@modonnell8.bsky.social
Reposted
BTW, and then it'll be time to tuck this away for a year:
A great thing about this great essay is that the author is actually reading and illuminating what's on the screen, not devising spurious, fantastic alternatives.
A great thing about this great essay is that the author is actually reading and illuminating what's on the screen, not devising spurious, fantastic alternatives.
This is an almost shockingly wise essay. I'm glad I've finally read it.
There Is No Mary Problem in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’
George’s vision of his wife without him is essential to the film, but critics continue to miss its true—and profound—meaning.
open.substack.com
December 26, 2025 at 1:14 AM
BTW, and then it'll be time to tuck this away for a year:
A great thing about this great essay is that the author is actually reading and illuminating what's on the screen, not devising spurious, fantastic alternatives.
A great thing about this great essay is that the author is actually reading and illuminating what's on the screen, not devising spurious, fantastic alternatives.
Reposted
it's wild
like Real Madrid had dropped a total of three points all season and were in the process of locking up a clear win in a Clasico when the players and upper management decided the manager had to be shown his place
like Real Madrid had dropped a total of three points all season and were in the process of locking up a clear win in a Clasico when the players and upper management decided the manager had to be shown his place
December 24, 2025 at 3:14 PM
it's wild
like Real Madrid had dropped a total of three points all season and were in the process of locking up a clear win in a Clasico when the players and upper management decided the manager had to be shown his place
like Real Madrid had dropped a total of three points all season and were in the process of locking up a clear win in a Clasico when the players and upper management decided the manager had to be shown his place
Reposted
This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥
December 1, 2025 at 11:09 AM
This is actually quite brilliant, up to and including the final sentence 🔥
Reposted
purrr 1.2.0 out now — mostly removing long deprecated functions but a few small performance nad parallel processing improvements. Learn more at www.tidyverse.org/blog/2025/11... #rstats
purrr 1.2.0
This release tightens up the package by removing long-deprecated functions, making `map_chr()` and predicate functions more type-safe, and requiring a newer version of carrier to make `in_parallel()`...
www.tidyverse.org
November 4, 2025 at 2:10 PM
purrr 1.2.0 out now — mostly removing long deprecated functions but a few small performance nad parallel processing improvements. Learn more at www.tidyverse.org/blog/2025/11... #rstats
Reposted
And stringr 1.6.0 is out too: tidyverse.org/blog/2025/11.... A fairly small release but some handy improvements thanks to tidyverse dev day contributors! #rstats
stringr 1.6.0
This release deprecates `str_like(ignore_case)` and changes the behaviour of `str_replace_all()` for function replacements. It also introduces `str_ilike()` for case-insensitive SQL-like pattern matc...
tidyverse.org
November 4, 2025 at 10:45 PM
And stringr 1.6.0 is out too: tidyverse.org/blog/2025/11.... A fairly small release but some handy improvements thanks to tidyverse dev day contributors! #rstats
Reposted
If a government tells you that you can’t call it authoritarian, it’s authoritarian.
September 25, 2025 at 5:22 PM
If a government tells you that you can’t call it authoritarian, it’s authoritarian.
Reposted
Kirk’s ‘memorial’ getting a live coverage on The Guardian is a great example of how the right gets automatically framed as the default political movement to be ‘understood’ while the victims of that same movement never will never get the same amount of coverage
September 21, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Kirk’s ‘memorial’ getting a live coverage on The Guardian is a great example of how the right gets automatically framed as the default political movement to be ‘understood’ while the victims of that same movement never will never get the same amount of coverage
Reposted
This may seem cute but if you do this too much the cyclists may become reliant on cars feeding them, disrupting the delicate roadway ecosystem
September 19, 2025 at 9:37 AM
This may seem cute but if you do this too much the cyclists may become reliant on cars feeding them, disrupting the delicate roadway ecosystem
Reposted
Fearful Americans Stockpiling Facts Before Federal Government Comes To Take Them Away https://theonion.com/fearful-americans-stockpiling-facts-before-federal-gove-1819579589/
September 19, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Fearful Americans Stockpiling Facts Before Federal Government Comes To Take Them Away https://theonion.com/fearful-americans-stockpiling-facts-before-federal-gove-1819579589/
Reposted
Disease prevalence in US states before & after vaccine introduction 🧪
From Edward Tufte & graphics.wsj.com/infectious-d...
