iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 16/09/2026

well, this is embarrassing. what are we doing here?

Subway train door opens directly into a metal platform edge barrier. Alighting passengers squeeze out on the yellow platform edge to get around the barrier.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 16/09/2026

good to see small fire trucks hitting toronto's streets

A small Toyota Yaris hatchback car parked on a street, painted red with yellow Toronto Fire branding.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 15/09/2026

the group chat liked this one

Screenshot of a message including a selfie of Fern. Fern is wearing thin-framed, rounded sunglasses, and their wavy, shoulder-length hair is down. The message reads, "i'm like if john lennon and yoko ono had a child". There are four heart reactions and a laughing reaction.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 01/09/2026

an absolutely delightful week in and around halifax. like, "i got to pitch my map to a transit agency" delightful (outcome pending). i certainly won't go another 18 years without seeing the north atlantic. many thanks to @benmacleod.bsky.social for taking the time to show august and me around!

Selfie of Ben, Fern, and August at Halifax Transit offices. Fern holds three of their own Halifax Transit rider guides, and August holds one open, showing the system map inside. All three are masking.

View of Halifax's skyline and suspension bridges from across the harbour. Resting on a glass railing at the Woodside ferry terminal, August admires the skyline. Conditions are moody and overcast, and there are ripples in the water.

As a small, cable-hauled car ferry crosses the LaHave River, Fern walks away from the camera along the rocky riverbank. A clear, late-afternoon sky casts orange light and long shadows.

August leans on a curious seating installation to photograph the pedestrianized Granville Street in downtown Halifax. The street is adorned with quaint paving and ornate four-storey buildings, which give way to modern office and residential towers in the background. It is not busy as a grey sky threatens rainfall.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 24/08/2026

misleading — this is completely bus, and not even slightly metro

A SORTA Metro bus, branded "go METRO", at a bus stop in Northside Transit Center.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 10/08/2026

my benchmark for a few years has been to recall 600 places in california, since that has proven to be my rough limit. it's a slightly different set each time… but somehow, i've still got it

Screenshot from a web game titled "How many U.S. cities can you name?". Dots scattered on a map zoomed into California represent the places I named. Below the map window, text reads: "You named 600 cities, with a total population of 30,899,016 (11.85% of the national urban population in 2020)."

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 05/08/2026

hmm, i've about had it with the bloor street "car lanes" experiment. literally no one uses these things. how can businesses expect to survive when there's no space for customers to linger?

A commercial street in old Toronto with two bike lanes, two general traffic lanes, and a row of parallel parking. Apart from some parked cars and a bicyclist, the street is mostly empty. Oncoming cars are visible in the distance.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 04/08/2026

until more restaurants open, though, there's no way i'm lining up for pizza badiali when there's kimchi naengmyeon across the street

Cold noodles with broth, seaweed, cucumber, egg, and kimchi in a takeout container. I am sitting at a red table in the new Honest Ed's Park.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 04/08/2026

mirvish village is going to be awesome. what if toronto could have nice things?

Soon-to-open pedestrian lane in Mirvish Village, Toronto. The lane is flanked by buildings taller than the lane is wide, adorned with hanging signs for small shops, restaurants, and the like. Beyond, a new residential tower rises into the blue sky.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 26/07/2026

traditionally, this situation is called "guerra paternofilial"

MLB play-by-play screenshot of Boston pitcher Guerrero facing Toronto batter Guerrero Jr.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 25/07/2026

hank green and i finished today's game at the same time and i beat him by a decent margin. i am so obsessed with this game

Bluesky feed screenshot of two consecutive Smush game scores, both posted 31 minutes ago. Hank Green scored 772 points on his first perfect game. Posted on my game account, I scored 1070 points on a perfect game and an 11-day streak.

My score tally: 384 points for 6 words smushed; 50 for a clean plate; 25 for no hints; 5 for beating the robot; 5 for beating today's average; 10 for 30th percentile; 25 for finishing in only 6 words; 20 for average word length >1 letter above today's average; 11 for 11-day streak; and 2x multiplier for a perfect game (pangram first, clean plate, no hints). Non-scoring achievements include double pangram and personal best.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 24/07/2026

[spoiler] yes thank you, i sure am

Screenshot from my perfect Smush game. Definition card for "scintillating", for which I scored 64 points, reads: "brilliantly sparkling, or dazzlingly clever". My word pile: nostalgic, scintillating, scants, oncological, tongs, nag.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 24/07/2026

amused that english gets the ampersand while french, whose word for "and" is literally the two letters that compose the ampersand, gets their word written out

A small tub of fine herb & garlic cream cheese product. The flavour is translated to French as "fines herbes et ail".

