Are companies paying a lot for "I'm not a robot" captchas or are they just delay spinners that make you wait longer than any robot will put up with

Chase DeLauter is currently on track to hit 324 home runs this season

I've never heard a Bad Bunny song in my life until today, and I haven't understood Spanish since I was a senior in high school. But that halftime show was just brilliant. Joyous, awesome. 10/10.

The Cavs halftime show. What??!?!??! #NBA

Cleveland will hold a counter-protest at Huntington Bank Field, running 1995 clips of people booing, pulling the chairs out of Municipal and burning Art Model in effigy, soundtrack by Nirvana and Trent Reznor

ProFootballTalk@profootballtalk.bsky.social · 11mo ago

On Sunday, the Ravens will commence the celebration of 30 years in Baltimore. And the opponent, of course, will be the Browns. www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootb...

Shot: "The last [18F] report urged the courts to 'start small.'" Chaser: "In mid-2022, the administrative office awarded a five-year, $298 million contract to General Dynamics Information Technology." www.nytimes.com/2025/09/03/u...

Federal Courts Slow to Fix Vulnerable System After Repeated Hacking

nytimes.com

Nobody asked for Americans to need tax preparers or filers at all.

Direct File is now open source. Finally. A short, personal post about why: chrisgiven.com/2025/05/dire... Massive kudos to the Direct File team for pulling this off and showing their commitment to transparency and earning trust.

We have some news to share with you. 🥄 Today we took legal action to challenge our termination, filing an appeal with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board. We did this because we believe the elimination of 18F violated safeguards that exist to protect a nonpartisan civil service.

18F files legal challenge

A statement about 18F’s appeal filed with the U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board.

18f.org

Outstanding thread for Canada's Election Day

James McLeod@jamespmcleod.ca · last yr.

A lot of Americans don't know this, but the winner of the Canadian election will be required live in a small cottage located in the backyard of the palace where the viceroy to the King of England lives. The cottage just recently got a new wifi router, which was very exciting for all Canadians.

RIP Richie Havens, who died 12 years ago today. Boy, this cover hits differently now youtu.be/JltNLkh03ME?...

Richie Havens "License To Kill"

YouTube video by powerplaynetworks

youtu.be

A guy in our neighborhood has been posting a dad joke in their front yard every day since the pandemic started, and he chose today to get violent

A quick story about big "bloated" systems that people love to hate. When I was at Microsoft a million years ago, I had a friend on the MS Word team who told me this one. (I got the details second-hand; MSFT friends, please correct me.)

18F had already saved the US government over a billion dollars in cost avoidance by the time I left in early 2017. No doubt it and TTS have saved much more since then -- all for the cost of a couple hundred civil servants' comp and benefits annually.

Alt US Digital Service@altusds.altgov.info · last yr.

@alt18f.bsky.social saved taxpayers billions, modernized digital services, and made government work better. 💡Now, DOGE has shut it down—eliminating projects that served voters, refugees, military personnel, and more. Read about 18F’s impact ⬇️ 🔗 www.wethebuilders.org/posts/what-i... #altgov #18f

@alt18f.bsky.social saved taxpayers billions, modernized digital services, and made government work better. 💡Now, DOGE has shut it down—eliminating projects that served voters, refugees, military personnel, and more. Read about 18F’s impact ⬇️ 🔗 www.wethebuilders.org/posts/what-i... #altgov #18f

18F story behind my favorite government website: www.ustaxcourt.gov/dawson.html

I'm told some DC AUSAs got those pizza-threats too. Absolutely beyond the pale.

Lawrence Hurley@lawrencehurley.bsky.social · last yr.

"several federal judges in the Washington D.C. area had received pizzas sent anonymously to their homes, which is being interpreted by law enforcement as a form of intimidation meant to convey that a target’s address is known." www.reuters.com/world/us/jud...

(1/3) It needs repeating: in 1994, Ukraine was persuaded to give up its nuclear weapons to Russia in return for the US, the UK, and Russia guaranteeing Ukraine’s sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity.


You might know us from the guides we have put together, like the de-risking guide and the UX guide. Governments all around the world have used them to make services more accessible and add more value to the public — all while saving millions of dollars. You can still find them here: 18f.org/guides/

18F Guides

A central resource for all 18F guides and methods

18f.org

What happens when you force mission-driven, impact-craving public servants out of their job, their career? I have no idea. I don’t think they all pack it in and go work for Fortune 500s. Somebody who could harness their energy and experience would reap big benefits.

18F alum here. While I appreciate the well-deserved attention the 18F team is getting, let's address a fundamental misunderstanding of why 18F was so effective in working with other govt agencies to improve their digital services and why starting a consulting company is not a substitute. 1/

Mark Cuban@mcuban.bsky.social · last yr.

If you worked for 18F and got fired, Group together to start a consulting company. It’s just a matter of time before DOGE needs you to fix the mess they inevitably create. They will have to hire your company as a contractor to fix it. But on your terms. I’m happy to invest and/or help

You should know that a big part of 18F's work was to make sure multi-million to multi-*hundreds*-of-millions dollar contracts at fed *and* state level didn't go to shitty enterprise IT consultancies that *repeatedly* delivered tech that didn't work, was late, or didn't even do what it needed to

This is a good instinct @mcuban.bsky.social + so glad you're tuned into this. I don't think DOGE will ever turn back to 18F. But there are huge opportunities to invest now in a post-DOGE future of government services that's not just more efficient but more secure and transparent to the public.

Mark Cuban@mcuban.bsky.social · last yr.

If you worked for 18F and got fired, Group together to start a consulting company. It’s just a matter of time before DOGE needs you to fix the mess they inevitably create. They will have to hire your company as a contractor to fix it. But on your terms. I’m happy to invest and/or help

former colleagues from 18F have asked me to share this open letter widely - please pass on 🙏 🇺🇸 💻💪 18f.org

Confirming what others have discussed or reported, 18F, the elite tech consultancy within TTS/GSA, was formally disbanded overnight. There’s a formal RIF, the legal system in which the government downsizes/layoff people. I’m told it’s 60 days on leave for all involved.

Mourning 18F’s elimination as a former employee but even more so as a former 18F agency customer. Unlike DOGE, 18F did the hard work of cultural transformation and sharing their methods with other Feds as they helped improve services. They weren’t just techies, they were teachers.

Ryan Mac 🙃@rmac.bsky.social · last yr.

18F, a digital services unit inside the General Services Administration, has been completely laid off, according to an email I’ve seen. The email says that 18F was deemed “non-critical” and the decision was made with the “explicit” direction of the administration and GSA leadership.

working at 18F was a highlight of my career: smart, passionate, dedicated people doing work to lessen friction and make people’s lives a little easier.