Erin McKean
@emckean.bsky.social
Wording at Wordnik until the words stop.
Sometimes you have an idea so dumb that you HAVE to do it (I didn’t get this up in time for Halloween though)
November 9, 2025 at 11:45 PM
Sometimes you have an idea so dumb that you HAVE to do it (I didn’t get this up in time for Halloween though)
I think we should bring back vibe spelling. Just add extra letters wherever, as you feel ‘em. Things can be frantick or hectick if you need that superfluous ’k’ edge. Resist the tyranny of received orthography!
November 9, 2025 at 4:19 AM
I think we should bring back vibe spelling. Just add extra letters wherever, as you feel ‘em. Things can be frantick or hectick if you need that superfluous ’k’ edge. Resist the tyranny of received orthography!
I want a tracker, with arrows! I want interviews with their current and new neighbors! I want weekly followups until they get a new driver's license in their new state!
Okay so which publication will be regularly calling every richie rich who claimed they were gonna leave NYC to confirm if they have left yet.
November 5, 2025 at 3:14 AM
I want a tracker, with arrows! I want interviews with their current and new neighbors! I want weekly followups until they get a new driver's license in their new state!
beginning to believe “neurotypical” is one of those words like “phlogiston” or “meritocracy” or “unicorn” that describes something that does not, in fact, exist
October 31, 2025 at 7:49 AM
beginning to believe “neurotypical” is one of those words like “phlogiston” or “meritocracy” or “unicorn” that describes something that does not, in fact, exist
This was a very satisfying read, I recommend
Now available for free: www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/dros...
October 31, 2025 at 6:52 AM
This was a very satisfying read, I recommend
Applications for the European Master in Lexicography (EMLex) (an international Master’s degree programme (120 ECTS) that has been offered since 2009) are now open! Deadline 2 Feb 2026 emlex.eu.usc.gal/web/
EMlex Home | Emlex. European Master in Lexicography
emlex.eu.usc.gal
October 26, 2025 at 9:24 AM
Applications for the European Master in Lexicography (EMLex) (an international Master’s degree programme (120 ECTS) that has been offered since 2009) are now open! Deadline 2 Feb 2026 emlex.eu.usc.gal/web/
Reposted by Erin McKean
40 million Americans may go hungry in November because their SNAP funding is at risk.
40 million people at a time when most are already struggling to put food on the table.
Trump just gave 40 billion to Argentina.
That could feed every American.
That could easily fund SNAP.
America first?
40 million people at a time when most are already struggling to put food on the table.
Trump just gave 40 billion to Argentina.
That could feed every American.
That could easily fund SNAP.
America first?
October 20, 2025 at 3:43 AM
40 million Americans may go hungry in November because their SNAP funding is at risk.
40 million people at a time when most are already struggling to put food on the table.
Trump just gave 40 billion to Argentina.
That could feed every American.
That could easily fund SNAP.
America first?
40 million people at a time when most are already struggling to put food on the table.
Trump just gave 40 billion to Argentina.
That could feed every American.
That could easily fund SNAP.
America first?
If you missed it, @gofundme.com has set up (without consent) funding pages for nonprofits. Just got a mealy-mouthed reply from their Trust and Safety team with no answer as to when they will take these unauthorized pages down. Supposedly you have to "claim" the page to get it removed. Super-scammy.
October 22, 2025 at 9:56 AM
If you missed it, @gofundme.com has set up (without consent) funding pages for nonprofits. Just got a mealy-mouthed reply from their Trust and Safety team with no answer as to when they will take these unauthorized pages down. Supposedly you have to "claim" the page to get it removed. Super-scammy.
Reposted by Erin McKean
Trump found another $20 BILLION to give to Argentina, totaling their bailout to $40 BILLION.
Yet we can’t afford to prevent millions of Americans from losing their healthcare.
Shame.
Yet we can’t afford to prevent millions of Americans from losing their healthcare.
Shame.
October 15, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Trump found another $20 BILLION to give to Argentina, totaling their bailout to $40 BILLION.
Yet we can’t afford to prevent millions of Americans from losing their healthcare.
Shame.
