You've got an optimization problem to solve, and a less-than-forever amount of time in which to solve it.  What do?  Use a heuristic optimization algorithm, like a hill climber or simulated annealing--we cover both in this episode!

Relevant link:
http://www.lizsander.com/programming/2015/08/04/Heuristic-Search-Algorithms.html

Two Cultures: Machine Learning and Statistics

Linear Digressions is a podcast about machine learning and data science.  Machine learning is being used to solve a ton of interesting problems, and to accomplish goals that were out of reach even a few short years ago.