2018 FRENCH OPEN: Women's Quarterfinals Preview

Here are my predictions for the women's quarterfinals at the 2018 French Open. Last year I correctly predicted 2 of 4 women's quarterfinals and correctly predicted 4 of 4 men's quarterfinals. This year I have also predicted the men's quarterfinals.

Simona Halep (ROU) [1] vs. Angelique Kerber [12] (GER). These two have faced each other 8 times and split the meetings evenly. Kerber has won the one match they played on clay while Halep won their last meeting in a major (the 2018 Australian Open semifinal). This is basically a pick 'em match. PREDICTION: Halep.

Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP) [3] vs. Maria Sharapova (RUS) [28]. After getting past Serena Williams for the first time in over a decade due to the 23-time major champion's withdrawal in the 4th round, Sharapova's reward is a match with one of the hottest players in the tournament, the #3 seed who is yet to drop a set. Surprisingly, Sharapova has never lost to  Muguruza in 3 matches, but none of their meetings have come since Muguruza broke through and became a major champion herself by beating Serena here two years ago. The two have a very similar style but Muguruza is younger and more athletic. I'd put my money on youth versus experience in this match up.  PREDICTION: Muguruza.

Madison Keys (USA) [13] vs. Venus Williams (USA) [5] Yulia Putintseva (KAZ).  I was in the stands when Venus Williams lost her first round match on the first day. That opened up this section of the draw and the surprise is that the diminutive (but hard-hitting) Putintseva is who was able to take advantage of the opening and reach her first major quarterfinal. Keys has been slipping through the draw under the radar but with her powerful groundstrokes and serve she is a threat on any surface, although one would expect clay would be where her game would be the least effective. However she has not lost a set in 4 rounds. I doubt that will change in this match and so she should reach her first French Open semifinal.  PREDICTION: Keys. 

Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) [2] Daria Kasatkina (RUS) [14] vs. Sloane Stephens (USA) [10]. Many tennis watchers are entranced by Kasatkina's game, which is reminiscent of that of Martina Hingis in its versatility and virtuosity. She basically dismantled and befuddled the #2 seed Caroline Wozniacki in the round before to reach her first major quarterfinal at age 20. Stephens is the reigning U.S. Open champion but has not really been talked about much as a potential winner here. But her game is well-suited to clay. Interestingly, these two have played twice before and each came away with a win with Stephens having won their (green) clay court meeting while Kasatkina won their meeting on hard courts this year. Stephens has much more experience at this level, so I give her the edge here but Kasatkina seems unfazed by big stages so I think it will come down to who is the better player on the day, and there's no question in my mind the American is the better athlete. PREDICTION: Stephens. 

EYE CANDY: Mike Thurston (4th time!)

Michael Thurston is one of my favorite male models on the Internet. To me, he is one of the most photogenic guys on the planet. Along with Simeon Panda, I literally have never seen him take a bad picture, and several of his pictures are breathtaking. Clearly, many of you agree with me, because he has well over 350,000 followers on his Instagram page (@mikethurston). The pictures in this post were taken from that feed. Trust me, this is one Insta feed you want to be following!

I recently realized that he had only appeared as Eye Candy a mere three times (August 31, 2015; October 19, 2015; December 28, 2015), which is quite a pedestrian number for a guy I enjoy seeing so often. Happily, I intend to rectify that problem in 2018.

2018 FRENCH OPEN: Early Rounds Complete

The early rounds of the French Open are now complete as the second Grand Slam of the year reaches it's halfway point on Sunday.

WOMEN'S DRAW
There have been some surprising upsets in early rounds with the most notable being defending champion Jelena Ostapenko [5] losing in the very first round (in straight sets 7-5 6-3!) on the very first day of the tournament (which I attended). On the same day (a few hours before) Venus Williams [9] also lost in the 1st round, also in straight sets, 6-4 7-5, Qiang Wang. Other "early" round losers were Petra Kvitova [8] (l. Anna Kontaveit) and Elina Svitolina [4] (l. Victoria Kuzmova).

Serena Williams is playing in her first Grand Slam tournament since having a child and getting married (in that order :)) and although she had looked scratchy in her earlier tournaments this year (in Indian Wells and Miami) in Paris she has surprisingly looked quite solid and yesterday defeated Julia Georges [11]  to make it to a 4th round meeting with Maria Sharapova who also looked very sharp in taking out Karolina Pliskova [6]. It will be there 22nd meeting and Serena has won the last 18 times the two have played since 2004.

