Akin Unver

Check out past SICSS_Istanbul curricula: lnkd.in/dNAKTMqJ
Learning materials from SICSS_Istanbul 2023: lnkd.in/g6Bwyqd

Help us spread the news!

📍Application deadline approaching: 2 March

Not much time left to wrap up statements of purpose and reaching out to your professors for a recommendation. Looking forward to hosting you at SICSS_Istanbul this summer.

‘The time of monsters’: everyone is quoting Gramsci – but what did he actually say? Line handily sums up people’s bewilderment at state of world, but it isn’t quite what the Marxist thinker wrote

‘The time of monsters’: everyone is quoting Gramsci – but what did he actually say?

FT exclusive:

“The US state department is set to fund Maga-aligned think-tanks and charities across Europe to disseminate Washington’s policy positions and challenge perceived threats to free speech.”

via @annasophiegross.bsky.social and colleagues

DHS Hunts Down 67-Year-Old U.S. Citizen Who Criticized Them in Email The Department of Homeland Security is using a little-known tool to go after its critics.

Seems real bad that the end point of ~25 years of War on Terror architecture is an agency of thin-skinned goons who will send armed men to your house if you email the government asking for compassion on behalf of someone else.

newrepublic.com/post/206088/...

The Summer Institute in Computational Social Science (SICSS) Istanbul 2026 returns back!

Application link: lnkd.in/diPw3uMY
Application deadline: 2 March 2026
Announcement of decisions: Mid-April
22 - 30 June: 'Pre-SICSS Bootcamp'
6 - 17 July: Residential SICSS retreat

Check out past SICSS_Istanbul curricula: lnkd.in/dNAKTMqJ
Learning materials from SICSS_Istanbul 2023: lnkd.in/g6Bwyqd

Help us spread the news!

The Summer Institute in Computational Social Science (SICSS) Istanbul 2026 returns back!

Application link: lnkd.in/diPw3uMY
Application deadline: 2 March 2026
Announcement of decisions: Mid-April
22 - 30 June: 'Pre-SICSS Bootcamp'
6 - 17 July: Residential SICSS retreat

BAGEP 2026 başvuruları açıldı! - Bilim Akademisi Bilim Akademisi Genç Bilim İnsanları Ödül Programı (BAGEP) 2026 Son başvuru: 23 Ocak 2026 – 18.00 BAGEP yönergesi ve protokolünü buradan, BAGEP Etik Beyanı’nı buradan görebilirsiniz. Bilim Akademisi t...

Bilim Akademisi Genç Bilim İnsanları Ödül Programı (BAGEP) 2026 başvuruları açıldı!
Son gün 23 Ocak 2026.

Detaylar ve başvuru formu bağlantıda.
bilimakademisi.org/bagep-2026-b...

For years, I've been trying to find a quick-start guide for new lab assistants to get up to speed with R. Many tutorials are either too easy or too difficult, so I created a more realistic learning progression myself. Should be useful not just for students but PIs and lab managers as well.

Part 3 - Download messy data as CSV and API, and learn how to clean, format and visualize complex datasets: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHPG...

Part 2 - Create/modify Comma Separated Values-based dataframes: www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5Y6...

As our world descends further into chaos, I have three new lecture videos geared towards data science newcomers. In three videos, I show you how to:
Part 1 - Download R and find your way around RStudio: www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2eJ...

Interesting.

"Grokipedia’s generation process elaborates on existing material...rather than producing substantively new or more rigorously sourced knowledge"

"[Grokipedia] mirrors Wikipedia’s informational scope but... favor[s] narrative expansion over citation-based verification"

this, but for reviewer-2

"Academic" is just a fancy job title for Elsevier's content creators.

BJPolS abstract discussing how threats of interstate conflicts affect American voters' support for candidates who violate democratic principles.

