My home university has a course that teaches intermediate-level Excel operations, made mandatory to all undergrads. On paper it looks great: you learn how to import and summarize data, create dynamic charts, and solve simple models for things like inventory or investment management. The course has a strong reputation, and many alumni speak highly of it. source: xkcd comics But here’s my take: for computer science major waste 64 hours of precious course load to teach skill that is key to non-promotable work which is going to be replaced by AI very soon....

A serie of works about incentives for early arrival: Ge, Yaoxin, et al. “Incentives for Early Arrival in Cooperative Games.” Proceedings of the 23rd International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems. 2024. Zhang, Junyu, et al. “Incentives for Early Arrival in Cost Sharing.” Proceedings of the 24rd International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems. 2025. The gem is because the problem is taken online. I’m surprised that algorithmic game theorists took the problem first before economists....

The most performed ballet is Nutcracker. Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy gets 41M views on YouTube (here). Of course, Swan Lake is more famous. But Swan Lake requires excessive technique and giant production of a medium-large ballet company, whereas for Nutcracker, almost any area of US or Europe will have one, two, or four different productions of The Nutcracker at Christmastime—and Shanghai as well. Here are some pictures I took....

It’s that time of year again—graduate-entrance exams have just wrapped up, and for many people around me it’s a moment of reflection (or panic) as they contemplate what comes next. Amidst the usual stress and sleepless nights, another topic has quietly stirred debates among the community of exam-takers: the rise of so-called IQ-booster pills. Yes I’m talking about Methylphenidate—aka Ritalin. Real Quick Fact Check: ADHD, Ritalin, and Neurotransmitters For those unfamiliar, Ritalin is a prescription-only medication primarily used to treat ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder)....

if it doesn’t open click here An official upgraded version will be released soon. Or you can view a preliminary version here.

Right before Christmans, Ariana Grande released a live performance video of “Santa Tell Me” as part of the Eternal Sunshine live sessions. The song was originally released Nov. 24, 2014. So this is essentially the 10th year anniversary version. watch the performance here on YouTube

Nature’s take on poster design: snapshot of the article. toggle light mode on top left corder so that the text would be readable. read the full article here. https://aritang.github.io/files/ariana_tang_cv.pdf The scientific poster remains a crucial currency for communication and connection….Researchers now have access to an array of high-end graphics software — and the ‘how to make a poster’ conversation has been going on for years (see Nature 483, 113–115; 2012)…. Yet, researchers often slap posters together at the last minute instead of thinking about the best ways to deliver their message and engage their audience....

A well-designed poster is like a siren’s call for potential collaborators. Picture yourself strolling through a maze of posters during a conference tea break. Even with the best intentions to explore, you’re forced to make snap decisions. One poster catches your eye. You pause, then strike up a conversation with its creator. Mission accomplished—for both the poster and its owner. Posters actually pull double duty. First, they’re your sidekick during the pitch talk during the very poster session....

The textbook Multi-armed Bandit Allocation Indices by John Gittins, Kevin Glazebrook, Richard Weber has a charming Chapter 6, titled “Restless bandits and Lagrangian relaxation”. But the authors skipped a step in the prove of how to go from the LP to Dual and to Whittle Index Policy. Prelims: An RMAB (Restless Multi-Armed Bandit) instance is defined through the tuple $$ \lang S, A, r_{i}, \mathcal P_{i} \rang_{i \in [N]} $$ where $S_i $ is the state space, $A_i = \lbrace 0, 1 \rbrace$ the action space, $r_{i}$ and $\mathcal P_{i}$ denote the reward and transition kernels arm $i$....

Happy weekend and winter solstice—if winter comes, will spring be far behind? Old CV is archived here.