Yet we can’t afford to prevent millions of Americans from losing their healthcare.
Shame.
It's the 11th of the month, so time for another Things I Learned While Looking Up Other Things newsletter, including sloyd, pranking autocrats, and gustatory-auditory synesthesia. buttondown.com/thingslearne...
October 11, 2025 at 7:57 PM
It's the 11th of the month, so time for another Things I Learned While Looking Up Other Things newsletter, including sloyd, pranking autocrats, and gustatory-auditory synesthesia. buttondown.com/thingslearne...
Reposted by Erin McKean
All I want in life is to persuade everyone, when encountering politics & culture, to ask, "why are we talking about this?" I mean that very literally: anything you encounter on your screens reflects a choice. Someone covered that, talked about that, rather than the many other things out there. Why?
October 10, 2025 at 10:18 AM
All I want in life is to persuade everyone, when encountering politics & culture, to ask, "why are we talking about this?" I mean that very literally: anything you encounter on your screens reflects a choice. Someone covered that, talked about that, rather than the many other things out there. Why?
new retronym alert: "brain coding" domm.plix.at/perl/2025_10... (via @simonwillison.net)
domm / Perl / I brain coded a static image gallery in a few hours: snig.pl
domm.plix.at
October 8, 2025 at 2:39 PM
new retronym alert: "brain coding" domm.plix.at/perl/2025_10... (via @simonwillison.net)
Reposted by Erin McKean
Want to work on open source full time? The @roost.tools engineering team is starting to hatch! Come build OSS tools making a difference in Trust & Safety.
This is a fully remote role, though some schedule overlap with North American time zones is expected.
www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/43...
This is a fully remote role, though some schedule overlap with North American time zones is expected.
www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/43...
ROOST.tools hiring Staff Software Engineer in United States | LinkedIn
Posted 8:52:18 PM. About ROOSTROOST is a community effort to build scalable and resilient safety infrastructure for…See this and similar jobs on LinkedIn.
www.linkedin.com
October 7, 2025 at 10:14 PM
Want to work on open source full time? The @roost.tools engineering team is starting to hatch! Come build OSS tools making a difference in Trust & Safety.
This is a fully remote role, though some schedule overlap with North American time zones is expected.
www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/43...
This is a fully remote role, though some schedule overlap with North American time zones is expected.
www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/43...
I loved this piece about the fate of the Fairyland dandelion sculpture from @reveleth.com www.coyotemedia.org/where-did-th...
Where did the Fairyland dandelions go?
For more than 45 years, three huge steel and bronze dandelion puffs reached for the sky outside Children’s Fairyland only to disappear without a trace. COYOTE went on a quest to find them.
www.coyotemedia.org
September 29, 2025 at 3:00 PM
I loved this piece about the fate of the Fairyland dandelion sculpture from @reveleth.com www.coyotemedia.org/where-did-th...
Reposted by Erin McKean
Kavanaugh Stop is now part of the legal lexicon.
September 29, 2025 at 12:56 AM
Kavanaugh Stop is now part of the legal lexicon.
Reposted by Erin McKean
As a resident of #Portland it is impossible to capture how unhinged this is. We are a low crime city and the ICE protest "siege" consists of one auxiliary ICE office that normally has at most a dozen weirdos debating what performance art they should use to block a single driveway
Trump says he’s authorized Hegseth to use “Full Force” against Antifa in “War ravaged” Portland
September 27, 2025 at 3:01 PM
As a resident of #Portland it is impossible to capture how unhinged this is. We are a low crime city and the ICE protest "siege" consists of one auxiliary ICE office that normally has at most a dozen weirdos debating what performance art they should use to block a single driveway
It's the 11th (probably nobody needs to be reminded of that today) so time for a new edition of Things I Learned While Looking Up Other Things. The theme is "links I emailed to myself", including zipper bags, thermochauvinism, and Frankish weather-magi. buttondown.com/thingslearne...
September 11, 2025 at 3:36 PM
It's the 11th (probably nobody needs to be reminded of that today) so time for a new edition of Things I Learned While Looking Up Other Things. The theme is "links I emailed to myself", including zipper bags, thermochauvinism, and Frankish weather-magi. buttondown.com/thingslearne...
