Back in exciting East Lansing, Michigan

I am back in East Lansing, visiting Keith Promislow at Michigan State University. It is pretty familiar as this is the fifth or sixth visit I have made here for a month in the Spring. I guess I visited Keith before that on shorter visits. I don't remember much from those visits and I know I didn't try and settle in.

I am here earlier than usual this year, so the geese on the river have younger offspring:

I am am here so early that the term had not quite ended, so I am in a temporary dorm room for a few days before the apartment I will be in for the rest of the visit opens up. That apartment is in a women's only (during the main terms) dorm and they realized at some point I just wouldn't fit in. So, I am in a glorified prison cell, with internet, a bar fridge and a microwave for a few more days. I am adaptable, so this is working out fine. I make sure to eat a big lunch out and have a few simple things in the bar fridge for other meals. The only "hardship" is not having coffee on my own first thing when I get up. 

I have rented a bike, taken out a membership at the local gym I go to when I am here, shopped for some gin and some cables to get connected to the internet in my cell, started something new with Keith and worked out a few things on a project I brought with me (that I am scheduled to speak about in a workshop coming up soon). So, settling in like it is a routine. 

Alternatives to Lost

"Lost" was a network TV show from a few years ago. I watched some of the early seasons and apparently it was critically acclaimed for its entire run, but I was not impressed. It really seemed that the writers had no clue where they were going, and it was just one mystery after another with nothing ever explained. There is no way I could go back and re-watch the entire series just to see whether I hadn't given it a fair chance.

If you like that genre, there are a couple of things you could check out. I should say I haven't finished them (and one is not yet complete) so these are only preliminary recommendations.

• Area X: the Southern Reach Trilogy, by Jeff VanderMeer. I read the first book, "Area X", which is like a precis "Lost" in novella form. Well written and clearly Jeff had a plan the whole way. Satisfying but ambiguous ending. My daughter gave me this for Christmas. 
• The Lost Village: is an anime, currently being shown. It is available dubbed on Crunchyroll (a monthly subscription Japanese and Korean media site). So far, it is pretty interesting with the same basic concept of Lost. I should probably not recommend it, since Lost was pretty interesting at the beginning and just lost it's way. Still, anime series are often short and wrap up in a satisfying way. 

I am the Loverboy of research math professors

This post will be less interesting than the title suggests.

I am applying for a job at UCLA, as the director of the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IPAM). I am happy at UBC but have been here 25 years and a chance to change up my career a bit would be welcome. I tell my friends that it is a long shot and they are surprised. I guess they believed me when I said I was an "international expert" and that "being a research mathematician is as unusual as being a successful rock musician". Well, rock stars come in different kinds. I am the Loverboy of research mathematicians. It puts it into perspective that I probably have to explain to you who Loverboy is. They were (still are) a local band that had some success in the eighties. I have one of their songs, "turn me loose" on a playlist. It is pretty catchy. I have written some research papers that people liked. But UCLA is a top place, a notch above UBC, and IPAM is a serious outfit. They are looking for a David Bowie class mathematician. I have made multiple playlists of only Bowie tunes. Of course, I still have a chance at the job since no mathematician of that class may want it. Or, maybe they really want someone in tight red leather pants (you have to watch a Loverboy video to understand this comment). For me the equivalent to the pants is my track record of collaboration outside of mathematics with Engineering and Industry. 

Google Dozen Playlist: Canadiana

Hi all,

For those of you that subscribe to Google Music, here is my latest, totally awesome playlist, featuring Canadian bands.

https://play.google.com/music/playlist/AMaBXym8R9pBbWdffM17WQBAHHlYqeVrcwSPSr6EygP1G1C5AQT9pMxg4JR1BZX_jK2h-TtvyVjjR_T8E_xnaRb0HOih82piww==

There is a point of view that such national playlists should have songs about Canada as well as by Canadians, but I just don't subscribe to that restriction. We are a nation that generates great music beyond wilderness, maple syrup, hockey and mockery of Americans. Limiting to a dozen songs in my google format was tricky. Some things I thought of including before they got cut:

