Ftrain, by Paul Ford
October 2021
I've reviewed a lot of “cool” Halloween playlists, and very...
I've reviewed a lot of “cool” Halloween playlists, and very few of them work as well as the album “I See Good Spirits and I See Bad Spirits” by My Life With the Thrill Kill Kult. open.spotify.com/...
➛For Halloween my son is a poppyseed bagel with lox.
This remains true.
My guess is they're paying for the REALLY expensive media...
@tressiemcphd My guess is they're paying for the REALLY expensive media training coaches who are used to working with politicians/seasoned executives, but these are nervous nerds who are rushing everything and they're treating the coaching as a set of rules to follow, with this as result.
➛This documentary has confirmed my long-held belief that...
This documentary has confirmed my long-held belief that Tony Levin is a really good guy, the kind of guy who will put down his Chapman stick if you ask him to play croquet.
➛I found this because I was trying to decide whether I...
I found this because I was trying to decide whether I should mess around with Fairlight CMI emulation in MAME youtube.com/...
➛At 20 mins he's: Swung on a big swing; lived in a perfect...
At 20 mins he's: Swung on a big swing; lived in a perfect house; shown us problematic cassette recordings of African polyrhythms that he tapes off the radio, keeps in a briefcase, and "steals" from; said "Mommy" into a Fairlight; recorded himself smashing a TV with a car muffler.
If you ever wondered about the exact process whereby Peter...
If you ever wondered about the exact process whereby Peter Gabriel made Security, there's an hourlong documentary made over 18 months. youtube.com/...
➛Charlie Connecticut.
@toomuchnick Charlie Connecticut.
➛Fun to think what the story would have been like if Herbert...
Fun to think what the story would have been like if Herbert had been sent to study these dunes instead. Extremely New England Dune.
➛At some level the entire book series is a debate on side...
I couldn't get to sleep after. Still upset.
@tressiemcphd I couldn't get to sleep after. Still upset.
➛This is a great, deeply reported article with great...
This is a great, deeply reported article with great visuals. I thought it would be about rich people buying sand, but it's about policy driven by tax revenue, environmental law, equity, and hard physical limits. Also jetties are apparently called groins.
bloomberg.com/...
➛bloomberg.com/...
This works pretty well if you read it in Wallace Shawn's...
With our low desire to live in vacuum, our addiction to...
With our low desire to live in vacuum, our addiction to sunlight, and our refusal to permanently strap TV goggles on our heads, we are constantly letting the billionaires down.
➛I ask you, how are we supposed to survive long cold months...
I ask you, how are we supposed to survive long cold months in the Amazon low-orbit WeWork, raising 30 radiation-hardened mole rat/Jeff Bezos clone chimeras to prepare them for their journey to Arcturus, if we can't survive eight semesters in the lightless Munger Arcology Educube?
➛I went looking for an old tweet and found this instead.
It's odd how Facebook's big rebrand doesn't tie in to their...
It's odd how Facebook's big rebrand doesn't tie in to their products. There's no virtual Instagram where you can go inside an influencer's life, or WhatsApp global family virtual chat, or FB marketplace becomes a social 3D mall. We see a robot playing cards.
➛Congratulations to the Web, you beat the final boss.
Which is the most aerodynamic diva (Cher).
@phyllisstein Which is the most aerodynamic diva (Cher).
➛I should admit that the Laserdisc Archive on the Internet...
I should admit that the Laserdisc Archive archive.org/... on the Internet Archive is not the healthiest place for me to be right now.
➛I do not believe that New England ever achieved this level...
I do not believe that New England ever achieved this level again.
➛This is the most Vaporwave artifact.
This is the most Vaporwave artifact. archive.org/...
➛I think that's right. "One Bank" is the one for me.
@hondanhon @fka_tabs I think that's right. "One Bank" is the one for me.
➛Thank you, John.
@bergmayer Thank you, John.
➛They wrecked civil society for this.
Max Read once came to my office and as he was about to...
Max Read once came to my office and as he was about to leave he picked up his bag and a copy of DUNE fell out onto the floor, perhaps the truest nerd self-own I've ever seen. It's good to see him posting as his true self. maxread.substack.com/...
➛"Night on Arrakis" sounds pretty good but it's no...
"Night on Arrakis" sounds pretty good but it's no "Cornfield Chase [Interstellar (2014)]," is a thought an incredibly cool person (me), just had while listening to the Hans Zimmer Dune Official Soundtrack.
