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VP of Vibes at a PR joint, but my career doesn’t define me.

Former journo for a site you might have read. Western Mass community evangelist, town representative. Star Trek defined my political consciousness, forever dreaming of Fully Automated Luxury Gay Space Communism.

Posts about phones, Android, tech, keebs, kayaking, my sweet-ass cabin, and my rad van. Occasionally 💩s on hateful conservative ideologies — unapologetically.

I turn my phone off on weekends and vacations.

PronounsHe/Him
GitHubhttps://github.com/rynehager/
Helping cool folks do rad shit athttps://www.museperse.com/
You Could Be Next

Over the last few years, a new type of AI company has emerged, like Mercor and Surge AI, staffed by and large by former white-collar workers, including former lawyers, scientists, copywriters, and screenwriters.

The Verge

Hello #UX folk!

Some people seem to think that the "craft of ux" is dead: striving to be polished is naive. E.g. snapchat & Instagram stories, which are horrible UX, are claimed to be "good enough".

I'm writing a blog post exploring this but need links to any examples of this type of good enough thinking?

I'm expecting mostly techbro types will say this

EDIT: I shouldn't have called out Instagram so strongly. It's odd but not horrible.

My Western Massachusetts fellows: Dave Hayes (of The Weather Nut fame) just released his weather app. Finally, accurate weather for the Pioneer Valley area on your phone. iOS-only for now, though.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/the-weather-nut/id6751524291

The Weather Nut App - App Store

Download The Weather Nut by David Hayes on the App Store. See screenshots, ratings and reviews, user tips, and more games like The Weather Nut.

App Store
Cancel your Spotify subscription until the ICE ads stop. There are other streaming options that don’t profit from exploiting artists while recruiting for ICE: https://indivisible.org/cancel-spotify?source=mastodon

First time to Japan (in Okinawa), and so much about it is rad. The US could simply never sustain cloth curtains on a public bus.

Some fun shots from town today.

Healthcare In America:

Doctor - I see that your gscsttigom isn't working as well as I'd like. I'd like to start you on pjehhdntpf instead.

Patient - Okay, do you know how much that's going to cost?

Doctor - Sorry I've got no idea.

Patient - What do you mean? Like give me a ballpark. Is this a $20/month? $100/month? $500/month? Refinance my house for a month's supply?

Doctor - Well, it's probably not "refinance your house" level.

Patient - Umm ... Okay ... That leaves a lot of room in there still.

Doctor - You'll just have to talk to your insurance.

Patient - ... Okay

Later

Patient - Hey insurance, my doc wants me to start taking pjehhdntpf, can you tell me how much it is going to cost?

Insurance - Sorry, I have no idea.

Patient - What do you mean no idea?

Insurance - well, we won't pay anything until your doctor gets a pre-authorization. And then how much we cover is based on the diagnosis codes, your deductible, the specifics of your plan, whether you get it from an in-network pharmacy or not ...

Patient - fine, so give me a best case

Insurance - free if it's approved and in network and you've hit your out of pocket maximum of $100,000

Patient - ... Really not helping here. So assume it gets approved and I've hit my deductable

Insurance - which pharmacy?

Patient - idk ... Umm the CVS down the street

Insurance - Okay that's going to be $5000/month

Patient - ... Wait, WHAT?

Insurance - turns out it's on our exclusions list so we don't cover it unless you get it waved onto the formulary upon appeal

Patient - but.... I have insurance. Why aren't you helping me pay for my medicine?

Insurance - we don't allow that medicine on your employers' plan. You should use gscsttigom instead.

Patient - I'm on that one right now. It doesn't work.

Insurance - well you'll have to appeal it, but you can't do that until after you get a formal denial.

Patient - and how long does that take?

Insurance - well, if your doctor does the preauth paperwork, they'll make a decision about it within 14 business days, unless they need to come back to your doctor for more information. Then they'll mail you the decision within another 7 business days from (insert the location farthest possible away from you in the continental US). Depending on the decision you can appeal the decision, which the appeals process can take a maximum of 180 days, after which you can appeal it again which takes a maximum of 365 days.

Patient - and if I need to start taking the medicine now?

Insurance - well you're free to do that out of pocket and file for reimbursement later.

Patient - at $5000/month?

Insurance - no it'd have to be at the out of pocket price. For that CVS, it looks like it'd be $15000/month

Patient furiously googling "how to move to a civilized country"

Googles "pjehhdntpf price in Mexico" - $12.50 for a 90 day supply.

People have attributed my various abilities to do public facing work to a lot of things but one underappreciated thing is that you can pretty much assume I am toughing it out underneath extreme embarrassment at all times

Just very, very high tolerance for feeling mortified and showing up as best I can anyway

Hi friends, as we round another year of AndroidDev.social, I wanted to make a call for donations https://donate.androiddev.social/

Thank you for all that support this server <3

Android Dev Social

Android Dev Social
Fuck yeah.

Cooking is one of my favorite activities. I insist on cooking breakfast every single day, and I feel like I’m starting to get sort of adventurous with it.

Today’s is jalapenio, shiso, and onion rice porridge topped with fried bacon, sweet potato, and poached eggs, with sesame oil and ponzu.