Efficiency revisited

by Giles Strong

Cover photo unrelated – it’s just some rad fractal broccoli.

Just over one and a half years ago I wrote a post on some of the tips and tricks I’d found useful in trying to organise myself and improve my efficiency. Searching for a post topic, it was suggested that I revisit this to compare how my workload and approaches have changed, so here goes!

Shame, shame, shame

by Pietro Vischia

No, I’m not talking about A Game of Thrones, although I personally consider it a shame that the last season will arrive — or so it seems — only in 2019.

What I am talking about is some possible shameful self-promotion in the content of this post.

On the Qualification of Reviewers for Scientific Articles

by Tommaso Dorigo

Peer review is the backbone of high quality scientific publications. Although the idea that only articles that are approved by a set of anonymous nitpickers can ever see the light of publication on “serious” journals is old and perfectible, there is currently no valid alternative to identify verified, rigorous scientific work, and to filter out unsubstantiated claims, and methodologically unsound results – the scientific analogue of “fake news”.
In practice, the method works as follows. A scientific journal receives an offer to publish an article by a scientist or team of scientists, or identifies a suitable author(s) for a review paper. A preliminary version of the article is then produced, at which point the editors of the journal then look for

Multidimensional Scaling of National Holidays

by Greg Kotkowski

Living abroad brings a lot of experience and surprises. One of them is to enjoy countries’ diversity and customs for particular holidays that are not celebrated in the homeland. The other thing is when you discover on your calendar a vacation day due to some national event about which you had no idea. Another time, national vacations could bring troubles when it comes to cooperation between nodes in different countries.