ABC in Svalbard [news #1]

We [Julien and myself] are quite pleased to announce that

• the scientific committee for the workshop has been gathered
• the webpage for the workshop is now on-line (with a wonderful walrus picture whose author we alas cannot identify)
• the workshop is now endorsed by both IMS and ISBA, which will handle registration (to open soon)
• the reservation of hotel rooms will be handled by Hurtigruten Svalbard through the above webpage (this is important as we already paid deposit for a certain number of rooms)
• we are definitely seeking both sponsors and organisers of mirror workshops in more populated locations

As an item of trivia, let me recall that Svalbard stands for the archipelago, while Spitsbergen is the name of the main island, where Longyearbyen is located. (In Icelandic, Svalbarði means cold rim or cold coast.)

don’t run with 21run [for locals only]

This (whining) post is of little interest to anyone but French runners: last week I ordered a new pair of running shoes as mine had suffered too many kilometres to keep going and came upon a sale offer on 21run.fr that suited my needs. Checking similar offers on other running sites made this sale the best choice and hence I ordered the shoes. As is often the case with running shoes, the size varies with the brand and the pair of Asics I received was too small. Nothing unusual with that, but I then found out that the company is actually located in Germany, despite the website being integrally in French, plus advertising in the Paris métro, which again is not an issue per se, except that it charges returns outside Germany. Meaning that I ended up paying 17% of the overall price just to return shoes that were not my size.

MCMski IV (homepage)

I have rewritten the text on the home page of the MCMSki IV website. Feel free to comment! I also want to signal the creation of a Facebook page.

The next MCMSki meeting, MCMSki IV, will be held in Chamonix Mont-Blanc, France, from Monday, January 6 to Wednesday, January 8, 2014. As for the previous MCMSki meetings, it jointly supported by the IMS (Institute of Mathematical Statistics) and ISBA (International Society for Bayesian Analysis), as the first meeting of the newly created BayesComp section of ISBA. It will focus on all aspects of MCMC theory and methodology, including related fields like sequential Monte Carlo, approximate Bayesian computation, Hamiltonian Monte Carlo. In contrast with the earlier meetings, it will merge the satellite Adap’ski workshop into the main meeting by having parallel (invited and contributed) sessions on those different themes. A call for proposals of sessions and talks is available here. There will be also opportunities for presenting one’s work at plenary and well-attended evening poster sessions.

In terms of location, after an excursion to Utah, MCMSki IV is back in the Alps, on the French side of Mont-Blanc, and Chamonix offers a wide range of outdoor and indoor activities during the breaks, with all levels of skiing available. The meeting will take place at the Conference Centre le Majestic (Centre des Congrès – Le Majestic) in Chamonix Mont-Blanc. (With a large population of English expatriates living there, Chamonix is very easy to handle for English speakers. The lodging capacities are both diverse and plenty.)