The Ph.D. application deadlines are coming—some music for luck and a bit of release: One of the lyrics is thought-provoking, see if you agree: Celebrated heads of state, or specially great communicators—did they have brains or knowledge? Don’t make me laugh! They were popular!

Built in the 12th century, modified in the 18th century, and restored in the 19th century, it is the symbol of Christian worship in Paris through the centuries. Source. Five years after the catastrophic fire that left the world mourning one of its most iconic landmarks (April 15, 2019), Notre-Dame de Paris is officially back. The grand reopening on December 8, 2024, feels like the perfect metaphor for our times—fragile yet determined, scarred but standing tall, and impatient: check out this snappy YouTube reel of remarkable 50-second storytelling....

This could be adapted into a movie: the intern who sabotaged Bytedance (TikTok)’s AI, sued by ByteDance for 8 Million, wins Best Paper awards at NeurIPS 2024. The full coverage of the previous drama can be found here. Here’s a reprise: An intern at ByteDance, resentful over perceived unfair resource distribution within the company, launched a covert operation to disrupt the training of machine learning models. This technical team experienced significant setbacks due to the intern’s malicious actions, which were aimed directly at the core of their model training tasks....

Story from the New York Times: How Google Spent 15 Years Creating a Culture of Concealment https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/20/technology/google-antitrust-employee-messages.html?unlocked_article_code=1.fk4.ERJz.hFVObsP-n_Cv&smid=url-share “Trying to avoid antitrust suits, Google systematically told employees to destroy messages, avoid certain words and copy the lawyers as often as possible."—for example, as dug up in DOJ’s lawsuit evidence: source The New York Time’s story dug down into how Google build and maintained its “What happens in Vegas” culture, and how it has annoyed the judges during the lawsuit....

The debate is over—now it’s time for everyone to sit back and wait for the results. Long story short: the Justice Department sued Google for monopolizing Ad Tech (a complaint filed January 2023). The trail began 2024 Sept.9 and lasted for two weeks at the Eastern District of Virginia, seating Judge Brinkema. After a three-month pause, the Justice Department and Google made their final closing argument on the hearing which took place Nov....

The U.S. Supreme Court adopted its first-ever ethics code in 2023. Following public trust concerns and controversies over Supreme Court justices’ financial disclosures (eg private trips sponsored by rich business man who benefited from rulings), summer 2023 saw Supreme Court justices swapping memos like secret agents—after which, the nine justices unanimously agreed on a first-ever code of ethics. However, behind the scenes, the court was divided on a critical issue: enforcement....

Here’s a collection of lecture notes from the Online Algorithm Seminar co-taught by Professors Hu Fu and Gavin Tang at SHUFE during Fall 2024. These courses explore cutting-edge topics in algorithmic game theory and theoretical computer science—truly exceptional material. For a brief overview and additional links, check out Prof. Hu Fu’s homepage. Introduction to online algorithms, competitive ratio for worst-case analysis, randomization and motivating example online learning, “the expert setting” and no-regret online matching: deterministic online matching online matching: randomized algorithm, primal-dual analysis bonus episode: “batched” online matching PENDING: random arrival model....

I’ve recently come across two impressive Chinese articles on education and school choice: How Many Crossroads Does It Take to Go from the First Year of Primary School to a Top University (FDU or SJTU). Link Do Students Perform Better If They Are Admitted to Middle School by Lottery? Link These articles form a quasi-series studying Shanghai’s education ecosystem. The first examines factors influencing university enrollment—specifically at Shanghai’s top two universities, SJTU and FDU....

cat cat scooter As November draws to a close, here’s a photograph that brings a wink—a moment of two ginger friends’ …scooter seats—reminding us all to slow down and take in the view. To my friends and whoever come to this page, thank you for being in my life, and every bit of help really do keep me grounded while I navigate everything. Happy end of November and cheers to the holiday season ahead!...

We’ve covered the Royal Ballet’s midsummer special series celebrating Ashton’s legacy in previous blog posts: Les Rendezvous, the Dream and Rhapsody | Phenomenal Ballet Program Marianela Nunez in Les Rendezvous | a dance of sweet grace and precision To complement those reflections, here’s a perspective from The New York Times. (Six months ago) Roslyn Sulcas captured the essence of Ashton’s genius in a post: At the Royal Ballet, Taking the Measure of Ashton’s Genius Many remarkable performances fueled the Royal’s mini-festival of ballets by Frederick Ashton, the company’s founding choreographer....