Hubert Hickman
@hhickman.bsky.social
Empty nester dad of 4. Medical/research informatics since 1993. Mostly Python/R these days. Dog dad. Celiac.
Pinned
Hubert Hickman
@hhickman.bsky.social
· Nov 6
Here is my #birdoftheday photo #birds #osprey. Taken in Boston this summer. This osprey had a nice dinner that day.
Reposted by Hubert Hickman
Surround yourself with the kind of people who find the Oxford comma to be illuminative, beautiful, and necessary.
October 5, 2026 at 2:05 PM
Surround yourself with the kind of people who find the Oxford comma to be illuminative, beautiful, and necessary.
Reposted by Hubert Hickman
"Before Stonehenge was raised, before Egypts first pyramid broke ground,before the Nazca people drew their famous lines across the Peruvian desert,someone in what is now southern Arizona shaped a 272-foot fish into the earth On April 23,2026,"a border-wall contractor drove heavy equipment across it"
Trump's Border Wall Construction Destroys 6,500-Year-Old Arizona Geoglyph – Older Than Stonehenge
Arizona's 6,500-year-old Las Playas Intaglio, the oldest dated geoglyph in the Americas, was irreparably damaged by border wall construction in April 2026.
www.gadgetreview.com
October 3, 2026 at 9:53 AM
"Before Stonehenge was raised, before Egypts first pyramid broke ground,before the Nazca people drew their famous lines across the Peruvian desert,someone in what is now southern Arizona shaped a 272-foot fish into the earth On April 23,2026,"a border-wall contractor drove heavy equipment across it"
Reposted by Hubert Hickman
A lot of very unhappy parents of trans and nonbinary kids, too, not enjoying seeing a mob whipped up toward children
GOP ads right now are all about attacking trans people. Over, and over, and over.
I was a gay teen in 2004 watching the Bush campaign try to win on attacking gay marriage, but the resort to this hate drive in campaign ads feels so dialed up now. I can’t imagine being an lgbt kid watching tv today.
I was a gay teen in 2004 watching the Bush campaign try to win on attacking gay marriage, but the resort to this hate drive in campaign ads feels so dialed up now. I can’t imagine being an lgbt kid watching tv today.
October 3, 2026 at 4:49 PM
A lot of very unhappy parents of trans and nonbinary kids, too, not enjoying seeing a mob whipped up toward children
Some old dog is unsure about her new raincoat.
September 30, 2026 at 12:20 AM
Some old dog is unsure about her new raincoat.
A hummingbird moth visited my flowers today. #hummingbirdmoth #moth
September 18, 2026 at 9:27 PM
A hummingbird moth visited my flowers today. #hummingbirdmoth #moth
Reposted by Hubert Hickman
posit::conf(2026) is outta here! 👋 From Wes McKinney's AI keynote to Quarto slides, Shiny apps, & termite colonies, Day 2 was radical.
Share your photos and reflections with the hashtag #PositConf2026 ❤️
See you in Seattle Sept 13-15 for posit::conf(2027). Until then, keep it real!
Share your photos and reflections with the hashtag #PositConf2026 ❤️
See you in Seattle Sept 13-15 for posit::conf(2027). Until then, keep it real!
September 17, 2026 at 2:17 PM
posit::conf(2026) is outta here! 👋 From Wes McKinney's AI keynote to Quarto slides, Shiny apps, & termite colonies, Day 2 was radical.
Share your photos and reflections with the hashtag #PositConf2026 ❤️
See you in Seattle Sept 13-15 for posit::conf(2027). Until then, keep it real!
Share your photos and reflections with the hashtag #PositConf2026 ❤️
See you in Seattle Sept 13-15 for posit::conf(2027). Until then, keep it real!
Reposted by Hubert Hickman
"We have a lot of R fans on my team" NY Times graphics editor @christinezhang.bsky.social tells #PositConf2026 🎉
She also said she often sketches out graphics using #RStats ggplot2 and is a frequent user of the Positron IDE.
She also said she often sketches out graphics using #RStats ggplot2 and is a frequent user of the Positron IDE.
