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Allan Lasser

@allanlasser.com
92 followers 150 following 65 posts

Head of Product at MuckRock

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Reposted by Allan Lasser
Drew Harwell @drewharwell.com · 23/09/2026
Five cops in Indianapolis were just criminally charged with abusing Flock to spy on their ex-wives, their wives' ex-partners and women they met on duty. Audit was triggered by us at the @washingtonpost.com, the prosecutor said. From last month: wapo.st/4yfNHng
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MuckRock @muckrock.com · 09/09/2026
MuckRock just got a lot more powerful. 🎉 Four new tools are joining our ecosystem, with most of them free for every MuckRock account holder. www.muckrock.com/news/archive... Thread for synopsis 🧵
muckrock.com
MuckRock's ecosystem expands, adding four free services for verified newsrooms
We’re excited to share that we’ve grown our ecosystem to include new tools from us, Bloom Labs, Buried Signals and UC Berkeley’s School of Journalism. MuckRock users can now sign-in with their…
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 27/08/2026
are minions emoji?
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 12/08/2026
"Slop" is the "ok boomer" pejorative for this AI hype cycle. carly.substack.com/p/everything...
carly.substack.com
Everything I don’t like is slop
AI slop is everywhere—but can detectors tell us what deserves our attention? On Pangram, Substack, taste, trust, and the policing of culture.
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 11/08/2026
This was my first time starting to write a Bluesky post, running out of room and realizing it was really a blog post, then turning it into a thread. I can probably automate that last part. compostmodernism.org/2026/08/11/6... #cloudflare #decoder #design #microtransactions #publishing #web
compostmodernism.org
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 11/08/2026
I’m thinking how to design for webpages that are accessible for a wide range of people, but defend against traffic abuse from bots and scraping. These two goals feel very opposed, and it might just be that the caching/network layer where we defend ourselves against the robots.
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 08/08/2026
compostmodernism.org/2026/08/07/f...
compostmodernism.org
Subscribe
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Reposted by Allan Lasser
Chris Amico @chrisamico.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Release the Klaxon! 🚨 I've been using this version for the past month, and it's a much easier experience for watching pages, choosing a part of the page to watch and seeing where I already have alerts. Go try it.
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 05/08/2026
Excited to share the fun new product we've been working on at @muckrock.com: a dedicated browser extension and companion site for Klaxon Cloud. Get notified when a web page you're watching changes. Simple, easy and free. Give it a try and lmk what you think! www.klaxoncloud.org
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Reposted by Allan Lasser
Josh Sternberg @joshsternberg.com · 03/08/2026
There are 7 PR people for every journalist in the US. www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
chart showing 280k pr specialists to 40k 'news analysts, reporters, and journalists'
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 04/08/2026
The Accountability Project now uses MuckRock accounts for authentication! Researchers and journalists can search across an index of more than 1.9 billion public records. publicaccountability.org
publicaccountability.org
The Accountability Project
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dan @danabra.mov · 30/06/2026
and then [okay this is for old people; bear with me] remember the failed promise of web 2.0 with pipes and services talking to each other. this was fragile because each service can break the entire thing and has to expose API. here there's no API because we just aggregate from files. RSS was right
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 30/06/2026
Emeralds is currently playing on WQRT, following a reading of "A Supermarket in California". I love my local, commercial-free radio station 🥰 www.wqrt.org
wqrt.org
WQRT 99.1 FM Indianapolis
WQRT is a non-commercial community radio station focused on contemporary art, music, and community in Indianapolis, IN.
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 13/06/2026
Bike Party, June 2026 📍 Indianapolis, Indiana, US #GrainSocial grain.social/profile/did:plc:f4oqzo…
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Seven Machina Rasmussen @toomanyspectra.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
among the many things i learned in this fascinating article by @dsamorod.bsky.social is that when you get sunburn a bunch of your skin cells have to decide whether to kill themselves or not :( www.quantamagazine.org/rna-is-the-c...
quantamagazine.org
RNA Is the Cell’s Emergency Alert System | Quanta Magazine
How does a cell know when it’s been damaged? A molecular alarm, set off by mutated RNA and colliding ribosomes, signals danger.
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 28/05/2026
I just brought this up at work and it felt worthwhile to source it: the @obsidian.md team only has one meeting per year. cmpst.org/p/3BG4
cmpst.org
At Obsidian, we have one meeting per year, so my time is very —
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 24/05/2026
I've been working on a tool for running my D&D campaign and it's really coming together. cmpst.org/p/n7FE
cmpst.org
These tools help me run each session in a focused and thoughtful way, but I find the context switching between tools to be a big drain on my presence at the table. I need storytelling tools I can drive with intuition.
