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Ray Ryan

@rjrjr.com
937 followers 194 following 1.7K posts

Once wrote Android apps and open source, esp. github.com/square/workflow. Now gloriously unproductive. Former: Distinguished Senior Software Citizen at Square, Instigator at Google, Chief Pedant at Lighthouse Design.

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Ray Ryan @rjrjr.com · 23h
Gift link. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/29/s...
nytimes.com
What If A.D.H.D. Isn’t About Attention at All? (Gift Article)
Evidence suggests that it really affects what psychiatrists like me call sustained engagement — an important difference in understanding how to think about the condition.
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Mr. Joshua @pantspants.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
“Bongo” Ballpoint pen, pencil, watercolor, acrylic paint, and a little colored pencil.

Our man is in trouble this time, reader. Art supplies are scattered around a painting of an abstract cityscape. On the canvas we see a man in a telephone booth making a frantic call to his cat, Bongo. In the foreground, an answering machine is taking his voicemail, [Leave a message at the beep] --- “Bongo, Daddy got stuck in the painting. Go get help, Bongo.” Bongo stands at the base of the easel looking at the phone. Her tail in the air and ears perked up. Whether she’ll be able to help is open to interpretation.

Artist’s note: One of my favorites from the Spooky Pants book. I was playing around with the idea of a painting coming to life (like that guy in Ghostbusters 2) and kind of fumbled my way into this version. I really draw a lot of corded phones. I won’t stop.
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A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs @500songspodcast.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Bowie episode currently in progress.
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Sophia D’Aurelio Adair @vitaphonezone.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Pretty funny, sensational tale of various complaints as told by Jean Hersholt about von Stroheim and the production of Greed (1924), published in Screen Book magazine, June 1933:
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Wole Talabi | Preorder THE FIST OF MEMORY @wtalabi.com · 28/09/2026
Alright folks, this is one of the best stories I've read all year. Its about. Ancestors. Vampirism. Justice. Haunted houses. Storytelling. And so much more. Go check it out y'all. Run, dont walk.
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Aishatu Ado @aishatuado.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Some stories leave scars. This one grows teeth. Super excited to share: My new short story "What Grows Back" is now live in @nightmare-magazine.com edited by @wnwagner.bsky.social 🥹 Read it here: www.nightmare-magazine.com/fiction/what...
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Ray Ryan @rjrjr.com · 27/09/2026
"Chan’s record on housing is abysmal. She has said outright she doesn’t think San Francisco needs any new market-rate housing, even as rents soar — and at the same time suggested she believes communities deserve veto power over affordable housing developments."
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Fast Company @fastcompany.com · 27/09/2026
The museum’s first-ever exhibition dedicated to information design includes works by a climatologist, The New York Times, and more. f-st.co/Z1iiWnI
f-st.co
MoMA explores the useful beauty of information design
The museum’s first-ever exhibition dedicated to the field includes works by a climatologist, The New York Times, and more.
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Nelson Minar @nelson.tech.lgbt.ap.brid.gy · 26/09/2026
Repairing about a gigabyte of video files that `rsync --append` slowly corrupted over the years. I had no idea but rsync --append is not safe to use in general, particularly not repeatedly if the source files are changing. If you use it reflexively like I did, stop!
nelsonslog.wordpress.com
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Huyen Tue Dao @queencodemonkey.dev · 26/09/2026
Fuck. You. Instagram/Meta. Niki and I hand-drew over REAL pictures. I spent HOURS working on graphics in After Effects doing mattes, pixel pushing, and adjusting music MYSELF. This wasn't even fucking enhanced. Apparently, the only mistake I made was using your platform to publish it. #FuckAI
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Kohut @kohut.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
How much more time do we spend on hold with insurance companies?
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Andrew Hickey @andrewhickey.500songs.com · 23/09/2026
This version will blow your minds
youtube.com
Nina Simone - Cotton Eyed Joe (1959)
YouTube video by Classic Mood Experience
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Ray Ryan @rjrjr.com · 23/09/2026
www.mprnews.org/story/2026/0...
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Ray Ryan @rjrjr.com · 23/09/2026
Is Walgreens phone AI the worst? Certainly a strong contender for worst. Good way to get your heart rate way up at least.
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Aaron Becker @aaronjbecker.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
You could find your way along the Nova Scotia coast blind, just by timing the blinks. Every lighthouse flashes on its own rhythm, a set interval and colour no neighbour repeats. Sambro Island off Halifax has burned since 1758, the oldest working lighthouse in North America. #lighthouse #NovaScotia
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Ray Ryan @rjrjr.com · 11/09/2026
Tony is good for what ails your Gradle set up, and really pleasant to work with. I miss him.
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Tony @autonomousapps.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
I'm available for work. If you manage a Java, Kotlin, or Android project that uses Gradle, let me be your expert! I have over a decade of experience as a build and DevEx engineer, and would love to help you achieve your goals github.com/autonomousapps
github.com
autonomousapps - Overview
Build and tooling engineer. autonomousapps has 96 repositories available. Follow their code on GitHub.
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Matt Miller @mattmiller.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
a comic by Russ Heath, who drew the comic one of Lichtenstein’s most famous panels was based on
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Present & Correct @presentcorrect.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Typology of Pedestrian Walking Symbols walking-men.com/product/hood... Via @kottke.org
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Ray Ryan @rjrjr.com · 20/09/2026
@waymo.bsky.social Your car squatted on a crosswalk in one of the most dangerous intersections in San Francisco, forcing at least four of us to step out into traffic. This new aggressive behavior will get someone killed. It is inexcusable, and worse than I've ever seen a human driver do here.
Waymo covering the crosswalk at Twin Peaks, Clayton and Carmel for no reason.
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Sardonicus @sardonicus.eu · 19/09/2026
John Cage, Lecture on nothing, 1959
LECTURE ON NOTHING
I am here
and there is nothing to say
If among you are
those who wish to get somewhere
let them leave at
any moment
What we re-quire
is ; : ;
silence
but what silence requires
is
that I go on talking
Give any one thought
a push
it falls down easily
but the pusher
and the pushed
pro-duce
that enter-
tainment
called
a dis-cussion
Shall we have one later?
TIP
we could simply de-cide
not to have a dis-
What ever you like.
But
there are silences
and the
Or cussion now words silences
make
help make
the
I have nothing to say
and that is
poetry
and I am saying it
as I need it
is organized
This space of time
We need not fear these
silences,