September 15, 2026 at 10:16 PM
"We have a lot of R fans on my team" NY Times graphics editor @christinezhang.bsky.social tells #PositConf2026 🎉
She also said she often sketches out graphics using #RStats ggplot2 and is a frequent user of the Positron IDE.
She also said she often sketches out graphics using #RStats ggplot2 and is a frequent user of the Positron IDE.
Reposted by Hubert Hickman
"I wore black because I liked it. I still do, and wearing it still means something to me. It's still my symbol of rebellion -- against a stagnant status quo, against our hypocritical houses of God, against people whose minds are closed to others' ideas."
-- Johnny Cash, who died #OTD 2003
-- Johnny Cash, who died #OTD 2003
September 12, 2026 at 10:34 AM
"I wore black because I liked it. I still do, and wearing it still means something to me. It's still my symbol of rebellion -- against a stagnant status quo, against our hypocritical houses of God, against people whose minds are closed to others' ideas."
-- Johnny Cash, who died #OTD 2003
-- Johnny Cash, who died #OTD 2003
Reposted by Hubert Hickman
I find this, 1806 letter from Thomas Jefferson to Edward Jenner, so moving 🥺
August 7, 2026 at 12:45 PM
I find this, 1806 letter from Thomas Jefferson to Edward Jenner, so moving 🥺
Reposted by Hubert Hickman
I understand that funding bodies want to go all in on AI as the shiny new innovation thing. But if all the grants start going to AI at the expense of everything else then the research sector is going to end up looking like a farm with dozens of threshers hacking away in a field with no wheat.
August 6, 2026 at 11:06 AM
I understand that funding bodies want to go all in on AI as the shiny new innovation thing. But if all the grants start going to AI at the expense of everything else then the research sector is going to end up looking like a farm with dozens of threshers hacking away in a field with no wheat.
I have been damned with faint praise by the Wordle Bot this morning.
July 22, 2026 at 12:10 PM
I have been damned with faint praise by the Wordle Bot this morning.
Reposted by Hubert Hickman
If the plot is “no price is too high to pay to bring Matt Damon home”, I am fully sat for the movie.
July 18, 2026 at 9:47 PM
If the plot is “no price is too high to pay to bring Matt Damon home”, I am fully sat for the movie.
Reposted by Hubert Hickman
Two people tried to enter a screening of The Odyssey without buying tickets after hiding inside a miniature model of the Trojan Horse. 😂😂😂
July 19, 2026 at 5:22 PM
Two people tried to enter a screening of The Odyssey without buying tickets after hiding inside a miniature model of the Trojan Horse. 😂😂😂
Reposted by Hubert Hickman
“… the CDC lab that responds to outbreaks of the parasite cyclospora was downsized from 11 people to just 3”
“Based on simple math, these outbreak responses—which require rapid, timely responses—are going to be greatly diminished,” the former CDC lab director tells WIRED. www.wired.com/story/cdc-cy...
The CDC Has a Cyclospora Lab. DOGE Downsized It Last Year
“Based on simple math, these outbreak responses—which require rapid, timely responses—are going to be greatly diminished,” the former CDC lab director tells WIRED.
www.wired.com
July 17, 2026 at 9:24 AM
“… the CDC lab that responds to outbreaks of the parasite cyclospora was downsized from 11 people to just 3”
Reposted by Hubert Hickman
absolute height of comedy is when they cut to the goal and you see how many kid keepers they've got
June 27, 2026 at 9:26 AM
absolute height of comedy is when they cut to the goal and you see how many kid keepers they've got
Reposted by Hubert Hickman
![Comic. Lionel Messi: World Cup Goals per game. [Graph with x axis as year and y axis as number of goals per game, ranging from 0 to 3. Data points: 2006 (~1/3), 2010 (0), 2014 (~1/2), 2018 (~1/4), 2022 (1), 2026 (3) with parenthetical (so far). Behind the line connecting the points is a grayed out curve showing the trajectory.] [caption] At this rate, by 2040 Messi will be scoring hundreds of goals per game.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:cz73r7iyiqn26upot4jtjdhk/bafkreigq2lsyt6ad4so43vtssddjw4mvo2i4i54uf4fqves6yk3jiudko4)
Reposted by Hubert Hickman
I'm thrilled to share that #querychat now supports more exploratory visualization powered by #ggsql. We're excited about what this direction can unlock for data scientists looking to curate "tidy" data for others explore. Expect more on this in the coming months. opensource.posit.co/blog/2026-06...
