James A Campbell
@rtbecard.bsky.social
(he/him) Former bird dude, current fish guy; currently based in Berlin. I'm into ecology, stats, bioacoustics, and artificial light.
Currently working as part of this ETN: https://www.msca-ribes.eu/
Currently working as part of this ETN: https://www.msca-ribes.eu/
Pinned
James A Campbell
@rtbecard.bsky.social
· Mar 17
New #FishSci #AcousticTelemetry positioning paper: PMC-TOA positioning.
I used adaptive importance sampling & mixture distributions to position fish in environments prone to tag reflections. Mixed with post-processing, this gives great tracks!
doi.org/10.1111/2041...
I used adaptive importance sampling & mixture distributions to position fish in environments prone to tag reflections. Mixed with post-processing, this gives great tracks!
doi.org/10.1111/2041...
Reposted by James A Campbell
“I propose academic journals submit to independent regulation through an international quality-management standard. Organisations must demonstrate operations are customer-focused, committed to continual improvement, underpinned by systematic management approaches & evidence-based decision-making”
Put pressure on publishers to follow best practice — external regulation is the answer
Journals that work hard to meet the needs of both authors and readers should be acknowledged publicly — encouraging others to follow suit.
www.nature.com
December 31, 2025 at 7:37 AM
“I propose academic journals submit to independent regulation through an international quality-management standard. Organisations must demonstrate operations are customer-focused, committed to continual improvement, underpinned by systematic management approaches & evidence-based decision-making”
Dear #rstats,
Is there a good review paper (or vignette) that details when/how to use the tuning parameters for `optim(control = list())`.
The inner workings of these optimization algorithms are currently a blind spot for me, and i just use the default params and pray everything is fine.
Is there a good review paper (or vignette) that details when/how to use the tuning parameters for `optim(control = list())`.
The inner workings of these optimization algorithms are currently a blind spot for me, and i just use the default params and pray everything is fine.
December 28, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Dear #rstats,
Is there a good review paper (or vignette) that details when/how to use the tuning parameters for `optim(control = list())`.
The inner workings of these optimization algorithms are currently a blind spot for me, and i just use the default params and pray everything is fine.
Is there a good review paper (or vignette) that details when/how to use the tuning parameters for `optim(control = list())`.
The inner workings of these optimization algorithms are currently a blind spot for me, and i just use the default params and pray everything is fine.
Reposted by James A Campbell
Universities embracing generative AI be like:
another robot highlight for 2025: man wearing humanoid mocap suit kicks himself in the balls
December 27, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Universities embracing generative AI be like:
Reposted by James A Campbell
Worth noting that the student admits that she just threw the thing together in 30 minutes without reading the paper she was supposed to be responding to.
December 23, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Worth noting that the student admits that she just threw the thing together in 30 minutes without reading the paper she was supposed to be responding to.
"...we occasionally have to mention specific concepts before properly introducing and/or defining them---we ask the reader to bear with us in these cases."
It's always a pleasure to read papers where the author explicitly empathizes with the reader.
It's always a pleasure to read papers where the author explicitly empathizes with the reader.
December 23, 2025 at 2:01 PM
"...we occasionally have to mention specific concepts before properly introducing and/or defining them---we ask the reader to bear with us in these cases."
It's always a pleasure to read papers where the author explicitly empathizes with the reader.
It's always a pleasure to read papers where the author explicitly empathizes with the reader.
Reposted by James A Campbell
Canada doing Radio Free Europe for Americans
BREAKING: WATCH the full 60 Minutes CECOT segment here. This was sent to me anonymously. It appears to be the segment CBS' Bari Weiss killed. www.muellershewrote.com/p/watch-the-...
WATCH: The 60 Minutes CECOT Segment
I was sent the CECOT segment anonymously in a group chat.
www.muellershewrote.com
December 23, 2025 at 10:25 AM
Canada doing Radio Free Europe for Americans
For the underwater noise folk. Oceannoise2026 conferende dates. Once again in Barcelona (pretty happy about that).