Simona Halep [1] and Garbine Muguruza [3] have looked the sharpest so far in the tournament but Caro Wozniacki [2], Sloane Stephens [10] and Madison Keys [13] are all dangerous contenders still in the draw.

MEN'S DRAW
The biggest seed on the men's side to fall in the early days of the tournament was Grigor Dimitrov [4] who lost in straight sets to 34-year-old Fernando Verdasco in the 3rd round. The story on the men's side has been the travails of Sascha Zverev [2] to live up to his outstanding ATP tour play and make a move in the majors. After cruising in his 1st round match by losing 4 games against Richar Berankis, Zverev has played three consecutive 5-set matches, and saved a match point in the 3rd round. The German is now in his first major quarterfinal.

Rafael Nadal is going for his 11th French Open title and it doesn't look like anyone will be able to stop him from doing so this year. He was forced into a tiebreak in his very first match with Simone Bolleli but since then the King of Clay has not given up more than 3 games in a set.

The other contenders remaining in the tournament are Dominic Thiem [8], Marin Cilic [4], Juan Martin del Potro [6], David Goffin [9] and John Isner [10].

POLL: Support for marriage equality now 67% Yes 33% No

I'm still on vacation in Iceland but could not resist posting the information that public support for marriage equality has now been completely inverted in the last two decades, from 2:1 opposition to 2:1 support! I have been working for and involved with the freedom to marry movement since the early 1990s so this result is quite heartwarming.

Hat/tip USA TODAY

EYE CANDY: Raciel Castro (4th Time)

Raciel Castro is one of my all-time favorite models who has appeared on Eye Candy. Today is my birthday and Raciel was the first person I thought of (closely followed by Simeon Panda and Mike Thurston) as my favorite male models to appear as Eye Candy on this special day.

#IDAHOT: May 17 is the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia & Biphobia

Today is May 17, the day selected to celebrate sexual and gender diversities. Officially it is known as the "International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia" or #IDAHOT.

May 17 is chosen to commemrate the anniversary of the date in 1990 when the World Health Organization declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder.

#NSF REPORT: U.S. Doctorate Recipients At Near All-Time High (2016 Data)

The National Science Foundation has released its annual Survey of Earned Doctorates and there are some interesting nuggets in the data (up to 2016):

• The largest share of doctorates awarded in 2016 was in the life sciences (nearly 23 percent), followed by engineering (17 percent), and psychology and the social sciences (16.5 percent). All fields of humanities and arts made up 10 percent of doctorates awarded.
• The time between students entering graduate school and receiving doctorates has fallen in all fields of study over the past 20 years, but, on average, it still takes years longer to earn a doctorate in non-S&E fields than in S&E fields.
• The number of S&E doctorates awarded to U.S. citizens and permanent residents grew 2 percent since 2015 and 39 percent since 2006. The number of doctorates in S&E fields awarded to temporary visa holders grew 2 percent since 2015 and 20 percent since 2006.
• The number of doctoral awards to temporary visa holders is highly concentrated -- 10 countries accounted for 71 percent of the doctorates awarded to temporary visa holders from 2006 to 2016. The top three countries -- China, India and South Korea -- accounted for 54 percent of the doctorates awarded to temporary visa holders.
• Women have earned a slight majority of all doctorates awarded to U.S. citizen and permanent residents each year since 2002, and women have earned more than 30 percent of all doctorates awarded to temporary visa holders over that period.
• From 1996 to 2016, the number of women earning degrees in S&E fields increased by 84 percent.
• The number of doctorates awarded to blacks or African Americans who are U.S. citizens or permanent residents increased by 32 percent from 2006 to 2016. For the same period, the proportion of doctorates earned by Hispanics or Latinos increased by 67 percent.

One key take-away for me is that 1) Latino doctoral recipients now outnumber African-American and that the gap between male and female STEM doctorates is actually slightly widening, even as both numbers increase (see the graphics at the top of this page).

Hat/tip STEMPROF newsletter edited by Mark Connolly.

2018 Vacation: Reykjavik, Iceland and Paris, France (May 18-30)

I'll be on vacation from May 18th through May 30th as I celebrate my birthday. The Other Half and I will be traveling to Reykjavik, Iceland (6 days) and Paris, France (5 days). On this trip I will be attending the 2018 French Open!

