What I’ve been reading
- How to pick the shortest line at the supermarket: tips from queueing experts (including Richard Larson at MIT). I tweeted a few comments, which are displayed below.
- For a faster commute, stand (don’t walk!) on the escalator. Yes, really. This story makes me sad. Again, Richard Larson from OK says “the math seems right.”
- Anna Nagurney blogs about humanitarian logistics: A Generalized Nash Equilibrium Model for Post-Disaster Humanitarian Relief – Case Study on Hurricane Katrina and Beyond
- Dijkstra’s algorithm: the simple, elegant algorithm that makes Google Maps possible
- Interview with mathematician Izabella Laba: on beauty and math
What I’ve been listening to
- The WBEZ Chicago radio program Nerdette has an episode with Dr. Eugenia Cheng on Why Math is Magic
- I’ve recently discovered Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast Revisionist History. He has three episodes about higher education and obstacles for recruiting and retaining talented but poor students (Episodes 4, 5, 6). For more, read Terry McGlynn’s blog post on what talented students from underrepresented groups look like.
- The 99% Invisible podcast had recent episodes on how average is not average and on public works, infrastructure, and transportation.
Punk Rock Operations Research 
September 14th, 2016 at 1:41 pm
Two comments on the queueing items.
Supermarkets: Curiously, no consideration seemed to be given to presence (or not) of a bagger. I think previous analysis (done at Kroger HQ back in the Dark Ages) showed that baggers significantly affected throughput.
Escalators: (a) The result seems to be limited to those where there’s a log jam at the start. (b) No consideration is made of the exercise value of walking on the escalator. (Might this be because Brits have not yet arrived at the US level of bulk?) (c) UK: ‘… sure to get a “tut, tut, tut” whispered in their ears from behind.’ US: likely to get a hard jab to the kidney (another health-related reason to walk)?