Sign in

Alan

@alanlaidlaw.com
216 followers 618 following 35 posts

HyperTalk Spelunker. NYC. @alanlaidlaw linktr.ee/alaidlaw

PostsRepliesMedia
Alan @alanlaidlaw.com · 06/10/2026
Talking to Claude on it's level. we'll see how it goes: > Do not prematurely optimize here. I would rather start with too many options and derivations than collapse on one "pretty good solution" that misses the whole point.
100
Alan @alanlaidlaw.com · 25/08/2026
At Thriftbooks, “Acceptable” means “premium time-traveling experience.”
Physical copy of Sherry Turkle’s The Second Self. Resting on the cover is an insert, printed black and white, old school clip art. “Rent A Mac,” it says. “As low as $62 Per Month!*” picture of college student w backpack. It the bottom right, what looks like a Macintosh Plus? And a box of software called WriteNow.
010
Reposted by Alan
Andrés Cuervo @cwervo.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
pondering which language to pick at my new doctor’s office
Preferred language menu: Egyptian (Ancient); Ekajuk; Elamite; English; English, Middle (1100 - 1500), English, Old (ca. 450-1100)
172
Alan @alanlaidlaw.com · 22/08/2026
made it to @atproto.nyc community day 2026 [eivmuxfs] #atprotonyc
020
Reposted by Alan
folkcomputer.bsky.social @folkcomputer.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
From audreygu.io on the @folkcomputer.bsky.social Discord: > i experimented with a few configurations of the interface, like some where the pages are decoupled from the view, but i found the direct manipulation of a projection on a single object to be the most compelling
3226
Reposted by Alan
grant @grantcuster.com · 27/07/2026
Trying out canvas-based paragraph reordering pared with a live document preview.
4348
Reposted by Alan
enclose.horse @enclose.horse · 16/03/2026
For the pinned post 🐴 Check out our simple puzzle game! Try to enclose the horse in the largest possible area with limited walls. To support the game, give this a repost!
14249140
Reposted by Alan
Nicole Bedera @nbedera.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
The biggest risk in this moment is something sociologists call “symbolic compliance.” That’s when an institution that is violating civil rights gives the public just enough symbolic victories that accountability efforts lose steam before there has been any meaningful change.
262206378516
Reposted by Alan
Simon Willison @simonwillison.net · 01/12/2025
To Opus 4.5: "Artifact, no react, with an interactive explainer of how octaves work - should include buttons to press to make sounds and frequency visualizations, make the design minimal, but have a lot of subtle puns" tools.simonwillison.net/octave-expla...
tools.simonwillison.net
The Octave — A Sound Relationship
2565
Alan @alanlaidlaw.com · 30/11/2025
From BBC, an innocuous still from a new TV show. The show is about a brain getting hacked but image has hacked my brain. In the right corner, optical illusion or gen AI outcropping slop? If the show is about ai slop dripping into real life, bravo.
Man running inside subway car toward camera. Closer to the camera (facing away from us) is an impossibly small (grown) man (?) in flannel jacket grasping the leg of a much larger woman (side view).
010
Alan @alanlaidlaw.com · 24/11/2025
Can’t download @wnyc? Is anyone else having this problem?
Screenshot of an Apple notification on my phone that says:
Unable to install “WNYC”
The app is longer available in the App Store
120
Reposted by Alan
Utopiah @benetou.fr · 05/06/2025
Closing the loop, paper prototyping the AR prototyping on the prototyping architecture.
062
Reposted by Alan
Utopiah @benetou.fr · 03/06/2025
Prototyping software architecture in actual Lego, let's see if it's just cute or actually help.
241
Alan @alanlaidlaw.com · 24/03/2025
If the Apple Watch gets a camera, it would be cool (though probably impractical) to have it on the wristband somehow. I don’t use the phone camera much, but I would use a wrist cam all the time.
Loose pencil sketches of tiny camera on the wristband buckle. Looks like a friendly cyclops.Sketch of person clicking watch screen with free hand. The other arm (with the watch) is raised and rotated, as if shielding the person’s eyes from a phantasmagoric cacopoly of failing systems (gurgling and dissolving and getting closer) while, in the middle of it all, a dog sits in a chair and drinks coffee. This is the photo.
060
Alan @alanlaidlaw.com · 20/03/2025
To be fair, whenever I see “lawmaker” I hear “lawn maker.”
110
Reposted by Alan
Dan Hon @danhon.com · 02/03/2025
You should know that a big part of 18F's work was to make sure multi-million to multi-*hundreds*-of-millions dollar contracts at fed *and* state level didn't go to shitty enterprise IT consultancies that *repeatedly* delivered tech that didn't work, was late, or didn't even do what it needed to
5846351190
Reposted by Alan
Cyd Harrell @cydharrell.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
former colleagues from 18F have asked me to share this open letter widely - please pass on 🙏 🇺🇸 💻💪 18f.org
18f.org
We're not done yet | 18F
201310584
Reposted by Alan
Manuel Matuzović @matuzo.at · 27/02/2025
Let’s play a game. I’ll hide a button using different techniques in HTML and CSS, and you have to guess whether it’s still focusable. matuzo.at/blog/2025/is...
matuzo.at
Is the button focusable? - Manuel Matuzovic
I'm a frontend developer in Graz, specialized in HTML, accessibility, and CSS layout and architecture.
1293
Reposted by Alan
Alt CDC (they/them) @altcdc.altgov.info · 26/02/2025
According to a WaPo article Luke Farritor is manually blocking @altusaid.bsky.social HIV/AIDS care funds in violation of court orders. Paused/stopped HIV treatment means more babies born with HIV, more infections, and more deaths. Let him know your thoughts. ax28@cdc.gov Luke.Farritor@hhs.gov
Rubio had decreed that certain critical programs – such as aid to Ukraine and Syria and costs related to the PEPFAR program to combat HIV in Africa – would continue to be funded. Several times, USAID managers prepared packages of these payments and got the agency’s interim leaders to sign off on them with support from the White House.  

But each time, using their new gatekeeping powers and clearly acting on orders from Musk or one of his lieutenants, Farritor and Kliger would veto the payments – a process that required them to manually check boxes in the payment system one at a time, the same tedious way you probably pay your bills online. Meanwhile, AIDS clinics shuttered and staff found themselves stranded in unstable countries such as the Congo. A pregnant woman in an undisclosed country has sued the Trump administration because she was denied a medevac helicopter. In another case, I was told, an employee in southern Africa who needed chemotherapy was also denied a chopper because no one would authorize the money.
23654234
Alan @alanlaidlaw.com · 19/02/2025
What if Trump and Musk are Wallfacers?
000
Alan @alanlaidlaw.com · 26/04/2023
If you define “social media” as interactions with people through a (digital) medium, than Libby is my favorite social media platform. apps.apple.com/us/app/libby-by-over…
apps.apple.com
‎Libby, by OverDrive
‎All over the world, local libraries offer millions of ebooks and audiobooks. You can borrow them — for free, instantly — with a library card and Libby: the award-winning, much-loved app for libraries. • Browse your library’s digital catalog of books — from classics to NYT best-sellers • Borrow a…
040