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ryan m. milner

@rmmilner.bsky.social
545 followers 265 following 153 posts

communication professor. aging meme scholar. charleston, sc usa. he/him

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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The Journal of Media Ethics asked me how AI is influencing online political communication. I told them it's a "shitpost accelerant." It invites faster, easier shitposting, but it did not create the system that rewards shitposting. 50 free clicks to the piece: www.tandfonline.com/eprint/JMZMN...
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Better Things Are Possible @internethippo.bsky.social · 09/12/2025
One of the many reasons AI can't produce good writing is it can't hate its own writing. It can't think to itself "Maybe I'm illiterate" during the writing process. And that's essential
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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
Some good points here, but dark humor is not a gen z thing. There were 9/11 memes on like 9/12, and folks joked about the challenger disaster in the 80s. It goes way back. It’s a human impulse.
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RM @dorsalstream.bsky.social · 03/04/2026
The horse op-ed is an instant classic. I can't tell you how much joy this piece gives me. It should be taught in every introductory writing class in no small part because the horse arguments are so compelling. "I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children."
I Work Very Hard, And I Would Like To Try Cake

By A Horse

Hello. I am a horse. I work very hard at my job of being a horse. When humans say move the heavy thing, I move the heavy thing. When humans sit on top of me and pull on my head, I carry them where they want to go. The main food the humans give me is hay and oats. But I am thinking it would be nice to have a different food.

I am thinking I would like to try cake.

Yes, yes. Cake. I know all about it. When humans eat cake, it is in glad times. It is the food for a celebration, such as when a woman becomes 47. I have seen cake on the Fourth of July. When humans have a cake, they stand around it and clap hands and smile and say happy birthday at each other. Sometimes there are beautiful markings on a cake, such as balloons or a pink shape.

Sometimes the top of a cake is on fire and a boy must blow on the fire with mouth wind. This is the scariest cake. I do not want this kind. But I will eat any other cake. Any cake that is not the fire cake that tries to kill the boy.

Please understand: I do not get money for doing work. I do not get to go inside the house. All I am either doing my horse job or standing in my pen or eating food off the floor. I always do these things. But I have never once gotten cake and I would like it very much.

I have noticed that human children get to eat cake. But I am bigger than the children. I am more helpful to the farm. Children do not move the heavy things like me or let anyone ride on them. And yet they get cake. Maybe the humans will realize this. Maybe they will say, "You  know who deserves cake? That horse. That horse whose back we are always on."

