Charles Worthington
@charwo.bsky.social
Product designer and software dev working to deliver better services to Veterans. CTO at the VA. Previously co-creator of the U.S. Digital Service. Dad, husband, Minnesotan living in DC. views = mine
Reposted by Charles Worthington
Harriet Tubman was born while John Adams was alive and died when Ronald Reagan was alive.
Adams: 1735-1826
Tubman: 1822-1913
Reagan: 1911-2004
When Adams was born, Hydrogen had yet to be identified.
When Ronald died, he could’ve been listening to Hoobastank.
Adams: 1735-1826
Tubman: 1822-1913
Reagan: 1911-2004
When Adams was born, Hydrogen had yet to be identified.
When Ronald died, he could’ve been listening to Hoobastank.
September 17, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Harriet Tubman was born while John Adams was alive and died when Ronald Reagan was alive.
Adams: 1735-1826
Tubman: 1822-1913
Reagan: 1911-2004
When Adams was born, Hydrogen had yet to be identified.
When Ronald died, he could’ve been listening to Hoobastank.
Adams: 1735-1826
Tubman: 1822-1913
Reagan: 1911-2004
When Adams was born, Hydrogen had yet to be identified.
When Ronald died, he could’ve been listening to Hoobastank.
This year @dcpublicschools.bsky.social implemented a ban on phones and all screened devices. Caught up w a friend that teaches High School who said the change has been transformative and given him more optimism than he’s had in years.
This is awesome, I hope schools nationwide follow suit!
This is awesome, I hope schools nationwide follow suit!
September 6, 2025 at 12:16 AM
This year @dcpublicschools.bsky.social implemented a ban on phones and all screened devices. Caught up w a friend that teaches High School who said the change has been transformative and given him more optimism than he’s had in years.
This is awesome, I hope schools nationwide follow suit!
This is awesome, I hope schools nationwide follow suit!
AI-assisted software development represents the biggest opportunity to improve government digital services in my time working on the problem so far.
We need lots of civic tech teams trying things, and sharing what they’ve learned.
We need lots of civic tech teams trying things, and sharing what they’ve learned.
April 5, 2025 at 11:30 AM
AI-assisted software development represents the biggest opportunity to improve government digital services in my time working on the problem so far.
We need lots of civic tech teams trying things, and sharing what they’ve learned.
We need lots of civic tech teams trying things, and sharing what they’ve learned.
Looking forward to an epic @aarongleeman.bsky.social rant on this TV broadcast error
March 27, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Looking forward to an epic @aarongleeman.bsky.social rant on this TV broadcast error
Remember when every Target in America had an entire photo lab with machines the size of cars and a misfit crew of pirate teens overseeing the photographic output of the whole community?
March 20, 2025 at 8:05 AM
Remember when every Target in America had an entire photo lab with machines the size of cars and a misfit crew of pirate teens overseeing the photographic output of the whole community?
Good write up of FlightAware’s implementation of an auth service. Interesting they decided to roll their own in Go, and view that as lower cost than outsourcing.
flightaware.engineering/overhauling-...
flightaware.engineering/overhauling-...
Overhauling Authentication at FlightAware
As FlightAware moves away from its monolithic Tcl tech stack to a distributed micro service architecture, many core services need to be split out from the monolith to keep the system running.
flightaware.engineering
February 4, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Good write up of FlightAware’s implementation of an auth service. Interesting they decided to roll their own in Go, and view that as lower cost than outsourcing.
flightaware.engineering/overhauling-...
flightaware.engineering/overhauling-...
Interesting that Apple has not been able to use AI to stop random iCloud accounts from spamming things like this, while at the same time shipping a broken notification summary feature to tens of millions of people.
January 21, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Interesting that Apple has not been able to use AI to stop random iCloud accounts from spamming things like this, while at the same time shipping a broken notification summary feature to tens of millions of people.
Reposted by Charles Worthington
did you know Marlon Brando didn’t learn his lines for The Godfather, forcing his costars to wear cue cards?
January 6, 2025 at 5:37 AM
did you know Marlon Brando didn’t learn his lines for The Godfather, forcing his costars to wear cue cards?
Struggle with stage fright? Join your local community theater’s production of Anything Goes!
www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/202...
Don’t like to exercise? Try this simple, science-backed trick.
‘Fartleks’ are an effective way to add intensity to activities, which a growing body of science indicates can make your workouts more beneficial.
www.washingtonpost.com
January 2, 2025 at 5:48 PM
Struggle with stage fright? Join your local community theater’s production of Anything Goes!
www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/202...
www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/202...
Today VA released our 2024 inventory of the 227 Artificial Intelligence use cases VA is using or implementing to improve outcomes for Veterans, staff experience, and operational efficiency. Some highlights in this 🧵
December 16, 2024 at 11:00 PM
Today VA released our 2024 inventory of the 227 Artificial Intelligence use cases VA is using or implementing to improve outcomes for Veterans, staff experience, and operational efficiency. Some highlights in this 🧵
“In the United States … our elite class has basically decided that they don't want to work on any of the problems that matter. They want to make monkey JPEGs. And that's really annoying.”
This is a great interview.
www.statecraft.pub/p/how-to-reb...
This is a great interview.
www.statecraft.pub/p/how-to-reb...
How to Rebuild the Arsenal of Democracy
Trae Stephens & Michael Kratsios break it down.
www.statecraft.pub
December 16, 2024 at 5:43 PM
“In the United States … our elite class has basically decided that they don't want to work on any of the problems that matter. They want to make monkey JPEGs. And that's really annoying.”
This is a great interview.
www.statecraft.pub/p/how-to-reb...
