else the defense of life, a good that today is jeopardized…through the promotion of an alleged ‘right to abortion’. No one, however, can claim rights over the life of another human being, especially one who is powerless and thus completely defenceless.” 09 Jan.

“I would like to emphasize one thing: It is very important that we have this meeting, this meeting between men and women, because today the worst danger is gender ideology, which erases differences.” 01 March

“A woman within the People of God is a daughter, a sister, a mother. Womanhood speaks to us of fruitful welcome, nurturing and life-giving dedication”. 28 Sept.

“On my return to Rome, I will open the process for the beatification of King Baudouin. His example as a man of faith may enlighten those in power. [I praise] the courage of this man who chose to leave his position as king in order not to sign [the 1990 abortion] law.” 28 Sept. (International Safe Abortion Day)

CORE talk at Louvain-la-Neuve

Posted in Statistics with tags , , , , , , , on March 16, 2017 by xi'an

Tomorrow, I will give a talk at the seminar for econometrics and finance of CORE, in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium. Here are my slides, recycled from several earlier talks and from Judith’s slides in Banff:

 

snapshot from Louvain

Posted in Kids, pictures, Running, Travel with tags , , , on October 26, 2015 by xi'an

Trip to Louvain (and back)

Posted in Kids, pictures, Running, Statistics, Travel, University life, Wines with tags , , , , , , , , , , on October 24, 2015 by xi'an

Rue des Wallons, during the 24 heures de vélo, Louvain-la-Neuve, Oct. 21, 2015Apart from the minor initial inconvenience that I missed my train to Brussels thanks to the SNCF train company dysfunctional automata [but managed to switch to one half-an-hour later], my Belgian trip to Louvain-la-Neuve was quite enjoyable! I met with several local faculty [UCL] members I had not seen for several years, I gave my talk for the World Statistics Day in front of a large audience, maybe not the most appropriate talk for that day since it was somewhat skeptical about the nature of statistical tests, I got sharp questions, comments, and suggestions on the mixture approach to testing [incl. a challenging one about the Bernoulli B(p) case], I had a superb and animated and friendly dinner in a local restaurant—where everyone kindly spoke French although I was the only native French speaker—, I met the next morning with two PhD students from KU Leuven (the “other” part of the former Leuven university, albeit in the Flemmish side of the border) about functional ABC and generalised Jeffreys priors, I had a few more interesting discussions, and I managed to grab a few bags of Belgian waffles in Brussels before heading home! (In case you wonder from the above pixture, the crowds in the pedestrian streets of Louvain-la-Neuve were not connected to my visit!, but to a student festival centred at beer a 24 hour bike relay that attracted around 50,000 students, for less than a hundred bikes!)

World statistics day

Posted in pictures, Statistics, Travel, University life with tags , , , , , , , , , on October 20, 2015 by xi'an

Today is October 20, World Statistics Day as launched by the UN. And supported by local and international societies. In connection with that day, among many events, the RSS will be hosting a reception, China will hold a seminar in… Xi’an, how appropriate!, my friend Kerrie Mengersen will give a talk at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) on The power and promise of immersive virtual environments. (Bringing her pet crocodile to the talk, hopefully!)

Leuven9And I will also give a talk in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, on Le délicat dilemme des tests d’hypothèse et de leur résolution bayésienne. At ISBA, which stands for Institute of Statistics, Biostatistics and Actuarial Sciences and not for the Bayesian society!. within UCL, which stands for Université Catholique de Louvain and not for University College London! (And which is not to be confused with the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, in Leuven, where I was last year for MCqMC. About 25 kilometers away.) In case this is not confusing enough, here are my slides (in English, while the talk will be in French):