Large-scale visualization reading group

Independent of the social media reading group (though I imagine some folks will participate in both), a visualization group has been founded by Peter Landwehr and Anita Sarma. And the first group meeting is on graph visualization (Thursday at 12:30 in the gradlounge). I'm stoked.

For the schedule and to subscribe to the mailing list, visit their wiki page.

Oh dear. I found a new (to me) toy, STEM: Spatio-Temporal Epidemological/Event Modeler. It comes built-in with a simulation of what would happen if the 1918 Spanish Flu outbreak happened in 2000, with various starting points. You can create your own SIR/SIS/SIER virus and set them loose, while they infect the entire world by way of bird migratory patterns, air traffic, etc. What's more, they've released the source code, allowing a whole new level of tinkering.

Full press release here.

For some background on the mathematics, see The Mathematics of Infectious Disease, by Herbert Hethcote.