Thomas Lumley
@tslumley.bsky.social
Biostatistician. Baritone. He/Him.
Product of more than one country.
May contain nuts.
Product of more than one country.
May contain nuts.
This could be a bit suboptimal
www.rnz.co.nz/news/sport/5...
www.rnz.co.nz/news/sport/5...
Fears many sport clubs don't realise they're about to be dissolved
Fewer than half of the country's sport organisations have registered under new legislation, with the deadline nearing.
www.rnz.co.nz
January 6, 2026 at 6:54 AM
This could be a bit suboptimal
www.rnz.co.nz/news/sport/5...
www.rnz.co.nz/news/sport/5...
Reposted by Thomas Lumley
Once again asking the good people of Bluesky to understand that "generative art" is not the same thing as "AI art". The image below is generative art. There is no AI involved whatsoever. Adding generative artists to blocklists because you don't understand the distinction is a dick move
January 5, 2026 at 1:53 AM
Once again asking the good people of Bluesky to understand that "generative art" is not the same thing as "AI art". The image below is generative art. There is no AI involved whatsoever. Adding generative artists to blocklists because you don't understand the distinction is a dick move
Reposted by Thomas Lumley
A request for #rstats help.
Motivated by a real-world problem I'm facing, I wrote a package designed to help new users wean themselves off using rm(list=ls()), and nudge them in the direction of better practice.
I would sincerely appreciate feedback before I send it to CRAN
Motivated by a real-world problem I'm facing, I wrote a package designed to help new users wean themselves off using rm(list=ls()), and nudge them in the direction of better practice.
I would sincerely appreciate feedback before I send it to CRAN
Some thoughts on checking the R session – Notes from a data witch
More precisely, some thoughts on an R package I might send to CRAN, and I’d appreciate comments and criticism
blog.djnavarro.net
January 6, 2026 at 5:23 AM
A request for #rstats help.
Motivated by a real-world problem I'm facing, I wrote a package designed to help new users wean themselves off using rm(list=ls()), and nudge them in the direction of better practice.
I would sincerely appreciate feedback before I send it to CRAN
Motivated by a real-world problem I'm facing, I wrote a package designed to help new users wean themselves off using rm(list=ls()), and nudge them in the direction of better practice.
I would sincerely appreciate feedback before I send it to CRAN
You can have hot cross buns all year round if you just leave off the cross
#NotCrossBuns
#NotCrossBuns
This place needs some Innocuous Discourse pronto. Quote this with a take that’s not political or aggressive
January 6, 2026 at 5:28 AM
You can have hot cross buns all year round if you just leave off the cross
#NotCrossBuns
#NotCrossBuns
Reposted by Thomas Lumley
Excited to share a new R package: 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘁 🌡️
`heat` makes it easier to work with climate or other gridded data in applied research, providing a comprehensive + optimized set of tools to compute environmental exposures for admin boundaries or points from gridded/point data.
github.com/echolab-stan...
`heat` makes it easier to work with climate or other gridded data in applied research, providing a comprehensive + optimized set of tools to compute environmental exposures for admin boundaries or points from gridded/point data.
github.com/echolab-stan...
GitHub - echolab-stanford/heat: R package heat: Harmonized Environmental Exposure Aggregation Tools
R package heat: Harmonized Environmental Exposure Aggregation Tools - echolab-stanford/heat
github.com
January 5, 2026 at 11:19 PM
Excited to share a new R package: 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘁 🌡️
`heat` makes it easier to work with climate or other gridded data in applied research, providing a comprehensive + optimized set of tools to compute environmental exposures for admin boundaries or points from gridded/point data.
github.com/echolab-stan...
`heat` makes it easier to work with climate or other gridded data in applied research, providing a comprehensive + optimized set of tools to compute environmental exposures for admin boundaries or points from gridded/point data.
github.com/echolab-stan...
Have you ever wondered why semaglutide, which is a whole-ass peptide, can be delivered in a pill without ending up as individual amino acids the way steak or tofu peptides do?
The approval of Wegovy pills for weight loss is getting considerable attention.
There is an important pharmacological aspect of this drug which is not (in my view) getting as much attention as it deserves.
GLP-1 is a modified 30 amino acid peptide! Yet it is orally active.
1/5
There is an important pharmacological aspect of this drug which is not (in my view) getting as much attention as it deserves.
GLP-1 is a modified 30 amino acid peptide! Yet it is orally active.
