Erin Kissane
@kissane.myatproto.social
Making and mending networks and knowledge. Working and thinking at wrecka.ge, building at Unbreaking.org.
Cofounded the Covid Tracking Project, previously OpenNews, old web nonsense.
Cofounded the Covid Tracking Project, previously OpenNews, old web nonsense.
Pinned
Erin Kissane
@kissane.myatproto.social
· Oct 22
Trump Administration's Arrival on Bluesky Highlights Growing Pains for Open Networks | TechPolicy.Press
The administration’s antagonistic entry to the platform is best understood as a game of chicken, writes Erin Kissane.
www.techpolicy.press
There was already a *lot* going on with Bluesky, and now it's under even more pressure. I wrote about how I think about moderation, affordances, expectations, human needs, and powerful trolls for @techpolicypress.bsky.social
www.techpolicy.press/trump-admini...
www.techpolicy.press/trump-admini...
I will never fault anyone for using canned pumpkin but I have to say, doing it the ridiculously hard way paid off.
November 25, 2025 at 5:07 AM
I will never fault anyone for using canned pumpkin but I have to say, doing it the ridiculously hard way paid off.
Look, I just don't like books in which it is easy to tell what is happening.
November 24, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Look, I just don't like books in which it is easy to tell what is happening.
Reposted by Erin Kissane
Being told that you wrote something that inspired someone else to make something is about as good a compliment as a self-publisher can get. I heard that a bunch with this text in 2025. Wanna get a cheap gift for zine makers your life? I hope you'll consider this. halfletterpress.com/PCpublic-pub...
Public Publishing Diary / Why Self-Publish Under Fascism?
Public Collectors publication #105 combines the text Why Self-Publish Under Fascism? with other recent writing on publishing and a fun selection of messy studio photos.
halfletterpress.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:21 PM
Being told that you wrote something that inspired someone else to make something is about as good a compliment as a self-publisher can get. I heard that a bunch with this text in 2025. Wanna get a cheap gift for zine makers your life? I hope you'll consider this. halfletterpress.com/PCpublic-pub...
The only truly excellent pumpkin pie is Julia Child’s Aunt Helen’s made with specific recipe mods (drop sugar, do not whip those whites) and high-maintenance homegrown pumpkins. Others are okay as objects of nostalgia.
Tell me your Thanksgiving Dinner Hot Takes.
I’ll start:
— Sweet Potato Pie is VASTLY superior to Pumpkin Pie
— The best turkey in the world is not as good as an average roast chicken.
— Stuffing should not actually be stuffed inside the bird for several reasons but mostly: Ew
I’ll start:
— Sweet Potato Pie is VASTLY superior to Pumpkin Pie
— The best turkey in the world is not as good as an average roast chicken.
— Stuffing should not actually be stuffed inside the bird for several reasons but mostly: Ew
November 24, 2025 at 12:17 AM
The only truly excellent pumpkin pie is Julia Child’s Aunt Helen’s made with specific recipe mods (drop sugar, do not whip those whites) and high-maintenance homegrown pumpkins. Others are okay as objects of nostalgia.
Menswear Guy busting out CARDINAL NEWMAN was not on my bingo card I love this website
This reminds me of Cardinal John Henry Newman's book Definition of a Gentleman. I often cite Newman's book because it's so instructive. The term gentleman is so overwrought and frequently abused, but to the degree it means anything at all, I think Newman captures it here:
November 23, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Menswear Guy busting out CARDINAL NEWMAN was not on my bingo card I love this website
What happens when a former vfx guy develops a truly weird visual anomaly that the internet has not yet correctly modeled
I've been "enjoying" scintillating scotomas more often recently. They're difficult to describe, and images online don't really capture it. But the first thing I thought when I saw them was "I should make a shader of this" – so here's a demo, it's pretty close: meetar.github.io/scotoma/
November 23, 2025 at 8:31 PM
What happens when a former vfx guy develops a truly weird visual anomaly that the internet has not yet correctly modeled
it is 2025 and no one can stop me from putting Holiday Lights on my computer
November 23, 2025 at 7:21 PM
it is 2025 and no one can stop me from putting Holiday Lights on my computer
I’m not a skincare poster but I am a steadfast and slightly evangelical fan of Niod’s copper peptides + a couple of cheap things from The Ordinary and they are doing their annual month-long slow sale so if that is a thing you like, heads up.