Ask more of your dashboard with querychat and ggsql
querychat now supports ggsql-powered visualizations — users can ask "show me" questions and get charts rendered directly in the chat, alongside SQL queries and reactive filtering, all without arbitrar...
opensource.posit.co
June 17, 2026 at 5:53 PM
I'm thrilled to share that #querychat now supports more exploratory visualization powered by #ggsql. We're excited about what this direction can unlock for data scientists looking to curate "tidy" data for others explore. Expect more on this in the coming months. opensource.posit.co/blog/2026-06...
Goutweed vs hastas…. A fight we can watch over stop action.
June 16, 2026 at 3:43 AM
Goutweed vs hastas…. A fight we can watch over stop action.
Wordle 1,817 2/6
⬜🟩🟨⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
I should just quit while I am ahead today.
⬜🟩🟨⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
I should just quit while I am ahead today.
June 10, 2026 at 12:07 PM
Wordle 1,817 2/6
⬜🟩🟨⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
I should just quit while I am ahead today.
⬜🟩🟨⬜⬜
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
I should just quit while I am ahead today.
My bird of the day #borrowedplaces is a rainstorm drenched Northern cardinal drying out among friends. #BirdOfTheDay #birds #cardinal
June 6, 2026 at 3:04 PM
My bird of the day #borrowedplaces is a rainstorm drenched Northern cardinal drying out among friends. #BirdOfTheDay #birds #cardinal
Reposted by Hubert Hickman
Here's a gift link: www.thestar.com/gift-redeem?...
Gift-redeem
www.thestar.com
June 6, 2026 at 12:19 PM
Here's a gift link: www.thestar.com/gift-redeem?...
Reposted by Hubert Hickman
Over the past year, I've been talking to the scientists, doctors, and civil servants trying to predict, prevent, and prepare for the next pandemic.
Donald Trump has fired them, defunded their work, and hunted them down. www.thestar.com/opinion/star...
Donald Trump has fired them, defunded their work, and hunted them down. www.thestar.com/opinion/star...
Justin Ling: Trump’s war on science ensures the next pandemic will happen sooner — and be deadlier
I’ve spoken with several U.S. scientists and public health officials in the past year. What they've told me is unnerving.
www.thestar.com
June 6, 2026 at 12:19 PM
Over the past year, I've been talking to the scientists, doctors, and civil servants trying to predict, prevent, and prepare for the next pandemic.
Donald Trump has fired them, defunded their work, and hunted them down. www.thestar.com/opinion/star...
Donald Trump has fired them, defunded their work, and hunted them down. www.thestar.com/opinion/star...
Some recent shots from the TBM Avenger Reunion airshow in Peru, IL. Ilford 100 B&W and the newly released Kodacolor 200 (!!). I have missed film photography. I have plenty of iPhone 17 Pro videos and pictures, but enjoy shooting film again ! #film #35mm #warbirds #ilford #kodacolor
June 5, 2026 at 2:32 AM
Some recent shots from the TBM Avenger Reunion airshow in Peru, IL. Ilford 100 B&W and the newly released Kodacolor 200 (!!). I have missed film photography. I have plenty of iPhone 17 Pro videos and pictures, but enjoy shooting film again ! #film #35mm #warbirds #ilford #kodacolor
Reposted by Hubert Hickman
The Trump administration is dismantling a $368 million deep-ocean monitoring network 900+ sensors tracking climate currents, fishery health, ocean carbon absorption, and coastal flooding along the East Coast. Ships go out in June to start pulling it up. Congress funded it twice after Trump
June 2, 2026 at 1:42 AM
The Trump administration is dismantling a $368 million deep-ocean monitoring network 900+ sensors tracking climate currents, fishery health, ocean carbon absorption, and coastal flooding along the East Coast. Ships go out in June to start pulling it up. Congress funded it twice after Trump