If you were waiting for my sister @katemckean.bsky.social's great newsletter for writers, Agents and Books, to leave Substack before signing up, well do I have good news for you!!! www.agentsandbooks.com/oh-hello
Oh Hello
Please Excuse the Mess While I Unpack
Hey friends, guess what? I moved over to Ghost! I'd been on Substack for almost seven years, and frankly, it was time to go. If you're not seeing my newsletter r...
www.agentsandbooks.com
September 11, 2025 at 1:30 PM
If you were waiting for my sister @katemckean.bsky.social's great newsletter for writers, Agents and Books, to leave Substack before signing up, well do I have good news for you!!! www.agentsandbooks.com/oh-hello
Reposted by Erin McKean
The recording of the talk @emckean.bsky.social and I presented at Open Source Summit Europe is now available. Go here for video, highlights, links, and acknowledgments: ddbeck.com/osseu2025/
OSS Documentation Workshop at Open Source Summit Europe 2025
An introduction to new tools for open source docs maintainers.
ddbeck.com
September 9, 2025 at 11:42 AM
The recording of the talk @emckean.bsky.social and I presented at Open Source Summit Europe is now available. Go here for video, highlights, links, and acknowledgments: ddbeck.com/osseu2025/
Reposted by Erin McKean
If you saw the talk that @emckean.bsky.social and I presented at Open Source Summit Europe, thank you for coming! I'll have more links and highlights to share later, but you can find the docs advisor and archetypes here.
Introducing New Open Source Documentation Resources
Introducing Docs Advisor & Archetypes: Resources for open source maintainers to plan and execute effective documentation work.
opensource.googleblog.com
August 27, 2025 at 10:01 AM
If you saw the talk that @emckean.bsky.social and I presented at Open Source Summit Europe, thank you for coming! I'll have more links and highlights to share later, but you can find the docs advisor and archetypes here.
Always nice to see a @parisinbmore.bsky.social shoutout (from @arapulido.bsky.social)
August 26, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Always nice to see a @parisinbmore.bsky.social shoutout (from @arapulido.bsky.social)
Reposted by Erin McKean
On August 27, @emckean.bsky.social and I are presenting at Open Source Summit Europe about resources that can help open source maintainers create and maintain docs. I'm looking forward to it (or at least I will be, when I've practiced my outline a few more times). sched.co/25Vub
Open Source Summit Europe 2025: OSS Documentation Workshop - Erin McKean...
View more about this event at Open Source Summit Europe 2025
sched.co
August 21, 2025 at 11:42 AM
On August 27, @emckean.bsky.social and I are presenting at Open Source Summit Europe about resources that can help open source maintainers create and maintain docs. I'm looking forward to it (or at least I will be, when I've practiced my outline a few more times). sched.co/25Vub
Reposted by Erin McKean
A great read on UChicago, arguing we’re seeing the result of decades of mismanagement: “The university’s trustees and leaders view it preeminently as a tax-free technology incubator, and its debt load is so great that it is abandoning ideals it once held dear in order to sustain that goal.”
The Crisis of the University Started Long Before Trump
The University of Chicago is in crisis. Under extraordinary financial strain, it has diminished its faculty-student ratio and hired hundreds of “lecturers”: teachers whom it pays little and whom it do...
www.compactmag.com
August 16, 2025 at 11:30 AM
A great read on UChicago, arguing we’re seeing the result of decades of mismanagement: “The university’s trustees and leaders view it preeminently as a tax-free technology incubator, and its debt load is so great that it is abandoning ideals it once held dear in order to sustain that goal.”
Reposted by Erin McKean
August 15, 2025 at 12:11 AM
It's the 11th of the month! The August Things I Learned While Looking Up Other Things includes giant neurons, weak arithmetics, beleaguered footmen, and a severed head. buttondown.com/thingslearne...
August 12, 2025 at 1:08 AM
It's the 11th of the month! The August Things I Learned While Looking Up Other Things includes giant neurons, weak arithmetics, beleaguered footmen, and a severed head. buttondown.com/thingslearne...