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Powell's Q&A, Q&A | December 13, 2009

Norberto Fuentes: IMG Powell's Q&A: Norberto Fuentes



Describe your latest project. Norton has just published The Autobiography of Fidel Castro, a novel that took seven years of my life to complete as I... Continue »
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Interviews | December 1, 2009

Megan: IMG A Meaty Tale: The Powells.com Interview with Julie Powell



juliepowellJulie Powell charmed readers with Julie and Julia, in which she chronicled her quest to cook, in one year, every recipe out of Julia Child's... Continue »
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Tech Q&A

Amy N. Langville and Carl Meyer

Describe your latest project.
Amy is working on algorithms for clustering items in a collection. Both Carl and Amy are also working with the Text Mining group of SAS Institute, Inc. And both Carl and Amy have been spending a lot of time lately (perhaps too much) trying to use mathematical models to rank sports teams and predict outcomes of matchups.

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Have you ever taken the Geek Test? How did you rate?
Neither of us had heard of the Geek Test. We hope this implies that we are therefore not geeks.

Chess or video games?
We don't play chess or video games. Amy doesn't even know how to play chess. The only video game Amy's shown any interest in is Dance Dance Revolution, which is odd because she's quite bad at it.

What do you do for relaxation?
Amy exercises whenever she has free time — volleyball, frisbee, biking, weight training, but mostly basketball. Carl plays the guitar (very well, according to Amy and many others). Both also enjoy building. Carl hasn't recently had as much time for this, but once did all the bookshelves and cabinets in one of his houses. Amy recently finished building a small classic boat.

What's your favorite blog right now?
We confess to not reading blogs.

Douglas Adams or Scott Adams?
Neither of us were familiar with Douglas Adams and his Hitchhiker's work. But both of us enjoy Scott Adam's Dilbert cartoon. Since Calvin and Hobbes stopped being produced (Amy's all-time favorite cartoon ever), Amy's new favorite cartoon is Dilbert.

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