The frogs are very loud today. Distractingly loud.

🏆 The 2025 Digital Service Champions Awards are accepting nominations! We're celebrating government teams & civic tech individuals modernizing digital services. Know someone who: Built solutions helping multiple jurisdictions? Delivered impact at lightning speed? Innovated despite constraints?

It's time to recognize those making government work better for everyone. 🚀 Nominations open: Now - Oct 7 Government Awards: usdr.link/champions-go... Individual Awards: usdr.link/champions-in... #CivicTech #GovTech

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#fedworkers share your story! The Federal Employees & Contractors Oral History Project is officially underway: www.oah.org/fecohp/ Red or blue, RIF'd or still working, they want to hear from you and preserve your stories & experiences.

Yeah, a lot of the time I feel like AI boosters are people who think they loved Hitchhikers Guide but didn’t get the joke

Good morning, election data nerds! Here's a Monday morning present for you: we've finished updating our county-level presidential election results dataset to include 2024. The full dataset (covering 2000-2024) is now available on our Dataverse: buff.ly/eUGYc1h

In the Cupertino area for the weekend and it’s becoming a tour of me evangelizing how great the world outside Silicon Valley is. More importantly, the haunted Toys “R” Us i used to drive past is now an REI and I must know of there are new stories of strangeness. www.sfgate.com/local/articl...

I’m doing history content on YouTube. This is my latest video! Like and subscribe if you want to see more! And what should I tackle next? I am thinking of doing a video on the varieties of antislavery in antebellum America. Maybe also the 3/5ths Compromise?

Many years ago, my husband had a big Siri oops: Me: got dinner, heading home Him: you stupid b**** (He was trying to use Siri to reply, but she kept saying she didn't understand. When he cursed at her, that's when she replied. Thankfully, I realized this right away.) Today we have another one.

Maybe the most important part of my job at @usdigitalresponse.org is teaching leadership in government agencies how software is built, so they can understand a) what's a fair price to pay and b) how long it should take to create. It's such a simple intervention, but wow it does a lot of good.

How the hate Will fix anything Is a mystery to me. It’s like mothering A toddler and thinking If they fall and scrape Their knee, you can Scream at them until They cease to bleed. #vss365 #scrape

Just saw a comedian say "If vaccines caused autism then America would have trains" and I almost spit out my drink.

Software paid for by tax dollars should be open source. Period.

IRS’s Direct File wasn't open source while it was being developed. But somebody just made it public!

Anyone need a password break? Please enjoy Lucille Ball and Betty White in 1981 throw a masterclass on how to play.

Please email your congresspeople to oppose this week's funding bills that would grant unchecked power to revoke nonprofit orgs' tax exempt status. Here's an easy form.

@usdigitalresponse.org has a new blog post: Raised hands, changed lives: five years of USDR volunteer impact. I started as a volunteer in 2020, and now I'm staff and still working on projects that spark joy while helping partners. Glad our volunteer program is still strong and many others can, too.

The amazing Rebecca Heywood (@kdyz.bsky.social), USDR's Governments Team Lead, is ELGL's #2 top influencer in local government! Rebecca, you are a joy to work with and I am thrilled your work is continuing to be recognized.

The FTC is requesting comments from social media users about online censorship. To ensure that this does not become a mechanism to justify greater governmental control over online speech, Don't Delete Art has provided a boilerplate text for you to include/incorporate. www.dontdelete.art/ftc-response

Wait, does Disney own the rights to Rocky Horror? Does that make Magenta and Columbia Disney princesses?

Okay but hear me out: An emotional support library ghost.

ppl keep mistaking Jurassic Park for a survival film against dinosaurs when it's actually a survival film against startup culture

It’s fish doorbell season!

That’s the back of my head on the right side of the photo. The session was hilarious and I loved it.

Just boarded a plane, and the women behind me are talking about starting to buy extra TP and canned goods. Here we go.

