2024 Kentucky Derby

Let me take the occasion of being (with a booth at the Finish Line👌) at the 150th Kentucky Derby to pay homage to

… one of America’s greatest poets, who celebrated the beauty of the ordinary, finding the divine in everyday experiences. He embraced themes of freedom, nature, love, and the interconnectedness of all things. His writing style is characterized by free verse, where rhythm and meter are dictated by the natural cadences of speech rather than traditional poetic forms. His poetry is renowned for its passionate, expansive, and deeply humanistic outlook on life.

I agree with Walt Whitman (Leaves on Grass 😏):

If you done it, it ain’t bragging.

The last time we both got dressed up to celebrate a meaningful professional accomplishment: Looking Back:  October 7, 2017.

This weekend, we are celebrating, by being more fancily dressed up (yes, I was taken shopping, and I have to admit, I kinda liked it 😳), at a more fun event,  a more meaningful accomplishment:

U.S. Bancorp promotes Gunjan Kedia to president.

Of course, it also matters how 😉 you arrive to an event! It was 81 minutes on a Private Jet from Minneapolis, MN to Louisville, KY!

It has been a while since I attended a Sporting Event. Why? I have instead been going to Broadway Shows (O Broadway, Where Art Thou?) and Film Festivals (Bonjour les conferences)!

Here are a few (ignoring baseball games in PNC Park or Fenway, regular or playoff Steelers and Penguins at home):

1994. Sweden v Switzerland (FIFA World Cup). Washington DC. 1997. Chicago Bulls v Utah Jazz (Game 6, NBA Finals). Chicago. 2006. Italy v France (FIFA World Cup Final). Berlin. 2007. US Open Golf. Oakmont. 2009. Steelers v Cardinals (Superbowl). Tampa. 2009. Penguins v Red Wings (Stanley Cup). Pittsburgh. 2009. Federer v Söderling (US Open, Quarterfinals). New York City. 

Let me continue this post using pillars of Transcendental Engagement.

1. Here are some Private Jet trips – that made Academic Capitalism possible, and were subsequently made possible by Academic Capitalism – that I have previously posted about:

SmartOps.  Several (including to the 2009 Superbowl).  [Slumming It? and A Sketch of the Past.]

Film Festival. 2006. To Telluride. [Planes, Trains and Automobiles.]

Vacation. 2021. To Savannah. [My History of Eternity.]

INFORMS. 2022.  To Indianapolis. [Indianapolis 50.]

   2. Of course:

OrganJet. 2022. Boston, MA to Rochester, MN. [À la recherche de moins de temps.]

I am so happy to see my Academic Philanthropy invited article (see my previous Six Invited Pieces here), where I discuss OrganJet and Nudge Videos,  appear online on May 1 in Decision Sciences:

Implementing Innovations in US Transplant System.

   3. What about Academic Hedonism?

University Seminar. 2023. To Princeton.  [Air Quantum.]

On March 5th, I received this email:

Dear Sridhar,

I hope things are going great with you. I am contacting you as the sponsorship chair of CPAIOR 2024 to inquire if you, personally or through one of your ventures, would be willing to sponsor our event.

As part of our conference this year, we will have a Master Class on Quantum Computing organized by Carleton Coffrin with a wide range of presenters. Confirmed speakers include Ashley Montanaro (Bristol, UK), Tamás Terlaky (Lehigh, USA), Harsha Nagarajan (Los Alamos, USA), Andreas Baertschi (Los Alamos, USA), Xiaodi Wu (UMD, USA), and David Bernal Neira (Purdue, USA).

The 21st International Conference on the Integration of Constraint Programming, Artificial Intelligence, and Operations Research, will be held in Uppsala, Sweden, in May 2024.

On behalf of the CPAIOR 2024 organizing committee,

Thiago Serra

Let me take this opportunity to announce that Tepper Quantum Group is excited to sponsor of the 2024 CPAIOR Conference, including the

Master Class on Quantum Computing:

The Master Class greatly appreciates financial support from the Quantum Technologies Group at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business, which publishes research and educational tutorials at the intersection of operations research and quantum computation.

Hey, you may be wondering, what about the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby itself?

Mystik Dan wins 150th Kentucky Derby by a nose in the closest 3-horse photo finish since 1947.

How did my picks do?

I picked three: One came in second and one other was third.😒

The video on my iPhone is more memorable (to me personally), but this one is professional:

The Full Race (NBC Sports).

As we bid farewell to the 2024 Kentucky Derby – 46 minutes ☺️ to Pittsburgh, PA –  I could not resist creating a Maximally Inverse variant of a famous song to celebrate my Academic Hedonism.

As I am Multitudes too😏, this is my Song of Myself 😉:

I am a Man in Constant Delight

I am a man of in constant sorrow delight

I’ve seen trouble joy all my days

I bid farewell to ol’ Kentucky

The place where I was not born or raised

For six long fun years I’ve been in trouble quantum

No Only pleasure here on Earth I’ve found

You also know from Goodfellas v Miller’s Crossing that I like the Coen Brothers.

O Brother, Where Art Thou? is a 2000 satirical comedy-drama film written, produced, co-edited, and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. It had revenues of over $71 million (on a budget of $26 million). The film was met with a positive critical reception, and the soundtrack won a Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 2002.