From Edward Tufte & graphics.wsj.com/infectious-d...
September 4, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Disease prevalence in US states before & after vaccine introduction 🧪
From Edward Tufte & graphics.wsj.com/infectious-d...
From Edward Tufte & graphics.wsj.com/infectious-d...
Reposted
The “problem” with vaccines? They so effective at preventing deaths that they create generations of people that question whether disease was a problem in the first place because they have never experienced the horrors of a world without vaccines.
September 4, 2025 at 7:44 PM
The “problem” with vaccines? They so effective at preventing deaths that they create generations of people that question whether disease was a problem in the first place because they have never experienced the horrors of a world without vaccines.
Reposted
Neil deGrass Tyson: "How sad it must be believing that scientists, historians, scholars, economists, journalists devoted their entire lives to deceiving you, but a reality-TV star proven in court to be a lying felon is your beacon of truth & honesty"
August 29, 2025 at 10:59 AM
Neil deGrass Tyson: "How sad it must be believing that scientists, historians, scholars, economists, journalists devoted their entire lives to deceiving you, but a reality-TV star proven in court to be a lying felon is your beacon of truth & honesty"
Reposted
Carl Sagan explains how the ancient Greeks knew the Earth was round and calculated its circumference over 2,000 years ago.
July 29, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Carl Sagan explains how the ancient Greeks knew the Earth was round and calculated its circumference over 2,000 years ago.
Reposted
May all your trains be crazy
July 22, 2025 at 6:41 PM
May all your trains be crazy
Reposted
This is how to have difficult conversations with vaccine sceptics
July 2, 2025 at 3:07 PM
This is how to have difficult conversations with vaccine sceptics
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We were lucky enough to have our YouGov/The Economist poll in field when the US bombed Iranian nuclear facilities. You can see the partisan realignment in real time
June 27, 2025 at 11:33 AM
We were lucky enough to have our YouGov/The Economist poll in field when the US bombed Iranian nuclear facilities. You can see the partisan realignment in real time
Reposted
Reposted
buzzkill www.maps.com/snow-mistake...
Snow Mistake: Correcting Myths in the Mapping of Cholera
What if the famous map of Broad Street played no role in determining how cholera spread? Or if John Snow didn't make the storied map?
www.maps.com
June 9, 2025 at 10:22 AM
buzzkill www.maps.com/snow-mistake...
Reposted
The `datapasta` package by Miles McBain allows you to copy and paste data from anywhere into #rstats.
Check out the magic here …
youtu.be/utQmq0M2jQ8
What do you use `datapasta` for?
Check out the magic here …
youtu.be/utQmq0M2jQ8
What do you use `datapasta` for?
datapasta package
YouTube video by Jenny Richmond
youtu.be
June 9, 2025 at 7:40 AM
The `datapasta` package by Miles McBain allows you to copy and paste data from anywhere into #rstats.
Check out the magic here …
youtu.be/utQmq0M2jQ8
What do you use `datapasta` for?
Check out the magic here …
youtu.be/utQmq0M2jQ8
What do you use `datapasta` for?
Reposted
Working on the latest #ggplot2 [un]charted lesson about “Handling Caveats When Mapping Variables,” I let loose a bit
The sections ended up fun — yes, and maybe a bit silly at times 🤡
Highlight:
a new #aesthetics anthem as a memorable mnemonic 🎶
Out now for members!
www.ggplot2-uncharted.com
The sections ended up fun — yes, and maybe a bit silly at times 🤡
Highlight:
a new #aesthetics anthem as a memorable mnemonic 🎶
Out now for members!
www.ggplot2-uncharted.com
June 6, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Working on the latest #ggplot2 [un]charted lesson about “Handling Caveats When Mapping Variables,” I let loose a bit
The sections ended up fun — yes, and maybe a bit silly at times 🤡
Highlight:
a new #aesthetics anthem as a memorable mnemonic 🎶
Out now for members!
www.ggplot2-uncharted.com
The sections ended up fun — yes, and maybe a bit silly at times 🤡
Highlight:
a new #aesthetics anthem as a memorable mnemonic 🎶
Out now for members!
www.ggplot2-uncharted.com
Reposted
Absolutely horrifying.
