Archive for Milano
interpretable Bayesian learning for physical and engineering sciences [06-10 July 2026]
Posted in Kids, Mountains, Statistics, Travel, University life with tags ABS26, Applied Bayesian Statistics summer school, Bayesian learning, Como, IMATI CNR, interpretable Bayesian learning, ISBA, ISBA 2026, Italy, Lake Como, Milano, Nagoya, SMAI, summer school on April 22, 2026 by xi'an
Skew-symmetric approximations of posterior
Posted in Statistics with tags Bayesian nonparametrics, BNP Section, Milano, Series B, skew-Normal distribution, skew-symmetric distribution, Università Bocconi, webinar on February 26, 2026 by xi'an
Botond Szabó gave a BNP webinar last week on the recent paper he wrote with Bocconni colleagues
first man below the 6:00:00 barrier on the 5000m?!
Posted in Kids, Mountains, Running, Statistics, University life with tags Isaac Newton Institute, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Milano, Norway, Salt Lake City, speed skating, University of Cambridge, Winter Olympics, World record on February 14, 2026 by xi'an
When I spotted this arXiv posting by Nils Hjort, Six-Minute Man Sander Eitrem 5:58.52 – first man below the 6:00.00 barrier, discussing Sander Eitrem‘s massive gain from the month-old previous record by Frenchman Timothy Loubineaud in Salt Lake City, just above 6’00”.. I was incredulous, not because I am knowledgeable in speed skating records, but because I was thinking of running… Where the World record is twice as large (12:35.36). Beyond my own personal interests, which drove the way I read this title, I was also stuck back in the past, with my last conversation with Nils being about long-distance running and record prediction, which happened quite a while ago when visiting the Isaac Newton Institute in Cambridge! (Nils’ note holds a reference to another famous Norwegian [runner], Jakob Ingebrigtsens.) Sander Eitrem also became the Olympic champion in Milano, breaking the Olympic record as well.
Cortina [1956]
Posted in Mountains, pictures with tags 1956, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Dolomiti, downhill skiing, Italia, Italian Alps, Milano, Rasen-Antholz, Tre Cime de Lavaredo, Val di Fiemme, Valtellina, Verona, vintage, Winter Olympics, winter sports, XXV Winter Olympic Games on February 7, 2026 by xi'an
Approximation Methods in Bayesian Analysis [#3]
Posted in Mountains, pictures, Running, Statistics, Travel, University life with tags Approximation Methods in Bayesian Analysis, Bayesian Analysis, binary tree, CIRM, completely random measures, conference, conformal prediction, Luminy campus, manifold exploration, Mediterranean Sea, Milano, optimal transport, Parc National des Calanques, Università Bocconi, Wasserstein distance on June 23, 2023 by xi'an
My last day (#4) at the workshop, as I had to return to Paris earlier. A rather theoretical morning again, with Morgane Austern on (probabilistic) concentration inequalities on transport distances, far from my comfort zone if lively, Jason Xu on replacing non-convex penalisation factors to distances to the corresponding manifold, which I found most interesting if not directly helpful for simulating over submanifolds, and Hugo Lavenant on studying the impact of prior choice as merging of opinions, in the (Milanese) setting of completely random measures, with the surprise occurrence of a double bent for some choices. The afternoon session saw Andrew Gelman reflecting on multiscale modelling (sans slide et sans tableau) and Chris Holmes introduce the fundamentals of Bayesian conformal prediction, towards reaching well-calibrated (in a frequentist sense) Bayesian procedures by resorting to exchangeability and rank tests. I alas missed the other talks of the day.
In recap, this was a wonderful conference, with a perfect audience size, a diverse if intense program, and a lot of interactions. In addition, the short talk sessions worked very nicely, even at 22:10 after a long day. And attracted very strong audience, even at 22:10! Indeed, they were uniformly well-calibrated, time-wise, and with high clarity messages. To be repeated. As there were many newcomers to CIRM, they discovered the idiosyncrasies of the place and of its surrounding, mostly positively.
On the outdoor front, the week saw an overall moderately hot weather but a constant wind that prevented me from sleeping (well), but which helped with waking up before dawn to cycle or run to my open water pool! The sea remained reasonably choppy, so waves did not prevent my swimming.
Xi'an's Og 