The nice logo of MCqMC 2016 was a collection of eight series of QMC dots on the unit (?) cube. The organisers set a competition to identify the principles behind those quasi-random sets and as I had no idea for most of them I entered very random sets unconnected with algorithmia, for which I got an honourable mention and a CD prize (if not the conference staff tee-shirt I was coveting!) Art Owen sent me back my entry, posted below and hopefully (or not!) readable.
Archive for tee-shirt
winning entry at MCqMC’16
Posted in Books, Kids, pictures, Statistics, Travel, University life with tags California, MCqMC 2016, qMC, quasi-random sequences, scientific computing, Stanford University, tee-shirt, uniformity on August 29, 2016 by xi'anSan Francisco ½ marathon [1:26:32 – 15/7533]
Posted in Kids, Running, Travel with tags California, down by the bay, Golden Gate Bridge, half-marathon, marathon, Monte Rosa, San Francisco, tee-shirt, veteran (V2) on August 2, 2016 by xi'an
Just completed the 2016 San Francisco ½ marathon. And this despite Air France’s best efforts to keep me out of it (and thanks to my son!), a long flight and hardly any sleep before the 5:30am start. This is the most brutal, unforgiving, relentless ½ I ever ran, with a significant positive differential of more than 700 feet (215 meters) and according to other runners with tracking devices possibly 0.3 miles extra (close to 500 meters). And fierce winds on the Golden Gate Bridge, both ways! So I am utterly flabbergasted by the outcome, which sees me arriving 15th altogether and first in the over 50 group [and third French!]… 
Even though I presume the training for Monte Rosa, the (unsuccessful) attempt at Monte Rosa, and the additional bike rides the previous month helped, although I did very little speed sessions. The race got hard the moment we started climbing, first a little hill near Fort Mason, then the slope to the bridge that truly slowed me down. Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge both ways was exhilarating, although I could not see one pile from the previous one, being in a cloud the whole time and Sun being not up yet. And although this section of the race was the most exposed, with no runner around to run in packs. Thankfully, there was one big downhill run around the 11th mile (that I passed in 1:11:11!) which helped me gaining back some time if no position, and facing the last climb, which seemed to last till the finish line in the Golden Gate Park… My overall time of 1:26:32 is surprising in itself if I account for the elevation: by Naismith’s rule, that would brings the time on a flat terrain under 1:20, a feat I only achieved once. And many other things are just weird in this race, from the 7500 runners I never saw, many of which finished over 4 hours, to the number of young winners (the third male runner is 17, the first female runner 20, a 14 year old came 22nd and even weirder the second female in the 5k is 8 year old!). And to the fact my ranking changed several times from 18th to 16th, 15th, 17th, and eventually 15th again. [Congratulations to the organisers, by the way! The whole race was brilliantly organised with all kinds of amenities I had never seen before. And thanks to the supportive Erythrean taxi who took me from the airport and offered me a free ride back if I ended up in the top ten! It sounded like a joke at the time….]
would you wear those tee-shirts?!
Posted in Kids, pictures with tags animals, Asian lady beetle, fashion, tarsier, tee-shirt, The New York Times on January 25, 2015 by xi'an
Here are two examples of animal “face” tee-shirts I saw advertised in The New York Times and that I would not consider wearing. At any time.
my ISBA tee-shirt designs
Posted in Books, Kids, pictures, Statistics, University life with tags Bayesian statistics, competition, CustomInk, ISBA, poll, tee-shirt, Thomas Bayes' portrait, werewolf on October 15, 2014 by xi'anHere are my tee-shirt design proposals for the official ISBA tee-shirt competition! (I used the facilities of CustomInk.com as I could not easily find a free software around. Except for the last one where I recycled my vistaprint mug design…)
While I do not have any expectation of seeing one of these the winner (!), what is your favourite one?!
an ISBA tee-shirt?!
Posted in Kids, pictures, University life with tags BAYSM 2014, ISBA, Markov chain, mug, tee-shirt, werewolf on September 19, 2014 by xi'an 
Sonia Petrone announced today at BAYSM’14 that a competition was open for the design of an official ISBA tee-shirt! The deadline is October 15 and the designs are to be sent to Clara Grazian, currently at CEREMADE, Université Dauphine [that should be enough to guess her email!]. I will most certainly submit my mug design. And maybe find enough free time to design a fake eleven Paris with moustache tee-shirt. With Bayes’ [presumed] portrait of course…
