1 year after releasing @epiRHandbook, Applied Epi is launching an expanded suite of R support services for public health: live courses, free tutorials, a community discussion forum, R packages, report templates, and case studies! https://t.co/JhPwutsuoZ 1/10 #rstats #epitwitter

🌍 Join the Board of Applied Epi! We’re seeking new Board Members passionate about global health & Epidemiology. Help guide a nonprofit that trains 1000s worldwide in data-driven public health response. ⏰ ~2 hrs/month | Apply by 31 Dec 2025 🔗

🌍 Join the Board of Applied Epi! We’re seeking new Board Members passionate about global health & Epidemiology. Help guide a nonprofit that trains 1000s worldwide in data-driven public health response. ⏰ ~2 hrs/month | Apply by 31 Dec 2025 🔗

We're hiring!🥳 Applied Epi is looking for a capable epidemiologist for a full-time 1-year remote contractor position. Take a look at our website for more details on the role and how to apply: https://t.co/Ml4MSNKZps... Application deadline: July 31, 2025.

🚨 Rare opportunity! Our advanced R courses start end of July: 📈 Time series & outbreak detection 📊 Stats in R 🗺️ GIS in R 🖥️ Shiny in R 📝 Advanced R Markdown Plus: Lots of Intro to R courses running all summer! 🌞 🔗

Also, available right now, for free: Join thousands at https://t.co/9Q43Ogpzb9 Use https://t.co/PYLscdnd9K (used by millions) Learn from interactive R tutorials in EN, FR, ES, & PR:

“I’ve taken several R trainings - this is the BEST!” New courses posted! Intro to R for public health: 40 hours part-time, synchronous, with unlimited 1-on-1 coaching (24/7) and options for ALL time zones. Register: https://t.co/zyCxMj6gB5 #epitwitter #Rstats #publichealth

📢 Last week to apply for the Applied Epi scholarships! Transition your team to R with free or discounted courses and services. 🗓️ Apply by Feb 10, 2025! 🌐 https://t.co/6WwIwit6oj

📢 Ready to move your team to R? Applied Epi’s scholarships are OPEN! ✅ Funding available for teams in LMICs ✅ Even teams of 1 can apply with leadership support ✅ Deadline: Feb 10, 2025 Apply today: 🌐 https://t.co/6WwIwitEdR

🚨 Applications NOW OPEN for 2025 scholarships! 🚨 💡 For teams in low- & middle-income countries working in public health or epidemiology, this is your chance to access funding for R courses and support services. 🗓️ Deadline: Feb 10, 2025 🌐 Apply here: https://t.co/6WwIwitEdR

🎉 R scholarship applications open on January 20! If your team (government or nonprofit) works in applied epidemiology in a low- or middle-income country, you could get access to our Intro to R course and Support Desk! Details: https://t.co/ZimrOwWABy #Rstats #epitwitter

The main takeaways are: 1) Ggplot customization possibilities are pretty endless. 2) Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you all! 🎄🎄🎄

That code shows other cool things too, like how we added in a new font ("Grand Hotel") for the ggplot title. We used the {showtext} package for this: font_add_google() loads the font from Google Fonts, and showtext_auto() ensures R applies the font to the plot.

Repeatedly rerunning the code is quite fun

And how did we get Santa's coordinates? Since he didn't share his location, we created a function (get_random_night_coords()) to randomly generate coordinates of a location with a current local time between 11pm and 3am, assuming those are his working hours! Close enough!

Both of these figures are created with ggplot2, and use a saved PNG file of Santa. geom_image() from {ggimage} places the image at specified coordinates, reading from the file path. Here's the ggplot code for the second figure:

And if you want his current location:

🎄 Merry Christmas Eve, everyone! 🎄 To wrap up this advent calendar, here’s our final tip: Did you know you can use custom icons and images in ggplot? Check out this festive example—Santa’s (surprisingly inefficient?) route tonight! 🎅✨ #DataViz #RStats

coalesce() is from the {dplyr} package. It returns the first non-missing value from a set of columns, based on the order you specify. It’s not just for dates, but for any use-case where you need to pick one value from across columns!

Today's post is for anyone with bdays this time of the year. Including our Exec Director, an expert in "combo Xmas/bday" presents! Happy birthday Neale! On that note, ever work with multiple date columns but need to pick one? Use coalesce() to easily prioritize a value! #Rstats

Can you recommend any other holiday or Christmas-related R packages? We'd love to know!