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 22/05/2026
DNC 2024 autopsy obtained by @cnn.com and hosted on @documentcloud.org www.documentcloud.org/documents/28... my job is pretty cool
documentcloud.org
DNC 2024 autopsy obtained by CNN
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 22/05/2026
ok now I set it up so I can highlight text on my computer, hit F12 and it just instantly posts to compostmodernism.org now we're cooking
compostmodernism.org
Subscribe
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Reposted by Allan Lasser
MuckRock @muckrock.com · 21/05/2026
Explore the Python libraries for the MuckRock Requests and DocumentCloud APIs and how they can be used with large language models (LLMs) to streamline records requests assist in analyzing responsive documents. buff.ly/P6rdylY
buff.ly
Building with MuckRock: Enhancing public records work with LLMs
Miss this session at NICAR 2026? Join this session of Building with MuckRock!
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 21/05/2026
I've been building myself a cute little blog with very custom CMS, and I'm having a blast. Last night I got short URLs working! cmpst.org/p/iJAC
cmpst.org
I just got short URLs working. I’ve never built a URL shortener before!
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 13/05/2026
Typesetters in 1887 who all look exactly like a bunch of graphic designers you'd have met in 2017. publicdomainreview.org/essay/twilig...
An etched print of a bunch of bearded and mustachioed typesetters, dressed in dark coats, surrounding a table. Titled, "The Chicago Contestants."  Frontispiece to William C. Barnes, Joseph McCann, and Alexander Duguid’s A Collation of Facts Related to Fast Typesetting (1887)
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 13/05/2026
On Friday, I’ll be revisiting the session I led at NICAR, *Enhancing public records work with LLMs*. I’ll show off some workflows that combine LLM tools with @documentcloud.org and @muckrock.com. If you missed it at NICAR, now's your chance! Registration: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...
us02web.zoom.us
Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: Building with MuckRock. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.
Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: Building with MuckRock. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 29/04/2026
The Supreme Court's voting rights opinion has been viewed on @documentcloud.org half a million times since it was published about 6 hours ago. documentcloud.org/documents/28...
documentcloud.org
Supreme Court voting rights opinion
Supreme Court opinion in Louisiana v. Callais
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 22/04/2026
Since redesigning DocumentCloud two years ago, a new search UI was my white whale. It was a huge challenge to make something that felt fluid and natural, but responsive and powerful. I finally broke through last month and shipped something I’m really proud of. www.muckrock.com/news/archive...
muckrock.com
Smarter filtering, saved searches and the return of scheduled publishing on DocumentCloud
The MuckRock tech team has been hard at work improving several aspects of the DocumentCloud user experience. Now, we're excited to announce an upgraded interface for filtering, sorting, and searching ...
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 06/04/2026
I'm watching a LIVESTREAM from the MOON
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 25/03/2026
Adding AI to every product possible is going to look a lot like adding radium to drinking glasses so they glow in the dark.
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Tejal Wakchoure @tejaldehyde.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
I'm moderating a panel at NICAR this week! Come hear @allanlasser.com, @elizabethrenter.bsky.social, @arlenemartinez.bsky.social and I talk about careers and finding your niche in news or news-adjacent roles. Stop by, say hi and bring your questions! schedules.ire.org/nicar-2026/#...
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 27/02/2026
Working on some Jupyter notebooks for #NICAR. One of my favorite ways to write and think about code.
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 30/01/2026
I’m excited to have NICAR 2026 happening in my backyard! Let me know if you’re looking for things to do, eat, or see around Indy
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 28/01/2026
and also
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 28/01/2026
It’s straight up magic that—just from my phone—I can describe a feature I want to add to my web project to Claude, it’ll implement it while I’m doing other stuff, and then open a PR I can review and modify. The loop between having an idea and executing it is so, so fast.
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Reposted by Allan Lasser
Max G. Levy @maxlevy.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
It's pub day!! The Best American Science & Nature Writing 2025 is out. I'm thrilled to appear with @sequencermag.bsky.social alongside many talented writers whose work I revere. Including the pieces in this anthology Get a copy from an indie store to support the series bookshop.org/a/114150/978...
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MuckRock @muckrock.com · 02/12/2025
MuckRock doesn’t answer to advertisers or political interests. We don’t even have a paywall. Today is Giving Tuesday, the start of our most important fundraising season. If you believe in a more open, accountable democracy, we’re asking you to stand with us. www.muckrock.com/donate/
muckrock.com
MuckRock
MuckRock is a collaborative news site that gives you the tools to hold the government accountable.
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Reposted by Allan Lasser
Quanta Magazine @quantamagazine.org · 13/11/2025
Quanta contributing writer @maxlevy.bsky.social has received a Kavli Gold Award from @aaas.org and @kavlifoundation.org for “The Hidden World of Electrostatic Ecology,” a detailed account of how small organisms use static electricity to their advantage. www.quantamagazine.org/quantanews/q...
quantamagazine.org
Quanta Contributor Max G. Levy Wins AAAS Kavli Gold Award for Science Journalism | Quanta Magazine
Judges from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and The Kavli Foundation recognized Quanta Magazine contributing writer Max G. Levy with a Gold Award in the Magazine category for “...