Note that at the end of the piece we learn that the UN staff member was reportedly beaten to death, not shot from a distance.
Note that at the end of the piece we learn that the UN staff member was reportedly beaten to death, not shot from a distance.
Palestinian Red Crescent details medic’s account of 15 colleagues’ slaughter
Palestinian Red Crescent details medic’s account of 15 colleagues’ slaughter
Exclusive: Asaad al-Nasasra told PRCS he heard Israeli troops shoot first responders while they were clinging to life
*
Middle East crisis – live updates
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society has detailed the harrowing account of one of its paramedics, who told the organisation he heard Israeli troops shoot first responders while they were still clinging to life.
Asaad al-Nasasra, 47, was one of two first responders to survive the 15 March attack on a convoy of emergency vehicles in which 15 other medics and rescue workers were killed. Continue reading...
www.theguardian.com
June 4, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Absolutely horrifying.
Note that at the end of the piece we learn that the UN staff member was reportedly beaten to death, not shot from a distance.
Note that at the end of the piece we learn that the UN staff member was reportedly beaten to death, not shot from a distance.
Reposted
This past semester was the most stressful of my academic career. I had 180 students and about half cheated at some point in the semester
They submit weekly reflections where the questions are opinion-based, graded only on effort, don't care about grammar
SO MANY students submitted ChatGPT essays
They submit weekly reflections where the questions are opinion-based, graded only on effort, don't care about grammar
SO MANY students submitted ChatGPT essays
I talked to 15 teachers/professors about how AI and ChatGPT is ruining their lives:
www.404media.co/teachers-are...
www.404media.co/teachers-are...
Teachers Are Not OK
AI, ChatGPT, and LLMs "have absolutely blown up what I try to accomplish with my teaching."
www.404media.co
June 2, 2025 at 5:39 PM
This past semester was the most stressful of my academic career. I had 180 students and about half cheated at some point in the semester
They submit weekly reflections where the questions are opinion-based, graded only on effort, don't care about grammar
SO MANY students submitted ChatGPT essays
They submit weekly reflections where the questions are opinion-based, graded only on effort, don't care about grammar
SO MANY students submitted ChatGPT essays
Reposted
South Korea gender divide update 😲
Young men lean right by 50 points
(74% conservative vs 24% centre-left)
Young women lean left by 22 points
(58% centre-left vs 36% cons)
Young men lean right by 50 points
(74% conservative vs 24% centre-left)
Young women lean left by 22 points
(58% centre-left vs 36% cons)
June 4, 2025 at 10:01 AM
South Korea gender divide update 😲
Young men lean right by 50 points
(74% conservative vs 24% centre-left)
Young women lean left by 22 points
(58% centre-left vs 36% cons)
Young men lean right by 50 points
(74% conservative vs 24% centre-left)
Young women lean left by 22 points
(58% centre-left vs 36% cons)
Reposted
This is actively bananas. LIGO is doing (literally) Nobel winning work, and you need both of them -- the second one is not a spare or a nice to have; this is like buying a fire engine, but deciding it doesn't need wheels on the left hand side...
NSF budget would close down one of LIGO's sites. This would be, to put it lightly, a catastrophe for gravitational wave astronomy.
"In FY 2026 NSF will operate only one of the two sites
and will support a reduced level for technology development."
bsky.app/profile/hast...
"In FY 2026 NSF will operate only one of the two sites
and will support a reduced level for technology development."
bsky.app/profile/hast...
May 31, 2025 at 12:22 AM
This is actively bananas. LIGO is doing (literally) Nobel winning work, and you need both of them -- the second one is not a spare or a nice to have; this is like buying a fire engine, but deciding it doesn't need wheels on the left hand side...