LECTURE ON NOTHING/109
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eduardo urios @eurios1.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
‘A map is never neutral’ Hao Xiaoguang’s vertical world map, 2021. Photograph: TPG/Getty Images www.theguardian.com/science/ng-i...
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Tade Thompson @tadethompson.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
If AGI is ever attained, the first independent thought it will have:
static.klipy.com
Jimmy McNulty: 'The Fuck Did I Do?' from The Wire
Alt: Jimmy McNulty: 'The Fuck Did I Do?' from The Wire
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Alasdair Beckett-King @misterabk.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Well, of course those hippy Marxists at the Financial Times would say that.
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Ray Ryan @rjrjr.com · 17/09/2026
Sound. On. 😍
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Ray Ryan @rjrjr.com · 17/09/2026
His bus Further is on display in San Francisco right now. www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/arti...
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Ray Ryan @rjrjr.com · 17/09/2026
A game of skill. RNGdle 🎲 221303 🟦 RARE • Top 18% 🟩 📉 Low Ball 🟩 🪶 Feather 🟩 💎 Prime Number +14 more 14,105 EP rngdle.com
rngdle.com
RNGdle
A daily random number game. Roll your number, collect badges, and compete with friends.
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Internet Archive @archive.org · 17/09/2026
JUST ADDED: Tonight’s Negativland concert at the Internet Archive is sold out, but you can still join us online! The livestream begins at 6:30pm PT and will only be available during the show. At the band’s request, there will be no replay. Watch live ➡️ youtube.com/live/qiQ39fM...
youtube.com
NEGATIVLAND LIVE AT INTERNET ARCHIVE
YouTube video by Internet Archive
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Bela Lugosi's Dad 🏳️‍⚧️ 🇵🇸 @belalugosisdad.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Personally I would not pick this fight with the youtube guy who demonstrates all the ways he can nail you with an arrow at 200 yards using his feet while wearing 12-inch Pleasers, whose wife can also kill you with her bare hands, and has 9 billionteen followers who are all trans women with swords.
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Michael Kupperman @mkupperman.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
Doing a BACK TO SCHOOL sale on my site, all prints are at crazy low prices! 8x10 prints for $15, 11x14 for $30, 13x19 at $40! Insane savings! michaelkupperman.com/shop
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Ray Ryan @rjrjr.com · 16/09/2026
Oh hell yes. *cough* www.mayoclinic.org/symptoms/cou...
mayoclinic.org
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Jake Nelson @jakenelson.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Someone performed the music on that butt a while back. One person suggested the title "Eine Kleine Arschmusik" youtu.be/OnrICy3Bc2U?...
youtu.be
Hieronymus Bosch Butt Music
YouTube video by Jim Spalink
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Ray Ryan @rjrjr.com · 15/09/2026
This is genius. youtube.com/playlist?lis...
youtube.com
La Prima Formaggio - YouTube
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Andy Clark, Nerdling Herder @andycruns.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
I mean the code for the nuclear football for at least the first three decades was 00-00-00
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Timnit Gebru @timnitgebru.blacksky.app · 14/09/2026
The only person in public service who has consistently made 100% sense on issues of "AI," which is why they hate her so much.
Law enforcers already have authority to charge companies and their CEOs for creating and releasing dangerous, unvetted, or defective products. We shouldn’t let discussions about new legal regimes distract from the fact that there’s no AI exemption from laws already on the books — a point 
@FTC
 emphasized repeatedly during my tenure.

