Friday, May 23, 2008

Liverpool Algorithms Day


The department has just hosted the Liverpool Algorithms Day (LAD'08). The main highlight was Leslie's inaugural lecture; there were also another 7 talks, each of half an hour.

I estimate that the event attracted about 50 participants from outside the university. An important feature of the meeting is that it is short enough that attending is not too big an imposition; it seems quite a successful formula. Previous LADs were held in 2003 and 1999; also we had a Warwick Algorithms Day 2 or 3 years ago. Informal discussions indicated that it would be good to have such an event every year.

It seems that most people failed to appreciate the logo (shown above), which is of my own design. OK, most people recognised the Liverpool football outfit. Someone (Alan Gibbons(?)) asked when it was put on display at the start of the meeting: "Who's the little chap at the top right-hand side?". I waited for half-a-dozen people to pipe up: "It's a lad of course! as in the lad came to the door at night. Refers to the meeting's acronym!"... but answer came there none. I guess I was right not to pursue a career in advertising.

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