➛I think about that one a lot because it's ... 36 years old....
Twitter really is the HR department for the Internet.
Twitter really is the HR department for the Internet.
➛You ever notice how the words "life" and "file" have the...
You ever notice how the words "life" and "file" have the same letters? Anyway I spent the last 25 years on the computer making an amazing file for myself.
➛sounds like your temperature's rising
Thank you for coming to my genre reveal party. (They cut...
Thank you for coming to my genre reveal party. (They cut the cake and a spaceship flies out.)
➛Tweet
[Nods, looks left and right, slides one of these across the...
Tweet
When they installed this one a guy quoted in the NY Post...
@pomeranian99 When they installed this one a guy quoted in the NY Post said it was as bad as 9/11.
➛Landsraads go to war over spice boys like you
Landsraads go to war over spice boys like you
➛Just need this out of my head. To the tune of Sheena...
Just need this out of my head.
To the tune of Sheena Easton's “Strut”:
Kwi-satz Hader-ach
That's what you want from Fremen
➛To the tune of Sheena Easton's “Strut”:
Kwi-satz Hader-ach
That's what you want from Fremen
It's a profound work of psychological horror!
Many web services on Ix.
POLL: What is your favorite stovetop burner?
POLL: What is your favorite stovetop burner?
➛I store all my USB (Universal Serial Bus) cables in a...
I store all my USB (Universal Serial Bus) cables in a closet in my USB (Useless Shit Box).
➛Do not come to my house with the orb.
Do not come to my house with the orb.
➛He has to make a presentation on Zoom later in the...
@richziade He has to make a presentation on Zoom later in the afternoon.
➛Don't get me wrong, I will read any story with an...
Don't get me wrong, I will read any story with an intelligent cyberporpoid.
➛Why, after all these years, do people refuse to engage with...
Why, after all these years, do people refuse to engage with science fiction as serious literature?
Tweet
“And this new brand represents what really matters to me.”...
“And this new brand represents what really matters to me.” (pulls back curtain it's just the word “Feetbook” the Like button is now a foot with a big toe)
➛Synology fine too tho.
QNAP with Thunderbolt. Cheaper than Synology and a...
I want to make fun of you but I wrote a solver in Python so.
Joke's on you I *love* trade pubs I'm reading an article...
Joke's on you I *love* trade pubs I'm reading an article about a new boutique hotel in Indianapolis's historic bottleworks district and LOVING it.
➛Order has been restored, the orthography of the butt...
Someone subscribed @richziade to SUPERLAWYER magazine and...
Someone subscribed @richziade to SUPERLAWYER magazine and subscribed me to MEETINGS TODAY and to whomever it was: Great burns, total victory, and I salute you.
[Turns to page 136 of the 2014 NYT Innovation report, sees...
@_joeybones [Turns to page 136 of the 2014 NYT Innovation report, sees exactly the words you just tweeted.] Well goddammit.
➛This will be funny to like five people but what if they...
You can make the bee frown but you can't cache about 1k of...
You can make the bee frown but you can't cache about 1k of JSON for those incredibly unusual times when I am on the Q train?
If could give it all up I'd go to Berlin and hack with Jack.
Richard Florida too this is pure trolling.j
@kevinbaker Richard Florida too this is pure trolling.j
➛The blue book behind the plant is a biography of Robert...
@kevinbaker The blue book behind the plant is a biography of Robert MacNamara.
➛it was great!
POLL: How often do you empty the trash/recycle bin on your...
POLL: How often do you empty the trash/recycle bin on your desktop computer?
➛Surprising when you realize Microsoft spent $2 billion to...
Lizard Music!
@karenmcgrane @DanielPinkwater Lizard Music!
➛When I was 15 I listened to Pink Floyd's The Final Cut on...
oh look who decided to show up
It's so good. Me neither.
@suckeffect It's so good. Me neither.
➛Update: It's Ted Joans! (thank you @jwelby)
Update: It's Ted Joans! (thank you @jwelby) en.wikipedia.org/...
➛Found a book of Weegee photos of Greenwich Village in the...
Found a book of Weegee photos of Greenwich Village in the 1950s (garage sale day! for a quarter!) and none of the photos have captions or any explanation, which I'm fine with—except I really would like to know more about this one.
I...have actually done this. It's a great way to get an...