• Stan Rogers, Northwest Passage
• Corey Hart, Sunglasses at Night (*) 
• No Means No, Rag 'n Bones (*) 
• Sweeny Todd, Roxy Roller
• Doug and the Slugs, Too Bad
• Joni Mitchell, Big Yellow Taxi 
• Trooper, Boys in the Bright White Sports Car 
• Purity Ring, Body Ache 

The (*)'d entries are ones not available on Google Music. This was the first time I had identified major holes in their collection. Hopefully they will be added at some point, although I don't know how successful Google Music has been and whether they plan to expand. 

Value Village Glassware

Value Village is a chain of second hand stores in North America. I am a big fan of second hand shopping, for clothes and homewares. Part of it is that things are cheaper there, but I happily spend money on other new things. The bigger part is that it is just more interesting. If you go to a "regular" clothing store, you just see a bunch of the same things that represent the fashion of the season. Chez VV you find a much wider variety. The prices do mean I am much more willing to take a chance on something, because if it ends up being a terrible fit it doesn't matter much.

My latest purchase there was some glassware. I have become interested in cocktail making, and have built up an odd assortment of fancy glasses for it, like the ones in the back of the picture below. The small ones in the front I got for tequila shots at the last class of the continuing education Spanish class I am taking.

More Minecraft: Resonant Rise 3 modpack

Minecraft is a game I keep coming back to. Part of it is that (modded) Minecraft changes quite quickly, so there is always new, user generated, content to explore. The other is that there is such a strong design component to the game. I describe it as an architecture simulator, with zombies. In addition to architecture, there is some fun putting together automated systems that work efficiently, using the technology and magic mods. I am currently trying out the Resonant Rise 3 modpack offered by the ATLauncher. My current iteration of base design is pictured below:

Computational Melee

If you are the right vintage and geek persuasion, you will remember the microgame, Melee, by Steve Jackson that later became part of the role playing system, "The Fantasy Trip," which later evolved into GURPS. Melee was a fun game and I remember playing for hours with my friends in my high school days. I have a long time project, always on the back burner, to make a similar game with new features that does not have the flaws of TFT (I am sure it will have new flaws!). I thought it would be a good exercise to check out the old game for some key playability aspects that I would like to retain in "my" game. You can find the rules to the Melee game online here.

I wrote a simulator in MATLAB for Melee. It leaves out a number of things: ranged combat, hand to hand combat, broken and dropped weapons, pole weapons, temporary DX losses due to damage, and initiative rolls (in the simulator, highest DX always goes first). There 42 possible stat and armour combinations, so the complete Melee game under these restrictions could be represented by a 42 by 42 grid. That seemed like too much data, so I went with one choice versus 42. I started with what I remember as my default character: ST 12/ DX 12(9) with broadsword, leather armour and large shield (4 armour total). I then took the character out of 42 that beat this one most often,  and repeated:

1. 12/12(9)/4: win 30%, average game 4.3 turns against the next entry...
2. 14/10/0: 41% (2.8)
3. 13/11/1: 44% (3.1) 
4. 12/12/1: 45% (6.9)
5. 11/13(9)/5: 36% (5.2) 
6. 15/9/0 

Since I did not do the whole grid, I can't say for sure, but at least from these results it seems plausible that the game has the "metagame" property, that is there is no best character that wins against all others, it is all about dynamically picking the best character against the strategy currently prevalent. I remember the game had an exciting feel, which means that around 5 turns is a good length for a game. The closest to "best" character was #3 above, the 13/11 character with no armour, morning star and light shield: it was only beaten by #4 of all the 42 possible melee character options. However, unarmoured characters would suffer when missile weapons are considered. 

I did 10,000 trials to get the numbers reported above, so they are accurate to 1% with 95% confidence. I am not a statistician, so had to remind myself how these estimates go at the Wikipedia page here.