SAS Data Mining 2009 Las Vegas

I am going to Las Vegas as a guest of SAS Institute for the Data Mining 2009 Conference. ( Note FCC regulations on bloggers come in effective December but my current policies are in ADVERTISE page unchanged since some months now)

With the big heavyweight of analytics, SAS Institute showcases events in both the SAS Global Forum and the Data Mining 2009

conference has a virtual who’s- who of partners there. This includes my friends at Aster Data and Shawn Rogers, Beye Network

in addition to Anne Milley, Senior Product Director. Anne is a frequent speaker for SAS Institute and has shrug off the beginning of the year NY Times spat with R /Open Source. True to their word they did go ahead and launch the SAS/IML with the interface to R – mindful of GPL as well as open source sentiments.

. While SPSS does have a data mining product there is considerable discussion on that help list today on what direction IBM will allow the data mining product to evolve.

Charlie Berger, from Oracle Data Mining , also announced at Oracle World that he is going to launch a GUI based data mining product for free ( or probably Software as a Service Model)- Thanks to Karl Rexer from Rexer Analytics for this tip.

While this is my first trip to Las Vegas ( a change from cold TN weather), I hope to read new stuff on data mining including sessions on blog and text mining and statistical usage of the same. Data Mining continues to be an enduring passion for me even though I need to get maybe a Divine Miracle for my Phd to get funded on that topic.

Also I may have some tweets at #M2009 for you and some video interviews/ photos. Ok- Watch this space.

ps _ We lost to Alabama #2 in the country by two points because 2 punts were blocked by hand which were as close as it gets.

Next week I hope to watch the South Carolina match in Orange Country.

Behind-The-Scenes Of Wynn Las Vegas' Le Rêve!

I’m very fortunate to have seen A LOT of amazing theatrical productions, and Le Rêve at Wynn Las Vegas is no exception!  Le Rêve was created by Franco Dragone (of Cirque du Soleil fame), and features the most amazing lighting by Tony Award-winning lighting designers Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer.  And as if that’s not impressive enough, there are three incredible ballroom dance numbers, choreographed by Dancing With the Stars hunk Maksim Chmerkovskiy.

During a recent trip to Las Vegas, I went behind-the-scenes of this incredible aquatic spectacle in-the-round for BroadwayWorld.com.

Click on the video below to see the segment:

more about “BWW TV: LE REVE – Behind the Scenes! …“, posted with vodpod

Guest Interview n°9: Benedetta Barzini

Guest Interview n°9: Benedetta Barzini

Who is the most surprising designer of the spring summer collection 2010?
No real surprises, honestly. Some demonstrate knowledge on cutting and sewing, but the style belongs to a melancholic past.

And who is the most telented?
I hate to place one above another. ‘Better than’ is not in my way of thinking.

There was a lot of criticism about the Milan fashion week this time… Why? Do you agree with this point of view?
In Italy there is no sense of solidarity or common sense. I’m not going into what designers and organizers fight over. It’s rather repetitive (somewhat like the clothings that come out of the Italian productions).

Milan, Paris or New York?
Milan is commerce. Paris is Paris, light years separated from the other capitals. New York is playing around with the aura it has of being the most exiting place to be in, so it created a personal way of dressing. New Yorkers indeed yearn for France.

How do you see the intersection between street fashion and catwalk fashion?
‘Street’ talks about being different from acting out and dressing exactly like all others . ‘Catwalk’ reveals and therefore projects what the inner thought of women-seen-through-men’s-eyes is about.

In the past you were a model. What do you think has changed in the last 20 years for better or for worse?
Modelling today is opposed to the Sixties: the market has developed at an incredible rate, the girls are used and thrown out at a good pace, fashion is a product and the show must go on, regardless of its meaning.

What is the most negative aspect of the fashion world today? And the best one?
No negative or positive aspects: it constantly measures the temperature of a collective form of distorted unreality and tells us where affluent society stands.

What we must absolutely recover from the past?
The values of slowness. It allows people to assimilate an idea, a dream, lots of important lost things..

You currently teach at Milan Politecnico. Do you consider internet a resource or a hazard? Do you use it for your lessons?
Internet. It’s an illusion of power, knowledge and contact. It really only gives you headlines whithout depth. It has the privilege of turning all people passive. I can smell it a mile away when a student just owns some internet notions.

One example to follow and one to avoid..
Figure out what you could think without using someone else reflections. Avoid plucking your eyebrows.

Describe your typical day.
I’m sort of lost these days, so there is no typical

Your speciality in kitchen?
I’m not keen on cooking, but I can make a decent vegetable soup.

By Silvia Bergomi | images by Matteo Cherubino