@jackrusher I...have actually done this. It's a great way to get an organization to focus on where it might have impact because once you see the breadth of any discipline you realize that you need to choose a path.
➛This is exceptionally fair.
@jackrusher This is exceptionally fair.
➛Jesus
@modernserf Jesus
➛37+ yard sales in Ditmas on Sunday.
Just a very specific experience of the ad-hoc just-in-time...
Just a very specific experience of the ad-hoc just-in-time delivery network that still powers everything in NY. (Also the milk is dyed blue from the frosting.)
➛You ever carry something to a party and it starts leaking...
You ever carry something to a party and it starts leaking and then you realize you've got maybe a mile to walk and then you have to balance a cake on a postbox and before it falls you need to unbutton your nice party shirt so the tres leches only leaks onto your t-shirt?
➛I'm just in awe of the execution here.
Yello's Oh Yeah playing out of nowhere
@DanielZarick @goldman Yello's Oh Yeah playing out of nowhere
➛Wait'll you see the new Pixel 6 launch campaign.
@tomcoates Wait'll you see the new Pixel 6 launch campaign.
➛In fairness about 90% of ads could take this approach and...
@tomcoates In fairness about 90% of ads could take this approach and improve sales.
➛Tweet
Wow @danilic you absolute goofball this was amazing.
True
@natalierachel True
➛Look, when a bodega wants to sell me toasted beagles or put...
Look, when a bodega wants to sell me toasted beagles or put weird quotes around "TASTY" I celebrate that. I'm Nuts4Nuts. But it pains me when the global brands pick the font and photo but give up on the copy, because it means that the edifice is not just crumbling, but gone.
➛Every morning as I go to work I pass the Bonobos and see...
Every morning as I go to work I pass the Bonobos and see this overproduced ad, and notice the powerful butt and the fussy type, and internalize their ongoing absolute indifference to the spelling of “entrance,” and it breaks me down a little more each day.
I had a little cough on the express bus and feel lucky I...
"In general, Australia’s climate activists seem to be ahead...
"In general, Australia’s climate activists seem to be ahead of the US’s in how they work climate into things, perhaps because the country is, at its essence, an enormous flammable ovoid operated by coal goblins." postlight.com/...
➛Wow flashback to reading the NY Daily News on the subway...
@jonkeegan Wow flashback to reading the NY Daily News on the subway and deciding I needed a new CD player.
➛Way earlier. It was just priiiime real estate.
Holy crap I really really did want to do this.
@thisisaaronland @librarycongress Holy crap I really really did want to do this.
➛Yes my god that bizarre niche.
Remember when you'd utterly demolish your savings account...
Remember when you'd utterly demolish your savings account to buy a fifteen-pound laptop and they'd give you a receipt and send you to the basement purgatory that looked like a police station to sit for 30 minutes? Then you'd get a cab because it was such a big purchase. All gone.
➛Nothing has been the same since they closed J&R Music...
Nothing has been the same since they closed J&R Music & Computer World.
➛Headline: Is sucking carbon out of the air the solution to...
Headline: Is sucking carbon out of the air the solution to our climate crisis?
URL: sucking carbon engineering global thermostat co2 direct air capture climeworks solution climate crisis big oil boondoggle ipcc
➛URL: sucking carbon engineering global thermostat co2 direct air capture climeworks solution climate crisis big oil boondoggle ipcc
First this is a hell of a piece of reporting and I'll need...
lol steph we've ALL been to SxSW
@goldman @steph_colbourn lol steph we've ALL been to SxSW
➛Thank god someone finally told me.
SHAKES CANE
@jackrusher SHAKES CANE
➛In sure some theater nerd has done this better on YouTube.
In sure some theater nerd has done this better on YouTube.
➛I'm trying to work out lyrics to the Spirited Away theme...
I'm trying to work out lyrics to the Spirited Away theme (to annoy the kids) and so far I've got:
I can undo the spell no big-gie
And change my parents back from piggies (I could)
Gosh it would be a shame (ah)
If I forgot my name (oh no)
And I sure do hope Kamaji
Gives me work
➛I can undo the spell no big-gie
And change my parents back from piggies (I could)
Gosh it would be a shame (ah)
If I forgot my name (oh no)
And I sure do hope Kamaji
Gives me work
All of this is very true to my own experiences but also Oh...
@ethanhein All of this is very true to my own experiences but also Oh to be 24 and listening to Arto Lindsay skronk away once more.
➛Thank you.
