Unhappy Truckers and Other Algorithmic Problems — Nice write-up about the Traveling Salesman Problem, how it is relevant and used in routing optimization, and how modeling human behavior is essential to real-world optimization.

Modern routing models incorporate whether a truck driver is happy or not—something he may not know about himself.

[…] a program could come up with a great route, but if it violated, say, the Teamsters Union rules, it was worthless.

Unhappy Truckers and Other Algorithmic Problems – Issue 3: In Transit – Nautilus

via @kottke