Posting on the blog will be light, but I invite you to follow me on Instagram (@ronbuckmire) and Twiiter (@madprofessah)

2018 MADRID MASTERS: Thiem Hands Nadal His 1st Clay Court Loss Of The Year

Rafael Nadal lost his first match on clay in over a year in the quarterfinals of the 2018 Mutua Madrid Open. Last year Nadal had won the tournament by defeating Dominic Thiem in the final, but this time he lost to Thiem in the quarterfinals. The King of Clay had won a record 50 consecutive sets on clay before losing two in a row (7-5 and 6-3) to the Austrian resident of the World Top 10.

Nadal's loss means that Roger Federer will regain the World #1 ranking, but if Nadal wins the Rome Masters, he can regain the Top ranking before the French Open begins on Sunday May 27. (NOTE: MadProfessah will be attending the tournament in person this year!)

BOOK REVIEW: One Damned Things After Another (Chronicle of St. Mary's, #1) by Jodi Taylor

I’m glad that I finally got around to reading one of Jodi Taylor’s time-traveling comedic novels known as the Chronicles of St. Mary's series. I started with he first book in the series, Just One Damned Thing After Another. Although it didn’t resonate for me as much as it has with other readers I definitely appreciate the craft it took to pull off a book which is both explicitly funny, action-packed and pure speculative fiction. There's a reason why every entry in the series has a Goodreads average rating  score in the 4.0 range, often with 10,000+ ratings. The main character in Just One Damned Thing After Another is Madeleine Maxwell (everyone calls her “Max”) and JUST ONE DAMNED THING AFTER ANOTHER follows her as she joins the St. Mary Historical Society, discovers time travel is real and has lots of exciting (and dangerous) adventures. Max is great and one of the primary strengths of the book. The other important characters in the book include her boss Professor Bairstow, her immediate supervisor Leon Farrell and the other historians she goes on excursions into the past with. I do think the writing is well done (although at some points it seems a bit stenographic  in nature with the inclusion of an excessive level of detail in the minutiae of the characters regular daily tasks, including their morning ablutions). It’s very hard to get snark and clever asides with exactly the right tone and I think the author successfully accomplishes that throughout. However, what didn't work for me was the general angst of the main character and her obtuseness about her relationships with other people. In addition, although it is somewhat admirable, I also became tired at the author's penchant for killing off rather important characters, people she had spent a significant time letting the reader get to know. If this what happens in Book 1, I'm mildly curious about how she is able to sustain this as the series continues. Unfortunately, the book as a whole didn’t really resonate with me and I don’t think I’ll be reading any of the many sequels (up to Book 8 as of this writing). I do think it’s a great premise and would make a very compelling screen adaptation. In the end, though, I appreciated the book more than I actually enjoyed reading it. I suspect I may be in the minority of readers for whom that is true and that is quite alright with me.

Title: Just One Damned Thing After Another (Chronicles of St. Mary's, #1)
Author: Jodi Taylor.
Paperback: 348 pages.
Publisher: Accent Press.
Date Published: June 1, 2013.
Date Read: April 29, 2018.

GOODREADS RATING: ★★★★☆  (4.0/5.0).

OVERALL GRADE: A- (3.67/4.0).
PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: B+.
WRITING: A.

EYE CANDY: Pierre Vuala (reprise)

Pierre Vuala is a bodybuilder and model who has appeared as Eye Candy  before (August 25, 2014). He has well over 26,000 followers on Instagram (@pierre_vuala). These pictures above are examples of why. Enjoy!

BOOK REVIEW: The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

The Invisible Library is the first book in the long-running series by the same name written by Genevieve Cogman. I had been looking forward to reading this book because the series tends to have relatively high average ratings on Goodreads as well as a LOT of ratings. I ended up being somewhat underwhelmed by The Invisible Library as a whole. The world building is somewhat interesting and the main character is sympathetic (although definitely annoying at times). The story is based around a mission by a librarian named Irene who is given an apprentice named Kai and together the two travel to an alternate reality to retrieve a work of fiction that the interdimensional Library  wants. There are all sorts of interesting aspects of the story which clearly can be developed further in subsequent volumes: there is a special "language" librarians use that allows them to do the equivalent of magic. The alternate realities have different manifestations of technology and magic. There is a dissident ex-Librarian who is now persona non grata  but who clearly has special powers and disturbing information about the mysterious Library. But the plotting is uninspiring; this is one of the few books where I could clearly predict what was going to happen and had figured out key plot points dozens of pages before the characters in the books did. 

