Comments for Michael Trick's Operations Research Blog http://mat.tepper.cmu.edu/blog Thoughts on the world of operations research Mon, 07 May 2012 18:31:39 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Comment on Kimball Medal Call for Nominations by Michael Trick’s Operations Research Blog : “For S/He’s a Jolly Good [INFORMS] Fellow!” http://mat.tepper.cmu.edu/blog/?p=1642&cpage=1#comment-15794 Michael Trick’s Operations Research Blog : “For S/He’s a Jolly Good [INFORMS] Fellow!” Mon, 07 May 2012 18:31:39 +0000 http://mat.tepper.cmu.edu/blog/?p=1642#comment-15794 [...] to INFORMS recognitions, now is the time to nominate people for INFORMS Fellow.  I was on the board when plans for the [...] [...] to INFORMS recognitions, now is the time to nominate people for INFORMS Fellow.  I was on the board when plans for the [...]

]]> Comment on Sports with a vague Operations Research connection by Tallys Yunes http://mat.tepper.cmu.edu/blog/?p=1638&cpage=1#comment-15773 Tallys Yunes Fri, 04 May 2012 20:04:43 +0000 http://mat.tepper.cmu.edu/blog/?p=1638#comment-15773 First: glad to have you blogging again. Second: on a side note, in Slate's dynamic map, the growing disks eventually start to touch each other and one is faced with the optimization problem of what to draw on top of what. It seems they use the heuristic of drawing larger disks below smaller disks. A few colleagues and I recently worked on this problem: layout of proportional symbol maps. Given some accepted measures of the visual quality of a drawing, putting smaller disks on top of larger disks isn't always the best approach. First: glad to have you blogging again. Second: on a side note, in Slate’s dynamic map, the growing disks eventually start to touch each other and one is faced with the optimization problem of what to draw on top of what. It seems they use the heuristic of drawing larger disks below smaller disks. A few colleagues and I recently worked on this problem: layout of proportional symbol maps. Given some accepted measures of the visual quality of a drawing, putting smaller disks on top of larger disks isn’t always the best approach.

]]> Comment on Car Talk and TSP Paths by Michael Trick http://mat.tepper.cmu.edu/blog/?p=1617&cpage=1#comment-15652 Michael Trick Sat, 21 Jan 2012 18:10:20 +0000 http://mat.tepper.cmu.edu/blog/?p=1617#comment-15652 The car talk puzzler answer is out, and state X is, of course, Maine. http://www.cartalk.com/content/bobos-dont-look-back-tour-0?answer If you would like to know the answer to the "which states can't you start in, here is the encoded answer (kids, look up ROT13 if you can't guess the code): Vs lbh qba'g fgneg va Znvar, lbh unir gb raq va Znvar. Arj Lbex phgf bss gur abegurnfg, fb nal fgngr abegurnfg bs Arj Lbex (vapyhqvat Arj Lbex ohg abg Znvar), unf n ceboyrz: lbh pna'g rkvg gur abegurnfg naq gura erghea gb svavfu ng Znvar. Ab abar bs PG, EV, AL, ZN, AU, be IG pna or gur fgnegvat fgngr. Gur friragu fgngr: Trbetvn! Vs lbh fgneg va Trbetvn, lbh jvyy eha vagb gebhoyr bapr lbh ivfvg SY be FP hayrff lbh ivfvg gubfr fgngrf svefg. Lbh pna bayl ivfvg bar fgngr svefg, fb lbh jvyy trg fghpx ng rvgure SY be FP. Gur erfg bs gur fgngrf ner yrtvgvzngr fgnegvat fgngrf. The car talk puzzler answer is out, and state X is, of course, Maine. http://www.cartalk.com/content/bobos-dont-look-back-tour-0?answer

If you would like to know the answer to the “which states can’t you start in, here is the encoded answer (kids, look up ROT13 if you can’t guess the code):

Vs lbh qba’g fgneg va Znvar, lbh unir gb raq va Znvar. Arj Lbex phgf bss gur abegurnfg, fb nal fgngr abegurnfg bs Arj Lbex (vapyhqvat Arj Lbex ohg abg Znvar), unf n ceboyrz: lbh pna’g rkvg gur abegurnfg naq gura erghea gb svavfu ng Znvar. Ab abar bs PG, EV, AL, ZN, AU, be IG pna or gur fgnegvat fgngr.

