Conferenza a Padova [2]

Padova being a reasonably compact (and thoroughly pedestrian/bicycle friendly!) city, it is not hard to find one’s bearing, especially given my visit there last Spring. (The fact that the SIS conference is mostly on the outskirt helps too!) After a wet trek from the station to the hotel, I went to register and attended the “French statistics” invited session, where Jean-Michel Marin talked about our ABC papers. After that, I went to my 7pm appointed visit of the Cappella degli Scrovegni where I admired the superb Giotto frescoes (for my alloted time) and wished I had more time and binoculars!

I finished the day in an osteria with George Casella, who is currently teaching an 8 hour class out of our book Introducing Monte Carlo Methods with R. We managed to eat a failry decent dinner from half-guesses at the menu and, thanks to the Lambrusco, decided to write a third edition of Monte Carlo Statistical Methods ! For one thing, it needs incorporation of latest particle, renewal, and adaptive MCMC developments, as well as a reduction of the chapters on convergence assessment, perfect sampling and reversible jump. (For another, this will make the cheap Chinese printing of the second edition less appealing!)

http://www.osterianfora.it/website/cosa/vini01-07.jpg