2026.oceanoise.com
2026.oceanoise.com
December 22, 2025 at 4:18 PM
For the underwater noise folk. Oceannoise2026 conferende dates. Once again in Barcelona (pretty happy about that).
2026.oceanoise.com
2026.oceanoise.com
I've been patiently waiting for the right moment to try out the legal cannabis i grew over the summer... This is perfect👌
December 21, 2025 at 9:31 PM
I've been patiently waiting for the right moment to try out the legal cannabis i grew over the summer... This is perfect👌
Reposted by James A Campbell
Just decline the peer review invitation.
What are you people even doing?
What are you people even doing?
More than half of researchers now use AI for peer review — often against guidance
A survey of 1,600 academics found that more than 50% have used artificial-intelligence tools while peer reviewing manuscripts.
www.nature.com
December 16, 2025 at 10:39 PM
Just decline the peer review invitation.
What are you people even doing?
What are you people even doing?
This sounds very cool! First time i've heard of random encounter modeling (estimating abundances from "encounters" rather than observations of individuals).
Looking forward to making some time to go through this paper in more detail.
Looking forward to making some time to go through this paper in more detail.
My newest paper and 1st chapter from the PhD is also officially out!
I test how random encounter models work on reef fish 🐠Also great for anyone with a healthy dose of scepticism about reef fish survey methods
*Contains one of the most painful tables I've ever written.
doi.org/10.1111/2041...
I test how random encounter models work on reef fish 🐠Also great for anyone with a healthy dose of scepticism about reef fish survey methods
*Contains one of the most painful tables I've ever written.
doi.org/10.1111/2041...
Random encounter modelling as a viable method to estimate absolute abundance of reef fish
Remote underwater video (RUV) surveys are increasingly replacing diver-based underwater visual censuses (UVCs) in fish ecology studies, especially on coral reefs. However, extracting reliable esti...
doi.org
December 13, 2025 at 4:43 PM
This sounds very cool! First time i've heard of random encounter modeling (estimating abundances from "encounters" rather than observations of individuals).
Looking forward to making some time to go through this paper in more detail.
Looking forward to making some time to go through this paper in more detail.
Reposted by James A Campbell
How the BBC upholds fossil fuel industry narratives, 09/12/2025: an article about a battery storage project featuring one (1) person objecting to the scheme. The opinion is presented as indicative of popular opposition. No other viewpoint is offered.
December 10, 2025 at 10:58 AM
How the BBC upholds fossil fuel industry narratives, 09/12/2025: an article about a battery storage project featuring one (1) person objecting to the scheme. The opinion is presented as indicative of popular opposition. No other viewpoint is offered.
That's me 👇! I'll be giving a quick overview of my #acoustictelemetry positioning and clock synchronization toolset this thursday at the OTN study hall.
This Thursday! Come chat with @rtbecard.bsky.social about kaltoa - a package for Kalman filtered time-of-arrival positioning of acoustic tag detection data. Check the User Guide linked here, and come by Study hall this Thursday for questions with James! rtbecard.gitlab.io/kaltoa/
December 8, 2025 at 2:00 PM
That's me 👇! I'll be giving a quick overview of my #acoustictelemetry positioning and clock synchronization toolset this thursday at the OTN study hall.
Reposted by James A Campbell
Excellent article. Paragraph after paragraph is damning.
December 7, 2025 at 4:32 PM
Excellent article. Paragraph after paragraph is damning.
#Rstats developers. How do you deal with windows builds of your packages? Any good CI solutions so I can always know my package is working on windows (without booting up a VM, and manually testing it myself).
December 3, 2025 at 1:46 PM
#Rstats developers. How do you deal with windows builds of your packages? Any good CI solutions so I can always know my package is working on windows (without booting up a VM, and manually testing it myself).
