A DOGE staffer assigned to the National Endowment for the Humanities to flag grants for "DEI" tries to explain what "DEI" is. This deposition is part of a lawsuit by the @acls1919.bsky.social, @historians.org and @modernlanguage.bsky.social.
Graph of award probability of R35 and R01 from NIH factbook as a function of review rank percentile. As is apparent, 2025 is a significant departure, with lower award probabilities at all scores <40 and significant departures from norm, where even being in the top 10% is no longer a nearly certain indicator of success. Data source: https://report.nih.gov/nihdatabook/report/302
The data is in: the NIH goalposts have shifted.
What were once almost certain fundable scores have become coin flips and what used to be likely grants have become aspirational, leading to fewer awards.
Another manifestation of how HHS policies have led to fewer awards and less science.
Grant Witness is hiring! We're seeking a full-time data scientist to join our team building data resources to support journalism, litigation, and activism protecting science, public health, and the rule of law. grant-witness.us/apply.html #rstats
🆕 BLOG POST
There’s so much more to spatial downscaling today than classic LM or kriging. In my new blog post, I show how flexible and powerful GAMs can be for this task. #rstats #dataviz
➡️ dominicroye.github.io/blog/canary-...
While we're discussing what we like and dislike in #Rstats, here's why I don't like tidymodels: mansthulin.se/posts/tidymo...
The null-coalescing operator %||%, although I sometimes end up making a null and length 0 coalescing operator %|0|% for projects.
Good advice from the 'bind_cols' documentation:
"Where possible prefer using a join to combine multiple data frames. bind_cols() binds the rows in order in which they appear so it is easy to create meaningless results without realising it."
#RStats #DefensiveProgramming
Just need a verbal version of rainbow parens and it's a perfectly fine way of communicating, right?
Join our online course on Multivariate Data Analysis with R led and vegan by @gsimpson.bsky.social , 4–7 May, and gain practical skills to analyse and interpret multivariate ecological and biological datasets.
www.physalia-courses.org/courses-work...
#Rstats #veganPackage
BREAKING
Former ICE agent:
On my first day training new cadets, I received secretive orders to teach them to violate the Constitution by entering homes without a judicial warrant.
Make America Hyphy Again
I will not support any funding deal that puts money in the hands of Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem, and this violent agency. Defund and abolish ICE now.
Last month, the administration reversed massive cuts to to SAMHSA and CDC after public and congressional outcry. We can do that again. Call your representatives! 5/5
grant-witness.us/posts/2026-0...
The Trump administration is planning to terminate $600M of CDC grants to CA, CO, MN, and IL. We're publishing the full list.
They are using vulnerable communities as a weapon to dismantle public health, targeting partisan enemies, and manipulating media. 🧵 1/5
grant-witness.us/posts/2026-0...
dplyr 1.2.0 was released last week and since I use {dplyr} a lot in my work, I wanted to take some time to try some of the new functions.
This post provides some supplemental examples of the new functions, beyond what is provided in the new Posit materials.
#rstats
cghlewis.com/blog/dplyr_u...
This is from last year. But, it’s a concise explanation of why the stupid thing is happening.
We are collecting information on terminated SAMHSA grants at Grant Witness: grant-witness.us/submit-samhs...
If you worked on one of these programs, please let us know at the link! And please share with your colleagues. We need a comprehensive record of these terminations to fight back!
Great new paper!
Many stinging wasps, bees, and ants have controlled the sex of their developing eggs for millions of year using an ancient segment of their genome- always the same segment- but what's weird is, *the exact DNA sequence of that segment doesn't seem to matter*.
MAKE 2026 THE YEAR OF REPENTANCE 2 UR WEATHER LORDS
Fun fact... autistic people are often rule followers...
We are also more likely to have extremely strong convictions...
So, if the rules are aligned with our values, we are steadfast. But if the rules don't make sense to us or seem arbitrary, we can suddenly seem like rebellious rule breakers.
RFK Jr is directly responsible for the deaths of 83 children in American Samoa from measles because he told them to stop vaccinating. Now, he's trying to kill trans kids. He's a fucking psychopath.
Podcast Jay…err…NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya made an appearance at TPUSA to continue railing against public health and COVID19 mitigation.
He and his buds have been destroying US science and public health for a year because their feelings were hurt.
youtu.be/e9gMZ1sme0k
AI slop has made it to the deep sea.
That’s not a blobfish: Deep Sea Social Media is Flooded by AI Slop
www.southernfriedscience.com/thats-not-a-...
Have you got a PhD in Statistics (or related field) and experience in Statistical Consulting? A continuing position at the Australian National University is now open 🇦🇺🦘🐨.
Would love to get an #rstats person if possible ☺️
Apply by 18 Jan 👉 jobs.anu.edu.au/jobs/course-... #statssky #statsky
It’s concerning that we’re enabling a police and surveillance state of unprecedented scale at the same moment when the veracity of any textual or visual document has become structurally suspect
Screenshot of the top Google Scholar results for CM Wright, both retractions of publications due to scientific misconduct
Having two papers retracted for data fraud (allegedly by a co-author) can be awkward to explain in a highly competitive interview process…
My health insurance is going up $125/month 😡
