just watched a presentation by a guy who is using an algorithm to track humpback whale movements so that this can be used to lobby shipping companies to alter route timings to lessen danger to them and this is the kind of AI I'm into
Melissa House
@mkinthehouse.bsky.social
Alpine Masters racer, civic tech software engineer with U.S. Digital Response.
Pride started as an act of protest, but Pride is also a celebration.🏳️🌈 Pride doesn't end in June — we must continue to celebrate Pride and be joyful in the face of uncertainty and fear. Joy is an act of resistance. Especially in moments designed to create fear, joy becomes its own form of defiance.
The Romancing the Vote fundraiser auction is back! This year it’s supporting Vote Riders and The Southern Coalition for Social Justice. I won a curated reading list from the ladies of the Smut Report in 2024, and it was so fun. Get over there and check out all of the great items up for auction.
Romancing the Vote 2026
Silent auction 'Romancing the Vote 2026' hosted online at 32auctions.
32auctions.com
To overcome racial inequality, we must confront our history. (@eji.org) calendar.eji.org/racial-injus...
Jun. 19, 1865 | Juneteenth
Learn more about our history of racial injustice.
calendar.eji.org
"This is a story about why we can't have nice things."
Free, Easy, Dead: The Difficult Birth And Predictable Death Of IRS Direct File | Defector
Like the universe itself, the United States tax code is ever-expanding, and no one can claim to know its exact size. There are statutes enacted by Congress; implementing regulations issued by the Trea...
defector.com
There is no clearer case for the necessity of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 than how quickly southern states moved to eliminate Black-majority districts and dilute Black power after SCOTUS eroded Section 2. SCOTUS’s reasoning was immediately disproven by reality.
Thank you, Fulton County for fighting the DOJ subpoena! Exposing thousands of poll workers' personal info will make them fear for their safety and drive them away. Many are seniors serving their community. Elections in this country run on volunteers. Don't destroy that.
Fulton County pushes back on DOJ effort to obtain election workers’ names
Election officials in Fulton County, Ga., are asking a federal judge to block the Justice Department (DOJ) from obtaining the identities of thousands of individuals who worked on the 2020 election.…
thehill.com
We must understand that the Voting Rights Act was not merely about ensuring Black Americans rights, it was about democratizing America. This ruling is not just a decimation of Black rights and Black Americans’ ability to have representation, it is a fatal blow to multiracial democracy.
One of the most clarifying passages I've ever read on what "polarization" actually means in the U.S."
Jake Grumbach@jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 3mo agoGiven the argument that ended the VRA, I think it’s time liberals did some self reflection about the now decades long obsession with partisan polarization as the problem, as opposed to authoritarianism, extremism, oligarchy, and racism
Reminder that any political party trying to make it harder to vote is sending a clear message: they can't win on their ideas alone.
The court has simply recreated the pre-Brown world in allowing racial discrimination across a broad number fields as long as it is “facially neutral,” gutting the Reconstruction Amendments in the process.
Our team at @usdigitalresponse.org is hiring a Product Design Lead! Come work on the Elections team at USDR, I love the people I work with. This role will shape the user experience of tools that support resource-limited election officials in running secure, efficient elections.
Product Design Lead, Elections at U.S. Digital Response
About U.S. Digital Response U.S. Digital Response (USDR) works alongside state, local, and tribal governments to modernize how they deliver digital services and better meet the public's needs. We envi...
us-digital-response.breezy.hr
I made a bot that will post "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," clip by clip, between now and Christmas Eve. That's 12–13 clips daily, 24/7, just so you know what you'd be getting into. (Clips will auto-delete a few days after being posted.) It starts now.
🏆 Join us Dec 2 for the Digital Service Champions Awards! Celebrating government teams & civic tech champions transforming how digital services meet community needs. Free virtual event, 12 PM PT / 3 PM ET RSVP: usdigitalresponse-org.zoom.us/meeting/regi... #CivicTech #GovTech #DigitalGovernment
"save your anger for 2026" wait you think I'll run out in a year this is why I hate amateurs
🏆 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
#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.
OAH | Federal Employees and Contractors Oral History Project (FECOHP)OAH | Federal Employees and Contractors Oral History Project (FECOHP)
oah.org
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...
Bay Area's infamous haunted Toys R Us finally gets new tenant
Since the '70s, the haunted Toys R Us has been one of the Bay Area's most popular ghost...
sfgate.com
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?
jamelle@jamellebouie.net · last yr.did a video on jim crow as part of my american history series on youtube youtu.be/FdCf0rQmY-s
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.
Just saw a comedian say "If vaccines caused autism then America would have trains" and I almost spit out my drink.