1/5
January 6, 2026 at 2:54 AM
Have you ever wondered why semaglutide, which is a whole-ass peptide, can be delivered in a pill without ending up as individual amino acids the way steak or tofu peptides do?
In which I look at simulations to see how well a Normal distribution fits something, but with complications
notstatschat.rbind.io/2026/01/05/s...
notstatschat.rbind.io/2026/01/05/s...
Simulation and CLT - Biased and Inefficient
notstatschat.rbind.io
January 5, 2026 at 9:47 PM
In which I look at simulations to see how well a Normal distribution fits something, but with complications
notstatschat.rbind.io/2026/01/05/s...
notstatschat.rbind.io/2026/01/05/s...
Reposted by Thomas Lumley
At the @metoffice.gov.uk we are very consistent in the language we use to convey certainty & uncertainty. But we also do social science research on what users think as we articulate or illustrate, for example, chance of rain or attribution of extreme events to climate change. The quiz is worth a go!
How likely is ‘likely’? Does ‘likely’ have a higher probability than ‘probable’? I put together a quick quiz so you can see how you interpret probability phrases, then see how you compare with others: probability.kucharski.io
January 5, 2026 at 7:11 PM
At the @metoffice.gov.uk we are very consistent in the language we use to convey certainty & uncertainty. But we also do social science research on what users think as we articulate or illustrate, for example, chance of rain or attribution of extreme events to climate change. The quiz is worth a go!
And inside of Bradman, bad light stopped play
January 5, 2026 at 4:50 AM
And inside of Bradman, bad light stopped play
Reposted by Thomas Lumley
Tbc, this spending is regarded as within the bounds of governments communicating with the public, although National used to scream about the last govt doing similar. But not only giving up the *lead spot* of your Business section, but running it with the same style as real editorial is horrible.
January 5, 2026 at 4:15 AM
Tbc, this spending is regarded as within the bounds of governments communicating with the public, although National used to scream about the last govt doing similar. But not only giving up the *lead spot* of your Business section, but running it with the same style as real editorial is horrible.
If both the street entrances to my building are blocked by construction is that a sign I should just go home?
January 4, 2026 at 8:47 PM
If both the street entrances to my building are blocked by construction is that a sign I should just go home?
Reposted by Thomas Lumley
qatarcars is a great modern, internationally-focused, non-US-centric substitution for mtcars! And it has both an #rstats version and a Python version profmusgrave.github.io/qatarcars/
Hivemind question: Palmer Penguins is doing great work avoiding overuse of Fisher's iris data. What other "dataset substitutions" do you like? Or just generally other cool, real, open datasets that are good for teaching because established methods work pretty well on them?
January 4, 2026 at 5:32 PM
qatarcars is a great modern, internationally-focused, non-US-centric substitution for mtcars! And it has both an #rstats version and a Python version profmusgrave.github.io/qatarcars/
Reposted by Thomas Lumley
I know of no evidence of a new wave. NZ wastewater to Dec 21 and showed no unusual rise in covid. Similarly, hospital admissions for covid were at an all time low as at Dec 21st.
Australian monitoring (mostly to mid Dec) not showing anything either. Lot of flu still around for summer though.
Australian monitoring (mostly to mid Dec) not showing anything either. Lot of flu still around for summer though.
January 3, 2026 at 11:30 PM
I know of no evidence of a new wave. NZ wastewater to Dec 21 and showed no unusual rise in covid. Similarly, hospital admissions for covid were at an all time low as at Dec 21st.
Australian monitoring (mostly to mid Dec) not showing anything either. Lot of flu still around for summer though.
Australian monitoring (mostly to mid Dec) not showing anything either. Lot of flu still around for summer though.
Reposted by Thomas Lumley
A picture is worth 1000 words...
This appeared on the BBC News today, showing the increase in solar electric generation in the UK.
Not sure who produced it, but genuinely think this is a genius piece of scientific communication - the construct and choice of colour scale is near-perfect.
Chapeau!
This appeared on the BBC News today, showing the increase in solar electric generation in the UK.
Not sure who produced it, but genuinely think this is a genius piece of scientific communication - the construct and choice of colour scale is near-perfect.
Chapeau!
January 2, 2026 at 4:53 PM
A picture is worth 1000 words...
This appeared on the BBC News today, showing the increase in solar electric generation in the UK.
Not sure who produced it, but genuinely think this is a genius piece of scientific communication - the construct and choice of colour scale is near-perfect.
Chapeau!
This appeared on the BBC News today, showing the increase in solar electric generation in the UK.