NEW -

Interstate Conflict Increases the Appeal of Undemocratic Candidates - https://cup.org/3Lx7bjx

"undemocratic candidates are evaluated more positively under conflict compared to peace"

- @kristianvsf.bsky.social & Lasse Laustsen

#OpenAccess

Data science people; which free APIs do you use to teach students how to use them? I'm searching for some free (can be registration-based) APIs I can use to teach students how to get and use API keys to get some good online open data. 😇

Meta AI adviser spreads disinformation about shootings, vaccines and trans people Critics condemn Robby Starbuck, appointed in lawsuit settlement, for ‘peddling lies and pushing extremism’ A prominent anti-DEI campaigner appointed by Meta in August as an adviser on AI bias has spent the weeks since his appointment spreading disinformation about shootings, transgender people, vaccines, crime, and protests. Robby Starbuck, 36, of Nashville, was appointed in August as an adviser by Meta – owner of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and other tech platforms – in an August lawsuit settlement. Continue reading...

Meta AI adviser spreads disinformation about shootings, vaccines and trans people

This looks almost painfully relevant right now 👇

Doja cat in a dress the same shape as the eye of Sauron.

The Eye of Sauron.

celebrities as lord of the rings characters: thread

Breaking news: ICE stops family at gunpoint—smash car window on top of newborn baby.

"I was screaming that there was a baby. But they didn’t care," cried mother.

“I covered my baby with my body—I was so scared he was going to be hurt because glass was landing on him."

Munich drone sightings force airport to cancel flights in latest Europe disruption The German airport was forced to suspend operations, in the latest drone disruption to European aviation Drone sightings over Munich airport on Thursday evening forced air traffic control to suspend operations, leading to the cancellation of 17 flights and disrupting travel for nearly 3,000 passengers in the German city. Another 15 arriving flights were diverted to Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Vienna and Frankfurt, the airport said in a statement, marking the latest drone disruption to European aviation after sightings temporarily shut airports in Denmark and Norway last week. Continue reading...

Munich drone sightings force airport to cancel flights in latest Europe disruption

MADELEINE DEAN: The president is unhinged. He's unwell

JOHNSON: A lot of folks on your side are too

D: Oh my god, please. That performance in front of the generals?

J: I didn't see it

D: It's so dangerous! Our allies are looking elsewhere. Our enemies are laughing. You have a POTUS who's unwell.

Wp EXCLUSIVE White House considers funding advantage for colleges that align with Trump policies The proposal could potentially transform the government's vast research funding operation, which has long awarded university grants based on scientific merit. Today at 6:00 a.m. EDT

Awarding scientific grants based on scientific merit? That pales in comparison to my strategy, giving grants based on political loyalty

www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...

Britain may already be at war with Russia, former head of MI5 says Eliza Manningham-Buller points to extent of cyber-attacks and other hostile activity orchestrated by Moscow Britain may already be at war with Russia because of the depth and intensity of cyber-attacks, sabotage and other hostile activity orchestrated by Moscow against the UK, according to a former head of MI5. Eliza Manningham-Buller, who led the domestic spy agency two decades ago, said she agreed with comments made by the Russia expert Fiona Hill, who argued in a Guardian interview earlier this year that Moscow was at war with the west. Continue reading...

Britain may already be at war with Russia, former head of MI5 says

Basic Data Operations with R for Beginners | Akin Unver Ever wanted to “get into” data science but felt like the entry requirements included a PhD, three nervous breakdowns, and a minor in alchemic sorcery? You’ve sat through “introductory” R/Python lectu...

As our world descends further into chaos, I have two new introductory tutorials on data science with R for first timers www.linkedin.com/posts/akinun...

When autocratization is reversed: episodes of U-Turns since 1900 The world is in a “wave of autocratization.” Yet, recent events in Brazil, the Maldives, and Zambia demonstrate that autocratization can be halted and reversed. This article introduces “U-Turn” as ...

“52% of all autocratization episodes become U-Turns, which increases to 73% when focusing on the last 30 years. The vast majority of U-Turns (90%) lead to restored or even improved levels of democracy”

V-Dem data

Censorship Is the Authoritarian’s Dream The right to free expression must include the right to say horrible and evil things.

"More professors in the United States have been fired for controversial views in the past week than any other week in all of American history." www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

Opinion | The Billionaire Trump Supporter Who Will Soon Own the News

The Orbanization of America…

“Two independent journalistic voices, CBS News and CNN, could soon be combined into something potentially almost unrecognizable, something way too close to what is served up on a daily basis by the Murdochs.” www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/o...