Very good news for linux folk! Thunderbird 145 now has native support for windows exchange email servers (EWS).
I can now access my work email without paying (the very reasonable) 10 EUR per year for unofficial support via the Owl extension! 🥳
I can now access my work email without paying (the very reasonable) 10 EUR per year for unofficial support via the Owl extension! 🥳
Thunderbird Adds Native Microsoft Exchange Email Support - The Thunderbird Blog
Thunderbird Exchange support has finally landed for email in the latest monthly release. Find out what's in, out, and still on the way.
blog.thunderbird.net
December 2, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Very good news for linux folk! Thunderbird 145 now has native support for windows exchange email servers (EWS).
I can now access my work email without paying (the very reasonable) 10 EUR per year for unofficial support via the Owl extension! 🥳
I can now access my work email without paying (the very reasonable) 10 EUR per year for unofficial support via the Owl extension! 🥳
The Christmas season has officially started in Berlin. Tis the season.
November 30, 2025 at 1:04 PM
The Christmas season has officially started in Berlin. Tis the season.
Reposted by James A Campbell
Since AI slop is again all over Scientific Reports, a thread on the economics of grey-zone publishing.
Why does slop keep getting published? What does it mean for science? How can we stop this?
Background readings:
Understand the strain: tinyurl.com/2b6wxx5r
Stop the drain: tinyurl.com/3jfscscy
Why does slop keep getting published? What does it mean for science? How can we stop this?
Background readings:
Understand the strain: tinyurl.com/2b6wxx5r
Stop the drain: tinyurl.com/3jfscscy
November 30, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Since AI slop is again all over Scientific Reports, a thread on the economics of grey-zone publishing.
Why does slop keep getting published? What does it mean for science? How can we stop this?
Background readings:
Understand the strain: tinyurl.com/2b6wxx5r
Stop the drain: tinyurl.com/3jfscscy
Why does slop keep getting published? What does it mean for science? How can we stop this?
Background readings:
Understand the strain: tinyurl.com/2b6wxx5r
Stop the drain: tinyurl.com/3jfscscy
Science of the total environment (elsevier) gets deindexed.
This is your regular reminder to please stop chasing impact factors and shitty metrics so we can stop feeding this awful system...
An alternative is to publish in more society journals (when possible).
This is your regular reminder to please stop chasing impact factors and shitty metrics so we can stop feeding this awful system...
An alternative is to publish in more society journals (when possible).
The fall of a prolific science journal exposes the billion-dollar profits of scientific publishing
One of the 15 publications that put out the most studies globally has been expelled from the indexing system for irregularities. Its publisher, Elsevier, has a 38% profit margin that reached $1.5 bill...
english.elpais.com
November 29, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Science of the total environment (elsevier) gets deindexed.
This is your regular reminder to please stop chasing impact factors and shitty metrics so we can stop feeding this awful system...
An alternative is to publish in more society journals (when possible).
This is your regular reminder to please stop chasing impact factors and shitty metrics so we can stop feeding this awful system...
An alternative is to publish in more society journals (when possible).
Reposted by James A Campbell
It's frustrating that we are getting technologies that really will transform our lives, and we should be thinking carefully about what that means, but the possibility of thoughtful discussion is being squelched by a stream of soul-crushing visions and wild hyperbole coming from Silicon Valley.
Everything about this might be the saddest thing I’ve ever seen
November 24, 2025 at 2:47 PM
It's frustrating that we are getting technologies that really will transform our lives, and we should be thinking carefully about what that means, but the possibility of thoughtful discussion is being squelched by a stream of soul-crushing visions and wild hyperbole coming from Silicon Valley.
Dear #Rstats, I'm looking to write some for loops that run in parallel. It's been a while since I did this and I don't know what the current state-of-the-art is... what is the generally preferred package for this within the community? thanx
(cross platform comparability is important to me).
(cross platform comparability is important to me).
