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Showing posts from March, 2018

Use Python functions and modules in R with the "reticulate" package

(This article was first published on Revolutions , and kindly contributed to R-bloggers) Since its inception over 40 years ago, when S (R's predecessor) was just a sketch on John Chambers' wall at Bell Labs, R has always been a language for providing interfaces. I was reminded of this during Dirk Eddelbuettel's presentation at the Chicago R User Group meetup  last night, where he enumerated Chambers' three principles behind its design (from his 2016 book, Extending R ): Object: Everything that exists in R is an object Function : Everything that happens in R is a function call Interface : Interfaces to other software are a part of R The third principle "Interface" is demonstrated by R's broad connections to data sources, numerical and statistical computation libraries, graphical systems, external applications, and other languages. And it's further supported by the formal announcement this week of the reticulate package from RStudi

Who is coming to eRum 2018 in Budapest?

(This article was first published on Appsilon Data Science Blog , and kindly contributed to R-bloggers) Discover who is coming to eRum 2018 in Budapest while playing with an interactive data visualization in D3.js. Vist visualization’s page . You can meet me ( Olga ) at the conference where I’ll be speaking about cool and open source packages for Shiny . See you in Budapest ! Follow Appsilon Data Science Follow us on Twitter! Check us out on Facebook page ! Follow us on LinkedIn ! Star our GitHub packages , including shiny.semantic , shiny.router , shiny.collections , shiny.i18n and incoming semantic.dashboard ! Sign up for our newsletter and get free e-book! Read the original post at Appsilon Data Science Blog . To leave a comment for the author, please follow the link and comment on their blog: Appsilon Data Science Blog . R-bloggers.com offers daily e-mail updates about R news and tutorials on topics such as: Data science , Big Data, R jobs

Lintr Bot, lintr’s Hester egg

(This article was first published on Maëlle , and kindly contributed to R-bloggers) Remember my blog post about automatic tools for improving R packages ? One of these tools is Jim Hester’s lintr , a package that performs static code analysis. In my experience it mostly helps identifying too long code lines and missing space, although it’s a bit more involved than that. In any case, lintr helps you maintain good code style, and as mentioned in that now old post of mine, you can add a lintr unit test to your package which will ensure you don’t get lazy over time. Now say your package has a lintr unit test and lives on GitHub. What happens if someone makes a pull request and writes looong code lines? Continuous integration builds will fail but not only that… The contributor will get to know Lintr Bot, lintr’s Hester ( Easter ) egg! Lintr Bot, a lazy little thing? Lintr Bot has a GitHub profile . I am actually responsible for its avatar, because when I discovered it a wh

Couples Speak Honestly About Open Relationships

Polyamory . Ethical non-monogamy . Open relationship . There are many ways to describe the consensual choice a couple can make to live a non-monogamous lifestyle—and ever more ways to navigate it. Maria Rosa Badia’s new short film Polyedric Love, premiering on The Atlantic today , features honest conversations with couples about the rewards and challenges of their unconventional relationships. “We’ve always been told that there’s this one way of being with someone, and if you retract from it, it’s not right societally,” says a woman in the film . “But if it’s right instinctually…” Making the film was an eye-opening experience for Badia, who came to see non-monogamous relationships as an inspiration, particularly with regard to overcoming jealousy. “I was moved by the couples’ honest rapport with their partners about their individual needs,” she told The Atlantic , “and how they had a very straightforward communication about it. I realized that what's necessary on a non-mo

Photos of the Week: Holy Week Rodeo, Volkswagen Graveyard, Soccer on an Ice Floe

Gigantic rice bowls in Hong Kong, a basketball-playing robot in Tokyo, a chocolate gorilla in Belgium, walled cats in China, considerate drum practice in Japan, the Museum of Selfies in California, the Naked Pig Skiing Carnival in China, and much more. The Atlantic https://ift.tt/2uvzKpI March 30, 2018 at 08:52PM

Radio Atlantic: King Remembered

In his last speech, known to history as “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” Martin Luther King Jr. began by remarking on the introduction he’d been given by his friend, Ralph Abernathy. “As I listened to ... his eloquent and generous introduction and then thought about myself,” King said modestly, “I wondered who he was talking about.” The facsimile of King that America would fashion after his assassination—saintly pacifist, stranger to controversy, beloved by all—might have provoked something well beyond wonder. To create a version of King that America could love, the nation sanded down the reality of the man, his ministry, and his activism. In this episode of Radio Atlantic, Vann Newkirk and Adrienne Green join our hosts, Jeffrey Goldberg and Matt Thompson, to discuss the truth of King in the last years of his life and after. Links KING: The Atlantic ’s Special Coverage of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Life and Legacy “The Whitewashing of King’s Assassination” (Vann R. Newkirk, MLK Issu

The U.S. and Russia Are Caught in a Downward Spiral

Russia ordered 60 U.S. diplomats to leave the country by April 5, and said the American consulate in St. Petersburg must close by March 31. This action—the expulsion of 60 diplomats and the closing of a consulate—is a precise parallel to a move announced this week by the Trump administration, which was responding to Moscow’s alleged role in the attempted assassination by nerve agent of Sergei Skripal, a former Russian spy, and his daughter, Yulia, in the U.K. The U.S. action was coordinated with its allies, who also expelled a varying number of Russians. The U.K. says Russia was likely behind the attack on the Skripals because the nerve agent employed against them was Russian in origin. Russia denies any such action and has called for an independent international investigation into the allegation. The U.S. and its allies say the U.K.’s word is good enough for them. The U.K. began the actions first, expelling 23 diplomats on March 14 in retaliation for the attack on Skripal and his d

Have You Ever Really Seen the Moon?