Gur friragu fgngr: Trbetvn! Vs lbh fgneg va Trbetvn, lbh jvyy eha vagb gebhoyr bapr lbh ivfvg SY be FP hayrff lbh ivfvg gubfr fgngrf svefg. Lbh pna bayl ivfvg bar fgngr svefg, fb lbh jvyy trg fghpx ng rvgure SY be FP.

Gur erfg bs gur fgngrf ner yrtvgvzngr fgnegvat fgngrf.

]]> Comment on Car Talk and TSP Paths by Jerrad N. http://mat.tepper.cmu.edu/blog/?p=1617&cpage=1#comment-15612 Jerrad N. Tue, 17 Jan 2012 05:09:29 +0000 http://mat.tepper.cmu.edu/blog/?p=1617#comment-15612 ...isn't it Maine? The only to get there is through New Hampshire, and given the stipulation of the "Don’t Look Back” product tour, you wouldn't be able to leave once you're there. [OK, that is State X: now how about the more interesting question of which states can't you start in? MT] …isn’t it Maine? The only to get there is through New Hampshire, and given the stipulation of the “Don’t Look Back” product tour, you wouldn’t be able to leave once you’re there. [OK, that is State X: now how about the more interesting question of which states can't you start in? MT]

]]> Comment on Car Talk and TSP Paths by Michael Trick http://mat.tepper.cmu.edu/blog/?p=1617&cpage=1#comment-15593 Michael Trick Mon, 16 Jan 2012 03:24:32 +0000 http://mat.tepper.cmu.edu/blog/?p=1617#comment-15593 Well, Matt Saltzman sent me the right answer, but no other takers? Too easy perhaps? Well, Matt Saltzman sent me the right answer, but no other takers? Too easy perhaps?

]]> Comment on Car Talk and TSP Paths by Ahmad Ba-Ubaid http://mat.tepper.cmu.edu/blog/?p=1617&cpage=1#comment-15588 Ahmad Ba-Ubaid Sun, 15 Jan 2012 19:58:52 +0000 http://mat.tepper.cmu.edu/blog/?p=1617#comment-15588 I think I've found both the answer, and the seven states .. ! Won't share them though .. ! I think I’ve found both the answer, and the seven states .. ! Won’t share them though .. !

]]> Comment on Super Exciting News on Super Polynomiality of LP Formulations of the TSP Polytope by Michael Trick’s Operations Research Blog : Car Talk and TSP Paths http://mat.tepper.cmu.edu/blog/?p=1587&cpage=1#comment-15585 Michael Trick’s Operations Research Blog : Car Talk and TSP Paths Sun, 15 Jan 2012 18:56:13 +0000 http://mat.tepper.cmu.edu/blog/?p=1587#comment-15585 [...] the suddenly hot topic of the Traveling Salesman Problem (see here and here), this week’s Car Talk puzzle is a TSP-like problem (though it is really a graph theory [...] [...] the suddenly hot topic of the Traveling Salesman Problem (see here and here), this week’s Car Talk puzzle is a TSP-like problem (though it is really a graph theory [...]

]]> Comment on A Love Letter to the Traveling Salesman Problem by Michael Trick’s Operations Research Blog : Car Talk and TSP Paths http://mat.tepper.cmu.edu/blog/?p=1603&cpage=1#comment-15584 Michael Trick’s Operations Research Blog : Car Talk and TSP Paths Sun, 15 Jan 2012 18:54:31 +0000 http://mat.tepper.cmu.edu/blog/?p=1603#comment-15584 [...] the suddenly hot topic of the Traveling Salesman Problem (see here and here), this week’s Car Talk puzzle is a TSP-like problem (though it is really a graph [...] [...] the suddenly hot topic of the Traveling Salesman Problem (see here and here), this week’s Car Talk puzzle is a TSP-like problem (though it is really a graph [...]

