I read the book Divining a Digital Future: Mess and Mythology in Ubiquitous Computing by Genevieve Bell and Paul Dourish almost cover to cover last year and I have to say that finally gave me some understanding of the research agenda being pursued at the 3A Institute at the ANU. I hope I am not … More Book Review: Divining a Digital Future
Boredom is the mother of creativity: fun that doesn’t cost a cent. Teddy bear logic: A breath of fresh air. An unexpected victim. The Anzac spirit lives on.
Effective decision-making is one of those skills that separates good leaders from the more ordinary leaders. In this post, I summarise a few lessons I learned from good leaders I have had the privilege to work for in the past. These decision-making principles have served me well in the last couple of years as I … More Some Decision-Making Principles
The Networks scientist Albert-Laszlo Barabasi’s latest book The Formula: The Science Behind Why People Succeed or Fail is a cracker. His six laws of success summarise more than a decade of research into the science of success, in particular how the social network in which we live and operate, with its many kinds of relationships … More The Success Formula
I have always intuitively believe in the virtue of sleep. I have never pulled an all-nighter. I (over-)prepare for stressful events (e.g. exams, major presentations) way in advance and then ease into a more restful state as the date approaches, including doing very little and sleeping a lot the day before. I enjoy a good … More Why I am Big on Sleep
The Peter Principle states that in most hierarchical organisations, there is a natural tendency for employees to rise in the management hierarchy through promotion until they reach the levels of their respective incompetence. This is a statistical statement about people in an organisation, and there are cultural and management practices that can be put in place to … More An Email Test for the Peter Principle
Many beginning researchers find it hard to cope with the sheer amount of reading they have to do to come up to speed in a certain technical field, and the issue is often compounded by the “lacking the prerequisites to the read the prerequisites” problem due to inadequate mathematical training at the undergraduate level. Here’s … More A Note on Problem Solving for Young Researchers
I have just returned from my annual pilgrimage to Singapore and here are some interesting optics that caught my attention during this trip. I have seen this sign multiple times before at Pasir Ris Park from previous trips. But this trip is the first time I encountered a 3-D version when this lone ranger popped … More Interesting Singapore Optics
I am reading Robert Kuok’s autobiography and these two paragraphs from the chapter Vintage 1963 jumped out at me. “Success in futures depends on your feel for the market, your instincts and rhythm. I would talk to different brokers. Each company had bright, young English traders. One or two would be a little cunning, but, … More Robert Kuok’s Trading Algorithm from 1963
Combating terrorist financing
My Irrational Life
Updates on my research and expository papers, discussion of open problems, and other maths-related topics. By Terence Tao
Mental Models 4 Life 