This is a great interview.
www.statecraft.pub/p/how-to-reb...
how many more years must millennials wait for Vampire Weekend to make a Christmas album??? brutal
November 28, 2024 at 1:52 PM
how many more years must millennials wait for Vampire Weekend to make a Christmas album??? brutal
Reposted by Charles Worthington
This is one of those photos that you can't quite believe really happened. I encountered this grey gray owl (1 of 2) on my way home from town. It was so focussed on hunting, that I could stand to the side and watch. I didn't have my camera set to continuous shutter, so I'm stunned this came out. 🪶🌿
November 23, 2024 at 2:32 AM
This is one of those photos that you can't quite believe really happened. I encountered this grey gray owl (1 of 2) on my way home from town. It was so focussed on hunting, that I could stand to the side and watch. I didn't have my camera set to continuous shutter, so I'm stunned this came out. 🪶🌿
Reposted by Charles Worthington
Question for digital government people c 2015. Did you see these at the time? What worked / didn't work about them (conceptually, not graphically)
November 23, 2024 at 10:14 AM
Question for digital government people c 2015. Did you see these at the time? What worked / didn't work about them (conceptually, not graphically)
Throwback to the best skeet of all time
Ed Sheeran walks the streets a free man wtf
November 19, 2024 at 2:43 AM
Throwback to the best skeet of all time
Reposted by Charles Worthington
first draft of a lil civic tech starter pack! focused on practitioners, might do another one on other parts of the ecosystem later.
go.bsky.app/Dw5gEA1
go.bsky.app/Dw5gEA1
November 16, 2024 at 2:24 AM
first draft of a lil civic tech starter pack! focused on practitioners, might do another one on other parts of the ecosystem later.
go.bsky.app/Dw5gEA1
go.bsky.app/Dw5gEA1
In some circles there is reflexive skepticism about whatever tech is the focus of the current “hype cycle.”
I believe foundation models are different and we should jump in. Huge potential to improve software of all kinds.
I believe foundation models are different and we should jump in. Huge potential to improve software of all kinds.
November 17, 2024 at 4:03 PM
In some circles there is reflexive skepticism about whatever tech is the focus of the current “hype cycle.”
I believe foundation models are different and we should jump in. Huge potential to improve software of all kinds.
I believe foundation models are different and we should jump in. Huge potential to improve software of all kinds.
I am sorry to report that the only solution to poor government digital services is the hard work of improving them.
November 17, 2024 at 2:40 PM
I am sorry to report that the only solution to poor government digital services is the hard work of improving them.
VA went from “GitHub is not allowed” to “VA runs some of the world’s largest publicly developed government services” in less than 10 years github.com/department-o...
November 11, 2024 at 12:54 PM
VA went from “GitHub is not allowed” to “VA runs some of the world’s largest publicly developed government services” in less than 10 years github.com/department-o...
This is a good idea, but it underestimates how hard it would likely be to get an authority to plainly interpret a law or regulation in a way that reduces its burden, scope, or impact.
An interesting idea here that a lot of bureaucratic burden could be alleviated simply by clarifying what the rules actually are
goodscience.substack.com/p/the-case-f...
goodscience.substack.com/p/the-case-f...
The Case for a "National Clarification Initiative" to Reduce Needless Bureaucracy
Reducing bureaucracy is on the agenda for a new administration, but doing so can be difficult if it requires changing the actual U.S.
goodscience.substack.com
November 10, 2024 at 1:09 PM
This is a good idea, but it underestimates how hard it would likely be to get an authority to plainly interpret a law or regulation in a way that reduces its burden, scope, or impact.
Reposted by Charles Worthington
Very good (and no surprise) to see Martha Lane Fox getting to grips with her role shaping the new Digital Centre of the UK government. medium.com/@marthalanef...
Short update on the work of Digital Centre of UK government
It’s about a month since I joined the Advisory Board to collaborate with the DSIT team on the Digital Centre of Government, so its a good…
medium.com
November 8, 2024 at 10:00 AM
Very good (and no surprise) to see Martha Lane Fox getting to grips with her role shaping the new Digital Centre of the UK government. medium.com/@marthalanef...
Reposted by Charles Worthington
Watch this nine-year-old attempt a bigger ski jump for the first time and try not to tear up. "Here...goes....something...I guess." [read]
July 31, 2023 at 9:38 PM
Watch this nine-year-old attempt a bigger ski jump for the first time and try not to tear up. "Here...goes....something...I guess." [read]
“If people ever find themselves with just two hours to fit more than 6,000 objects into a storage bin, there is no need to despair. Help may be just an algorithm away.”
New computational method facilitates the dense placement of objects inside a rigid container
In 1611, Johannes Kepler—known for his laws of planetary motion—offered a solution to the question concerning the densest possible way to arrange equal-sized spheres. The famed astronomer took on ...
techxplore.com
July 9, 2023 at 2:07 PM
“If people ever find themselves with just two hours to fit more than 6,000 objects into a storage bin, there is no need to despair. Help may be just an algorithm away.”
In 5th grade (1994) my school had a shared network drive all the Macs in the computer lab could access.
My friends and I would change each other’s folder names to send messages to each other.
So what I’m trying to say is Meta Inc. owes me $$$
My friends and I would change each other’s folder names to send messages to each other.
So what I’m trying to say is Meta Inc. owes me $$$
July 8, 2023 at 8:11 PM
In 5th grade (1994) my school had a shared network drive all the Macs in the computer lab could access.
My friends and I would change each other’s folder names to send messages to each other.
So what I’m trying to say is Meta Inc. owes me $$$
My friends and I would change each other’s folder names to send messages to each other.
So what I’m trying to say is Meta Inc. owes me $$$
Reposted by Charles Worthington
“If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
July 8, 2023 at 10:48 AM
“If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry