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Derek Kın̈sman

@derekkinsman.com

290 followers 310 following 660 posts

He/him. Rude mechanical. Award losing maker of things. Social impact tech director. Fan of guillotines. Settler Canadian living on the ancestral homelands and traditional territory of the Attawandaron, Anishinaabeg, and Haudenosaunee peoples (Guelph, ON).

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Derek Kın̈sman @derekkinsman.com · May 18

June 30, 2008 – May 18, 2025.

We said goodbye to Buckley this morning. I don’t know when the correct words will leave my throat, they are stuck there. Certainly not today.

Buckley with his lamb chop, wrapped in his favourite blanket.

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Derek Kın̈sman @derekkinsman.com · 1d

Heya friends, I lost my job this morning and am back on the market. If you’re in need of a Canadian tech director I’d love to chat. ❤️ www.linkedin.com/in/derekkins...

Derek J. Kinsman - Unwinnable | LinkedIn

Creative developer, designer, researcher, strategist, and prototyper with over a decade… · Experience: Unwinnable · Location: Guelph · 500+ connections on LinkedIn. View Derek J. Kinsman’s profile on ...

www.linkedin.com

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Derek Kın̈sman @derekkinsman.com · 7d

Rest in power. www.cbc.ca/news/world/j...

Jane Goodall, conservationist and chimpanzee researcher, dead at 91 | CBC News

Jane Goodall, the British conservationist and researcher renowned for her work with chimpanzees, has died at age 91.

www.cbc.ca

Derek Kın̈sman @derekkinsman.com · 8d

Finished up “Mad Sisters of Esi” last night and I’m not religious, but I think what I felt reading this was a religious experience. Might be my fav for 2025. Grabbed it because cool cover art and because @reactorsff.bsky.social included it in one of their newsletters. Perfect banger.

Me, holding Tashan Mehta’s novel “Mad Sisters of Esi.”

Derek Kın̈sman @derekkinsman.com · 12d

Death of a Unicorn was so wildly fun. Loved every minute of it.

Derek Kın̈sman @derekkinsman.com · 13d

Very excited for this to show up in the mail.

Reposted by Derek Kın̈sman

Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 13d

Persuade your co-workers, harass your bosses, this train leaves the station tonight!

🚂 🐦📊🚃

Jer Thorp @jerthorp.bsky.social · 15d

The autumn evening cohort for Binoculars to Binomials starts Thursday.

Which means you have a little over 48 hours to jump on board!

Get to know your local birds, learn some fun approaches to data viz, and... completely rewire your 🧠?

jerthorp.me/learning

Why birds & data?
To see the whole picture.
Data is a system, not a thing.
To truly understand data, you need to know how it gets made,
how it is changed by the processes of computation, and how
the choices we make in representing it affect the stories that
can be told.
Birding offers a way to get intimate with this entire system. To
watch as our observations become data. To see how they are
recast and reshaped by algorithms and models. To explore the
many practical and poetic ways we might tell our data's story.
Through birding, data is revealed not as static record, but as a
living process of which we (and our feathered neighbors) are
very much a part.
Autumn cohorts of Binoculars to Binomials start September 23rd.
Register now: jerthorp.me/learning

Birds of a feather
learn together.
Binoculars to Binomials is an online
course about birding and data
visualization.
Join a cohort of curious people to
build new skills and make
new things.
Autumn cohorts start September 23rd.
Register now: jerthorp.me/learning

Why birds & data?
It'll change
vour brain.
> Researchers have shown that cultivating a
birding practice strengthens memory and
improves ability to notice detail. In case that
wasn't enough, being around birds makes you
happier.
Everyday encounters with birds have been
demonstrated to significantly reduce
psychological distress, and improve overall
well-being.
Binoculars to Binomials is an
online course about birding
and data visualization.
Autumn cohorts start September 23rd.
Register now: jerthorp.me/learning

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Derek Kın̈sman @derekkinsman.com · 15d

GF: what’s all this Final Fantasy Remake thirst trap stuff on your computer?
Me: babe, it’s for @unwinnable.com. I promise. Babe. Babe.
GF: [fading footsteps]

Unwinnable @unwinnable.com · 15d

We reached the 100 new subscribers we needed to unlock a Final Fantasy and politics issue for you folks! We'll start production soon with the goal of publishing it in early 2026.

Thank you SO much for all of your help with this drive! We couldn't have done it without you.

The Final Fantasy VII title imposed over a screenshot of Midgar, except the meteor is an Unwinnable W

Derek Kın̈sman @derekkinsman.com · 20d

Yes. But how excited are you for the future episode when he turns into worm food?

