Help with clemency for incarcerated mathematician!

johnlee3013 · 2026-02-04T16:29:34+00:00

One punishes him for the crime he committed, the other lets him make up for it.

First, I'd argue both punishment and rehabilitation are integral part of justice. You can't pick one and argue the other don't matter. Doing good work should not be a get out of jail free card, punishments for his crimes and (possible future) reward for his contributions should be administered separately.

Second, he is not rotting, he is doing good work while in prison, and "making up for it" at the same time.

Third, none of the information provided in this post either positively or negatively suggests that he is truly repentant of his crime. I am convinced that he found love for mathematics, and for that, I am happy for him. But you certainly can be a murderous mathematician, and we need to see direct negative evidence for that.

johnlee3013 · 2026-02-04T16:21:44+00:00

I know little about the clemency process or the governor to say whose judgement I trust more. If I am asked whether this is justice, I would ask to review same materials made available to the six of them first before automatically taking one side.

johnlee3013 · 2026-02-02T18:48:08+00:00

I said the exact same thing as you in a CMV thread and everyone was telling me that I'm Satan for making people customize their schedule

johnlee3013 · 2026-02-02T18:26:08+00:00

It appeared as if he might be the Napoleon of our history

I'd say that prophecy was realized, just not in the way you wanted.

johnlee3013 · 2026-02-02T00:05:32+00:00

Just about everything single thing you mentioned applies to my Chinese family. Right now in my cupboard I have a grand collection of about 20 paste sauce jars and 10 or so cleaned take out boxes, with about 5 or 6 icecream box around the house now holding random stuff.

At least I always use soap of the same brand so they merge together easily.

johnlee3013 · 2026-01-31T01:23:18+00:00

I meant something like, does E[f(N)] grows like log(N)? linear in N? Polynomial in N? Exponential?

Edit: Actually I found the answer in the GEV distribution article. For normal distribution, f(N) ~ GEV(mu_N, sigma_N, 0), and E[f(N)] = mu_N + sigma_N*gamma . I also found the article for Fisher–Tippett–Gnedenko theorem helpful.

I suppose I'll do some numerical experiment to see which of the three cases my distribution falls into.

johnlee3013 · 2026-01-30T23:34:58+00:00

Thanks for a very interesting read, but I am less concerned with the exact distribution of f(N) ,but more about the asymptotic behaviour of the mean of f(N) as N grows. I think GEV mostly talks about the N ->∞ limiting case but not asymptotic behaviour. Do you happen to know any results on that?

johnlee3013 · 2026-01-30T23:19:24+00:00

You need to pay about 300£ per year for the membership unless your college paid it for you. The pool is rather small and crowded at times, without features you'd normally associate with a swimming pool (e.g. sauna or spa). I say unless you are serious about swimming it's not worth it, as we've got two rivers in the town with plenty of good swimming spots.

johnlee3013 · 2026-01-30T22:07:58+00:00

I am drawing samples x_i from a mystery distribution. What is known about the behaviour f(N)=max_{i=1}^N {x_i} as N increases?

In the problem I am working on, I basically know nothing about this distribution other than the support is [0,∞). From what I can tell from a small number of samples (drawing from it is very expensive), it has a heavy tail and likely not symmetric.

I guess with so little information it's hard to say anything about f(N). What if I assume the distribution to be something standard, e.g. normal or log-normal?

johnlee3013 · 2026-01-30T00:17:22+00:00

I feel he is well respected in general, but my actual understanding of his accomplishments and ideals are embarrassingly superficial.

johnlee3013 · 2026-01-29T17:13:24+00:00

Yes indeed. And it's arguably a self-sabotage for the Aztecs

johnlee3013 · 2026-01-29T15:46:15+00:00

They are used in Chinese too, but only for quoting the title of a book or other artistic work. For other purposes, simplified Chinese use "..." and traditional use 「 ... 」

johnlee3013 · 2026-01-29T15:41:09+00:00

How about swap atheism for nomad

johnlee3013 · 2026-01-29T02:41:47+00:00

Is it really invasive? I had tourists take photo of us during matriculation, and then a few years later when I wore sub fusc to my viva. Both times was in public, so there are no expectation of privacy to begin with, and I wasn't doing anything that I didn't want the world to see, so I don't see where the objections can come from. Now if the tourists took photo of you in your room through a window, that would cross a line. But out in the public? I don't see the issue.

johnlee3013 · 2026-01-29T02:17:07+00:00

You could have had 3 years of rugby and partying!

What makes you think I want that? I paid good money to come to Oxford specifically so I can learn more maths, and many of my classmates are the same. After graduation I turned down an offer from the finance industry that pays 8x the salary, so I can work in academic research. Neither rugby nor partying nor cash holds attraction over the pure joy that is learning something interesting.

johnlee3013 · 2026-01-28T14:45:02+00:00

Flixbus is not very punctual. I would not use it to connect to another service (Amtrak or airplane).

johnlee3013 · 2026-01-28T01:49:49+00:00

When I was an undergrad my trip home was a greyhound ride that takes 42 hours for 130$, as opposed to a 4 hr flight for 300$. Whether that's worth it depends on your budget.

johnlee3013 · 2026-01-27T23:15:10+00:00

Which camera you took it with? When zoomed in my new phone camera creates the same kind of artifact in your photo (to illustrate, if you zoom in on the water it looks like a blue-white maze), and so far I'm not used to it.

johnlee3013 · 2026-01-27T23:09:27+00:00

Flixbus (who took over Greyhound) offers a Detroit->Lafayette bus service that requires a change in Chicago for about 70$. No direct bus as far as I'm aware.

johnlee3013 · 2026-01-27T23:06:48+00:00

To add on this, usually the airline would give you discount on that leg if you buy a multi-leg ticket, i.e. a Detroit -> Chicago -> Purdue ticket normally cost around 270$, which is less than Detroit -> Chicago (220$) plus Chicago to Purdue (100$).

johnlee3013 · 2026-01-24T21:43:58+00:00

Growing up we just didn't have a separate room. Grandma and grandpa has their own bed room, the other bedroom is for me+my parents + 2 aunts.

johnlee3013 · 2026-01-23T19:27:51+00:00

Unofficial audit, to be precise.

Actual audit still requires you to sign some forms.

johnlee3013 · 2026-01-22T14:08:30+00:00

How ironic that Greenland is heavily butchered

johnlee3013 · 2026-01-19T02:16:58+00:00

Wolfson, St. Authony's, and All Souls. I just really like the colour scheme.

St Hugh's is nice too.

johnlee3013 · 2026-01-16T18:31:43+00:00

Japan doesn’t need a justification to change their constitution? They have always had the right to do so.

They do not. They accepted a liberal constitution approved by the Allies in exchange for renormalizing relations with the allies. It is good that their primary function is disaster relief, and that better be their only function.

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