1. There is an extensive set of laws that govern dangerous and defective products. For example, releasing unvetted AI models or agents can violate consumer protection laws. Shipping flawed AI tools without implementing adequate measures to detect and stop rogue or defective AI agents can be an “unfair or deceptive” act or practice under the FTC Act (and analogous state laws). And some state AGs are already exploring holding AI firms and their CEOs criminally liable when their models participate in criminal activity.

2. Existing laws also prohibit “unfair methods of competition.” This covers instances where AI firms appropriate the competitively sensitive information of their customers, including through tracking their use of various tools. It can also cover instances where firms pursue dangerous behavior, aware that doing so may compel rivals to do the same.As the Supreme Court has noted: “A method of competition which casts upon one's competitors the burden of the loss of business unless they will descend to a practice which they are under a powerful moral compulsion not to adopt, even though it is not criminal, was thought to involve the kind of unfairness at which the [unfair methods of competition] statute was aimed."

3. The highly concentrated and interconnected structure of these markets could be creating major risks and conflicts of interest. We had started investigating these partnerships and cross-investments across the stack (and released a preliminarily overview of some findings: https://ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2025/01/ftc-issues-staff-report-ai-partnerships-investments-study). 

Both federal and state enforcers should be scrutinizing these opaque relationships and inter-dependencies. We are already seeing how these relationships could undermine accountability. For example, OpenAI could face liability given the Hugging Face incident, but Hugging Face being bought up by Nvidia means that we’re unlikely to see it file a lawsuit over this — given Nvidia’s strong incentive to see OpenAI continue full speed ahead.4. As AI tools dramatically change the landscape of cybersecurity risks and hacks, all businesses should be doubling down on having core security protections in place. Firms that fail to invest in adequate data security measures or fix known vulnerabilities can also be breaking the law. A recent analysis showed that around 1/3 of Fortune 100 companies do not even have a way to notify them about security issues. During my 
@FTC
 tenure, we sued firms for poor data security practices and held CEOs liable when they were personally responsible.

https://this.weekinsecurity.com/dozens-of-americas-largest-companies-have-no-simple-way-to-report-security-flaws/

https://ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2022/10/ftc-takes-action-against-drizly-its-ceo-james-cory-rellas-security-failures-exposed-data-25-million

