http://www.ftrain.com/ en-us 2013-01-14 As a hobby I write. http://www.ftrain.com/recent-offsite-work.html http://www.ftrain.com/recent-offsite-work.html 2012-08-21 (continued...) http://www.ftrain.com/rotary-dial.html http://www.ftrain.com/rotary-dial.html 2012-06-20 Forgot to put this here... (continued...) http://www.ftrain.com/10-timeframes.html http://www.ftrain.com/10-timeframes.html 2012-04-10 “Facebook and Instagram: When Your Favorite App Sells Out” is the title of something I wrote for New York Magazine's website. (continued...) http://www.ftrain.com/faiwyfaso.html http://www.ftrain.com/faiwyfaso.html 2012-04-07 When I first joined the People of the Red Valley all those years ago I was glad to share water. I had been in Fathers of the Blue Sky and Sons of the Lion but I did not feel welcome in either family and I could tell that the People of the Red Valley were serious about creating a tribe that would provide me with a high quality of food, shelter, and opportunities for mating. And for a long time I was happy in the Red Valley. I ate of the food and would partake of the shelter, and married well more than once. (continued...) http://www.ftrain.com/rv.html http://www.ftrain.com/rv.html 2011-09-21 Recapitulation theory ("ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny") puts forth that incubating humans act out evolution as they grow from zygote to baby. This was a popular idea a century ago, but it's turned out the science isn't that simple. Yet the principle holds that the dividing fetal cells are engaged in a kind of performance of all of evolution—from simple to complex, from general form to specific form. The developing human loses its tail early, gains a cerebrum later. (continued...) http://www.ftrain.com/a-and-b.html http://www.ftrain.com/a-and-b.html 2011-07-20 Forgot to tell you about this. http://www.ftrain.com/epiphanator.html http://www.ftrain.com/epiphanator.html 2011-07-11 An essay for TheMorningNews.org. http://www.ftrain.com/aomr.html http://www.ftrain.com/aomr.html 2011-07-10 People call me a lot and say: What is this new thing? You're a nerd. Explain it immediately. http://www.ftrain.com/woods-plus.html http://www.ftrain.com/woods-plus.html 2011-05-25 Reading! http://www.ftrain.com/reading-twoaitaomr.html http://www.ftrain.com/reading-twoaitaomr.html 2011-05-18 So in 1993, BoingBoing tells us, a group called Mondo Vanilli made an art-prank album on Trent Reznor's Nothing label, but it was not released until now. The members of the group were “RU Sirius, founder of Mondo 2000 magazine, composer Scrappi DuChamp, and performance artist Simone Third Arm.” (continued...) http://www.ftrain.com/re2.html http://www.ftrain.com/re2.html 2011-05-17 (continued...) http://www.ftrain.com/re1.html http://www.ftrain.com/re1.html 2011-05-16 Why privacy mattered. http://www.ftrain.com/nanolaw.html http://www.ftrain.com/nanolaw.html 2011-05-13 It's immediately clear to me now that I'm writing again that I need to come up with some new forms in order to have fun here—so that I can get a rhythm and know what I'm doing. One thing that works for me are time limits; pencils up, pencils down. So: Fridays, write for 30 minutes; edit for 20 minutes max; and go whip up some images if necessary, like the big crappy hand below that's all meaningful and evocative because it's retro and zoomed-in. Post it, and leave it alone. Can I do that every Friday? Yes! Will I? Maybe! But I crave that simple continuity. For today, for absolutely no reason other than that it came unbidden into my brain, the subject will be Photoshop. (Do we have a process? We have a process. It is 11:39 and...) http://www.ftrain.com/30w-psp.html http://www.ftrain.com/30w-psp.html 2011-05-12 Soon, orphans. http://www.ftrain.com/shag.html http://www.ftrain.com/shag.html 2011-05-11 Snack trams. http://www.ftrain.com/alunch.html http://www.ftrain.com/alunch.html 2011-05-10 I'll have no one to blame but future me. http://www.ftrain.com/tickle.html http://www.ftrain.com/tickle.html 2011-05-09 (1) When robots write history we can get in trouble with our past selves. (2) Search-generated, "false" chrestomathies and the historical fallacy. http://www.ftrain.com/times-inverted-index.html http://www.ftrain.com/times-inverted-index.html 2011-05-05 People complain, still, about the new Star Wars movies being terrible, not up to the standards of the first few, but have you ever considered the gift the director gave to our culture when he failed so profoundly? An entire generation of men who secretly believed in space princesses, ready to waste countless hours on fantasy, suddenly forced to face facts. Lord knows Star Wars is still everywhere, but if the movies had been good it could have been even worse. (continued...) http://www.ftrain.com/star-wars.html http://www.ftrain.com/star-wars.html 2011-05-04 (1) Long-form journalism fixes everything. (2) The moral superiority of the streetcar. (3) I like big bus and I cannot lie. http://www.ftrain.com/lfjfe.html http://www.ftrain.com/lfjfe.html