Not sure who produced it, but genuinely think this is a genius piece of scientific communication - the construct and choice of colour scale is near-perfect.
Chapeau!
@dsquareddigest.bsky.social the design here might be relevant to your cybernetics interests
this is one of the most insane [laudatory] things I’ve read today.
steve-yegge.medium.com/welcome-to-g...
steve-yegge.medium.com/welcome-to-g...
Welcome to Gas Town
Happy New Year, and Welcome to Gas Town!
steve-yegge.medium.com
January 3, 2026 at 12:00 AM
@dsquareddigest.bsky.social the design here might be relevant to your cybernetics interests
Reposted by Thomas Lumley
Reposted by Thomas Lumley
Dan Davies's @dsquareddigest.bsky.social
concept of an "accountability sink" comes to mind
concept of an "accountability sink" comes to mind
Parker's piece nails why this matters. "Tech companies... would rather not answer for their products’ failures. Every headline that says “Grok apologizes” or “Grok admits” or “Grok says” creates a world where the chatbot takes the fall while Musk and his executives face no scrutiny whatsoever."
I wrote about Grok's CSAM problem and how journalists keep fumbling the story
www.readtpa.com/p/grok-cant-...
www.readtpa.com/p/grok-cant-...
January 2, 2026 at 7:54 PM
Dan Davies's @dsquareddigest.bsky.social
concept of an "accountability sink" comes to mind
concept of an "accountability sink" comes to mind
Took more than twelve parsecs this time
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
Banged-up Millennium Falcon the last boat to finish Sydney to Hobart
A boat named after a Star Wars spacecraft is the final entry to finish the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, after facing a range of issues at sea and extremely rough weather.
www.abc.net.au
January 1, 2026 at 11:44 PM
Took more than twelve parsecs this time
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...
Reposted by Thomas Lumley
I made a (sort of) "Tinder for Git" site to help developers find 'good first issues' in open-source projects. It's early days, but it could be helpful.
gitafix.com/
gitafix.com/
January 1, 2026 at 10:39 PM
I made a (sort of) "Tinder for Git" site to help developers find 'good first issues' in open-source projects. It's early days, but it could be helpful.
gitafix.com/
gitafix.com/
James Hoffmann getting adorably excited when putting bits of rock through expensive coffee grinders For Science:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5v5...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5v5...
Stones In Coffee: An Ill-Advised Investigation
YouTube video by James Hoffmann
www.youtube.com
January 1, 2026 at 6:15 AM
James Hoffmann getting adorably excited when putting bits of rock through expensive coffee grinders For Science:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5v5...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5v5...
Reposted by Thomas Lumley
A major milestone for next generation Covid vax: The first clinical trial for a pancoronavirus formulation of an existing vaccine was registered.
With more news incl trial results & 12 preclinical reports—in my monthly update @plos.org
absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2025/12/31/m...
#Vaccines
With more news incl trial results & 12 preclinical reports—in my monthly update @plos.org
absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2025/12/31/m...
#Vaccines
Major Milestone for Pancoronavirus Vaccines and More (Next Generation Covid Vax Update No 36) - Absolutely Maybe
This month, the first clinical trial for a pancoronavirus formulation of an existing Covid vaccine was registered. Although it’s just on the…
absolutelymaybe.plos.org
January 1, 2026 at 4:26 AM
A major milestone for next generation Covid vax: The first clinical trial for a pancoronavirus formulation of an existing vaccine was registered.
With more news incl trial results & 12 preclinical reports—in my monthly update @plos.org
absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2025/12/31/m...
#Vaccines
With more news incl trial results & 12 preclinical reports—in my monthly update @plos.org
absolutelymaybe.plos.org/2025/12/31/m...
#Vaccines
Reposted by Thomas Lumley
I'd not call it an enormous impact exactly, but I did do this and it seemed to land with a bunch of people
January 1, 2026 at 3:30 AM
I'd not call it an enormous impact exactly, but I did do this and it seemed to land with a bunch of people
Even more girt by sea
December 31, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Even more girt by sea
Reposted by Thomas Lumley
“many angry posts should have been naps or little packets of crackers” is deep wisdom and you don’t need to reproduce to embrace it!
one unexpected outlook change from being a dad is taking the self care people 10x more seriously when it comes to dealing with weirdly directed anger and rage (including Online). many angry posts should have been naps or little packets of crackers
December 31, 2025 at 9:47 PM
“many angry posts should have been naps or little packets of crackers” is deep wisdom and you don’t need to reproduce to embrace it!