What's new in JAGS 5.0.0 part 1: Initial Values martynplummer.wordpress.com/2026/08/03/w...

I have a project for this AI for science postdoc application: schmidtfellows.utoronto.ca To work on videos of migrating fish (eg salmon), for classification, segmentation, uncertainty quantification. Don’t need to be AI expert, but demonstrate high potential. Reach out if interested.

**V. loosely scoped question** talked to a student about connections between Bayes & freq, e.g.: empirical Bayes [state-space, mixed models, penalized splines]; regularization/regularizing priors; sampling vs optimization (Monte Carlo EM/MCMC vs MLE/MAP). Suggest books/blog posts/papers on this ...?

(1/?) As happens periodically, someone has popped up on the R help list asking for someone to fill out their 'vendor security' form (does you product do security audits, who can we sue if something goes wrong, etc.) Feels like there must be a market for someone to provide such security guarantees.

#rstats question: Is the mean of the BLUPs from a multilevel model unbiased? I have a couple clarification statements below.

The #GLLVMs in R with @vdveenb.bsky.social is almost full - last chance to join us next week! Thanks for spreading the word! www.physalia-courses.org/courses-work...

Physalia-courses@ONLINE@physaliacourses.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Boost your multivariate data analysis skills! Join us for the GLLVMs in R (7–10 July) online course with @vdveenb.bsky.social Learn model-based multivariate analysis of ecological communities using GLMs, GLMMs, JSDMs & model-based ordination in R with gllvm www.physalia-courses.org/courses-work...

I found this surprisingly thoughtful and balanced: r-statistics.co/R-vs-Julia.h... (although some of the labeling on Figure 2 is a little confusing)

R vs Julia for Statistics: Julia Is Faster, But Is That What Matters?

Julia benchmarks faster than R on tight loops, but R ships 21,000+ statistical packages and a huge community. Honest trade-offs with real benchmark code.

r-statistics.co

Hmm, Kobo daily deals is offering _Brave New World_ and _The Stranger_ as YA books ... ? I know these are often on high school reading lists, but seems weird. (Not sure CS Lewis would be happy being listed adjacent to Huxley and Camus ...??)

AI, Comparative Advantage, and the Next Decade of Ecological Research. Food for thought @jdrakephd.bsky.social doi.org/10.1111/ele.... #ecopubs

(1/2) Claude helped me figure out how to build/install `libgourou` so that I can read DRM-protected books on my reMarkable: github.com/bbolker/libg... . This is making me think about how much we still need to teach "command line bullshittery" eytanadar.medium.com/on-the-value... any more?

(1/?) Thinking ahead to fall semester (??!?) and wondering about quarto frameworks that would work well for class, including (1) creating multiple versions (skeleton for handouts, complete for presentation) and formats (revealjs, docx, pdf); (2) macros for highlighting glossary words etc;

This is such a good article. Make sure you read the whole thing—I’m excited to learn about stoplights (or rather, go-lights)!

Ryan Moulton@moultano.bsky.social · 2mo ago

I spent the last month obsessed with finding colors that can't be displayed on a conventional screen. This is what I found. moultano.wordpress.com/2026/06/19/w...

new diamond open-access Journal of Statistical Ecology launched 🎉🎉🎉 jse.centre-mersenne.org @fredbarraquand.bsky.social @oaggimenez.bsky.social @marieaugermethe.bsky.social @vianeylb.bsky.social (apologies to any Bsky editors I missed)

#RStats challenge and potential community project: * Create a minimal package 'dumpsterfire' that triggers as many 'R CMD check' issues as possible! Fun, but could also become a excellent resource for illustrating and understanding package check issues Here's a start: github.com/HenrikBengts...

today in "base R functions I didn't know about after 20 years": modifyList() (it was added in 2006 github.com/r-devel/r-sv... )

+ modifyList() from Deepayan, see R-devel · r-devel/r-svn@bdacf7f

git-svn-id: https://svn.r-project.org/R/trunk@39397 00db46b3-68df-0310-9c12-caf00c1e9a41

github.com

This is art. gillescolling.com/texanshootR/

CRAN Updates@cranupdates.bsky.social · 2mo ago

New on CRAN: texanshootR (0.1.0). View at https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=texanshootR

Thinking about how this might go Listener: My chains aren't converging Andrew: Your model is bad Aki: Your parameterization is bad Richard: The Buddha teaches us that numerical integration is suffering

Pierre-Simon Laplace@learnbayesstats.bsky.social · 2mo ago

🚨 @rmcelreath.bsky.social @statmodeling.bsky.social & @avehtari.bsky.social are coming on the show mid-June to discuss their new book, Bayesian Workflow! ONE listener gets to bring a real Bayesian problem onto the recording and have the three of them work through it live. Here's how to enter 🧵

If you've submitted to Journal of Statistical Software in the last few years and have comments (good or bad) about the review process (time lag etc.) could you please DM me ... ?

The International Statistical Ecology Conference is extending abstract submissions to May 29, 2026 (AoE). Want to encourage more folks in 🇲🇽 & LATAM to participate. Spread the word to your colleagues in Latin America. Happy to answer any questions about the conference! statisticalecology.org

Do you know a good framework to document data analysis choices? Ex: dropping obs, recoding a var, tuning pars, model + test statistics, etc. Ideally human-readable so people don't have to read my entire codebase. Low-maintenance+ machine-readable for bonus points! #RStats #PyData

Ok Bluesky hive mind - please tell me what this figure represents. On the ceiling of one of the galleries in the Doria Pamphilij in Rome c C18th. At first glance I thought it was a musical instrument. Maybe architecture?

That fireside chat with Jay Bhattacharya: a view from across the pond - “In his answers to difficult questions, Bhattacharya revealed himself as someone who gets very uncomfortable when confronted with inconsistencies in his behaviour or views.”

That fireside chat with Jay Bhattacharya: a view from across the pond

On Friday I attended (virtually) a workshop organised by the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine on Enhancing Scientific...

deevybee.blogspot.com

I have been really impressed with @beaconbio.bsky.social, and find myself using it more and more. Excellent resource to replace ProMED.

RIP Tomáš Kalibera. #rstats lost a huge contributor today. Condolences to his young family. stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-...

Post Doc position alert! Come work with us on the evolution of cannibalism. Full job description in link below. Salary starts at $58k plus benefits. (Please help spread the word) emdz.fa.us2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/Candid...

transcribe AMR (sound recorder) file to ABC automatically they said ... it'll be easy, they said ... (AMR →WAV [ffmpeg] → midi [ waon kichiki.github.io/waon/ ] → abc [abc2midi] → PostScript [abcm2ps] → PDF [ps2pdf]. Unsurprisingly, WAV → midi is the weak link. (Should try a simpler round trip next)

Did you know you (yes, YOU!) can contribute to base R? Base R is the foundation of everything #RStats. If you’ve ever found a bug or thought of an improvement, you can help shape the language. Join @ellakaye.co.uk on the Posit Data Science Lab tomorrow to learn how to get started! pos.it/dslab

Hi all. I am very excited that after 6 years I finally got my phylogenetic comparative methods book and online exercises online. Feel free to use and share. The book is here: nhcooper123.github.io/pcm-primer/. Note that it is not finished, we had to abandon it before the sunk costs fallacy broke us

I defended my PhD 10 years ago today. That was the least remarkable thing that happened that day. Sharing something I wrote about it last year. Since then "the horrors persist but so do we." And with dignity.