5. As policymakers consider new legal regimes, we should be looking to lessons from prior efforts to govern major sectors, such as banking and other networks, platforms, and utilities. Tools like structural separations, nondiscrimination, and supervision could be key, and there’s a rich history of what works and what doesn’t. But we can and must pursue any new efforts alongside enforcing existing laws.
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Ralf @ralf-wondratschek.com · 14/09/2026
I measured how much faster an agent can navigate an app and read its state by skipping the UI. Spoiler alert: the difference is significant. Another reason to decouple your business logic and navigation entirely from the UI layer. ralf-wondratschek.com/blog/headles...
Benchmark result preview from the article.
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Jess Miers 🦝 @jmiers230.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
I did a somewhat deep dive into the recent OpenAI and Anthropic "hacks" for an upcoming interview. IMO, the AI companies are better off running with the "rogue AI" story because the real story is actually pretty embarrassing. Like making your Wi-Fi password "wifi" embarrassing. 🧵
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A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs @500songspodcast.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Oh, you absolute dazzler. Thank you, Michael.
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Tade Thompson @tadethompson.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
youtu.be
War - The Cisco Kid (Official Lyric Video)
YouTube video by War
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Ken Jennings @kenjennings.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
From the never-produced Mr. Show movie HOORAY FOR AMERICA! Late ‘90s.
MOMENTS LATER -
CUT
DAVID
(to camera)
It's very simple. This is my last campaign stop. In the next month, my opponents will spend an estimated combined total of 178 million dollars campaigning for your vote. I, too, will spend 178 million dollars. On you. If elected, I will send each and every registered voter a check for 4,072 dollars and 65 cents.
David holds up a GIANT CHECK to "Joe Public."
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Neglected Books @neglectedbooks.com · 12/09/2026
"Based on your listening"?? My last two listens were Billy Budd and the first volume of Dorothy Richardson's Pilgrimage. F**k you, Audible's algorithm!
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Ray Ryan @rjrjr.com · 12/09/2026
“…they would genuinely rather reign in hell than share in heaven. And they have all the money to make sure they get there.” www.theguardian.com/books/2026/s...
theguardian.com
Naomi Klein: ‘Extreme wealth has a deranging effect. It turns you into a supremacist’
She’s tackled neoliberalism and the digital world, now the writer and activist is taking on tech billionaires. She explains how the super-rich are capitalising on climate and financial chaos in pursui...
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Wole Talabi | Preorder THE FIST OF MEMORY @wtalabi.com · 12/09/2026
Same goes for authors. You don't have to buy expensive hardcovers of our books. You can request them from your local library, tell your book clubs about them, read and review on netgalley, share and repost covers and quotes. These are things I'm encouraging people to do for THE FIST OF MEMORY.
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Ray Ryan @rjrjr.com · 11/09/2026
Not really a proper fan but I do know an awful lot of the lyrics to Eat Y'Self Fitter. #FallFriday
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Ray Ryan @rjrjr.com · 11/09/2026
Tony is good for what ails your Gradle set up, and really pleasant to work with. I miss him.
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Huyen Tue Dao @queencodemonkey.dev · 11/09/2026
Tony is an amazing engineer, a great communicator, and a great person. Legitimately, he is THE expert for Gradle. Hire him.
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Kohut @kohut.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
The best math story I have read in ages. (h/t @katzish.bsky.social ) www.nytimes.com/2026/09/06/s...
nytimes.com
The 92-Year-Old Mathematician and the Teenage Apprentice (Gift Article)
Joan Birman thought her major discoveries were behind her. Then came an email from a young neighbor — a girl who knew little but wanted to learn.
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Gaijin Rando @gaijinrando.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
On the set of GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA (1974)
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Andrew Hickey @andrewhickey.500songs.com · 10/09/2026
The playlist linked here has got some really, *really* good stuff on it, a lot of it stuff where I thought "Oh yeah! 'John I'm Only Dancing' *is* a Jolene-style song, isn't it? Never thought of that before"
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Nelson Minar @nelson.tech.lgbt.ap.brid.gy · 09/09/2026
I signed up for California's new data broker opt-out system. It seems to be working, at least sort of. 118 of 660 data brokers have deleted my data. 410 still haven't responded to my request but I think that's expected, it's a slow rollout. The "opted out" are […] [Original post on tech.lgbt]
Donut chart showing disposition of my request.A sample of surveillance companies that have deleted data about me
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