@zeigenvector Thank you.
➛It's on Thursday. It may force me to do something I haven't...
It's on Thursday. It may force me to do something I haven't done in years: Go to Times Square.
➛This is GREAT.
Wait
@djacobs @VictoriaMia Wait
➛My Saturday so far: One of the cats had diarrhea on the...
My Saturday so far: One of the cats had diarrhea on the basement floor—which, it happens. But somehow the cats also...rolled a big yellow yoga ball around the same part of the floor. Then my spouse yelled at me for nearly throwing up. Now I'm taking my son to sports.
➛Not for any reason, I just had eggs for breakfast.
Not for any reason, I just had eggs for breakfast.
➛Rereading this 2005 piece about the people who make...
Rereading this 2005 piece about the people who make breakfast in Vegas. newyorker.com/...
➛Don't watch the video you'll crumble straight to dust.
@film_girl @BenFolds Don't watch the video you'll crumble straight to dust.
➛Tweet
You ruined Stanley Tucci.
@toomuchnick You ruined Stanley Tucci.
➛You know at least once a week I go WHAT THE FUCK NICK.
@toomuchnick You know at least once a week I go WHAT THE FUCK NICK.
➛i guess part of my transition from tech to climate is that...
i guess part of my transition from tech to climate is that I keep reading it as "github gases"
➛You are the only person on the entire Internet who actually...
@margarita You are the only person on the entire Internet who actually posted something that looks like an album cover.
➛This is such a good piece. You can sort of see the outline...
This is such a good piece. You can sort of see the outline of a chunk of future journalism, this kind of meta service plus community plus supply chain failure. buzzfeednews.com/...
➛Just kind of imagining the "Noel Coward Mysteries"...
@phyllisstein Just kind of imagining the "Noel Coward Mysteries" (Coward's Comfort? Coward's Game?) program where an actor wanders around the world in 20s-40s, hums melodies, hooks up with various attractive men, spies a little, and constantly emits bon mots at crime scenes.
➛Tweet
It's kind of rough to realize you're not just old but...
Then I'm subpoenaing MIT TR Slack cc @mathonan.
@bramsonboudreau Then I'm subpoenaing MIT TR Slack cc @mathonan.
➛Aspiring writer: God, I would give up one of my organs in...
Aspiring writer: God, I would give up one of my organs in order to get my writing featured in the New York Times.
Monkey's Paw: Say no more.
➛Monkey's Paw: Say no more.
Want to feel old? The first “Want to feel old?” tweet was...
It mirrored lots of sources so had e-zines and software and...
@ibogost @jd87 @WUSTL It mirrored lots of sources so had e-zines and software and was sort of a mix of nerdy, academic, DIY, and service-oriented stuff. You could really lose time in it. Because it covered so much it ended up capturing a lot of what made the early Internet genuinely exciting. (IMO.)
➛When Facebook was down, an Egyptian Islamic advisory...
When Facebook was down, an Egyptian Islamic advisory service had to issue fatwas through TikTok. restofworld.org/...
➛Hooray! Congratulations!!!!
@JeromeHardaway Hooray! Congratulations!!!!
➛Each of my tweets is, at its essence, a kidney I donate to...
Each of my tweets is, at its essence, a kidney I donate to a stranger.
➛Also congratulations!
Does this mean you can bring back
AH interesting.
@shabbychef AH interesting.
➛Def. use their math parser. It's super-pleasant. I've been...
If you wanted to incorporate a little math language (mostly...
If you wanted to incorporate a little math language (mostly algebraic) into a webby calculator-making platform what syntax would you use? My current choice is the Math.js (mathjs.org/... syntax because:
1) JS runs everywhere
2) π, e, etc
3) I like it
Other ideas?
➛1) JS runs everywhere
2) π, e, etc
3) I like it
Other ideas?
My son just retold an old story about the time a kid made...
My son just retold an old story about the time a kid made fun of him for wearing sparkly shoes, and I told him I'd support him wearing any kind of shoes he wanted, and he said, What about if they were covered with really bad, like horrible, swears? Anyway I am a kidney donor.
➛My son's hourlong Taekwondo class is right above a really...
My son's hourlong Taekwondo class is right above a really classic Brooklyn bar and every fiber of my being right now is fighting against me becoming an extremely specific kind of dad.
➛I guess this is how people finally learn about the role.
I can't watch writers hurt each other, it's worse than Game...
