A tyring day…

An exciting and explosive Election day in Warwick, if unconnected with the US elections, since my bike front tube first lost its valve to the pump [if not to the trump!] and then the replacement tube exploded one hour later, presumably a combination of high pressure and hot temperatures. [Disclaimer: Any similarity with current events and overblown egos is purely based on hot air. Any hope of seeing the situation deflating nicely is alas fizzling out really fast…]

À l’Observatoire de Paris

This Monday, I made a most pleasant trip to the Observatoire de Paris, which campus is located in Meudon and no longer in Paris. (There also is an Observatoire de Paris campus in downtown Paris, created in 1667, where no observation can take place.) Most pleasant for many reasons. First, I was to meet with Frédéric Arenou and two visiting astrostatisticians from Kolkata, India, whom I met in Bangalore two years ago. Working on a neat if no simple issue of inverted mean estimation. Second, because the place is beautiful, with great views of Paris (since the Observatoire is on a ridge), and with a classical-looking building actually made of recycled castle parts after the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, and because Frédéric gave us a grand tour of place. And third, because I went there by bike through the Forêt de Meudon which I did not suspect was that close to home and which I crossed on downhill muddy trails that made me feel far away from Paris! And giving me the opportunity to test the mettle of a new mountain bike elsewhere than again Parisian SUVs. (This was the first day of a relatively intense biking week, which really helped with the half-marathon training: San Francisco ½ is in less than a month!!! And I am in wave 2!)

a week in Oxford

I spent [most of] the past week in Oxford in connection with our joint OxWaSP PhD program, which is supported by the EPSRC, and constitutes a joint Centre of Doctoral Training in  statistical science focussing on data-­intensive environments and large-­scale models. The first cohort of a dozen PhD students had started their training last Fall with the first year spent in Oxford, before splitting between Oxford and Warwick to write their thesis.  Courses are taught over a two week block, with a two day introduction to the theme (Bayesian Statistics in my case), followed by reading, meetings, daily research talks, mini-projects, and a final day in Warwick including presentations of the mini-projects and a concluding seminar.  (involving Jonty Rougier and Robin Ryder, next Friday). This approach by bursts of training periods is quite ambitious in that it requires a lot from the students, both through the lectures and in personal investment, and reminds me somewhat of a similar approach at École Polytechnique where courses are given over fairly short periods. But it is also profitable for highly motivated and selected students in that total immersion into one topic and a large amount of collective work bring them up to speed with a reasonable basis and the option to write their thesis on that topic. Hopefully, I will see some of those students next year in Warwick working on some Bayesian analysis problem!

On a personal basis, I also enjoyed very much my time in Oxford, first for meeting with old friends, albeit too briefly, and second for cycling, as the owner of the great Airbnb place I rented kindly let me use her bike to go around, which allowed me to go around quite freely! Even on a train trip to Reading. As it was a road racing bike, it took me a trip or two to get used to it, especially on the first day when the roads were somewhat icy, but I enjoyed the lightness of it, relative to my lost mountain bike, to the point of considering switching to a road bike for my next bike… I had also some apprehensions with driving at night, which I avoid while in Paris, but got over them until the very last night when I had a very close brush with a car entering from a side road, which either had not seen me or thought I would let it pass. Gave me the opportunity of shouting Oï!

the most expensive baguette ever…!

Goshdarnit! On the way home tonight, I stopped as usual at the bakery nearby and as usual I let my bike outside next to the entrance. Without bothering with locking as it takes me ages to unlock it with the left hand… When I came out a minute later, the bike was gone!!! At least, this did not happened with my borrowed high-range bike in Warwick… And definitely nothing comparable with the jogger being shot nearby on my running route a week ago. But, still, a real bummer. And I cannot even use my Amazon credit to get the new one! (The local deity I had installed a few months ago on the front fork did not have the intended impact. I may have to switch to another creed…)

art brut