November 23, 2025 at 6:46 PM
I’m not a skincare poster but I am a steadfast and slightly evangelical fan of Niod’s copper peptides + a couple of cheap things from The Ordinary and they are doing their annual month-long slow sale so if that is a thing you like, heads up.
I have read just enough history to know that the French Revolution was hell on earth for a decade or so but perhaps they did just one or two things right
Twitter pays people based on engagement (views, retweets, comments, etc). It appears that many MAGA accounts are based abroad and they use AI technology to generate low-effort rage bait.
My guess is that this will get worse as AI tech improves. For instance, fake videos of minorities doing crime.
My guess is that this will get worse as AI tech improves. For instance, fake videos of minorities doing crime.
November 23, 2025 at 5:56 PM
I have read just enough history to know that the French Revolution was hell on earth for a decade or so but perhaps they did just one or two things right
Reposted by Erin Kissane
buttondown.com/perfectsente... this week in sentences: money, glacier, sphere, scooter, cabinets, surely, always too many, purple, brainworms, grooved, chocolate chip cookie, canned tomato soup, slender means, actuality
November 23, 2025 at 2:23 PM
buttondown.com/perfectsente... this week in sentences: money, glacier, sphere, scooter, cabinets, surely, always too many, purple, brainworms, grooved, chocolate chip cookie, canned tomato soup, slender means, actuality
Eating your seed corn.
WARN filings expose 4.7k of Amazon's 14k cuts last month. 500 PMs were laid off while engineers (1,800 laid off) were hit hardest, mostly SDE IIs which refutes the "management bloat" narrative.
The trend is clear: Big Tech continues to purge junior roles due to "AI efficiency gains."
The trend is clear: Big Tech continues to purge junior roles due to "AI efficiency gains."
Amazon cut more than 1,800 engineers in record layoffs, despite saying it needs to innovate faster
Nearly 40% of the roughly 4,700 positions Amazon eliminated across Washington, New York, New Jersey and California were engineering jobs.
www.cnbc.com
November 22, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Eating your seed corn.
Coast Guard rescue helicopters keep boat crews from dying when things go wrong. Taking them away to make room for an ICE prison is going to get extremely ugly
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield announced Friday that the state is filing a lawsuit to force the federal government to return a U.S. Coast Guard rescue helicopter to Newport. Lincoln County and the nonprofit Newport Fishermen’s Wives group filed a similar lawsuit.
Two lawsuits seek return of Coast Guard rescue helicopter to Newport
Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield announced Friday that the state is filing a lawsuit to force the federal government to return a U.S. Coast Guard rescue helicopter to Newport. Lincoln County and the nonprofit Newport Fisherman’s Wives group filed a similar lawsuit.
www.opb.org
November 22, 2025 at 3:06 AM
Coast Guard rescue helicopters keep boat crews from dying when things go wrong. Taking them away to make room for an ICE prison is going to get extremely ugly
Reposted by Erin Kissane
Finally, Magic the Gathering quit congress.
November 22, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Finally, Magic the Gathering quit congress.
I think of myself as being quite bad at understanding the inner lives of others so it is always alarming when so many clever people are apparently even worse at it
November 21, 2025 at 11:44 PM
I think of myself as being quite bad at understanding the inner lives of others so it is always alarming when so many clever people are apparently even worse at it
A roundup of personal data consolidation, surveillance, and destruction-of-oversight news from the @unbreaking.org Data Security team, who will surely be having amazing conversations at various dinners next week.
The federal government continues to roll new datasets into its surveillance operation and use them to target immigrants. We learned this week that ICE’s Mobile Companion app now includes driver’s license data:
www.404media.co/this-app-let...
www.404media.co/this-app-let...
This App Lets ICE Track Vehicles and Owners Across the Country
Material viewed by 404 Media shows data giant Thomson Reuters enriches license plate data with marriage, voter, and ownership records. The tool can predict where a car may be in the future.
www.404media.co
November 21, 2025 at 10:23 PM
A roundup of personal data consolidation, surveillance, and destruction-of-oversight news from the @unbreaking.org Data Security team, who will surely be having amazing conversations at various dinners next week.