On a whim, Wylie Overstreet set up his telescope outside his apartment. He wanted to look at the moon. He had no idea he would, in a matter of hours, inspire awe in hundreds of strangers on the streets of Los Angeles. “It's incredible how many people have never looked through a telescope,” Alex Gorosh, a friend of Overstreet’s, told The Atlantic. “Many people thought the image wasn't real—they thought we were playing a prank on them.” Overstreet and Gorosh were so taken by strangers’ reactions to the moon through their telescope that the friends began to set it up in different locations across the city, filming as they went. “That's when we recognized the powerful message of unity that we were capturing,” said Gorosh. Their resulting film, A New View of the Moon , is a simple tribute to human wonder. Like last year’s total solar eclipse , Overstreet and Gorosh witnessed how a cosmic event has the power to bring people together. “It's about taking a step back and a

The Atlantic Expands Podcast Portfolio and Hires Katherine Wells as First Executive Producer

Washington, D.C. (March 29, 2018)— As part of its multi-platform expansion, The Atlantic is growing its podcast division. Katherine Wells will return to the newsroom from Gimlet Media to be executive producer of The Atlantic ’s growing portfolio of original podcasts, editor in chief Jeffrey Goldberg announced today. The Atlantic is also set to launch its third podcast, Crazy/Genius, in May. Hosted by Atlantic senior editor Derek Thompson , the weekly show will explore the intersection of technology and culture, focusing on how new ideas and inventions are changing the world. In each episode of Crazy/Genius, Thompson will dive into some of the biggest arguments on where technology and culture are heading, interviewing leading voices and sharing insights and conclusions along the way. Thompson has been writing for The Atlantic since 2008, covering economics, business, culture, and media. He is the best-selling author of   Hit Makers: The Science of Popularity in an Age of Distract

Hey! Free money!

This just came in: On Dec 27, 2017, at 6:55 PM, **@gmail.com wrote: My name is ** and I am a freelance writer hoping to contribute my writing to andrewgelman.com. I would be willing to compensate you for publishing. For my posts, I require one related client link within the body of my article, as well as no “guest” or “Sponsored” tag on the post. I am willing to offer $50 per post published on the site as compensation for these things. Please let me know if you are interested and/or if you have any questions. OK, here’s the cool part: For all you know, I’ve taken this guy (or bot) up on his offer. So from now on, when reading this blog, you’ll have to guess which of the posts you’re seeing are sponsored content. Given the conditions above, unfortunately I’m not allowed to label these particular posts. It’s possible, right? Just about all my posts have links, and, hmmmm . . . $50 per post x 400 posts a year = $20,000. That’s real money! Also think of all the time this frees up f

Russia, in spy rift riposte, expels 59 diplomats from 23 countries

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia expelled 59 diplomats from 23 countries on Friday and said it reserved the right to take action against four other nations in a worsening standoff with the West over the poisoning of a former Russian spy and his daughter in Britain. Reuters: Top News https://ift.tt/2pWQhyv March 30, 2018 at 09:20PM

Trump tells advisers he wants U.S. out of Syria: senior officials

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) - President Donald Trump has told advisers he wants an early exit of U.S. troops from Syria, two senior administration officials said on Friday, a stance that may put him at odds with U.S. military officials who see the fight against Islamic State as nowhere near complete. Reuters: Top News https://ift.tt/2pTAa3A March 31, 2018 at 09:55AM

White Baton Rouge policeman fired over shooting of black man

(Reuters) - A white Louisiana police officer was fired on Friday and a second suspended for the killing of Alton Sterling, a black man shot in a 2016 incident that inflamed the U.S. debate on racial bias in law enforcement, a police official said. Reuters: Top News https://ift.tt/2pSeo17 March 31, 2018 at 06:14AM

North Korea will take part in next two Olympics: IOC chief Bach

BEIJING (Reuters) - North Korea will take part in the next two Olympic Games in Japan and China, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach said on Saturday after meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang. Reuters: Top News https://ift.tt/2pRZIz8 March 31, 2018 at 07:43AM

Fox's Ingraham to take week off as advertisers flee amid controversy

(Reuters) - Fox News show host Laura Ingraham announced on her show late Friday that she is taking next week off, after almost a dozen advertisers dropped her show after the conservative pundit mocked a teenage survivor of the Florida school massacre on Twitter. Reuters: Top News https://ift.tt/2GlVytn March 31, 2018 at 08:42AM

U.S. visa applicants to be asked for social media history: State Department

(Reuters) - In a broad expansion of the information gathered from applicants for U.S. visas, the federal government is proposing to collect social media identities from nearly everyone who seeks entry into the United States, according to a State Department filing on Friday. Reuters: Top News https://ift.tt/2Gk79Jz March 31, 2018 at 12:55AM

Exclusive: Google employees organize to fight cyber bullying at work

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - About 100 Google U.S. employees concerned about cyber bullying inside the company have organized into a group proposing new policies for conduct at the unit of Alphabet Inc, five people involved in the effort said in recent interviews. Reuters: Top News https://ift.tt/2pRk6A7 March 31, 2018 at 12:13AM

New York moves to offset federal tax changes in $168 billion budget deal

ALBANY, N.Y. (Reuters) - New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and the state legislature agreed late on Friday on a $168 billion budget for fiscal 2019, including measures aimed at offsetting damage to taxpayers from new federal tax changes. Reuters: Top News https://ift.tt/2Ih5gKe March 31, 2018 at 08:32AM

Autopsy refutes police account of California shooting of black man -lawyer

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - An autopsy on an unarmed black man killed by police officers in California's capital last week shows that none of the eight bullets hit him in the front, contradicting the official version of events, a lawyer for the deceased's family said on Friday. Reuters: Top News https://ift.tt/2J8fFZN March 31, 2018 at 12:53AM