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 22/07/2026

not many summer days with better weather in toronto than oakland. i'm sure we'll give it back shortly

Weather in Toronto is 20 degrees Celsius (68 Fahrenheit), feels like 16C (61F), humidity 56%, dew point 11C (52F).

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 04/07/2026

it's just as coastal as philadelphia

Wikipedia: "Sea lions have been spotted at the far eastern terminus of the Sacramento Deep Water Ship Channel, at approximately 38°33'04.3"N 121°34'46.6"W, as have American white pelicans, at approximately 38°33'04.3"N 121°34'46.6"W."

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 28/06/2026

tangentially, tangent island looks a bit like trinidad

Satellite view of the island of Trinidad, with roads and towns shown.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 28/06/2026

named by a frustrated student

Satellite view of some rugged BC coast with four islands, labelled Tangent, Sine, Cosine, and Anger.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 02/06/2026

"a city within a park", was it?

View along a narrow paved path flanked by home gardens and low wooden fences, framed by towering trees. At the path's end, a glimpse of downtown Toronto across the water, including the CN Tower.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 01/06/2026

i admit i don't understand how this differs from a regular watch

Yellow road sign under a tree reading "watch for pedestrians".

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 26/05/2026

also popular with squirrels

A look upward at a black squirrel making its way through leafy branches in a dense tree canopy.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 12/05/2026

here's a type of sign i didn't see at dufferin. i like the two-tiered list format. it's well suited to the branching exit structures in more complex stations. i wish it showed the way to the buses (even though they're within fare control), and i wish it showed which exit has step-free access.

Small black sign pasted on subway station tiles. Big blocks of yellow contain arrows, exit letters, and pedestrian icons, indicating the way to different lettered exit groups. Underneath each is a list of lettered exits and their respective destinations.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 12/05/2026

nice scene on baldwin, a rare low-traffic commercial street (for a block or two, anyway). i didn't get a closer look because there was a small crowd enjoying treats from the shop in the ground floor!

View across a small street of a four-storey brick building behind blossoming cherry trees. On ground level, two retail spaces open to extra sidewalk space with seating and tree cover. Above, three levels of apartments with ample terraced balconies.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 08/05/2026

i'm intrigued by these signals in bellevue, texas, where highway 287 meets a local street at grade. the lights on the through signals blink together, while those on the left-turn (?) signals alternate. apparently they've been here and behaving this way since 2008 at the latest. what is this?

Google Street View screenshot of a stop sign and a pair of two-bulb signals hanging from a wire. One signal is displaying two red circles, while the other is off.

Google Street View screenshot of three two-bulb signals hanging from a wire over a five-lane highway. The signal over the central turn lane is displaying one yellow circle, the next signal is off, and the third signal is displaying two yellow circles.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 06/05/2026

ok, i think i've earned a contrarian weather post. i am living for cold, damp may! no bugs, no thunderstorms, persistent petrichor… life is easy when it's not summer :)

Selfie of Fern walking down a commercial street under a blue umbrella with polka dots. They are wearing headphones and a t-shirt, their slightly smiling face made pink by cool air.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 06/05/2026

our fun reliever allowed their go-ahead run and we didn't recover

Tyler Rogers throwing a baseball pitch from his uniquely low arm angle

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 05/05/2026

signs of life from TTC wayfinding: exit codes have appeared at dufferin station!

At a decision point in the station mezzanine, new signs pasted on a tiled wall point left to exit A and right to exit B. They join existing overhead signs that describe the exits in words.

Dufferin station entrance C, a small building on a residential street with sliding doors and a mural. The letter "C" is in a yellow square pasted beside the line 2 bullet on the overhead sign.

