From The New York Times -
John Urschel is an offensive lineman for the Baltimore Ravens as well as a mathematician who has had his research published in peer-reviewed academic journals in his free time.
READING Most of my reading consists of papers and manuscripts in certain specialized mathematical fields particularly having to do with my niche, artificial intelligence. But right now I’m reading “Conscience” by Louisa Thomas, who is a sportswriter for Grantland. It’s the story of her great-grandfather and his three brothers and their struggles with reconciling their divergent beliefs, their faith and their respect for their country and family during World War I. I didn’t quite know the level to which there was resistance back then to the draft, not only by activists but draftees themselves.
LISTENING I don’t keep up with popular music these days. My favorite artist is Fiona Apple, and has been since ninth grade. I love her voice and am in awe of her lyrics. Typically one of her albums is what’s playing in my car.
WATCHING I have loved horror films since I was a small child. When I was in the third or fourth grade, my mother bought me the “Halloween” movies 1 through 6 on VHS. The opening scene of the first “Halloween” is my favorite movie scene to this day. You watch through the eyes of Michael Myers as a boy, through the mask he puts on, as he goes through the house and brutally murders his sister and parents. More recently, I watched the new movie “It Follows” and thoroughly enjoyed it, the unusual music, the raw storytelling and the general sense of dread and fear that permeated the film.
FOLLOWING I thoroughly enjoy reading this comic strip created by Ryan North called Dinosaur Comics. It’s a six-frame comic strip with exactly the same frames and images every day, but with different words. Each day he tackles a different topic, varying from science to social interaction.
PLAYING I am a blues and jazz guitarist. I’ve been playing since junior high. I have a ’93 Fender Strat, and it’s my baby. I don’t have time to play in a band but it’s something I aspire to do when I’m older. I write my own music but also enjoy doing a variety of covers, whether Allman Brothers, John Mayer or the Black Keys. It’s a good outlet for me. I play when I need to relax and de-stress.
COMPETING I competed in my first-ever chess tournament not long ago. It was the Pittsburgh Open — very serious matches that lasted up to five hours. I am now a rated chess player and aspire to be a titled chess player. That means you’ve reached a certain level of achievement based on how you performed against other rated chess players. They use the Elo rating system, which is really complicated and has recently been used to predict outcomes of sporting events. The website FiveThirtyEight applied it to American football, and it’s much more accurate than I imagined.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/10/opinion/sunday/john-urschel.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=Moth-Visible&module=inside-nyt-region®ion=inside-nyt-region&WT.nav=inside-nyt-region
READING Most of my reading consists of papers and manuscripts in certain specialized mathematical fields particularly having to do with my niche, artificial intelligence. But right now I’m reading “Conscience” by Louisa Thomas, who is a sportswriter for Grantland. It’s the story of her great-grandfather and his three brothers and their struggles with reconciling their divergent beliefs, their faith and their respect for their country and family during World War I. I didn’t quite know the level to which there was resistance back then to the draft, not only by activists but draftees themselves.
LISTENING I don’t keep up with popular music these days. My favorite artist is Fiona Apple, and has been since ninth grade. I love her voice and am in awe of her lyrics. Typically one of her albums is what’s playing in my car.
WATCHING I have loved horror films since I was a small child. When I was in the third or fourth grade, my mother bought me the “Halloween” movies 1 through 6 on VHS. The opening scene of the first “Halloween” is my favorite movie scene to this day. You watch through the eyes of Michael Myers as a boy, through the mask he puts on, as he goes through the house and brutally murders his sister and parents. More recently, I watched the new movie “It Follows” and thoroughly enjoyed it, the unusual music, the raw storytelling and the general sense of dread and fear that permeated the film.
FOLLOWING I thoroughly enjoy reading this comic strip created by Ryan North called Dinosaur Comics. It’s a six-frame comic strip with exactly the same frames and images every day, but with different words. Each day he tackles a different topic, varying from science to social interaction.
PLAYING I am a blues and jazz guitarist. I’ve been playing since junior high. I have a ’93 Fender Strat, and it’s my baby. I don’t have time to play in a band but it’s something I aspire to do when I’m older. I write my own music but also enjoy doing a variety of covers, whether Allman Brothers, John Mayer or the Black Keys. It’s a good outlet for me. I play when I need to relax and de-stress.
COMPETING I competed in my first-ever chess tournament not long ago. It was the Pittsburgh Open — very serious matches that lasted up to five hours. I am now a rated chess player and aspire to be a titled chess player. That means you’ve reached a certain level of achievement based on how you performed against other rated chess players. They use the Elo rating system, which is really complicated and has recently been used to predict outcomes of sporting events. The website FiveThirtyEight applied it to American football, and it’s much more accurate than I imagined.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/10/opinion/sunday/john-urschel.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=Moth-Visible&module=inside-nyt-region®ion=inside-nyt-region&WT.nav=inside-nyt-region
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