An item of news I had missed in the June issue of the ISBA Bulletin is that the 2028 ISBA World meeting will take place in Milwaukee, USA. As pointed out by Michelle Guindani, this is is the first time the main conference of ISBA takes place in the United States since 1993 (which I did not attend). Rotation of locations between strategically located places makes sense, esp. in countries with a large IBSA membership like the US. Unfortunately, and as for BayesComp 2027 at Texas A&M, this will take place during the Trump administration, administration that set an entry prohibition for citizens of only dog knows how many countries by then and arbitrary border checks linked with activism that runs counter to their far right ideology. I thus hope hybrid options will be available for those who cannot or fear to attend in person, with many mirror gatherings like the one we ran for ISBA 2022, towards more inclusivity and social interactions.
Archive for CIRM
Rumpe Cuou, Sormiou, in an electricity ad
Posted in Mountains, pictures, Travel with tags advertising, big wall, CIRM, climbing, CO2, EDF, Electricité de France, electricity, greenwashing, Le Monde, Luminy, Marseille, massif des Calanques, mountain guide, Rumpe Cuou, Sormiou on July 15, 2025 by xi'an
independent Gaza Mortality Survey reports more than 80,000 fatalities
Posted in Books, Kids, Statistics with tags 07 October 2023, Bayes for Good, capture-recapture, CIRM, Gaza, Gaza war, Human Rights Data Analysis Group, Nature, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Palestine, The Lancet, war crimes on July 13, 2025 by xi'an
Nature of 27 June reported on an independent survey that interviewed 2000 households in the Gaza strip, except in the most dangerous areas, in December 2024. As noted by Patrick Ball, director of research at Human Rights Data Analysis Group (who took part in Datascience for Good at CIRM), it is amazing a proper survey could be conducted in such dramatic conditions, with consistent findings given an earlier study using capture-recapture published in The Lancet, and exceeds the official figures published by the Ministry of Health in Gaza. In part because they included non-violent deaths since October 2023. As stressed by the authors, assessing the magnitude of the death numbers (4% of the Gaza population) and of the unique proportion of non-combatant deaths (over 60%) in a modern conflict, but numbers do not replace a
“…project of memorialization [that] has only begun and must continue for many years after the war ends. Estimates of numbers killed, the focus of the present paper, can help guide this casualty recording work. But we cannot provide each human being due recognition in death simply by estimating the number of deaths.”
45ième Marseille-Cassis [1:25:15, 698/19799, 4/598 M5M, 330m⁺, 17⁰-20⁰]
Posted in pictures, Running, Travel with tags Caen, Cassis, CIRM, D-Day beaches, France, France 3 Régions, Les Goudes, Luminy campus, M5M, Marseille, Mont Puget, Parc National des Calanques, Pegasus bridge on October 29, 2024 by xi'an
Mythical Marseille-Cassis! But also tough, gritty, boisterous, crowded, unique, beautiful, frustrating Marseille-Cassis [to the image of the city]! While in CIRM, I had once the opportunity to receive a bib at the last minute but did not catch it. And last year, my daughter moved to Marseille from Fort-de-France the very day of the race. This time, we managed to both get a bib despite being far in the waiting list. And I even got an entry in the -1:20 starting sas, thanks to my Pegasus time. (For which I wore the 1944-2024 celebration tee-shirt!)
My daughter, her friends and I left our rental in Les Goudes under the pouring rain with bleak prospects for later and by the time we had reached the starting line, the rain had stopped and there were only a few drops along the race, while the wind was in our face most of it. The #1 difficulty in this race is the steep climb to the Gineste Pass, overlooking the Luminy campus at 326m, which made me (over?) cautious in reducing my pace for the second half. But since I reached the 10km mark in more than 45mn, it was too difficult to catch up with the delay to reach 1:22 for the finish line, even when going down several kms under 3’45”. I was also surprised that many runners (142!) passed me on the second half given that speed. In the end, I was way too far from the third runner (1:22:59) to expect any miracle. Congrats to my daughter Rachel, who did reach her 2 hour mark as her first long distance race! And looking forward another internship of her’s in the Phocean city to repeat the experience.
Marseille – Cassis [45ième]
Posted in Mountains, pictures, Running, Travel, University life with tags 20k, Bouches du Rhône, Cassis, CIRM, Luminy, Marseiile, Mediterranean Sea, Mont Puget, mythical race, Parc National des Calanques, road race on October 27, 2024 by xi'an
Xi'an's Og 