Today I am off to Edinburgh for the SMC 2024 workshop run by the ICMS. Looking forward meeting with long time friends and new ones, and learning about novel directions in the field. And returning to Edinburgh I last visited in 2019 for the opening of the Bayes Centre. Hoping to enjoy the nearby Arthur’s Seat volcano and maybe farther away Munroes, depending on the program, train schedules, and…weather forecasts!
off to Edinburgh [and SMC 2024]
Posted in Books, Mountains, pictures, Statistics, Travel, University life with tags Scotland, Edinburgh, ICMS, University of Edinburgh, Arthur's Seat, Bayes Centre, weather forecasting, SMC 2024 on May 12, 2024 by xi'anmaths as catchy background [and no further future for humanity]
Posted in Books, pictures, University life with tags AI, artificial intelligence, book reviews, dystopia, mathematical formula, neural networks and learning machines, Nick Bostrom, Philosophy of Science, poor maths, superintelligence, The Guardian, University of Oxford on May 11, 2024 by xi'an
Aubrac solitaire [jatp]
Posted in Mountains, Running, Travel, pictures with tags Aubrac, Auvergne, Betteridge's law of headlines, jatp, landscape, moor, Parc Naturel Regional de l'Aubrac, plateau, Refuge des Rajas, Signal de Mailhebiau, winter light on May 10, 2024 by xi'an
RNnti EUropean
Posted in Kids, Statistics, Travel with tags Brexit, economy, Europe, Europe Day, European elections, European Parliament, European Union, extreme-right, federalism, French politics, Frexit, immigration, National Front, nationalism, Ukraine on May 9, 2024 by xi'an
Þe terrifying prospect of an extreme-right wave swamping the European Parliament next June has never been more likely! Current projections give their parliamentary groups close to 25% of the seats… It alas particularly true in France with the (formerly) Nazional Front (now called RN) almost certain to get the highest percentage of the votes among all French parties, while keeping their anti-EU discourse, if vaguely stated but definitely around a disguised “Frexit”
- against more “federalism” and further expansion (as with the RN opposing Ukraine’s application)
- against European parliamentarism with accusations of promoting open markets, “punishing” ecology, (aka “anthropomorphic erasure“!) and organising mass immigration (with the former and controversial Head of Frontex being present in the RN European list)
- against European political structures, favouring and threatening a return to a much weaker “Europe of Nations”(alisms)
In the previous legislatures, the RN European deputies have proved an inertia and passive factor, being rarely present and even less active in the Parliament but voting against most parliamentary proposals and resolutions, esp. those on ecology, gender rights, reproductive rights, migrations, and Ukraine…
Xuriouser & Xuriouser
Posted in Books, Statistics with tags accept, Bayesian computational methods, cross validated, Metropolis-Hastings algorithms, Monte Carlo Statistical Methods, normalising constant, principle of proportionality, screenshot, simulation on May 8, 2024 by xi'an
Xi'an's Og 