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 13/11/2025
Find every mention of Trump in the released Epstein files on @documentcloud.org www.documentcloud.org/projects/223...
documentcloud.org
Epstein full docs
Nov 12, 2025 - Oversight Committee Releases Additional Epstein Estate Documents
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 14/10/2025
You‘ve truly got to hand it to whoever typeset the word “knockout” in Knockout
A photograph of the movie poster for “The Smashing Machine.” It is focused on a pull quote describing the film as “a knockout” in capital letters of descending weight, typeset in the font family Knockout.
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Reposted by Allan Lasser
Ben McCann @benmccann.com · 22/09/2025
SvelteKit async SSR has landed! The future of Svelte is now here. Try it out along with the new remote functions! See the PR for some unfinished rough edges. Work continues on it while it's behind an experimental flag, but you can now play around with it! github.com/sveltejs/kit...
github.com
feat: async SSR by Rich-Harris · Pull Request #14447 · sveltejs/kit
This adds asynchronous SSR to an app that's using the latest version of Svelte (^5.39.3) and has opted in to the Svelte experimental.async option (and, ideally, the SvelteKit experimental.remot...
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Kate Mackenzie @katemac.bsky.social · 19/08/2025
I'm writing about insurance and climate change for the first time in ages, and far out those guys have been busy while I wasn't looking
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betsy ladyzhets 😷 @betsyladyzhets.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
Simon has made all of the emails he received public on @documentcloud.org: www.documentcloud.org/documents/25... As well as the response that he received from Garner when he asked for comments for this story: www.documentcloud.org/documents/25... (4/5)
documentcloud.org
Public Access Requests for CAN-PCC
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 24/07/2025
This video is a great example of what makes game development such a challenging art. There's so much so much knowledge required, and so much effort involved, to achieve what appears to be a simple effect. www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDqi...
youtube.com
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Michael Morisy @morisy.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
Getting access to public docs is getting harder, particularly at the local level. I'm excited for @muckrock.com @nfoic.bsky.social @rcfp.org and the @brechnerfoi.bsky.social to work together to to fight for information more effectively all across the country: www.muckrock.com/news/archive...
muckrock.com
MuckRock, NFOIC and other leading transparency groups receive $1.25M Press Forward grant to help local journalists obtain government records
Journalism relies on public records, but transparency laws are weakening nationwide, with longer response times, high fees and more frequent rejections. Agencies know that few newsrooms can research a...
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Eric @esb.lol · 07/07/2025
TIL about citrus greening disease and the dire situation in the US citrus industry 😬
Citrus greening was first detected in Florida in 2005, thought to have been brought through the Port of Miami. According to the American Society of Horticultural Sciences, as trees are affected by the disease they suffer premature fruit drop, the fruit harvested is smaller and misshapen and the juice quality is compromised, all resulting in lower yields.Since 2005, orange production in Florida has dropped 90%, from 150 million boxes to a mere 16 million boxes expected in 2023. Between 2002 and 2017, the number of citrus growers in Florida decreased from 7,389 to 2,775 (a 62% decline) and the number of juice processing facilities decreased from 41 in 2003 to 14 in 2017 (a 66% decline).Demand for new housing, associated businesses and infrastructure has reduced the percentage of land dedicated to agriculture, rangeland and forestry.In 1970 the U.S. produced 75% of the world’s grapefruit, which dipped to 43% in 2002 and now is projected to sit at a mere 4% in 2023. China now claims almost 80% of global grapefruit production, followed by Mexico and South Africa at 6% each.
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 08/06/2025
On Saturday night I met a mathematician from Togo 🇹🇬, a law student from Lithuania 🇱🇹, and a public health researcher from Mexico 🇲🇽. They were all doing interesting work and we’re lucky they still want to continue it in the US.
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 03/06/2025
This is so stupid indianacapitalchronicle.com/2025/06/02/b...
indianacapitalchronicle.com
Braun reverses course, removes elected IU trustees for his appointees • Indiana Capital Chronicle
Three alumni-elected IU Board of Trustees members were removed to make way for new Braun appointees, a u-turn from prior comments.
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Waldo Jaquith @waldo.net · 30/05/2025
IRS’s Direct File wasn't open source while it was being developed. But somebody just made it public!
github.com
GitHub - IRS-Public/direct-file: Direct File
Direct File. Contribute to IRS-Public/direct-file development by creating an account on GitHub.
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 05/05/2025
Jevons paradox remains undefeated
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Allan Lasser @allanlasser.com · 30/04/2025
As folks use LLMs more, I'm paying attention to whether the language we use to talk with one another start to adopt the structure of prompts. On the one hand: it'd be great for everyone to be more explicit about their goals and expectations. On the other: please don't talk to me like I'm a computer.
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Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
California pilots a solar-over-canal system to combat drought. Project Nexus will cover canals with solar panels, generating clean energy while preventing water evaporation. The project showing potential for 13 GW of annual energy, while saving 50,000 acres of land. buff.ly/ZBokAil #ShareGoodNewsToo
buff.ly
California solar on canals initiative moves forward
The California Solar Canal Initiative project aims to use information gained in a University of California, Merced study and begin to identify communities willing to generate electricity with solar…
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