On a sign above a sliding door, a pedestrian icon and a yellow square reading "A2" indicate the "laneway to Russett Avenue" exit.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 04/05/2026

highest and best use: yonge street on a monday afternoon

Yonge Street, a downtown Toronto street lined with shops and residential high-rises, on a sunny afternoon. The narrow sidewalks are moderately busy, while the four-lane roadway is nearly empty.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 30/04/2026

Q: what has small hands and is made for small hands? A:

Yellow road sign reading "Watch for children"

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 23/04/2026

i know what i'm about, son

Ron Swanson of Parks and Recreation speaking to a waiter at a restaurant table.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 23/04/2026

today i learned that hamilton nearly got a skytrain up the mountain in the 1980s, and i am gutted. unlike detroit's and toronto's specimens, this could have become a veritable city-shaping project. it got pretty close, but the city ultimately rejected the province's offer for typical reasons.

Scan of isometric illustration of proposed ICTS alignment in lower Hamilton. Emerging from a portal under the Niagara Escarpment, the line travels north on James Street to a one-way loop around the city centre. Stations at St Joseph's Hospital, King William/John Streets, and MacNab/King Streets.

Scan of isometric illustration of proposed ICTS phase 1 alignment on Hamilton Mountain (above the Niagara Escarpment). After an underground station at Upper James and Fennell, the route emerges over Upper James Street to a terminal station at Mohawk Road.

Scan of artist's rendition of proposed MacNab station along the one-way city centre loop. Stairs lead from street level to a mezzanine and an elevated platform along a single track.

Scan of artist's rendition of Mohawk station at the outer end of phase 1. The elevated station comprises an island platform and two stub-end tracks, straddled on one side by Upper James Street traffic lanes and on the other by a purpose-built bus loop.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 18/04/2026

i wish they'd developed a harmonious set of icons instead of relying on colour alone to distinguish these graphically. this system doesn't hold up when reproduced in any way that doesn't involve colour (BW print, embossing, etc). maybe the govt pinched their pennies on the rebrand, i wouldn't know

"After" image of new Ontario ministry logos, distinguished only by text and the colour behind the common trillium icon.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 18/04/2026

actually, i think what you found is the website of the agency that *did* refresh the ontario brand. their "after" logo has appeared on official ontario stuff for years, and it's in their clients list. i see the old icons everywhere, but i assume that's just slow/inconsistent/botched implementation.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 15/04/2026

the obvious solution ruins the shot and does not abate noise

Stock image of moving horizontal cables strung between columns along a platform edge, separating the platform from the metro tracks.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 10/04/2026

i like them all fine. most small cities don't get good flags, so credit to madison for that. current flag obsession is bilbao

Flag of Bilbao. Aspect ratio 2:3, mostly white, a red square half the length of the flag's short edge in the top left corner.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 08/04/2026

only the best from the new york times (no, i don't pay for wordle. i'm just a fast enough clicker to access wordlebot for free)

WordleBot ratings webpage showing a skill score of 304 and a luck score of 36, both out of 99. A paywall panel is at the bottom, scrolled away and held down to reveal the full ratings.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 07/04/2026

after many years, the time has come to retire the trusty transit.supply BART case. i dread replacing my small phone (broken charging port) but this magsafe case should extend its useful life :) you ever think about how "fern" in sluggo's accent sounds like "phone" in an exaggerated aussie accent?

Empty iPhone case with a smiling BART train in front of the San Francisco skyline. The colours are faded and the print is badly chipped, leaving transparent spots.

Mirror selfie of Fern's hands holding their light green iPhone 12 mini, now equipped with a MagSafe case of matching colour.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 06/04/2026

people often have trouble imagining what life is like for ace people, so here's a comic about how i like to spend my time. the truth is, we're just like you — and more importantly, we're everywhere. happy international asexuality day!

Small, crude drawing in pen of Fern sitting at a desk. Text: "Fern K Hahn 2026"

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 06/04/2026

eight, apparently. it is perth, after all — this seems to be kind of their thing

Google Maps route information for Kelmscott station, showing the Armadale railway line and bus routes 219, 220, 240, 241, 243, 244, 245, and 907.

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fern k hahn @fernkhahn.com · 06/04/2026

by the way, Hamilton Street Railway does not mess around about buses

Transit App screenshot showing 10 departures of route 1 in the 12 noon hour, split evenly between two branches.

Transit app screenshot showing 10 departures of route 2 in the 12 noon hour.

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