Ftrain, by Paul Ford

August 2025

Aug 30, 2025

Do you remember how in the 90s you’d go to bed and turn off the light and then you had absolutely no...

Do you remember how in the 90s you’d go to bed and turn off the light and then you had absolutely no way to read Oscar Peterson’s Wikipedia page. ➛
Aug 29, 2025

Just this for miles today, all day, every window. Too much to handle.

Just this for miles today, all day, every window. Too much to handle.
New York with clouds and tall building with sun at some sort of apex of urban beauty.

Alt Text: New York with clouds and tall building with sun at some sort of apex of urban beauty.

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Aug 27, 2025

I wrote a little bit about how and why AI is good at bureaucracy, which is interesting to bureaucrac...

I wrote a little bit about how and why AI is good at bureaucracy, which is interesting to bureaucracy freaks like me. aboard.com/ai-is-a-powe...
AI is a power tool for bureaucracy freaks like me

Get an AI to write a short story? It’ll suck. Create a PowerPoint about the ISO-9001 certification process? It’ll be a very, very good start.

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Aug 25, 2025

Let's say you had the dumb urge to blog in 2025, mostly about learning piano and synths. As a Linux ...

Let's say you had the dumb urge to blog in 2025, mostly about learning piano and synths. As a Linux dipshit you'd prefer a self-hosted box that speaks HTTP, SMTP, and ActivityPub (you used to admin ezmlm+majordomo). But you're dead inside and open to hosted/paid. No Substack, not that dead. Advice? ➛
Aug 24, 2025

Trying to imagine the Hakeem Jeffries scavenger hunt.

Trying to imagine the Hakeem Jeffries scavenger hunt. ➛
Aug 24, 2025

Do you think God reads these posts? Or is he mostly on Instagram?

Do you think God reads these posts? Or is he mostly on Instagram? ➛
Aug 23, 2025

Dude is EVERYWHERE.

Dude is EVERYWHERE.
Zohran Momdani surrounded by well wishers and cameras in Brooklyn.

Alt Text: Zohran Momdani surrounded by well wishers and cameras in Brooklyn.

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Aug 23, 2025

They’re just good at it.

They’re just good at it.
[Quoted post]
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Aug 20, 2025

Due to large platforms not really interoperating I get notifications from the security system at wor...

Due to large platforms not really interoperating I get notifications from the security system at work. And every morning at sunrise it decides that the sun coming up is a person entering the office. So every morning I get a notification and I think, “our valued colleague Sunshine is at the office!” ➛
Aug 20, 2025

They wrote about us in the paper!

They wrote about us in the paper!
[Quoted post]
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Aug 19, 2025

Barnes & Noble has The Bell Jar on a table labeled “Dark Academia.”

Barnes & Noble has The Bell Jar on a table labeled “Dark Academia.” ➛
Aug 15, 2025

I gotta wonder if stuff is going to snap back in weird ways and they’re going to blame the nerds for...

I gotta wonder if stuff is going to snap back in weird ways and they’re going to blame the nerds for all of it, and there will be a something like a national swirly. ➛
Aug 14, 2025

Imagine Swedish death pod technology in 2050.

Imagine Swedish death pod technology in 2050. ➛
Aug 12, 2025

This year in their front garden the neighbors went primeval and it rules.

This year in their front garden the neighbors went primeval and it rules.
An enormous circular white flower like 8 inch radius with a red dot in the middle along with the stamen or whatever that yellow thing is that bees adore. Big bushy grasses behind.

Alt Text: An enormous circular white flower like 8 inch radius with a red dot in the middle along with the stamen or whatever that yellow thing is that bees adore. Big bushy grasses behind.

One huge ass sunflower like nine feet tall. Petals drooping off a giant round base. Yellow everywhere.

Alt Text: One huge ass sunflower like nine feet tall. Petals drooping off a giant round base. Yellow everywhere.

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Aug 12, 2025

I’m thinking of proactively becoming one of those guys who sees a friend across a crowded street and...

I’m thinking of proactively becoming one of those guys who sees a friend across a crowded street and yells, ”Every day above ground!” ➛
Aug 11, 2025

They have a revolving restaurant in the Marriott in Times Square! I had no idea. It’s been remodeled...

They have a revolving restaurant in the Marriott in Times Square! I had no idea. It’s been remodeled and opened to non guests. This is an hour in 30 seconds.
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Aug 9, 2025

It’s Summer Streets in NYC! Gonna bike from Ditmas to Inwood right after this cup of coffee. Can’t l...

It’s Summer Streets in NYC! Gonna bike from Ditmas to Inwood right after this cup of coffee. Can’t lament the wholesale destruction of civic life without participating with wholesale enthusiasm in civic life! www.nyc.gov/html/dot/dow...
nyc.gov/...
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Aug 7, 2025

Wrote a little for the Office Newletter about the Empire of AI book. I see the undaunted differently...

Wrote a little for the Office Newletter about the Empire of AI book. I see the undaunted differently but it s a very useful book that helped me understand a lot of the chaos of the last few years in our industry. aboard.com/ais-hot-hot-...
AI’s Hot, Hot Mess: Reading Karen Hao’s Empire of AI

The history of Sam Altman and OpenAI is less about computers becoming human—and more about humans being very human.

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Aug 1, 2025

This morning I took a Citi(e)Bike to work and, from Smith&9th St. in Brooklyn to Duane St. in the Ci...

This morning I took a Citi(e)Bike to work and, from Smith&9th St. in Brooklyn to Duane St. in the City, I only hit green lights. It was so bizarre that when I got to Joralemon St. I began to wonder if I had been hit by a truck and this was the afterlife, because nothing else explained it.
A NYC map with a line showing a bike's path from Kensington area to Union Square; the middle stretch is circled in red.

Alt Text: A NYC map with a line showing a bike's path from Kensington area to Union Square; the middle stretch is circled in red.

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