Ftrain.com
Essays and stories by Paul Ford. Since 1997.
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Latest posts
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I voted on Halloween because they give you a voter sticker with little ghosts on it. I hope you also...
I voted on Halloween because they give you a voter sticker with little ghosts on it. I hope you also go out there and get yourself a cool sticker. It won’t be as cool as mine but it’ll still be cool. You can also dip into the candy when you’re done. You deserve a little…
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I didn’t mean to hurt you I’m sorry that I made you cry Oh now, I didn’t want to hurt you I’m just a
I didn't mean to hurt you I'm sorry that I made you cry Oh now, I didn't want to hurt you I'm just a Alt Text: A scrabble board with only two intersecting words: Wormy Goy
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There’s this ad everywhere for an advent calendar of UGLY MEDIEVAL CATS and they look AMAZING but th...
There's this ad everywhere for an advent calendar of UGLY MEDIEVAL CATS and they look AMAZING but then if you look at the Amazon reviews they look amazing in a very different way and I don't know which part I love the most. Alt Text: A series of 24 extremely quirky versions of…
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I wrote about how it would be better to discuss the bitter lesson and its tradeoffs today, instead o...
I wrote about how it would be better to discuss the bitter lesson and its tradeoffs today, instead of talking about whether robots are conscious in an imagined future. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/30/o...
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Both Rush and Emacs are 50 which really lines up when you think about it www.technologyreview.com/20...
Both Rush and Emacs are 50 which really lines up when you think about it www.technologyreview.com/2026/10/20/1...
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A thought I kept having last night was that, in some way that’s hard to pin down, Rush now passes th...
A thought I kept having last night was that, in some way that's hard to pin down, Rush now passes the Bechdel test. Alt Text: A completely ridiculous stage with Rush on it and the huge Rush logo and the drummer Anika projected on top.
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The Great Firmware Flowering
It’s only a matter of time before we start hacking, well, everything.
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Allison Fine: Making AI-Driven Change Less Scary
How can nonprofits introduce—and embrace—AI? On this week’s episode, Paul and Rich are joined by Allison Fine, the president of Every.org, a technology platform that helps nonprofits collect donations via a wide variety of methods. Nonprofit workers might be getting high-level…
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everyone is like “it will achieve sentience and kill us all” but THIS is what’s gonna kill us
everyone is like “it will achieve sentience and kill us all” but THIS is what's gonna kill us Alt Text: Terminal screenshot. The user has typed: O a;;pw ot Claude has responded: Read as "I allow it".
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I think of these two improvised girders holding up our crumbling subway station as baba yaga legs
I think of these two improvised girders holding up our crumbling subway station as baba yaga legs Alt Text: A subway stop in NYC. Two girders made up of odd shaped metal subsections extend platform to roof, wrapped in rubber numbers and zebra striped yellow and white tape. They…
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The Web Is More Than Enough
Web browsers enable incredibly rich app development—and that’s radically easier than it used to be.
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Ask Aboard: AI Security, Bad Clients, and Yacht Rock
Paul and Rich are ready to answer your questions about AI—and beyond. On the inaugural episode of “Ask Aboard,” they tackle a trio of queries from some familiar faces. First, NYU’s Vice Provost for AI and Technology in Education, Clay Shirky, asks how we can personally protect…
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can you imagine what it was like to be at the first performance of spem in allium in 1570 people mus...
can you imagine what it was like to be at the first performance of spem in allium in 1570 people must have been absolutely losing their minds
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I genuinely appreciate the way Rush fans are like, “Oh no, they’re terrible. It’s going to be a terr...
I genuinely appreciate the way Rush fans are like, “Oh no, they're terrible. It's going to be a terrible concert. Geddy Lee may or may not be alive. I am so excited to see them.”
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This is early days but super interesting. It’s good to see something focused on building instead of ...
This is early days but super interesting. It's good to see something focused on building instead of just a bot rambling. [Quoted post]
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The special feeling of being in The Register but it’s not because you failed catastrophically.
The special feeling of being in The Register but it's not because you failed catastrophically. [Quoted post]
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Climate/data friends: We’re hosting an event next Thurs 4PM in with Harvard’s Public Data Project, a...
Climate/data friends: We're hosting an event next Thurs 4PM in with Harvard's Public Data Project, at our office in NYC. The focus is on how to preserve climate data when it's being destroyed by the government & how to make it USEFUL to climate people. Free, all welcome, SNACKS.…
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I kind of forgot what launching websites is like.
I kind of forgot what launching websites is like. [Quoted post]
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let’s not forget the real mvp which is cloudflare‘s free tier
let’s not forget the real mvp which is cloudflare‘s free tier
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I built a thing. I LOVED making it. It’s called TinyLittleOffice. It’s a web office suite (word proc...
I built a thing. I LOVED making it. It's called TinyLittleOffice. It's a web office suite (word processor, outliner, decks, spreadsheet, calculator, drawing tool, diagram maker, animator, calendar, trip planner) that stores the docs in your URL.…