Melissa House
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mkinthehouse.bsky.social
Melissa House
@mkinthehouse.bsky.social
Alpine Masters racer, civic tech software engineer with U.S. Digital Response.
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If you're looking for a way to get involved, USDR always needs volunteers to help governments deliver critical services to those who need them. All work is remote, and volunteers are from a variety of backgrounds, including technology, government, and communications. It's fantastically rewarding!
Volunteer - U.S. Digital Response
We’re looking for empathetic, communicative, and organized professionals to volunteer their time to support U.S. Digital Response (USDR) projects. Great candidates bring experiences from a variety of ...
www.usdigitalresponse.org
Reposted by Melissa House
I made a bot that will post "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," clip by clip, between now and Christmas Eve. That's 12–13 clips daily, 24/7, just so you know what you'd be getting into. (Clips will auto-delete a few days after being posted.) It starts now.
November 28, 2025 at 2:51 AM
Reposted by Melissa House
🏆 Join us Dec 2 for the Digital Service Champions Awards!
Celebrating government teams & civic tech champions transforming how digital services meet community needs. Free virtual event, 12 PM PT / 3 PM ET

RSVP: usdigitalresponse-org.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
#CivicTech #GovTech #DigitalGovernment
November 4, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Reposted by Melissa House
"save your anger for 2026" wait you think I'll run out in a year this is why I hate amateurs
November 10, 2025 at 1:56 PM
The frogs are very loud today. Distractingly loud.
October 9, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Reposted by Melissa House
🏆 The 2025 Digital Service Champions Awards are accepting nominations!

We're celebrating government teams & civic tech individuals modernizing digital services. Know someone who:
Built solutions helping multiple jurisdictions?
Delivered impact at lightning speed?
Innovated despite constraints?
September 9, 2025 at 2:22 AM
Reposted by Melissa House
It's time to recognize those making government work better for everyone. 🚀

Nominations open: Now - Oct 7

Government Awards: usdr.link/champions-go...
Individual Awards: usdr.link/champions-in...
#CivicTech #GovTech
September 9, 2025 at 2:22 AM
🤣
America by Design Fail
Trump fired the best designers in the Federal Government
americabydesign.fail
August 27, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Reposted by Melissa House
#fedworkers share your story!

The Federal Employees & Contractors Oral History Project is officially underway: www.oah.org/fecohp/

Red or blue, RIF'd or still working, they want to hear from you and preserve your stories & experiences.
OAH | Federal Employees and Contractors Oral History Project (FECOHP)OAH | Federal Employees and Contractors Oral History Project (FECOHP)
www.oah.org
May 3, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Reposted by Melissa House
Yeah, a lot of the time I feel like AI boosters are people who think they loved Hitchhikers Guide but didn’t get the joke
July 14, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Reposted by Melissa House
Good morning, election data nerds! Here's a Monday morning present for you: we've finished updating our county-level presidential election results dataset to include 2024. The full dataset (covering 2000-2024) is now available on our Dataverse: buff.ly/eUGYc1h
July 14, 2025 at 2:15 PM
In the Cupertino area for the weekend and it’s becoming a tour of me evangelizing how great the world outside Silicon Valley is.

More importantly, the haunted Toys “R” Us i used to drive past is now an REI and I must know of there are new stories of strangeness.

www.sfgate.com/local/articl...
Bay Area's infamous haunted Toys R Us finally gets new tenant
Since the '70s, the haunted Toys R Us has been one of the Bay Area's most popular ghost...
www.sfgate.com
June 20, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Reposted by Melissa House
I’m doing history content on YouTube. This is my latest video! Like and subscribe if you want to see more! And what should I tackle next? I am thinking of doing a video on the varieties of antislavery in antebellum America. Maybe also the 3/5ths Compromise?
June 19, 2025 at 12:31 PM
Many years ago, my husband had a big Siri oops:

Me: got dinner, heading home
Him: you stupid b****

(He was trying to use Siri to reply, but she kept saying she didn't understand. When he cursed at her, that's when she replied. Thankfully, I realized this right away.)

Today we have another one.
June 12, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Reposted by Melissa House
Maybe the most important part of my job at @usdigitalresponse.org is teaching leadership in government agencies how software is built, so they can understand a) what's a fair price to pay and b) how long it should take to create.

It's such a simple intervention, but wow it does a lot of good.
June 11, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Reposted by Melissa House
How the hate
Will fix anything
Is a mystery to me.

It’s like mothering
A toddler and thinking
If they fall and scrape

Their knee, you can
Scream at them until
They cease to bleed.

#vss365 #scrape
June 11, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Reposted by Melissa House
Just saw a comedian say "If vaccines caused autism then America would have trains" and I almost spit out my drink.
May 30, 2025 at 11:56 AM
Reposted by Melissa House
Software paid for by tax dollars should be open source. Period.
May 30, 2025 at 12:41 AM
Reposted by Melissa House
IRS’s Direct File wasn't open source while it was being developed. But somebody just made it public!
GitHub - IRS-Public/direct-file: Direct File
Direct File. Contribute to IRS-Public/direct-file development by creating an account on GitHub.
github.com
May 30, 2025 at 12:29 AM
Reposted by Melissa House
Anyone need a password break?

Please enjoy Lucille Ball and Betty White in 1981 throw a masterclass on how to play.
May 19, 2025 at 2:16 AM
Please email your congresspeople to oppose this week's funding bills that would grant unchecked power to revoke nonprofit orgs' tax exempt status. Here's an easy form.
URGENT: Tax-exempt status for nonprofits is under attack! - Lambda Legal
support.lambdalegal.org
May 14, 2025 at 6:24 PM
@usdigitalresponse.org has a new blog post: Raised hands, changed lives: five years of USDR volunteer impact. I started as a volunteer in 2020, and now I'm staff and still working on projects that spark joy while helping partners. Glad our volunteer program is still strong and many others can, too.
Discover new tools and services to improve your election administration
www.usdigitalresponse.org
May 12, 2025 at 4:10 PM
The amazing Rebecca Heywood (@kdyz.bsky.social), USDR's Governments Team Lead, is ELGL's #2 top influencer in local government! Rebecca, you are a joy to work with and I am thrilled your work is continuing to be recognized.
2025 Top Influencers in Local Government - ELGL
Every year ELGL asks our members to nominate outstanding public servants for the Top Influencers in Local Government list. The recognition honors people who make a difference in their communities and ...
elgl.org
May 7, 2025 at 3:36 PM
Reposted by Melissa House
The FTC is requesting comments from social media users about online censorship. To ensure that this does not become a mechanism to justify greater governmental control over online speech, Don't Delete Art has provided a boilerplate text for you to include/incorporate. www.dontdelete.art/ftc-response
FTC Response — Don't Delete Art
www.dontdelete.art
May 1, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Reposted by Melissa House
Wait, does Disney own the rights to Rocky Horror? Does that make Magenta and Columbia Disney princesses?
May 1, 2025 at 12:43 AM