Every day I dream about what it will be like if I get to eat cake. Here is what will happen. First, I will walk to the cake and putt my nose at it like hrrfff to make and stomping my hooves to make sure it is not a snake. Then I will trot in a circle to show that I am a horse and I am large. After that, I will nuzzle the cake to …
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Nick Seaver @nickseaver.website · 16/03/2026
After reading a ton of rec letters for an internal student grant, I can say with confidence that every single faculty member at my university is using a different, unauthorized version of the university letterhead
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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
I’m in a hotel, and I forget how wild live tv is. I passed by a news channel that was just eight other news channels in split screen. I’m watching Mike Huckabee sell pills made of red grapes that “widen blood vessels”
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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
Some cold water on the idea that a massive sea change of public opinion is happening. Good to keep in mind.
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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 23/01/2026
A student peer support service promising you’ll get to chat with a person. My university, like so many others, is embracing GAI. But when you talk to students on the ground, they’re more ambivalent. Having grown up through the rise of commercial social media, they see the mixed bag of big tech.
A sandwich board sign for a student support service. The prominent text reads “no bots; no AI.”
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Jeremy Littau @jeremylittau.com · 20/01/2026
I have been teaching about communication tech for a long time, and if there's one through line it's people will use things they find useful even if they see a lot of downsides to society or their self-interest. Survey after survey says it's leadership/management pushing the current iteration of AI.
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NPR @npr.org · 16/01/2026
As President Trump approaches one year back in office, the policies his administration pursues — and how those policies are communicated — have been increasingly shaped by social media.
n.pr
Minnesota shows what happens when governing and content creation merge
As President Trump approaches one year back in office, the policies his administration pursues — and how those policies are communicated — have been increasingly shaped by social media.
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Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 20/12/2025
The ‘deck’ in “Deck the Halls” means “to decorate.” But, it is not related or a shortening of ‘decorate.’ It comes from the Dutch word meaning “to cover.” You also use it when you’re all “decked out.”
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Mar Hicks @histoftech.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
“I made it simple for baby boy”
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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 11/12/2025
ahh, december. wherein i determine whether organizing my desktop wallpapers is "work"
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Becca Lewis @beccalew.bsky.social · 06/12/2025
Seems extra relevant after today’s news
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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
okay but is this headline an AI summary?
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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 16/11/2025
a decade after I threw away all my DVDs, I’ve bought my first 4K blu-ray. discs, vinyl, hardbacks. physical media as luxury item is a funny streaming-era byproduct.
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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 13/11/2025
I have a John Henry's Hammer mentality about AI. I can write emails better and faster than you, and I will die proving it.
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Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 13/11/2025
If you have ‘dibs’ on something, you claim or declare rights to that thing before anyone else. ‘Dibs’ comes from an old children's game called ‘dibstones,’ which resembled the game of jacks.
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Julian Sanchez @normative.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
I feel one million years old here, but we do actually have a pretty reliable way of knowing what news is true. Did a real newspaper publish it? Then probably yes. Can’t find it in a real newspaper? Maybe not.
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the Mountain Goats @themountaingoats.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
those of you who are afraid of aging, please understand that one of the huge blessings of middle age is arriving at this exact station
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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 15/10/2025
I'm happy to report I just put on The Big Hoodie for the first time this season
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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
I’m reading Thus Spoke Zarathustra inside a video game where your only objective is to pass time. Been sitting here for an hour clicking A to make my little goblin advance the page. A model Übermensch
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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 12/09/2025
my kids are still young but this is basically our strategy. even video games are something that we first and foremost play together, as a family, in the living room.
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Retro Tech Dreams @retrotechdreams.bsky.social · 26/05/2025
This summer, you can find me at the pool
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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 24/05/2025
Alvin and the Chipmunks is on Hulu. The Squeakquel is on Disney Plus. Chipwrecked is on Peacock. But you have to pay 14.99 for Road Chip.
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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
I regret to inform you this essay did not live up to my standards.
A screenshot of Microsoft copilot comparing its services to Wookiepedia, the Star Wars wiki.
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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 26/04/2025
screaming WELCOME TO CHARLESTON the second we land so the captain can’t be the first one to do it
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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
had my first foodtruck Philly cheesesteak and it’s challenging the döner kebab for street food supremacy
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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
me: damn we're spending more on groceries than on our mortgage my escrow shortage: I have good news for you :)
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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 05/04/2025
reviewing a dissertation and really happy to see where the field has gone
A light green anthropomorphic squid is being crushed between two horizontal gray cylinders covered in spikes. The cylinders are attached to a light red vehicle being driven by a green fish. The caption below reads: "Figure 17. Squidward Meme."
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Chris Hayes @chrislhayes.bsky.social · 01/04/2025
Honestly for a huge number of content creators, podcast hosts etc, I don't think they think they have a responsibility to try to find out if something is true or not. Rogan feels like a dorm-room bull session for a reason. But of course when you have millions of viewers you can do real damage!
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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Grammarly needs a "leave me alone, it's poetry" option.
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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 20/03/2025
and they say community is dead.
A Ring neighborhood alert asks “can anyone driving by the DQ on folly road tell me how busy it looks right now?”
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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
This is what’s keeping me up at night. I’m worried about fall enrollments. At a mid-size college like mine, missing enrollment targets by even a couple hundred is a big hit to the bottom line.
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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
me watching Severance: why is their whole job to drag things around their screen me sorting emails: oh no
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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
went to the museum of the moving image and made my stop motion debut.
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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
don’t tell the feds about the pop culture wing at the Smithsonian. It’s full of thoughtcrimes
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The Onion @theonion.com · 28/02/2025
NOAA Cuts Leave Wind Chimes As Sole Predictor Of Approaching Hurricanes
theonion.com
NOAA Cuts Leave Wind Chimes As Sole Predictor Of Approaching Hurricanes
SILVER SPRING, MD—As mass firings of career experts and scientists continued to roil the federal government, officials confirmed Friday that cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration...
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Better Things Are Possible @internethippo.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
Every day I have to hear about some asshole
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Tom Di Liberto @tdiliberto.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
Please enjoy my last ever post at Climate.gov/ENSO Blog. This afternoon I was fired by the Trump Administration 15 days before my 2yr probationary period ended on March 13. I have worked at NOAA since 2010, and I'm so incredibly proud of the work I did. If anyone wants a quote, let me know.
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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
At a Carl Bernstein talk. He’s dismantling how our media and political systems did their job during Watergate and are failing us today. It’s chilling.
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Peter Sagal @petersagal.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
Since I have defended and supported the WaPo in the months since the election and the infamous pulled endorsement, I feel obliged to say: this is very, very bad. A dear friend at a Post vet says it's the worst thing to happen to the Post in its long history, and I can't argue.
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the Mountain Goats @themountaingoats.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
disturbing uptick in "we post tweets and talk about them." servile behavior tbh. bluesky is not the Greek chorus for the main character action of twitter, that's loser thinking, have some pride. twitter is dead. post bangers. thank you
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Jess Maddox @jessmaddox.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
Update: My husband was just laid off If you know anyone looking to hire remote large scale grant and contract management folks, DM me
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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 23/02/2025
1. I walked 500 miles 2. I walked 500 more 3. Just to be the man who walked 1000 miles 4. To fall down at your door 5. Dah dah duh dah
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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 20/02/2025
Exemplary audio journalism from The Daily. Fired federal workers recounting step by boggling step
nytimes.com
Inside the Trump Purge: Federal Workers Tell Their Stories
Dozens of government employees grapple with the president’s war on bureaucracy.
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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
i accidentally called pillar 2 of our strategic plan "academic extinction" instead of "academic distinction," and i'm trying not to read too much into that
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ryan m. milner @rmmilner.bsky.social · 16/02/2025
Apparently how you deal with “normal and appropriate” anxiety is mostly the same way you deal with generalized anxiety so back to the gym I guess
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danah boyd @zephoria.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
My heart ached when I was reminded that Aaron Swartz was prosecuted for trying to make academic knowledge more accessible to the public. Meta, meanwhile, is doing it for their own bottom line. I'm going to guess that no one at Meta will be looking at spending 35 years in jail for this.
An image of Aaron Swartz with the following text: "Meta illegally downloaded 80+ TB of books from LibGen, Anna's Archive, and Z-library to train their AI models. In 2010, Aaron Swartz downloaded only 70 GBs of articles from JSTOR (0.0875% of Meta). Faced $1 million in fine and 35 years in jail. Took his own life in 2013.
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