However, the writing is spiffy and humorous and that’s why this is a solid 3.5 stars. But there’s something about the whole affair that just seems juvenile, in a way that made me feel that, as a middle-aged reader, I was most definitely NOT the target audience for this book. That’s fine, other books have provided me that feeling and I have still enjoyed reading them (most notably Rachel Caine’s The Great Library series which utilizes a somewhat similar premise of an all-powerful library dominating world events and also seems to be either eared towards young adult readers or at the very least is YA-adjacent).

I’m aware that this is the first book in a popular series and I’m happy that there are more books by the author that others are enjoying but I don’t feel a strong desire or need to read any more of them.


Title:  The Invisible Library (Invisible Library, #1).
Author: Genevieve Cogman.
Paperback: 320 pages.
Publisher: Tor UK.
Date Published: November 15, 2015.
Date Read: March 20, 2018.

GOODREADS RATING: ★★★½☆  (3./5.0).

OVERALL GRADE: B (3.0/4.0).

PLOT: C.
IMAGERY: A- .
IMPACT: B+.
WRITING: B.

Happy 241st Birthday, Carl Friedrich Gauss!

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Carl Friedrich Gauss is one of the most important mathematicians of all time. Today, April 30th, is the 241st anniversary of his birth, and Google's Doodle is recognizing that fact. Some of the reasons why Gauss is known as the "Prince of Mathematicians" (in Latin princeps mathematicorum);

• Proved the fundamental theorem of algebra (in his Phd thesis!)
• Proved that a 17-sided polygon (the heptadecagon) coudl be created with compass and straigh-edge.
• Invented the Diiscrete Fourier Transform (160 years before Cooley and Tukey)
• Proved Fermat's Last Theorem (for n=3 and n=5)
• Computed the sum of the 100 positive integers (at age 5!)
• The normal distribution is also known as the Gaussian distribution

And many, many more...

CELEBRITY FRIDAY: Openly Gay Richard Grenell Confirmed By Senate To Become U.S. Ambassador To Germany

Richard Grenell has been confirmed by a vote of 56-42 in the United States Senate to become the next U.S. Ambassador to Germany, one day before Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives in Washington, D.C. for bilateral talks with the Trump administration. Most Democrats voted against the nomination, with most Republicans voting infavor, including known homophobes such as

The Log Cabin Republicans President Gregory T. Angelo said on Fox News:

 For the first time in history, an openly gay ambassador was not confirmed “in spite of” Republicans, or simply “with Republican support.” Grenell is now our ambassador to Germany because of Republican support.

And now the Trump administration (and its supporters) will use the existence of an openly gay ambassador to a high profile country as an example that Republicans are no longer anti-gay, all the while the Trump administration continues to be virulently anti-LGBT in multiple ways.

BOOK REVIEW: Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty

A solid 4 stars.

Six Wakes is a complex, amusing locked-room murder mystery set on a generation ship crewed by six cloned criminals.

I thought I would like this more than I did because I’m a fan of both the murder-mystery and science fiction genres so usually when I find a rare book that covers both categories it often resonates with me.
Books like Ben Winters’ The Last Policeman trilogy and Patrick Tomlinson’s The Ark are excellent examples of sci-fi murder mysteries.

One reason I think that didn’t happen in this case is because all the characters are horrible people who do (and did) horrible things.

Here’s the part of the review where I would generally list and summarize the characters but an important feature of Six Wakes is the revelation of the back stories of each of the crewmembers. The key technologies in the book are the use of mindmapping to make a digital record of human consciousness and the popularity of rapid human cloning. Together these advances make death simply a nuisance and greatly extends the life of most humans. Since the 6 crewmembers are all clones, the events in their past occur as many as 200 years before the events in the “now” of Six Wakes.

The writing is agile, the plot twists are surprising and the two combine to make Six Wakes an enjoyable read. The book also raises some interesting issues regarding the nature of life and consciousness.

However, as a book which is on the short list for the 2018 Best Novel Hugo award I would have expected something which would leave a more lasting impression. Sadly, Six Wakes fails to do this.