]]> Comment on The Perils of Search Engine Optimization by Michael Trick http://mat.tepper.cmu.edu/blog/?p=1578&cpage=1#comment-15580 Michael Trick Sun, 15 Jan 2012 11:24:13 +0000 http://mat.tepper.cmu.edu/blog/?p=1578#comment-15580 Thank you all for your comments. I'm going to close this down at this point, since the words and discussion here is attracting even more spammers than my other posts. I very much appreciate those who took the time to explain their motivation: it was very useful. In short, ".edu" sites are very attractive, and people are convinced that links are useful even with a "nofollow" tag. So both robots and people aim to get their links here. Robots are generally removed by Akismet, as are many posts from people. A few get through. Some suggestions were made: 1) Use Recaptcha. I tried that for a week with little obvious effect on the amount of spam that made it through my filters. People comment-spamming obviously will take the extra few seconds to pass the recaptcha. I, on the other hand, find them a pain, so I removed the recaptcha. 2) Make money off this! Add a banner, advertising, etc. Unfortunately, there is a reason .edu sites are valued: advertising (at least at cmu.edu) is strictly prohibited. If I did this, CMU would be on me very quickly. 3) Change the "Leave a comment" phrase to avoid some searches. Good idea, and I have done so. 4) Narrow the comment window. I was allowing two weeks to give comments. Most of the OR-oriented comments occur in the first 2 days. Narrowing the window should reduce the amount of useless commentary. Will do! 5) Live with it. Perhaps some people here just to leave a useless comment will learn a bit about operations research. And having to handle a few comments that get past the filters is really a "first world problem". Again, thanks to all who chose to provide some insight. I note that this post attracted 98 spam comments (not counting some of the ones I included above to illustrate the range of what I get). Thank you all for your comments. I’m going to close this down at this point, since the words and discussion here is attracting even more spammers than my other posts. I very much appreciate those who took the time to explain their motivation: it was very useful.

In short, “.edu” sites are very attractive, and people are convinced that links are useful even with a “nofollow” tag. So both robots and people aim to get their links here. Robots are generally removed by Akismet, as are many posts from people. A few get through.

Some suggestions were made:

1) Use Recaptcha. I tried that for a week with little obvious effect on the amount of spam that made it through my filters. People comment-spamming obviously will take the extra few seconds to pass the recaptcha. I, on the other hand, find them a pain, so I removed the recaptcha.

2) Make money off this! Add a banner, advertising, etc. Unfortunately, there is a reason .edu sites are valued: advertising (at least at cmu.edu) is strictly prohibited. If I did this, CMU would be on me very quickly.

3) Change the “Leave a comment” phrase to avoid some searches. Good idea, and I have done so.

4) Narrow the comment window. I was allowing two weeks to give comments. Most of the OR-oriented comments occur in the first 2 days. Narrowing the window should reduce the amount of useless commentary. Will do!

5) Live with it. Perhaps some people here just to leave a useless comment will learn a bit about operations research. And having to handle a few comments that get past the filters is really a “first world problem”.

Again, thanks to all who chose to provide some insight. I note that this post attracted 98 spam comments (not counting some of the ones I included above to illustrate the range of what I get).

]]> Comment on The Perils of Search Engine Optimization by Dzi http://mat.tepper.cmu.edu/blog/?p=1578&cpage=1#comment-15570 Dzi Sat, 14 Jan 2012 08:10:26 +0000 http://mat.tepper.cmu.edu/blog/?p=1578#comment-15570 ...didn't mean all the grammatical mistakes, was typing fast, sorry. Cheers! …didn’t mean all the grammatical mistakes, was typing fast, sorry.

Cheers!

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