We refactored the R-universe CI workflows to make it possible to run the exact same workflow from your own GitHub repository. This allows you to test or debug the build and check process on your R package, exactly as it will happen on R-universe, but without actually deploying to https://r-universe.dev.
The stability of spiral galaxies was a foundational motivation to invoke dark matter: a thin disk of self-gravitating stars is unstable unless embedded in a dark matter halo. Modified dynamics can also stabilize galactic disks.
NSF reorg, Science in 2050, 2025 LLM recap, R+Python, R Data Scientist, virtual cells, genomics in 2026, Claude Code course, AI and labor, how uv got so fast, Anthropic/biotech, papers+preprints
Repurposed Appalachia Series – From Depot Yard to Coal Miners Memorial Park in Benham, Kentucky Benham sits in a narrow valley beneath Black Mountain, the highest point in Kentucky. A century ago this was one of the most productive coal camps in the world, a company town built by Wisconsin Steel, a subsidiary of International Harvester.
Repurposed Appalachia Series – Benham City Hall of Harlan County In the middle of Benham, Kentucky, where Looney Creek bends through a narrow valley below Black Mountain, the city hall does not look like a grand marble temple of government. It is a compact red brick office building, one of a ring of matching structures that frame a small park. Coal trucks once rattled past just outside its doors.
Abandoned Appalachia Series – Newlee Iron Furnace at Cumberland Gap At the base of Cumberland Mountain, where Gap Creek cuts a narrow notch toward the little town of Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, a towering block of stone rises beside the water. Locals call it the Newlee Iron Furnace.
Appalachian History Series – The Oldest House in Bell County: Rev. John C. Colson’s Brick Home on Yellow Creek If you drive up North 19th Street in Middlesboro, traffic hums past a modest brick house set back behind a yard and a low slope. The building does not announce itself loudly. Its lines are simple, two stories of brick with later stucco and porch alterations that make it easy to mistake for an ordinary early twentieth century home.
Abandoned Appalachia Series – The Twin Tunnels of Typo and Yerkes of Perry County On the north side of Hazard, the North Fork of the Kentucky River bends through a narrow valley where the slopes are so steep that the railroad disappears straight into the rock. Trains slip in and out of the hills, light fading to black and back again in a few seconds.
How much time do you spend performing various activities? In 2022, I spent 506 hours answering email, or 63 full work-day’s worth of time. At that point, my reading for pleasure had dropped to virtually nil and I just thought: this is not how I want to spend my time. After a radical reorganization of my life and work, I wanted to see how well I have done this year.
Happy new 2026 everyone! I've had a wonderful journey through Udaipur and the lake palaces, and am currently in Vijayawada exploring my ancestral village for the next few days. I've caught up on some reading, so here are my book thoughts (and podcasts for the first time) from the past year!
Appalachian History Series – The Campbell Building of Middlesboro: An 1890 Cornerstone of Cumberland Avenue The Campbell Building rises at the corner of Cumberland Avenue and 21st Street in downtown Middlesboro, where three states almost meet and the Cumberland Gap opens like a doorway in the mountains. It is an old corner in a relatively young town.