Reposted by Erin Kissane
With ICE and border patrol goons spreading out across the country, I put together a resource guide for buying, printing, and distributing whistles, based on my own experience. Now is the time to whistle up, hope this helps. dansinker.com/posts/202…
November 21, 2025 at 9:35 PM
With ICE and border patrol goons spreading out across the country, I put together a resource guide for buying, printing, and distributing whistles, based on my own experience. Now is the time to whistle up, hope this helps. dansinker.com/posts/202…
Cuomo had to have watched that, right?
November 21, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Cuomo had to have watched that, right?
Reposted by Erin Kissane
*trying to unlock my phone with my glasses off*
📱: I’ve never seen you before in my life.
*put glasses on*
📱: oh thank GOODness you’re back sir, some hideous monstrosity just tried to break in to god knows what vile ends
📱: I’ve never seen you before in my life.
*put glasses on*
📱: oh thank GOODness you’re back sir, some hideous monstrosity just tried to break in to god knows what vile ends
November 21, 2025 at 7:48 PM
*trying to unlock my phone with my glasses off*
📱: I’ve never seen you before in my life.
*put glasses on*
📱: oh thank GOODness you’re back sir, some hideous monstrosity just tried to break in to god knows what vile ends
📱: I’ve never seen you before in my life.
*put glasses on*
📱: oh thank GOODness you’re back sir, some hideous monstrosity just tried to break in to god knows what vile ends
Building chrono timelines of hundreds of events for topics with very high info volume is that the timelines are incredibly useful for building *our* understanding and maybe to certain researchers, but for most people they can be kinda uninviting. There is just so much stuff.
November 21, 2025 at 6:20 PM
Building chrono timelines of hundreds of events for topics with very high info volume is that the timelines are incredibly useful for building *our* understanding and maybe to certain researchers, but for most people they can be kinda uninviting. There is just so much stuff.
Reposted by Erin Kissane
They're also responsible for one of the best emails I've ever received, when the college office sent out a plea for sightings of Professor Biscuit while conveniently forgetting to mention that he was a cat...(I won't comment on how often a similar email might have gone out about human Professors...)
November 21, 2025 at 1:01 PM
They're also responsible for one of the best emails I've ever received, when the college office sent out a plea for sightings of Professor Biscuit while conveniently forgetting to mention that he was a cat...(I won't comment on how often a similar email might have gone out about human Professors...)
Spoiler the hosts’ uncontrollable wheezing and swearing starts around the 32 min mark
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i...
Sapiens
Podcast Episode · If Books Could Kill · 11/20/2025 · 1h 38m
podcasts.apple.com
November 21, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Spoiler the hosts’ uncontrollable wheezing and swearing starts around the 32 min mark
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i...
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i...
was unprepared for florence and her machine elves to show up with literal julian of norwich
November 21, 2025 at 4:07 PM
was unprepared for florence and her machine elves to show up with literal julian of norwich
Reposted by Erin Kissane
“The line and the stream. — Ethan Marcotte”
https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/the-line-and-the-stream/
> That’s why I’ve come to realize that statements about the future aren’t predictions: they’re more like spells.
https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/the-line-and-the-stream/
> That’s why I’ve come to realize that statements about the future aren’t predictions: they’re more like spells.
November 21, 2025 at 3:17 PM
“The line and the stream. — Ethan Marcotte”
https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/the-line-and-the-stream/
> That’s why I’ve come to realize that statements about the future aren’t predictions: they’re more like spells.
https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/the-line-and-the-stream/
> That’s why I’ve come to realize that statements about the future aren’t predictions: they’re more like spells.
“I thought I knew about this but it’s actually so much worse than I’d realized” deserves a genre name
I‘d read some of @ehanford.bsky.social’s reporting on disastrous reading instruction over the years but the Sold a Story podcast has been making me swear out loud while I do the laundry. At one point the hairs actually stood up on my arms.
November 21, 2025 at 1:59 PM
“I thought I knew about this but it’s actually so much worse than I’d realized” deserves a genre name