The wikipedia-like repository for mathematical “tricks” has now gone live. Their mission statement:

The main body of the Tricki will be a (large, if all goes according to plan) collection of articles about methods for solving mathematical problems. These will be everything from very general problem-solving tips such as, “If you can’t solve the problem, then try to invent an easier problem that sheds light on it,” to much more specific advice such as, “If you want to solve a linear differential equation, you can convert it into a polynomial equation by taking the Fourier transform.”

Because of my desperate search for expansions and educations of statistical strategies into astronomy, the main reason for boring titled posts, I surf websites, hoping for extra information. Almost always, the websites of astronomers contain pictures of himself/herself (but most likely male) posed against mountains, endless sky, giant telescope, rocks (rock climbing), desert, or some exotic and serene landscape. Otherwise, no personal picture but a few images of their own having similar qualities like the ones from astronomy picture of the day. Statisticians’ websites are more likely functional. Almost no images but text. Computer scientists tend to put some java applets of the utility they are developing or use a fancy html (xhtml, css, php) stuffs that make the website look nice. I’m not saying these are mutually exclusive phenomenon. Seldom statisticians put their own pictures with unusual landscapes but I assure you that the frequency is way far less.

I’m don’t know how this trend began. I hope statisticians have more distinct fashion, though. What so ever, It makes me smile whenever I see astronomers’ websites with personal pictures, in which his face is hardly visible to be protected from the nature but his clothing has great contrast against the nature.