November 19, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Dear #Rstats, I'm looking to write some for loops that run in parallel. It's been a while since I did this and I don't know what the current state-of-the-art is... what is the generally preferred package for this within the community? thanx
(cross platform comparability is important to me).
(cross platform comparability is important to me).
Reposted by James A Campbell
Bluetorial-Jim Watson
I met Jim Watson a few times but did not know him well. However, I was greatly influenced by his book “The Double Helix”. He was a complicated human being with some very, very bad features, but some good contributions.
What follows is my personal perspective.
1/41
I met Jim Watson a few times but did not know him well. However, I was greatly influenced by his book “The Double Helix”. He was a complicated human being with some very, very bad features, but some good contributions.
What follows is my personal perspective.
1/41
a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on
ALT: a cartoon says hey everybody an old man 's talking while bart simpson looks on
media.tenor.com
November 8, 2025 at 1:58 PM
Bluetorial-Jim Watson
I met Jim Watson a few times but did not know him well. However, I was greatly influenced by his book “The Double Helix”. He was a complicated human being with some very, very bad features, but some good contributions.
What follows is my personal perspective.
1/41
I met Jim Watson a few times but did not know him well. However, I was greatly influenced by his book “The Double Helix”. He was a complicated human being with some very, very bad features, but some good contributions.
What follows is my personal perspective.
1/41
Does anyone have a gift link to this Atlantic article?
(And yes, i'm aware of the irony of asking for a gift link so I can read an article about bypassing article paywalls)
(And yes, i'm aware of the irony of asking for a gift link so I can read an article about bypassing article paywalls)
The Company Quietly Funneling Paywalled Articles to AI Developers
“You shouldn’t have put your content on the internet if you didn’t want it to be on the internet,” Common Crawl’s executive director says.
www.theatlantic.com
November 5, 2025 at 5:31 PM
Does anyone have a gift link to this Atlantic article?
(And yes, i'm aware of the irony of asking for a gift link so I can read an article about bypassing article paywalls)
(And yes, i'm aware of the irony of asking for a gift link so I can read an article about bypassing article paywalls)
Want to give a shout-out to Pollock et al. (2014) 👇.
I'm learning JSDMs right now, and this is an absolute gold-tier introductory article: Concise, inclusively written (wrt non-stats readers), and covers all the fundamental math. #rstats #sdm
What an absolute joy to read!
I'm learning JSDMs right now, and this is an absolute gold-tier introductory article: Concise, inclusively written (wrt non-stats readers), and covers all the fundamental math. #rstats #sdm
What an absolute joy to read!
Understanding co‐occurrence by modelling species simultaneously with a Joint Species Distribution Model (JSDM)
A primary goal of ecology is to understand the fundamental processes underlying the geographic distributions of species. Two major strands of ecology – habitat modelling and community ecology – ap...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 9, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Is anyone old enough to remember how videogame piracy protection worked in like 1994? On my Amiga, to play "Indiana jones", I had to open the instruction manual to the stated page and read off a code.
This is basically how the "new" 2-factor authentication works at Freie University (Berlin) now...
This is basically how the "new" 2-factor authentication works at Freie University (Berlin) now...
September 29, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Is anyone old enough to remember how videogame piracy protection worked in like 1994? On my Amiga, to play "Indiana jones", I had to open the instruction manual to the stated page and read off a code.
This is basically how the "new" 2-factor authentication works at Freie University (Berlin) now...
This is basically how the "new" 2-factor authentication works at Freie University (Berlin) now...
Reposted by James A Campbell
Congrats CD on your well-earned achievement!
(This is _actually_ on the "journal" website)
＼(〇_ｏ)／
(This is _actually_ on the "journal" website)
＼(〇_ｏ)／
September 27, 2025 at 1:12 PM
Congrats CD on your well-earned achievement!
(This is _actually_ on the "journal" website)
＼(〇_ｏ)／
(This is _actually_ on the "journal" website)
＼(〇_ｏ)／