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Kate Cox

@kcoxdc.bsky.social

8.9K followers 310 following 2.7K posts

Now: Running Decoder @ The Verge. Earlier: editor/reporter for Protocol, Ars Technica, CQ Roll Call, Consumerist, and Kotaku; decades of other writing strewn across the internet. Boston-born, now DC-dwelling. She/her.

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Kate Cox @kcoxdc.bsky.social · 20h

Electric Company was still airing in my memory but all in reruns, and I mixed up a lot of their bits with Sesame St bits in my head until YouTube finally came along and let me call any of them all up on demand haha

Kate Cox @kcoxdc.bsky.social · 20h

You know what *really* lodged in my head? Everything from Square One. To this day if I come across the Fibonacci sequence I think "one one two three five eureka SQUAWK"

Kate Cox @kcoxdc.bsky.social · 21h

Also we have a leak on one faucet so husband called a plumber and the doorbell just rang.

Naturally, I said: "It's the plumber!! He's come to fix the sink!!" and nobody in my house appreciated this. Boooooo.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTEe...

Electric Company - The Plumber

YouTube video by Jim Turner

www.youtube.com

Kate Cox @kcoxdc.bsky.social · 21h

I have learned a lot (a lot, a LOT) of things since I started this job two years ago but one of the ones I am constantly surprised by is the sheer depth and passion of feeling everyone seems to have about CarPlay

Kate Cox @kcoxdc.bsky.social · 1d

I mean, I guess sometimes it's interesting but I do agree that it seems like... it's like the assumption in some quarters that an author must share personal experiences with the characters in their novels, or that someone singing a song in the first person *is* the narrator. Not helpful.

Kate Cox @kcoxdc.bsky.social · 1d

I feel like writing music like I do about writing words, you can write whatever is on your plate each day when you wake up but sometimes a specific mood will strike you and direct you to writing a certain way for a while.

Kate Cox @kcoxdc.bsky.social · 2d

I am so sorry. I know it doesn't help, really, but all the sympathy and peaceful thoughts in the world to you from an internet stranger, who just had to sit by a cancer deathbed in July.

Kate Cox @kcoxdc.bsky.social · 2d

As someone who got away with handing in first drafts all the way through grad school and pretty far into professional writing as well -- it was indeed deeply, deeply eye-opening haha

Kate Cox @kcoxdc.bsky.social · 2d

I feel like I truly began to understand and appreciate the role of editors and copy editors in media organizations when bloggers first landed and then again when substackers did. (And, you know. When I myself made the jump to editor lol. That too.)

Kate Cox @kcoxdc.bsky.social · 2d

All the money in the world but they couldn't spend the time on proper direction for them. Sad really.

Kate Cox @kcoxdc.bsky.social · 2d

You know what was wild, was seeing this and Black Panther 2 on back to back weekends and therefore very clearly having the comparison for how muddied and bad all the water action filming / VFX were in the latter.

Kate Cox @kcoxdc.bsky.social · 2d

Just walked past an elementary school (K-5) playground and there were two or three classes out having recess and *literally all* the 50+ kids were singing "Golden" together at the top of their lungs while they played, not sure I have ever seen anything quite like it

Kate Cox @kcoxdc.bsky.social · 2d

Man, I have a lot of feelings about this as a game-permissive but internet-restrictive parent with a 7th grader and a 2nd grader haha.

www.pewresearch.org/internet/202...

How parents describe their kids’ tech use

Screen time has long been a hot topic for parents. Many think that parenting has gotten harder over the years, with technology being a key reason why.

www.pewresearch.org

Kate Cox @kcoxdc.bsky.social · 3d

all day, every day

Kate Cox @kcoxdc.bsky.social · 3d

I literally met my spouse on AOL forums, back in ye day, and was able to do my entire pivot-to-journalism careerwise because of Early Twitter connections. The internet can be great when you let it.

Kate Cox @kcoxdc.bsky.social · 3d

One of these days I'm going to see a flyover alert *before* I wonder why the hell I just heard fighter jets

Gracipher @gracipher.bsky.social · 3d

[AlertDC] The U.S. Military will conduct an aircraft flyover in the National Capital Region (NCR) over Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday, October 8, 2025, at 11:07AM. This replaces the previously announced flyover time of 11:10AM.

Kate Cox @kcoxdc.bsky.social · 3d

...

all I'm gonna say is that we did *this* last year and I am definitely not CNN.

Intuit asked us to delete part of this Decoder episode

Intuit CEO Sasan Goodarzi claims it’s not accurate the company lobbies against free tax filing.

www.theverge.com

Kate Cox @kcoxdc.bsky.social · 3d

...CNN did *what*?

Kate Cox @kcoxdc.bsky.social · 4d

(that said, most of why I play supergiant games is for the score so I'm happy hahahahaha)

Kate Cox @kcoxdc.bsky.social · 4d

for me it just has a couple too many systems haha, it did the thing sequels often do and added too much to an otherwise elegant system. maybe it'll click for me if I can ever beat chronos lolol but I really only have time for 1, maybe 2 runs a day so it's slow going.

Kate Cox @kcoxdc.bsky.social · 4d

It's, you know. Fine! I'm having mostly fun. Sometimes it's satisfying. But it's absolutely not that grab-you-by-the-throat, Just One More Run!!! hook for me the first game was.

Kate Cox @kcoxdc.bsky.social · 4d

Every October, with each terrifyingly loud thump on the roof or on the neighbors' car, I want to track down the person who planted a black walnut tree on the property line 30+ years ago and ask them what the entire hell they were thinking.

Kate Cox @kcoxdc.bsky.social · 4d

My college roommate in '99 loved Hampsterdance but would not believe me that the sped-up song they danced to was from Disney's Robin Hood and we had a surprisingly large fight over it.

Internet Archive @archive.org · 4d

🐹 Before viral videos on TikTok or YouTube, there was Hampsterdance.

Full of dancing hamster GIFs & a sped-up tune, it became one of the internet’s first viral hits.

You can still dance to it on the #WaybackMachine ➡️ web.archive.org/web/19991222...

#Wayback1T

🧵

Kate Cox @kcoxdc.bsky.social · 4d

Spite has carried me forward for the last 40+ years and, universe willing, for another 40+ as well

Kate Cox @kcoxdc.bsky.social · 4d

I am so glad my whole family already had ours for 2025 and already pre-emptively so, so tired for dealing with anything in fall '26.

NPR @npr.org · 4d

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention accepted a controversial recommendation from outside vaccine advisers to tighten guidelines for the COVID vaccine.

The CDC says people must consult a health professional before COVID shot

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention accepted a controversial recommendation from outside vaccine advisers to tighten guidelines for the COVID vaccine.