🧱 We’re building something bold and we need YOUR help. WTB is launching nonprofit newsroom + civic tech hub to defend public service, preserve federal knowledge, and fight back against disinformation. If you believe in facts, public service, and accountability, join us! givebutter.com/WTB

We're sorry we couldn't make it, of course—but you're going to want to hear @waldo.net tell this story. (The presentation starts about 8 minutes in at www.youtube.com/watch?v=olm9.... Short version: *How* government pursues software modernization matters.)

This behind-the-scenes look from 18F's @matthenry.fyi gets at the heart of our approach to improving government services: you've got to talk to—and learn from—the people who use them.

We finally got snow in Tahoe! A few photos from Palisades Tahoe today. The last one shows a couple of patrol-triggered avalanches off of KT-22.

"'I’m just trying to do my goddamn job,' DiMartini said. 'They have no idea who they picked a f—king fight with.'" 💥💥 newrepublic.com/post/192478/...

Wiped out or fired up? ❤️‍🔥Thank you so much to @matteowong.bsky.social for writing about us!

In honor of her 100th victory, Mikaela Shiffrin partnered with Share Winter to raise $100,000 to make snow sports accessible to kids who, historically, have been shut out of them.

A lesson in how claims of meritocracy as justification for opposing DEI are often cover for the demand that we return to a system of preference for white men - whatever their qualifications. Fire a qualified Black man. Hire a statutorily unqualified white man. www.washingtonpost.com/national-sec...

watched some reacher on the treadmill today and i do love that we have a whole franchise whose central premise is “what if a man were really big”

So if you criticize Elon Musk, Trump’s DOJ will send you this letter. Members of Congress must have the right to forcefully oppose the Trump Administration. I will not be silenced.

Keith Haring died of AIDS aged 31 on 16 Feb 1990. One of his last works, Unfinished Painting, was deliberately incomplete, reflecting the devastating, unquantifiable loss to the arts due to AIDS. #LGBTplusHistoryMonth

Can you sue the president for creating a toxic work environment?

~85% of federal workers live outside of the National Capitol Region. They are: 👩‍🚒 Firefighters 👩‍⚕️ VA doctors 🧑‍🔬 Scientists 👨‍💼 Air traffic controllers 🌲 Park rangers They are our neighbors, friends, and family. Let’s show them some #FedLove today.

On Feb. 13 at 3pm Eastern, MuckRock will host an event with organizations that are helping lead the efforts to preserve the public’s data.

It's #FedLove week! Spread the #FedLove this week by showcasing the impact of amazing public servants around the country--telling the stories of how they make the world better behind the scenes. 1/

What are the most significant threats to voting rights, and which cases should you be keeping an eye on? Our guide takes you through them and explains what's at stake: boltsmag.org/voting-...

#Hiring: Join our team! We're looking for a Research Advisor and an Epidemiology Advisor. Apply now! #IDSky #AidSky #MedSky

The CFPB homepage is a 404 error, which seems bad. www.consumerfinance.gov

It feels like no one should have to say this, and yet we are in a situation where it needs to be said, very loudly and clearly, before it’s too late to do anything about it: The United States is not a startup. If you run it like one, it will break. 🔗 www.wired.com/story/the-us...

States and doctors file suit to block Trump order re: transgender health care, calling it "blatantly unconstitutional." storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Not feeling good about other places I've posted personal stuff. So, here's a personal thing. Two years ago I had a bad injury to my right knee while skiing. Had surgery and put in a lot of work. A week ago, I finished a Masters slalom race and I was OK and had fun! Here's a photo of me in the race.

Even if you can't safely protest like me, you CAN make a call. Emails can be ignored. Phone calls frankly terrify Legislators, especially in large numbers. Capital Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 5calls.org - helpful scripts to start and easy lookup of your reps/senators.

I have been doing some accessibility training recently, and I am just...agog...that these f*ckers want to roll back accessibility initiatives too. Every American in some way benefits from progressive changes to accessibility. Every single one.