Title: Six Wakes.
Author: Mur Lafferty.
Paperback: 364 pages.
Publisher: Orbit.
Date Published: January 31, 2017.
Date Read: April 20, 2018.

GOODREADS RATING: ★★★★☆  (4.0/5.0).

OVERALL GRADE: A-/B+ (3.5/4.0).

PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: B+.
IMPACT: B+.
WRITING: A-.

GODLESS WEDNESDAY: Secular Coalition Announces Freethinking Caucus in Congress

The Secular Coalition for America announced that there is going to be a congressional caucus for "free-thinkers." The newly announced Congressional Freethought Congress even has a mission statement:

• First, to promote public policy on the basis of reason, science, and moral values;
• Second, to protect the secular character of our government by adhering to the strict constitutional principle of the separation of church and state;
• Third, to oppose discrimination against atheists, agnostics, humanists, seekers, and the nonreligious, and to champion the value of freedom of thought and conscience worldwide; and
• Fourth, to provide a forum for Members of Congress to discuss their moral frameworks, ethical values, and personal religious journeys.

Jerry McNerney (CA-9), the only member of congress with a PhD in mathematics, has agreed to be the co-chair of the Freethought Caucus. I am not sure who the other member of the Caucus is, but presumably that in addition to Jared Huffman (CA-2) they will be from another state other than California!

Hat/tip to Friendly Atheist

TENNIS TUESDAY: Rafa Breaks More Records; Fed Cup Final Set; Babies Everywhere

NADAL WINS RECORD 11TH MONTE CARLO MASTERS ; 31ST MASTERS OVERALL
The King of Clay, Rafael Nadal won his 11th Monte Carlo Masters title (in 14 years) by defeating Kei Nishikori 6-3 6-2. Nadal won the title without dropping  a set and basially terrorized the rest of the men's field with his 6-0 6-2 drubbing of the "Prince of Clay" Dominic Thiem in the quarterfinals.
Nadal was able to retain his hold on the World #1 ranking by defending his title as World #2 Roger Federer is again sipping the clay court season to improve his chances at winning another Wimbledon title. Nadal nw has 31 ATP Masters shields, 1 ahead of the 30 Novak jokovic has and well ahead of Federer's 27, with two more clay court Masters tournaments to be played this year: Madrid and Rome.

FED CUP FINAL SET: UNITED STATES WILL FACE CZECHIA
The Fed Cup semifinals were last weekend and the United States defeated France 3-2 behind solid wins by Sloane Stephens and Madison Keys while the Czech Republic dominated Germany 4-1 with Petra Kvitova and Karolina Pliskova each eating Angie Kerber and Julia Goerges. The Czech Republic has been in the Fed Cup final.

BABIES, BABIES, BABIES! SPRING IS HERE AND EVERYBODY'S PREGNANT
John Isner announced that his wife Madison McKinley is expecting their first child. Also, Sania Mirza announced on instagram that she was pregnant, and noted tennis umpire Eve Asderaki answered Dasha Kasatkina's question "boy or girl?" while umpiring a Fed Cup match this weekend with "boy."

WARNING: Russian Teams Dominate Collegiate Prestigious International Programming Contest Standings

Things that make you go hmmmm! The ICPC 2018 (ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest) was just held last week and the results could be ominous for future technological success by the United States.

The top 2 places were taken by two teams from Russia: Moscow State University (#1) and Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (#2). Teams from China, Japan and South Korea rounded out the rest of the top 5. The highest an American team placed was #10 (University of Central Florida), which just edged out #11, which was from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Of the 13 teams in the top tier, 4 were from Russia and 3 were from China.

Jus' saying...

EYE CANDY: Roly Vizcay

Roly Vizcay is a model and underwear model. In today's Eye Candy post he is wearing underwear by Hunk² in these pictures taken by photographer John Justo. Vizcay has a popular Instagram account (@rolyvizcayofficial). He is 24 years old, 5-foot-6 and 152 pounds.

Enjoy!

Cover for The Expanse #8 Revealed: Tiamat's Wrath

The cover and title for the eighth (and penultimate) book in The Expanse series by James S.A. Corey has been released. Tiamat's Wrath will be released in December 2018. The television adaptation of the Expanse series is up to Season 3 and currently airing on SyFy, covering the events that appear in Book 2 (Caliban's War) and Book 3 (Abaddon's Gate). These are some of my favorite books. I'm hoping that the entire 9-book series eventually gets adapted for the screen!