Derek Kın̈sman @derekkinsman.com · 21d

I finally got a copy of @adapalmer.bsky.social’s Inventing the Renaissance and holy moly it was great. Is “gonzo history” a thing? (gonzo journalism implies the existence of other gonzo subjects) Because I don’t know how to describe the style any other way. Anyway I did so much wonderful learning.

Holding “Inventing the Renaissance” by Ada Palmer.

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Derek Kın̈sman @derekkinsman.com · 21d

I listened to the third @nightvaleradio.bsky.social book while driving to Akron and back for Earthquaker Day. This is a great way to tell backstory that fills in some mystery while adding even more mystery in other spots. I don’t know how to further describe it, and that seems pretty perfect.

Audiobook cover art for the third Welcome To Nightvale book, “The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home”, by Joseph Fink and Jeffery Cranor.

Derek Kın̈sman @derekkinsman.com · 21d

Playing catch up on summer reading activities. Read this one back in June. This series has so far been a solid fun time. The dog quote really did me in. I was not expecting to be a blubbery mess reading an otherwise fairly wholesome book.

Holding a copy of Richard Osman’s “The Man Who Died Twice.”

The same book open to a page with a few lines of text high lit. The high lit text reads: “You must never die before your dog. […] You must die before your children, of course, because you have taught them to live without you. But not your dog. You teach your dog only to live without you.”

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Derek Kın̈sman @derekkinsman.com · 27d

Probably D.

Derek Kın̈sman @derekkinsman.com · 29d

As long as they stay in the corners of my house we are on good terms. But when spiderfriend decides to cozy up on the couch or bed we are mortal enemies. Contracts were broken.

Derek Kın̈sman @derekkinsman.com · Sep 9

Reacher: the early adventures of young Norm Scully is a great Brooklyn Nine Nine prequel.

Derek Kın̈sman @derekkinsman.com · Sep 8

Not to set up further Jane Austen traps, but this JA/regency-era TTRPG is super good. storybrewersroleplaying.com/good-society/

Good Society: A Jane Austen Roleplaying Game

Romance. Scandal. Manners. Welcome to Good Society, the tabletop roleplaying game that captures the heart and the countenance of Jane Austen's work.

storybrewersroleplaying.com

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Derek Kın̈sman @derekkinsman.com · Sep 3

$900cad for a quad mixer. Woof.

My favourite eurorack cost (that I’m currently being angry at) is premade cases.

Derek Kın̈sman @derekkinsman.com · Sep 3

Cries in Xaoc and Serge fandom.

Derek Kın̈sman @derekkinsman.com · Sep 2

First for me was Adventures of Dudley the Dragon or Red Green. Last was Reservation Dogs.

Derek Kın̈sman @derekkinsman.com · Sep 2

Ah dang. Rest in power. 😢 www.cbc.ca/news/enterta...

Oscar-nominated actor Graham Greene dead at 73 | CBC News

Graham Greene, an Oneida actor from the Six Nations of Grand River in Ontario who was Oscar-nominated for his role in Dances With Wolves, died Monday in Stratford, Ont., at the age of 73.

www.cbc.ca

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Derek Kın̈sman @derekkinsman.com · Aug 29

They’ve also added some AI tooling to verify PDF uploads are correct. Which is not a difficult thing to build — with higher accuracy — without LLMs.

Derek Kın̈sman @derekkinsman.com · Aug 28

Wow. That’s a lot of bits and bobs.

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Derek Kın̈sman @derekkinsman.com · Aug 26

👀
This was made quicker and better than the original vibes-only slop.

Alt US Digital Service @altusds.altgov.info · Aug 26

When it takes a good engineer two days to recreate an accessible version "design studio" that DOGE people are extolling, you know the "design studio" sucks.

May I present to you americabydesign.fail

America by Design Fail

Trump fired the best designers in the Federal Government

americabydesign.fail

Derek Kın̈sman @derekkinsman.com · Aug 25

I just grabbed Mad Sisters because 1) the cover art is bonkers, and 2) “Susanna Clarke’s Piranesi meets Italo Calvino’s If On a Winter’s Night a Traveler” is the Venn diagram of my dreams. Also small 3) I hope the cover art whale is some sort of Space Whale. Or really any Non-Ocean Whale will do.

Derek Kın̈sman @derekkinsman.com · Aug 22

Hey US friends, I know doing surveys is your most favourite thing, but this one is very important.

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · Aug 22

It would be very cool if people who a) like the idea of free online tax filing that is not a bait-and-switch from a private vendor and b) support an innovative tool that users loved, would respond to these surveys.
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-death-...

Derek Kın̈sman @derekkinsman.com · Aug 20

I’m pet sure he just wants what’s in the bird feeder just out of frame.