Books are pretty
Books are pretty press.stripe.com
➛Thinking of you all and excited!
@JeromeHardaway Thinking of you all and excited!
➛It wasn't that bad we got results by 11PM and the overall...
@laura_june @maureenflaherty It wasn't that bad we got results by 11PM and the overall mess resulted in one day home for everyone, as pandemic stuff goes it was fine.
➛We are utterly fine and I have the luxury of complaining....
We are utterly fine and I have the luxury of complaining. Whenever this stuff happens all I can think is, imagine doing this when you couldn't miss work and didn't have English.
➛Anyways @maureenflaherty spoke sternly to a lot of people...
Anyways @maureenflaherty spoke sternly to a lot of people today. And we got retested of course. Negative. FFS.
➛A testing center can enter a kid's negative Covid test...
A testing center can enter a kid's negative Covid test results into a spreadsheet two weeks late, fumblefingers it to "positive," and upload that to test and trace. Now YOUR task is to backtrack NYC phone trees to debug this so the kid can go back to school.
➛I used to bull's-eye womp rats in my T-16 back home....
I used to bull's-eye womp rats in my T-16 back home. They're not much bigger than [a DNS server].
➛by my calculation we have two hours to restore civil...
by my calculation we have two hours to restore civil society before they fix this thing and we can absolutely do it if we all agree on what that means
➛mods are ASLEEP
mods are ASLEEP
➛Tweet
Can't get a break
The way I look at it is, we can't build or maintain good...
@bennyfactor @jeremybowers The way I look at it is, we can't build or maintain good long-lived cross platform GUI editing tools, and since XML is hard to read and harder to write, we thus have to accept that plain text will be the way we structure data until we die, at which point YAML is the least worst.
➛Tweet
I think this is how bitcoins are made.
@lisafleisher I think this is how bitcoins are made.
➛Tweet
Just a joke!
@looks_last Just a joke!
➛Hmm sure but NONE with vet bills we might have struck gold...
Hmm sure but NONE with vet bills we might have struck gold here tonight.
➛I'm going to search for bag is out of the cat and find...
I'm going to search for bag is out of the cat and find 12,000 tweets.
➛Well the bag is out of the cat. Also we owe the vet $3,000.
Well the bag is out of the cat. Also we owe the vet $3,000.
➛Whoa!
@shabbychef Whoa!
➛This video is so good.
@toomuchnick This video is so good.
➛Anyway here's the Wikipedia page, which has a link to the...
Anyway here's the Wikipedia page, which has a link to the PDF. en.wikipedia.org/...
➛My favorite bit are the "tier three" departments that get...
My favorite bit are the "tier three" departments that get saved, after stuff like the Dept. or GSA or State Post Office, and you have to give it to the Railroad Retirement Board for wedging in there as part of our shared post-apocalyptic future.
TIL "COGCON," for "Continuity of Government Readiness...
TIL "COGCON," for "Continuity of Government Readiness Condition." This was defined in 2007 PDF that continually refers to "National Essential Functions" (capped), the most Dr. Strangelove thing they could have called them. The cover is a good preview. en.wikipedia.org/...
I mean...it's extremely possible.
Best I can tell you would be wise to assume that, whenever...
Alt-weekly style Edgelordism 1990-2010 deserves a critical...
Why does my cable Internet speed go down to 1% of expected...
Why does my cable Internet speed go down to 1% of expected speed and then stay there for days until I reset the router? I keep thinking that the wires are like little arteries and they get calcified with electrons. But that is not scientific. Anyone know what's happening?
➛I wish we could make an epub of his pull requests.
I wish we could make an epub of his pull requests.
➛Kevin is a good person, an excellent engineer, and a...
Kevin is a good person, an excellent engineer, and a thoughtful leader who has been making @Postlight a better organization for a long time. x.com/...
➛A lie will circle the earth 7.5 times per second before the...
YES
If I was starting a newsletter about databases I'd call it...
If I was starting a newsletter about databases I'd call it TABLE STAKES. I'm not, though. So you can have that.
➛Still workshopping our “twins saying nice things in unison...
Still workshopping our “twins saying nice things in unison is scary” approach.
➛Being a CEO seems stressful.
@sippey @ginatrapani Being a CEO seems stressful.
➛I keep trying to schedule an hour to test out my material...
@sippey @ginatrapani I keep trying to schedule an hour to test out my material on her but she insists she's too busy.
➛