(Recall previously when we wrote about the Sweetener philosophy): it’s kind of about bringing light to a situation or to someone’s life or somebody else brings light to your life, “sweetening the situation” —Ariana Grande Lately, I’ve been revisiting Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. There’s one particular quote in the movie that resonates deeply: Albus Dumbledore Happiness can be found even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light ...

I just detached from the whirlwind of a conference submission—a rush both exciting and just a bit traumatizing. Guess a dose of rest and nostalgia wouldn’t hurt. I was a very professional Harry Potter fan around age 14. A few years later then, I declared the whole wizarding world boring and moved on. But rewatching it now—especially Azkaban—I’ve come to appreciate the profound artistry hidden in plain sight. Turns out, I just didn’t notice before. ...

It’s graduation season. Here are some lovely pictures.

If you need to run a bunch of jobs like python main.py -config X, and You have too many configs: X = A, B, C. Say you wanna run python f.py --config A.json python f.py --config B.json python f.py --config C.json ... You don’t want to overload your computer (if you dispatch all python run jobs all at once it will break) You don’t want to bother with job schedulers (like slurm) ...

Professor Yinyu Ye is currently giving a lecture series on Optimization Methods for Data Science, Machine Learning, and AI at the Shanghai Institute for Mathematical and Interdisciplinary Sciences (SIMIS). This week’s lecture—part two of the series—is focused on duality. Lecture videos and course materials are available here: https://www.simis.cn/optimization-methods-for-data-science-and-machine-learning-and-ai/ The class style is really “minimalistic examples for profound insights.” There’s a similar phrase often used in China: 大道至简 (The greatest truths are the simplest). It may sound cliché, but a contribution so widely-known that it becomes a cliché—that’s impact, lol. ...

The food delivery war in China just got (some kind of?) a formal timeout—called by the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR). In early May, SAMR, together with four other major government bodies—the Central Social Work Department, the Cyberspace Administration of China, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, and the Ministry of Commerce—jointly summoned JD, Meituan, Ele.me, and other platform companies for a regulatory meeting on the intense and increasingly chaotic competition in the food delivery industry. ...

Thanks to Professor Grant Schoenebeck for pointing me to this awesome paper. 📄 Crowdsourcing and Optimal Market Design Bobak Pakzad-Hurson | EC 2022 Paper Link (ACM) | Talk on YouTube In classic mechanism design, we often assume agents know their own preferences precisely. But what if the knowledge is private and noisy—say, in job market when schools evaluating graduate students? This paper solved an elegant question: how to crowdsource information under imperfect observations to achieve (almost) optimal allocations—with only a small punishment. ...

The Waverley Cemetery, Sydney, Australia. 🌕 A poem by 张九龄 Zhang Jiuling [he lives in the Tang Dynasty, yes my last name :)] 海上生明月，天涯共此时 As the bright moon shines over the sea, from far away you share this moment with me. 情人怨遥夜，竟夕起相思。 For parted lovers lonely nights are the worst to be, all night long I think of no one but thee. 灭烛怜光满，披衣觉露滋。 To enjoy the moon I blow out the candle stick, please put on your nightgown for the dew is thick. ...

There’s magic in every second of attention someone gives you—a formal presentation, a tea-break conversation—and even just any surprise opportunity to share your work, like in an elevator. Those seconds are precious. And often, the difference between being remembered and being forgotten is having a lovely pitch talk ready to go. Here’s one I wrote and delivered—not for a conference or a stage, but for a small conversation that mattered. I found the script again after some time, and I still think it’s one of my favorite things I’ve written. It’s a little technical, a little passionate, and very much “me.” ...

In Consumerism Gossip V on the FTC’s case against Uber, you’ll remember the core complaint: cancellation of subscription service was a maze. For example, one needs to contact human service that almost seems not exist. Like if you’ve ever shouted “转人工!” (“human agent!”) into your phone’s AI agent like it owed you money, you get the picture. Well, this turns out not just a Silicon Valley export. Xinhua Daily Telegraph — the official speakerphone of the China government, reported on related issue with a crisp article: ...